Checking The Plotterįinally, your EPS plotter should be ready for use, double check that the file is created by selecting the tab “File” then go to “Plot”, from the pull down list of printer selecet the EPS plot file. The Finish page gives you the option of editing the plotter configuration or calibrating the plotter. Next would be the naming of the file, you can leave it default or key in the preference name. Select the “Plot to File” option, this is to enable AutoCAD to plot to your computer instead sending your EPS plot to your printer plot. Ignore this dialog due to the fact that it is the configuration for a physical printer.Proceed by clicking the “next” button. The next dialog box to appear would be the “Import Pcp or Pc2″.
Select the appropriate model and then click the “next” button. The main difference would be the file size produce using Level 2 which is smaller and the support for Adobe Photoshop version 6 and above, where else Level 1 is for version 6 and below. If you are not sure how the files will be used, select Level 1.
Select “Adobe” from the Manufacturers list, there should only be 3 options to select at the under the “model” list. The following window is the Plotter Model dialog box. Select the “My Computer” option and click the “next” button. This window will asks you to determine the type of plotter you want to add. You will see the “Add Plotter” tab, click on it.Īfter clicking on it, a dialog box will appear, which tells you a little about the wizard. Some users mention the benefits of STB are less pen styles to manage or they can have project phased styles. Select Tools > Wizards > Add Plotter… from the pull-down menu. With AutoCAD 2000 came the style based plot styles or named plot styles (STB) option was added allowing you to assign plot styles including color, lineweights, screening to an object regardless of colors or layer set to the object. To add a EPS plotter to AutoCAD you have to use the Add Plotter wizard.
#Export autocad plot style software
AutoCAD does not automatically create the PostScript plotter for you when the software is installed by default, it require minor configuration, a simple wizard that will guide you thru steps by steps. To create EPS files, all you need to do is to add a virtual plotter that uses the EPS format and then configure it to plot to a file rather than to a physical plotter. This requires few setup configurations to the PostScript plotter on your computer. The best method is none other than to create a Virtual Plotter, with a virtual plotter you can plot to a virtual PostScript files from AutoCAD and import the EPS files into Photoshop. One of the most common questions asked by architecture students during their early years when they are composing their boards is “How to plot AutoCAD drawings to scale into Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator?” This tutorial would be great for beginners. Architects Are Just Art School Dropouts.Gradient Masks over AutoCAD with Photoshop.101 Things I Learned in Architecture School.Most people use a template provided by the employer or client that have all the plotstyles defined. View YouTube videos on this subject, this is one of the most difficult things to teach. You could create a plotstyle called Black100% that would plot all objects with that style as a black line with 100% ink that could get its lines Style from the object. I believe named based plotstyles where invented to help make things easier. Now for the very confusing part: objects get there properties from the layer it is on or is assigned properties but the object is plotted by the plotstyle.Įxample: a may line may be displayed as a dashed, thin, red but may plot as green thick solid line! If you view the plotstyle editor and it has 255 styles it is a color based drawing Objects get their plotstyle from the layer plotstyle or may have the style directly assigned.Ī colored based drawing has a plot style for each of the 255 colors and objects get their plotstyle from the color.Ī plot style dictates how the object is drawn by the Plotter/printer. You may have as many or few as you want, most people have fewer than 10 plot styles. You can override layer properties but it is recommended to let object get their properties from the layer unless you have a very good reason.Ī named based drawing has different named plot styles that assign plot properties. There are two types of drawings: color based and named based and depend on the template used to create the drawing.Ī object gets its color, line type, thickness and other properties (view the layer dialog box for all layer properties) by default from the layer it is drawn on. Well it could be a lot easier but here goes.