Print Dialog Box TechNote

The Plotting dialog box in MicroStation V8 provides the necessary tools for producing printed output at any time during a project. With MicroStation V8, a newly designed Printing dialog box has been developed. Some of the printing/plotting improvements are:

• Updated Print dialog for more visible feedback.
• You can edit and reload PLT files from within the Print Dialog box.
• Support of ACAD CTB/STB plot style tables.
• Unlimited sheet SIZE records in plot driver (PLT) files.
• Previous plot information accessible from configuration variables (useful for plot accounting).
• Support for printing/plotting translucent shapes (limited to Bentley RIP drivers).

You can perform all printing/plotting operations from the Print dialog box, which is opened by choosing File>Print. From this dialog box you can:

• Select and edit printer driver files
• Create pen tables to resymbolize the printed output
• Specify the print/plot vector output as monochrome, color, or grayscale
• Create print configuration files
• View a resizable preview of the print/plot

Figure 1: The Printing/Plotting dialog box in MicroStation V8 (Note: The dialog box is shown fully expanded)

Steps required to create a print/plot from MicroStation V8:

1. Open the Print dialog box
2. Select the entity to print
3. Select a printer
4. Set printing parameters (units, sheet size, scale, print attributes, etc)
5. Attach pen table (optional)
6. Viewing the print preview (optional)
7. Click the print icon

Select the entity to print

• If a fence is present in the design file when the printing dialog box is opened, then the contents of the fence are taken as the default entity to print.
• If there is no fence present when the print dialog box is opened, then the default print area is taken to be the contents of the active view.

Figure 2: Selecting the Entity (area) to print

Selecting a Printer Driver

MicroStation V8 lets you use two types of printer drivers: Windows Printer or Bentley Driver. An option button lets you toggle between the two types of printers.

• Selecting Windows Printer automatically loads the windows printer driver file (default is "printer.plt").

   

  Figure 3: Selecting a printer driver

• Where a number of networked printers are available, "printer.plt" by default prints to the default Windows printer. You can however, select another printer, by clicking on Configure Windows Printer icon.

   

  Figure 4: Configure Windows Printer icon

• From the Print dialog box choose the required printer and Click OK. The title bar of the Print dialog box should now be changed to the chosen printer.
• When you select the Bentley driver, the Bentley printer driver file that was last used is loaded by default. Where required, you can select the other Bentley driver. To select another Bentley driver, select the File>Bentley driver from the Print dialog menu or click on the magnifying glass next to the Printer and Paper size (see Figure 3). The Select Printer Driver dialog box opens. In the Files list box, select the desired plot driver (.plt) file and click OK. Bentley drivers create print information in industry-recognized formats (such as eemulation's CAL907/PCI, HPGL2, HPGLRTL, ESP/P, TIF, CGM, WMF, PNG, and HPPCL5). Bentley plot drivers files are text files that supply all the necessary information to create a print/plot in a particular plotter language format. MicroStation V8 lets you open these driver files in a text editor of your choice from within the Print dialog box. By default, the text editor is "Notepad.exe", but you can configure your own using a Workspace configuration variable. This configuration variable is "MS_PLTFILE_EDITOR".

   

  Figure 5 Edit print driver

• If you make edit changes to printer drivers, you must save the file in the editor and then select the "Reload Printer Driver" from the Print dialog box so these changes become current.

Setting the Printing parameters

Settings in the Print dialog box lets you select the sheet size, set the scale for the print, and position the print on the selected sheet.

• When using the Windows Printer driver, you can select a pre-defined paper size, define the orientation and use all the available Windows driver tabs for the selected printer.
• When you are using the Bentley driver you can edit the X (width) and Y (height) dimensions of the selected paper size or use the paper sizes within the Bentley plot driver file. These paper sizes can be changed within the Bentley Plot driver file.

Figure 6: Selecting Paper size and orientation

Setting the Print Size/Scale

In setting the scale for a print, you are defining the number of design units (in working units) that equate to each paper, or printed output, unit (in printer units).

• You can key-in this value in the Scale field, or you can click the Scale Assistant icon (magnifying glass) and use Scale Assistant dialog box to define the criteria as either Design to Paper, or Paper to Design (See Figure 7).
• Changing the scale or either dimension (X or Y) automatically results in changes to the remaining parameter to maintain the aspect ratio of the print.

Figure 7: Setting the Scale

Figure 8: The Scale Assistant Dialog Box

Note: You cannot set the X,Y or Scale settings to a figure that would place part of the printed output outside the printable area of the selected page.

Setting Printer Units

You can set the units that the print dialog will use to display page size, plot size, plot position etc.

• In the Print dialog box, from the "Settings" menu select Units sub menu, choose the new units from the drop-down selection (IN, FT, MM, CM, DM, M). Note: The units setting, once changed, will remain until they are changed again.

Figure 9: Setting Printer Units

Setting the Print Position

When the size of the print is smaller than the selected page size you can control is position on the paper.

