Modifies a PC3 file's plotter port connections and output settings, including media, graphics, physical pen configuration, custom properties, initialization strings, calibration, and user-defined paper sizes. You can drag these configuration options from one PC3 file to another.
You can start the Plotter Configuration Editor with any of the following methods:
Depending on your configured plotting device, additional options may be available on the Device and Document Settings tab. For example, when you configure a nonsystem plotter, you can modify the pen characteristics.
Contains basic information about the plotter configuration (PC3) file. You can add or modify the information in the Description area. The remainder of the tab is read-only.
Displays the file name you assigned in the Add-a-Plotter wizard.
Displays information you want to include about the plotter.
Displays the following information:
Changes communication settings between the configured plotter and your computer or network system. You can specify whether you want to plot through a port, plot to a file, or use AutoSpool.
If you plot through a parallel port, you can specify the timeout value. If you plot through a serial port, you can change the baud rate, protocol, flow control, and input and output timeout values.
Sends the drawing to the plotter through the selected port.
Sends the drawing to the file specified in the Plot dialog box.
Uses the AutoSpool utility to plot the drawing. AutoSpool is specified on the Files tab in the Options dialog box.
Displays a list and description of available ports, both local and network. If the port is a network port, the name of the network printer is also displayed.
Shows all available ports on the computer regardless of the ports available on the plotter.
Displays the network choices so you can connect to another instance of a nonsystem plotter.
Displays either the Configure LPT Port dialog box or the Settings for COM Port dialog box.
Controls many of the settings in the PC3 file. Click the icon for any of the nodes to view and change the specific settings. When you change a setting, your changes appear in angle brackets (< >) next to the setting name. A check mark is also displayed over the icon of the node with a changed value.
Specifies a paper source, size, type, and destination. Available settings depend on the supported features of your configured plotter. For Windows system printers, you must configure the media settings using the Custom Properties node.
Specifies the paper source and size.
Displays a list of the media types supported by the plotter configuration.
Determines double-sided printing and binding margin. Binding margin options are available only for plotters that support duplex printing.
Displays a list of available media destinations for the configured plotter, such as collating, cutting, and stapling. These options are available only for plotters that support this function.
Controls the specific pens in the pen plotter. The lower pane of the Device and Document Settings tab displays a table used to describe the color, width, and speed of each pen in the plotter.
Specifies settings for pen plotters.
To plot your drawing correctly on a pen plotter, you need to provide information about the pens in your plotter. For each pen in your plotter, specify a color and width. To optimize pen performance, you can specify a speed.
Specifying pen characteristics here doesn't replace the pen tables you might have imported from PCP, PC2, or CFG files from AutoCAD Release 14, AutoCAD LT ® 98, or earlier releases.
Specifies settings for printing vector graphics, raster graphics, and TrueType text. Depending on the capabilities of the plotter, you can modify color depth, resolution, and dithering. You can select either color or monochrome output for vector drawings. When printing raster images on a plotter with limited memory, you can improve performance by making some changes to the quality of the printed output. If you use a nonsystem plotter that supports varying amounts of installed RAM, you can provide that information to improve performance.
Provides the program with the amount of total memory (RAM) installed on a nonsystem plotter. This option is only available for nonWindows system printers that accept optional memory. If your plotter has extra memory, specify the total amount of memory.
Provides options for specifying the color depth, resolution, and dithering of vector output. Some of the Vector Graphics options are closely interrelated; changing an option can affect other available options.
Specifies trade-offs between plotting speed and output quality when plotting raster objects. If you reduce the image quality, you increase output speed. If your system resources are limited, reducing image quality can reduce the chance of running out of memory while plotting. These options are available only for raster devices, not pen plotters.
On Windows system printers, specifies whether to plot TrueType text as a graphic image or as text. Plotting as a graphic guarantees that the text is printed as displayed, at the expense of slowing down the plotter and using more memory. Plotting as TrueType text prints faster and uses less memory; the plotter may use a different font for printing.
On raster plotters, controls the appearance of lines that cross. Merge control is not effective if your plotter is configured to plot everything as black or if you are using PostScript language.
Modifies the device-specific properties for the plotter configuration. The settings for each plotter vary. If the plotter manufacturer has not included a Custom Properties dialog box for the device driver, the Custom Properties option is disabled. For some drivers, such as ePlot, this is the only tree view option that is displayed. For Windows system printers, most of the device-specific settings are made in this dialog box. For more information about the custom properties settings for your device, choose Help in the Custom Properties dialog box.
Attaches a PMP file to the PC3 file, calibrates the plotter, and adds, deletes, revises, or filters custom paper sizes. You can also modify standard paper sizes. This node accesses the Plotter Calibration and Custom Paper Size wizards. If the plotter you are using has been calibrated, a Plotter Model Parameter (PMP) file contains that calibration information. If the PMP file is not already attached to the PC3 file you are editing, you must create that association so you can use the PMP file. If the plotter was calibrated from within the Add-a-Plotter wizard while creating the current PC3 file, the PMP file is already attached. Use the PMP File Name option under User-defined Paper Sizes & Calibration to attach a PMP file to, or detach the PMP file from, the PC3 file you are editing.
Creates a customized paper size or changes the printable area of a standard or nonstandard paper size. With the Custom Paper Size wizard you can create a new paper size, or select from a list of available paper sizes (from a PMP file) if the plotter is not a Windows system printer. If the plotter is a Windows system printer, use Custom Properties. You can add, delete, and edit your paper size.
Each plotter has a maximum printable area determined by where it grips the paper and how far the pen shuttle can reach. If you are creating a paper size that is larger than the paper sizes offered in the Plotter Configuration Editor, verify that the plotter is capable of plotting the new dimensions.
Adjusts the printable area for standard paper sizes to match the printer's capabilities. (You can't create custom paper sizes for Windows system printers using the Plotter Configuration Editor.)
Filters the list of paper sizes displayed for the plotting device selected in the Plot and Page Setup dialog boxes. The list of paper sizes is displayed on the Plot Settings tab in the Plot dialog box and on the Layout Settings tab in the Page Setup dialog box. Select the paper sizes you want to display for this device.
Starts the Plotter Calibration wizard. If you need to correct scaling discrepancies, you can adjust the plotter calibration using the Plotter Calibration wizard.
Attaches a PMP file to or detaches a PMP file from the PC3 file you are editing. Use the Detach button to break the association between the PMP file and the PC3 file.
Imports file information from earlier versions of the program. If you have a PCP or PC2 file from an earlier version, you can import some of the information in those files into a PC3 file. PC3 files store plotter name, port information, pen optimization level, paper size, and resolution.
Saves a PC3 File to a new file name.
Restores the settings on the Device and Document Settings tab back to the default settings.