AC10 - Creating PDF; Margins & Fit to Page

[Anonymous]

I have been using Publisher to Save D-size 24"x36" drawings. I would like to hope that the PDF's are accurate in Size. Reason I ask is when I choose to print to PDF using the Amyuni PDF Converter the fit to page is 99% when choosing Margin option "Use Print Margins". If Margin Options are set to "Use Layout Margins" the fit to page is 100%. I know it is only 1%, but which of the PDF is true to scale? And also when Publishing what margin option is being used?

The Master layouts that I am using have their Size set by "Import settings from Printer" and I am selecting the OCE 9400 Print Driver with size "OCE D + 24x36in".

Thanks in advanced for any help.

[Thomas Holm]

Your procedure sounds OK. Of course, the difference between 99% and 100 may be small because the figures are likely rounded.

Also 100% looks better than 99 of course, but the only way to know for sure is to place an element with known size, print it out an measure it by hand. You may perhaps have a forgotten ancient ruler with scales in a drawer somewhere? And I think you'll have to do that yourself!

[Link]

Firstly, I think it's really bad form that the size defaults to Fit Page to Layout. For a profession where the scale is of UTMOST importance, we cannot have people using this default and publishing out of scale. This is something I have personally taken to GS to consider, although nothing seems different in AC11 AFAICS.

To keep your drawings to scale, I recommed always using the Layout Margin settings, especially if you are going to keep printing in-house. See, if you set your Master Layout Settings to Import from Printer, and in that dialog, the Printer is set to import the settings from the Amyuni PDF Convertor and then if you check that the page options of the publishing set are using the same properties of the Amyuni PDF Convertor (including the same margins, which should be set to 0), then the Print Options of that publishing set should show the Printer Margins and the Layout Margins to be exactly the same! You may have to re-read that and work through it as I worded it quickly (too much caffeine this morning).

You may also want to check this out to understand the difference between the Layout Margins and Printer Margins:

http://www.archicadwiki.com/TechNotes/Difference_between_Margin_Options

Here's my opinion on the subject. It's only an opinion so please take it for what it's worth (maybe other's will see holes in it, and comments are always welcome):



There needs to be a more obvious link between the Master Layout Margins and the Printer Margins.

I think having the drop down list giving us the following options would be a good start:

Use Margins of Printer
Use Margins of Master Layout

But if you consider in detail just how users are publishing in real offices, the whole process could be streamlined.

From my experience the printing/plotting process is just a bit too complex. For a start, I think we shouldn't be offered a list of standard margins in the Master Layout Settings dialog. It just confuses people, is too general and is probably not accessed enough to warrant this 'convenience'. I think it needs to be dumbed down - essentially IMHO we only really need two buttons in our Master Layout Settings dialog: Import Margins from Printer/Plotter, and Custom. Please see the attached image.

The first button can then allow us to select from a Printer or Plotter and the second will allow us to create our own (in case we don't have the device installed). We should still have the flexibility of seeing and changing the page size and margin sizes as we do now in the Name and Size panel.

Furthermore that should be the ONLY place we set our margins, and the Print dialog should simply default to those Margins. I doubt it is very often that we want to change the margins when it comes time to print *and* have the drawings resize. It makes much more sense to set the margins correctly the first time (in the Master Layout) and then if we choose to print to a device with different margins, we can choose to resize it via the print dialog. Adjusting it in the Master layout means that we can see instantly whether or not our titleblock will fit, and make any necessary adjustments.

This would probably eliminate the need for the Page Setup button in the Publisher. What new users will just about always do is open that dialog and hit the Properties button and go around in circles with the Page Setup! The Print Settings option has a similar Page Setup button and they seem to quickly get lost. The features of the Print Options button and any remaining features of the other two buttons could all be combined into one single 'Options' button. And this button could be the same for all publishing sets, no matter what the format. Everything would be consistent and much more user friendly.


Cheers,
Link.

[__archiben]

Jay wrote:
Reason I ask is when I choose to print to PDF using the Amyuni PDF Converter the fit to page is 99% when choosing Margin option "Use Print Margins". If Margin Options are set to "Use Layout Margins" the fit to page is 100%. I know it is only 1%, but which of the PDF is true to scale? And also when Publishing what margin option is being used?

sounds like a discrepancy between your master sheet size/setup and the printable area allowed by your printer . . .

but that said, when printing to PDF you should actually print at true size (100%) ignoring margins, no? because the PDF size is the sheet size . . . otherwise you are generating margins in your PDF and then printer margins again within the first margins . . .

or something like that.

link: 100% agreed.

~/archiben

[Anonymous]

Link wrote:
To keep your drawings to scale, I recommed always using the Layout Margin settings, especially if you are going to keep printing in-house. See, if you set your Master Layout Settings to Import from Printer, and in that dialog, the Printer is set to import the settings from the Amyuni PDF Convertor and then if you check that the page options of the publishing set are using the same properties of the Amyuni PDF Convertor (including the same margins, which should be set to 0), then the Print Options of that publishing set should show the Printer Margins and the Layout Margins to be exactly the same! You may have to re-read that and work through it as I worded it quickly (too much caffeine this morning)
.....

Cheers,
Link.

I think I follow.

What I was doing in the past, was setting al on my masters to Printer and using the Amyuni Printer (I think that is Zero Borders). This seemed like the best way for the masters to be set up if I was printing or publishing to PDF.

I was trying to abandon Plotting to my printer and publishing PLT's to use with Print Exec LT or PLot flow, and ONLY print now. With this idea I had modified the masters margins to match the OCE Printer. This seemed to "mess-up" the PDF.

I am just looking for the most efficient way to Print and possibly collate sets. Also looking to Archive the Projects, hence the Publish to PDF.

[KeesW]

I agree with Link - scale is fundamentally important. I think that AC is often trying to be too clever - providing flexibility where none is needed. Defaults should surely be based on obvious, most common or most desirable outcomes - and they frequently aren't.

[Anonymous]

In my experience the problem here is not with ArchiCAD which puts out the PDF just fine. It is with the PDF viewers which default to shrink the PDF to fit the printer's margins. This is appropriate for most users but a pain in the neck for us.

Perhaps there is some subtlety that GS is missing that would allow them to express the full sheet size while still communicating the margins to the PDF viewer, but I don't know enough about the details of the PDF file format.

The simplest workaround is just to always remember to be sure that the PDF viewer is set to print at 100%

[Anonymous]

Its crazy that "Fit to page" is the default, and 100% is considered a "custom" scale. Where's the sense in that?

[Anonymous]

s2art wrote:
Its crazy that "Fit to page" is the default, and 100% is considered a "custom" scale. Where's the sense in that?

It's for all the people printing web pages and stuff where they don't care if it's a little smaller but really don't want it lopped off.

[Anonymous]

Matthew wrote:

s2art wrote:
Its crazy that "Fit to page" is the default, and 100% is considered a "custom" scale. Where's the sense in that?

It's for all the people printing web pages and stuff where they don't care if it's a little smaller but really don't want it lopped off.

Is that more common than people printing drawings for contractors or clients? I just think 100% should be the default. I still get caught out occasionally (if I'm in a hurry) printing at 105% because that's what the "fit to page" scale is for our A3 printer.