• Select the check box for Autocenter if you want to center the print on the paper. By default, when the print dialog box opens, the printed output is maximized and Autocenter is turned on. Maximize is also selectable from the "Settings" menu.
• You can also specify the position of the print on paper by giving the X origin value ( distance horizontally) or the Y Origin (distance vertically) relative to the lower left corner of the page.

Figure 10: Maximize icon

Figure 11: Setting Print Position

Print Preview

The Print dialog box has a self contained preview window (if expanded) and "view design" is checked.

For a larger and resizable print preview, Choose File > Preview or click the Preview icon.

Figure 12: Print preview icon

• Click and drag the print preview window borders to resize the window.
• To refresh the preview window click the paintbrush.

Figure 13: Resizable print preview window

• During the setup process you may need to synchronize the preview window with the view or area to be printed. Click the "Sync to View" icon in the Print dialog box.

You may need to synchronize if:

1. You are plotting a view and you have modified the view size.
2. You change the level display and want the plot to reflect the changes.
3. Any changes to view attributes, level display, etc. may require a synchronize to view.

Figure 14: Sync to view icon

Setting Print Attributes

Check boxes in the Print Attributes dialog let you vary the relevant settings for printing purposes. This dialog box can be opened by selecting the "Print Attributes" icon, or by selecting the Print dialog box's Settings>Print Attributes menu on the print dialog box.

Figure 15: Print Attributes-Menu selection

Figure 16: Print Attributes icon

When you check the:

• Fence Boundary - The printed output includes the fence shape.
• Print Border - The printed output includes a printed border and can include a label giving information such as time and date of the print. A border comment can also be added.

Figure 17: Print Attributes dialog box

Print Configuration Files

Print configuration files store design file-specific information required to recreate prints of particular drawings and can streamline repetitive printing tasks. A print configuration file stores the settings for:

• Specifications of the printed area of the design.
• Print attributes as set in the Print Attributes dialog box.
• Master file levels displayed in the printed view.
• Page Size, margins, and scale.
• Pen table if attached.

Figure 18: Save Print Configuration menu selection

After adjusting the print setup as desired for specific specifications, choose the "Save As" From the Print dialog box's Configuration menu. By default the print configuration files are given the design file name and suffix '.ini". These are ASCII text files that are saved in the "Workspace\system\data directory. To modify a print configuration that has been saved, choose "Open" from the Print dialog box's Configuration menu, select the INI file, make the changes in your print setup and save the print configuration file. Note: When using print configuration files on design files other than the one used to create them, the design file must have the same working units and fenced location as the one that created the print configuration file.

Print Resymbolization - Pen Tables

Print resymbolization is the process of changing the characteristics of elements applied to the printed output. MicroStation V8 uses pen tables to control the resymbolization. In summary, a pen table can:

• Selectively alter the printed output of elements.
• Determine the printing order of elements.
• Specify or define text string substitution.

Figure 19: Pen Table menu selection

The Pen Table menu is used to create, attach, edit, detach and import pen tables.

• Select PenTable> New to create a new pen table. The Create Pen Table File dialog box opens and in the Files field key in the new pen table name and click OK. By default the extension is .tbl. Pen tables are stored in the directory defined by the MS_PENTABLE configuration variable. The Modify Pen Table dialog opens.
• Select PenTable>Attach to load an existing MicroStation pen table. The Select Pen Table File dialog box opens. In the Files list box, select the desired pen table and click OK. The pen table is loaded and the focus is returned to the Print dialog box.
• Select PenTable>Edit to modify or review an existing pen table. If a pen is loaded , the Modify Pen Table dialog opens. If no pen table is loaded, the Select Pen Table dialog box opens. In the Files list box, select the pen table and click OK. Note: Pen Table Modify menu selection has been replaced with Pen Table Edit on the menu.
• Select PenTable>Detach to unload and disable pen table processing.
• Select PenTable>Import- Opens the Import AutoCAD CTB/STB file list box. In the Files list box, select the desired AutoCAD "plot style table" and click OK.

More in-depth information on pen tables, print resymbolization and pen table "text substitution" can be found in the MicroStation V8 documentation and help files.

Interoperability with Viecon.plot

You can send a plot from MicroStation V8 to another user via E-mail if you are a registered user of Bentley's Viecon.plot service.

• To open the Viecon.plot dialog, from the main menu, choose File > Send Viecon.plot or open the Print dialog box (File > Print), select the Bentley printer driver cgm.plt, and choose File > Viecon.plot in the dialog box menu bar.

Figure 20: Viecon Plot Menu selection

If you have not yet used Viecon.plot with MicroStation V8, choosing one of these menu items opens a dialog box with which you may register to use the service. If you already have an account with the Viecon Web Site, enter the user name and E-mail address you submitted when opening your Viecon account.

Figure 21: Viecon Plot Registration dialog box

If you wish to create a plot using the cgm.plt (plot driver) and do not want to use Viecon plot, select the "Don't Run Viecon Plot" from the Registration dialog box or simply plot using the cgm.plt plot driver.

Figure 22: Viecon Plot dialog box

More information on Viecon plot can be found in the MicroStation V8 documentation and help files and also at www.viecon.com.

QuickStart guide to picking a Plot Driver File