AutoLISP to print Custom Paper Size dynamically from Polyline/Layout geometry (ex: a3 extended,...)

[cando]

Body: Hi everyone,

I am looking for a LISP routine or a workflow to automate the printing process for non-standard sheet sizes.

The problem: I frequently work with layouts of varying dimensions. Currently, I have to manually create a new "Custom Paper Size" in the Plotter Configuration (.pc3) every time I encounter a new size, which is very time-consuming.

My goal: I need a Lisp that allows me to select a rectangular area (or a closed Polyline) representing the plot boundary. The routine should then:

Detect the width and height of the selection.

Automatically generate (or set) a matching custom paper size for the PDF plotter.

Set the plot scale to 1:1 (1 mm = 1 drawing unit).

Has anyone achieved this automation or can suggest a workaround?

Thanks in advance!

[SLW210]

I have moved your thread to the AutoLISP, Visual LISP & DCL Forum. In the future please post in the appropriate forum.

 

 

[Dahzee]

@cando I think you will find this is the big drawback of the way AutoCAD (and all of its clones) creates page setups and sizes.

 

This wasn't really a problem when everything was actually printed onto standard paper sizes, but now we have PDFs, which can have much more varied page sizes. This highlights the limitations of the way printing is achieved in AutoCAD.

 

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the way AutoCAD prints; it just has limitations with custom pages.

 

I think it is exacerbated with there being very limited access programmatically to the whole print/page setup.

 

As you can appreciate, there is a lot of flexibility in the setup of multiple pages and scales the way it works at the moment, so someone would have to think long and hard about another way of achieving everything you have already and then incorporating another way of having custom pages into it.

 

Sorry if that isn't what you wanted to hear.

[SLW210]

Maybe this one? Solved: Automatic Papersize - Autodesk Community

[BIGAL]

My first comment is when you hard print the pdf you have to pick a paper size so why would you not just pick a paper size to start with ? I do not understand the Custom scale size needed. In the world you are normally metric or imperial paper sizes.

 

You can easily with a lisp etc plot a standard sheet size in a layout that has a Viewport at the correct scale. I think that is the step your not understanding, many example code does exist. For me a couple of  choices make multiple layouts at scale walking along a pline, make multiple rectangs in Model at a scale matching viewports and title blocks  in layouts.

 

In this image select a title block and scale pick on Model and correct layout is made. A rectang is drawn in the model showing the result so you can accept or erase and run again. You can move and rotate the rectang before making the matching layout.