Printing enhancement requests

[Claus Brod]

Hi,<p> I just found two new enhancement requests in the enhancements newsgroup. In one request, a user wants to print a B&amp;W wireframe picture of a model for fax transfer. This should not be a big problem, actually, since you can simply enable wireframe mode in the "Sh" menu and then print to a file. Another request talked about a "print to scale" function - I am not really sure what this means, but don't know who posted the request, but maybe you are reading this and can help with some more details?<p> Thanks,<p> Claus

[Robert Bruce]

I did not enter the Request, but I did vote for it. What I wanted was a way to print out a document that is 'actual size'. If I drew a 20mm X 20mm X 20mm cube with a 10mm hole through it, I want to be able to get a hard copy of a face(s) of the part plotted to scale (i.e. a 20mm x 20mm square with a 10mm hole in it). Currently, you have to do a layout and go to ME10 to get a print 'to scale'.

[Dan White]

I am the person that wrote the request. The gentleman that responded to you below certainly understands the problem. Let me clarify it some more. Although CAD has done wonders for the design engineering field, and I am one of its largest proponents, there are many times during concept development where the fastest way to try alternate ideas is to print out a view (side view for example)of the design in its current state and quickly freehand pencil sketch on it. one can create multiple design iterations in a matter of minutes defore commiting to 3D geometry (no matter how fast you can model). It is often helpful to have this sketching going on at a known scale Say 1:1 to help keep your spatial perspective. It is also often for this scaled print to contain what ever parts are displayed in the draw list (regardless of their assmbly structure). Currently it would be necessary to create a dummy assembly and move all of the parts that you want to layout into it (aquiring workmanager permissions first) and run through the painfully slow me10 or AM module layout process then actually plot it. This is a common capability with other systems ie PRO-E, Intergraph, etc.

[Claus Brod]

Dan &amp; Robert,<p> thanks a lot for the explanations. I am assuming that what you really want is a hardcopy of the shaded model and that you are currently using the layout mechanism only as a workaround - is that correct?<p> Thanks,<p> Claus

[Robert Bruce]

Claus, Yes, LAYOUT is being used as a work around, but it does provide a better line representation of the part than is available in SD (using a laser printer). Unfortunately, the DUMP command in VIEWPORT provides a very low resolution line representation and HR DUMP seems to be inconsistent in its results. I would like the option of printing at 1:1 scale whatever parts are currently shown on the screen (ON in DRAWLIST) as Dan mentioned and I would like it to be plotted to reflect the settings in the 3D Geometry settings in SHOW (e.g. SHADED ON, EDGED ON, HIDDEN SUPPRESSED ON, WIRE OFF, etc.). WRT creating copies for faxing, one problem is that DUMP attempts to represent the colors of the lines on laser printes and the result is that, depending on the part color, some lines are printed very light and are hard to see or reproduce on a copier or fax. I think the B&W copy issue is referring to this??

[Claus Brod]

Robert,<p> <blockquote> Claus, Yes, LAYOUT is being used as a work around, but it does provide a better line representation of the part than is available in SD (using a laser printer). Unfortunately, the DUMP command in VIEWPORT provides a very low resolution line representation and HR DUMP seems to be inconsistent in its results. <blockquote> You say that HR DUMP produces inconsistent results - could you explain this in a little more detail?<p> Thanks!<p> Claus

[Dan White]

Claus & Robert, So far it seems that Robert and I have the exact same need. Additionally I would like the ability to select other scales also 1:2 2:1 etc. Dan

[Robert Bruce]

Claus, One of the problems that I have seen with HR DUMP is that the actual printed output is a different view (zoomed, scaled ,panned or a combination of these but not a change of view direction) of what I had displayed in the viewport. I have also had some parts not print, but I think this was due to color selections on the part in SD that did not map to the laser printer. I have experimented with this and some colors do not print. I have also had a small "+" appear in the printed output and I think this might be related to the cursor? We were told at one time to not move the mouse after pressing the OK button while HR DUMP was running. I am not sure if this helps or not. So far, my experience with SD6.0 leads me to believe there have been some improvements in this routine. My recent experimentation is giving better results than I have previously experienced. There is one other SD user here and he has seen some of these same inconsistencies, but we really have not had a chance to put 6.0 to the test.

[Claus Brod]

Robert,<p> not moving the mouse during high-resolution dumps will help to minimize the crosshair (+) issue you're describing. The best thing would probably be to move the cursor out of the viewport and let it stay there while the dump is processed.<p> I have submitted the issues you are describing to our internal bug report/enhancement request tracking system to make sure they will be looked at in some more detail. I cannot promise anything here, though.<p> Claus