In this video, we’ll set up plot settings in AutoCAD and then assign them to drawing types. Then we’ll create a new project, add some drawings with borders and plot them to PDF.
Add a new plot setting in AutoCAD
In AutoCAD, on the CadTracker ribbon tab, we’ll click Plot settings. We want to add a new one which will be our standard PDF plot setting for most of our A1 drawings. We’ll call it M+A PDF A1 standard, select DWG To PDF as the device, select our paper size, and our style sheet. For the selected paper size, we don’t need to rotate the plot. Our borders are designed to be plotted at a scale of 1:1.
Now we’ll add another plot setting using our colour style sheet, which will be used for 3D views where we want to plot some objects in colour.
Edit drawing types
In CadTracker, we’ll edit our standard drawing types which get automatically copied into all new projects. Click Tools > Drawing > Types.
For this demo, we already have two drawing types set up for standard and conceptual 3D drawings, so all we have to do is assign the appropriate PDF plot settings.
Create a new project
Now we’ll create a new project using the Quick Project Wizard. Our standard drawing types have been copied. We could set up new drawing types or assign different PDF plot settings for this project if required.
Add a new border in AutoCAD
Back in AutoCAD, we’ll add a new border in a paper space layout tab. In this DWG, we want to add borders to multiple layout tabs, so we need to create a model record.
For this drawing, we’ll use our standard drawing type, which will plot our objects in black and white. We’ll adjust the viewport, and plot to PDF.
Now we’ll add another border and this time we’ll use our drawing type for conceptual views. For conceptual views, we use a title block on the side. Again, we’ll adjust the viewport, and plot to PDF.
View drawings in project start page
In CadTracker, we can see our PDF plots by selecting the Drawings tab in our project’s start page.