Architecture for Students tutorial- Adobe AutoCad printing

You've done your drawing, you've added people, trees and made it pretty, you're happy with it; all you need to do now is get your drawing from Autocad into a file which you can print or send off via email. But how do you do that?

Sure you could just print straight from AutoCad onto a plotter, I mean I do alot of the time with my drawings. But what if you want to import it into Photoshop or Coral Draw for some tidying up. What if you want it into a pdf for emailing.

This took me a while to really get a hold of.....but once you know how its a piece of piss.....opps

How to print to an EPS file from AutoCad to later use in applications like Photoshop.

1. Add a EPS plotter to Autocad using the Add Plotter Wizard, select tools>Wizards>add plotter.

2. A dialog box will appear, click next.

3.The "begin" dialog box appear, click My computer and then next.

4.The "Plotter Model" dialog appears, click on "Adobe" in teh Manufactures list. There should be three options in the Models section. Select "Postscript Level 2".

5. The next dialog box is the "Import pcp or Pc2". Forget this as its regarding a physical printer/plotter and we want to plot to a file. Just select the Next button.

6. Select the "Plot to File" option at the top of the Dialog box and press Next.

7. This Dialog box asks you to give it a name. You can either leave it as it is or name it. I name mine Photoshop EPS File to remember easily.

8. The last dialog box asks for you to change anything. Just hit Finish and your done.

9. Check that the Plotter is there by going to File>Plot. Under the Plot device tab and in Plot Configuration section scroll down to find your EPS plotter. Once selected, choose a destination for your EPS file by checking the "Plot to File" box at the bottom and selecting a destination. I always put desktop because its easier. Put in a scale you want and all the other settings that you may want. Once done press plot and you file appears as an EPS file on your desktop to a scale that you have selected. You can now open that file in photoshop at a perfect resolution.

How to print to a PDF file staight from AutoCad.

There is this awsome, FREE programme called pdf995 which is a free download from their website, www.pdf995.com.

Theres loads cool stuff there but the one you want is called "pdf995". The compnay I work for at the moment showed me it. It's basically a printer driver that works with any Postscript to PDF converter. . Dont worry about the knowledge, just download the two things and your sorted.

This means you can produce pdf file of your work to print off in any printing services, send it as an attachment in an email etc etc.

Hope this help guys and check out the Adobe products, they do student packs which I bought which is well worth getting.

Stay tuned......cya

Picture courtesy of Autodesk AutoCad 2009

CS4 Design Premium - Student Edition