oakabogie89 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Hi everyone, When I'm working on a project I currently need to download a compressed DWGs folders online and store it into a project folder I setup. From there I unzip the folder, open up each drawing individually (the number of drawings vary for each project), and then print out each drawing individually to PDF. I'm new to coding, and am not sure if this is realistic, but is there a way to automate the process I just listed above, or is that too ambitious? If anything, just having some kind of script to just print all the DWG files in that folder to PDFs, and then have those PDFs stored in that same folder would be sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Welcome to CADTutor, and the Dark Side. Are you still using LT, as that will limit the available options? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGAL Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Like Blackbox further info needed, do the dwg's have multiple layouts, do you know the name of the layouts before you start ? With Full Autocad you can do plot all with no user interaction. It may be possible to copy and paste to the command line a sequence of plot and change layout commands, Steven-g where are you ? ; lisp code ("-PLOT" "Y" "" "CLR-PRN03" "A3 (297 x 420 mm)" "m" "LANDSCAPE" "N" "W" "-6,-6" "807,560" "1=2" "C" "y" "DesignlaserCOLOUR.ctb" "Y" "n" "n" "y" "N" "N" "y") ; also -layout set layout1 Zoom E etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakabogie89 Posted January 29, 2015 Author Share Posted January 29, 2015 Yes, I have AutoCAD LT 2011. In response to the other comment it does not have multiple layers. The DWGs I wish to convert to PDF always open up in Layout 1. There are just multiple DWG files I need to open up and convert to PDFs, and the process is very repetitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Yes, I have AutoCAD LT 2011. Then you are relegated to using Scripts & Macros only... LT does not support any other programming interface, such as LISP, VBA, .NET, etc. (only full versions). Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGAL Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Something like this open dwg1 -layout set layout1 pspace zoom e -PLOT Y plottername A3 m LANDSCAPE N W -6,-6 807,560 1=2 C y Designlaser.ctb Y N N N N N Y close open dwg2 and so on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakabogie89 Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Thanks for the responses everyone. While the layout that needs printing doesn't change, the names of the drawings vary from site to site (Ex: 876898_A_14-I, 876898_A_29-P, and this is for one site, the 6 digit number changes on each site), so I'm pretty sure I need to take a different approach, or do I? Ha. I'm currently trying to think if there's a way to use the Publish tool for my problem, but it seems pretty picky about where to place the files and which files to select (I'm new to this command). Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 FWIW - I prefer the Autopublish Mechanism over that of Publish, personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGAL Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Going back to scripts for a moment a lisp can write a script so you could pick multiple drawings and make a new script, but as you have LT a different approach, you could use excel it has VBA built in so again pick dwg file. Another is to use word make a list of your dwgnames add directory etc have a play with replace using ^p this is the end of line and you can put stuff before and after add multi lines all sorts of things very quickly. Try on a simple dwg list replace ^p ^pOpen, replace ^p ^p-layout set layout1^p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YZ Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Printing a PDF of a drawing can be easily achieved with a script, much like BIGAL has outlined. It will save a PDF of the same file name in the same location. Then you can create a batch file that can run on every file in a folder. This will be the best approach for LT. Well worth the time learning how to do it. The batch file will loop through each file in the specified folder and perform the following: open AutoCAD, open the file, run the script file (in which you print the pdf), close AutoCAD. Script and batch files you can create using Notepad.txt files, and then rename them to .scr and .bat files once they are ready. Surprisingly easy once you know how. I find it easiest to do it one folder at a time, then simply change the paths in the .bat file, and run it again for a different folder. If that wa not powerful enough you could probably work out a way to move them all into a single folder, but it all depends on the scope of this job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Does LT not support the Autopublish mechanism? I use this to produce PDF of drawing at *SAVE* per named Page Setup; no manual plot or publish needed, just do your work and save drawing. Lemon squeezy. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGAL Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 This will be the best approach for LT. Well worth the time learning how to do it. The power of excel it has a full programming language built in so many tasks can be automated get excel to write the script, it is not really that hard. Think outside the square. Scripts can be so powerful its a case of working with what you have. Give a man a bigger hammer he can hit it harder but will the soft approach not damage it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakabogie89 Posted February 2, 2015 Author Share Posted February 2, 2015 Wow, thanks again everyone. This forum has proved to be very helpful so far. I'll follow up and try to teach myself the methods everyone has previously laid out and will let you know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YZ Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Does LT not support the Autopublish mechanism? I use this to produce PDF of drawing at *SAVE* per named Page Setup; no manual plot or publish needed, just do your work and save drawing. Lemon squeezy. Cheers It seems LT has Autopublish. I have never actually used it. Interesting thought. I'll follow up and try to teach myself the methods everyone has previously laid out and will let you know how it goes. You're welcome. Send through any specific questions if you hit any walls. Someone will be able to solve it for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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