auto paper size

[alat]

hi,

i am looking for a lisp that can generate a paper size according to the layout i created (with scale i chose).

i use many size of layout sizes, and i dont want to create manualy a new custom paper size each time.

the lisp will identify the size i need and will create one.

is there a lisp close to this description?

 

[BIGAL]

Do you not have fixed paper sizes ? eg A1 A2 A3 A4 24x36 24x18.

 

If your using layouts it should match a known size but the mview is at scale. Yes it exists ask for sheet size and scale.

 

 

If your asking for say roll feed sizes ie long length plots then google over at forums/autodesk, it was answered their. Bottom line though you must have custom sizes pre made to choose from.

[Dahzee]

@alat,

I think you are going to be disappointed unless you have a set list of custom sizes to choose from.

 

Autocad (or any of the clones) as far as I am aware don't have any way to access custom page sizes as there is no API for printing.

 

I would really like to have something similar (especially where PDF creation is concerned) whereby I could just select the entities I wanted to print and the system would create a page size to suit (based on the scale I wanted), but there don't seem to be any mechanisms built in to achieve this.

 

I am more than happy to be proved wrong.

[alat]

Quote

Do you not have fixed paper sizes ? eg A1 A2 A3 A4 24x36 24x18.

no, i create different size each time.

 

the way i make the layout: i create a rectangle and than a lisp create me a layout of this polygon with the scale i choose.

i dont even know what size the layout size is.

so when i create the paper size is trial and error.

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by alat

[sanju2323]

Easy Printing program

This program automatically detects paper size and can print on any plotter.

[alat]

looks nice, but i also want to use the plot setting of autocad when i print

[sanju2323]

for example?

[alat]

Change printing colours 

[Steven P]

I am with BigAl here, most plotters will have discrete sizes as a default, European ae 'A' sizes for example A1, A2, A3 and so on, and it is most convenient to use them. For PDFs I'd assume that these are generated to send outside of your organisation, to a customer or client, and here, they will usually prefer a standard paper size - if they print the PDF onto paper odd paper sizes might get corrected to give strange scales and even distortions.

 

So my thought would be to ask can you alter your thinking about a bit so that you plot by default to the standard paper sizes, using your scale factor to select the most suitable paper to fit your drawing?

[alat]

I only need specific area of the drawing, so most of the time the paper size that I create is very different from the usual sizes.

If I use the normal sizes it doesn't suit for my needs

[Steven P]

Can I just check, do you plot from model space or paper space?

[BIGAL]

We always work as suggested here to say a Client request size so when they print them it looks right. Yes can do the scale of sheet.

 

Why not just have a block or another dwg with your sheets in it at true scale so can drag over your dwg and make a more educated guess. 

 

[alat]

You can see here the differences between the rectangles.

Each rectangle is for different team of workers.

I can't use regular sizes

Edited September 29, 2023 by alat

[BIGAL]

That looks like road works, and yes that is what I have done most of my life and there is no way that I would be doing it like that, or my old team 6 road designers. Your plans would have been rejected.

 

Yes can do autolayouts and they are at correct size for a given scale of sheet, yes can do the little detail rectangs as well. 

Follow a pline.

[alat]

I know I can work like your way, but I am looking for a lisp that work like my way.

It will help me a lot 

Edited October 1, 2023 by alat

[SLW210]

AFAIK, the paper sizes are determined by the plotter/printer driver and you need a lot more than LISP to add custom sizes on the fly with programming.

 

Maybe you could with a different PDF plotter driver than the Autodesk supplied if you want PDFs. Look for something open source might be best. 

 

Probably .net or maybe Python would do this.

 

Why not just select the closest standard size to what you need?

 

I take it these are not actually being plotted, so what exactly is being done with them?

[alat]

Sometimes I print them on a few A3.

What about a long a0, how to set the length each time?

 

[Steven P]

The trick for a lot of LISPs is to work how you do what you want to do without using a dialogue box - LISP struggles with them. So far unfortunately I haven't found a way to create paper sizes without the dialogue box... which is why I guess no one has popped on yet with a LISP to do just that. Note the comments above that it is plotter settings as well as AutoCAD settings that need to be controlled.

 

So the solutions above are to create your plot using paperspace and viewports which works nicely for almost all the work I have ever done. 1 drawing springs to mind that didn't which was a 3mile long site plan, plotted to the full width of a roll (3 miles) but only '1mile' in the other direction.. rarely plotted that one though.

 

What you might consider is to look at your most frequent paper sizes, and plot paper space to one of them even if it isn't quite perfect. LISP can help here, you select the area to plot, LISP can work out the next papersize up and either generate the paperspace or switch to the most suitable one (these could all be set up in a template file) and then plot. However it is still in essence plotting to a standard paper size (even if you created that)

[meinfilel]

Maybe this is a good start: https://github.com/avbrakel/unzip_pc3 although I've failed adding custom paper as it requires editing 3 sections of the .pmp file and it's not clear what is neccessary for each section. 

[alat]

At least there is a way to determine which size i need to create?