Understanding Plotting in AutoCAD
Plotting in AutoCAD is essential for translating your designs from digital format to physical media. It involves ensuring that the scale, layout, and settings are accurately configured to produce a precise representation of your work.
Setting Up Your Plot Scale
To establish a correct plot scale in AutoCAD, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the Output tab and select the Plot option in the Plot panel.
2. In the Plot dialog box, look for the Plot Scale section. Here, input your desired scale, which consists of two main values: the number of plotted units (such as inches or millimeters) and the corresponding number of drawing units. For example, a scale of 1:50 means 1 unit on paper equals 50 units in the drawing.
3. Once you have entered the appropriate values, click OK to execute the plot.
Troubleshooting Plot Issues
If you encounter issues while plotting, consider the following troubleshooting steps:
1. First, ensure that your page setup is correct, including the selection of the appropriate printer, paper size, and plot area. Familiarize yourself with the Page Setup option for guidance.
2. Review the layers in your drawing to confirm that all necessary layers are set to be plotted. Layers that are turned off will not appear in the final plot.
3. Be cautious about the Defpoints layer, which should not contain any plot objects. Move any items inadvertently placed there to a different layer.
4. Adjust the Shade Plot setting in the plot options. Setting this to Wireframe can resolve issues where solid fills are incorrectly rendered.
Plotting Images and High-Resolution Graphics
If high-quality images are needed in your plots, follow these instructions:
1. Type PLOT in the command line and press enter to open the plot window.
2. From the printer/plotter dropdown menu, choose Custom Plotter and select the Custom Size 5000 px for the paper size.
3. Determine the plot area and configure additional settings as required, then click OK to finalize the plot.
Understanding Plot and Drawing Scales
Plot scale is defined as the ratio of the plotted units to the actual model-size units utilized in your drawing. This allows for accurate representation of dimensions when printed on paper. Typically, the model is drawn at a scale of 1:1, representing actual sizes, while plot scales adjust those sizes to fit specific dimensions for printing.
Enhancing Plotting Speed
To improve the speed of plots in AutoCAD, consider these enhancements:
1. Allocate adequate memory to AutoCAD by uninstalling unnecessary applications that may be running in the background.
2. Perform regular disk clean-ups to ensure sufficient disk space is available for plotting tasks.
Configuring Layer Plotting
When dealing with layers that need to be plotted, remember the following:
1. Verify the visibility settings for layers in the layers palette. Ensure that the Plot column is enabled by right-clicking the column header.
2. Transfer any drawings from the Defpoints layer as it is hidden by default on certain versions.
Addressing Text Plot Issues
If certain texts do not show up in the plotted output, consider the following solutions:
1. Corrupted text may be the culprit; try re-entering the problematic text or replacing it with fonts from AutoCAD’s library.
2. Adjust the plot background settings by deselecting background plotting or setting the BACKGROUNDPLOT command to 0.
Exporting and Converting Drawings
To convert your drawings into high-resolution formats such as PNG or JPEG, follow these steps:
1. Use the PLOT command or PAGESETUP to open the plot dialog.
2. For PNG, select PublishToWeb PNG, and for JPEG, enter JPGOUT in the command line, specifying file names and desired resolutions when prompted.
FAQs
Q: How do I determine the current scale of a drawing in AutoCAD?
A: Use the Scale Monitor from the View tab to check the scale for viewports in your drawing.
Q: Is it possible to change units from inches to millimeters in AutoCAD?
A: Yes, you can enter the UNITS command, select millimeters or meters, and choose to save it as the default setting.
Q: What can I do if my plots are printing smaller than expected?
A: Double-check the plot scale settings and ensure that the scale is set to the intended ratio to avoid discrepancies in output size.
