I use PO for three things
a- plot to A3 laser
b - plot colour pdf
c - plot bw pdf.
Very often the same set of files.
What is best workflow to do that?
Create three different pset-files, or use one pset and apply new print style all the time?
pros and cons?
Since the initial inception of PO the product has gotten a lot better. I really like the concept of the variable print definition, but there is a major flaw that keeps me from fully integrating it into my workflow. When Variable Print Definitions is enabled you are not able to set the scale to something other than what is set in the Print Style you select. I work in the highway design and we utilize a lot of different scales. It is possible to set up and maintain Print Styles to set each scale but there are a lot of times where I need to apply a scale that I do not have a set print style. If I add all of my sheets using Variable Print Defs I can not change the scale. Two of the greatest advantages for me are:
1. I can add multiple files in different directories at one shot. Using Fixed Print Defs I can add an entire plan set to PO. I use a Print Style set to maximize the drawing to the sheet then I manually edit the scale by selection set to the actual scale of the drawing. There are usually sheets ranging from a 1:1 scale, 1:200, 1:2640, 1:5, 1:25. The sheets at 1:200 & 1:2640 often vary to many other different scales depending on the size of the project. I also need to be able to change the color mode at times among other settings where the Manually Specified Options is not available when adding Variable Print Defs to the set. (We need Variable Print Defs because we utilize more than one sheet per model).
2. As mentioned above, I can have sheets with multiple scales in the same Print Set. In the old Batch Print we had to have separate .job file for each different scale. It is much easier to maintain one .pset than many .job files.
If the product would allow us to apply Manually Specified Options I could then fully integrate it into my workflow. We need the ability to add files that contain multiple plot boundaries in one file and adjust the scale. The greatest part of the Variable Print Def is to allow the files with multiple boundaries is the product is able to pick up sheets added or removed from these files without having to add or remove those sheets manually.
I like to add all of my sheets to a set at one time before I close the Add Files dialog and apply the Maximize scale print style to see what the scale of the sheets will be. Then I go back with selection sets within PO and modify the scale accordingly. I can not do this with Variable Print Defs.
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Any more discussion on any of these points? I think this is an important thread. I am thinking about filing a change request for Variable Print Definitions
Filing a change request is certainly the best approach. It should include as highly detailed explanation of your desired workflow as possible, simliar to what you wrote above, along with why the currently available workflows are unsatisfactory. Product managers review change requests and use them to make decisions on features and functionality, even if certain requests cannot be reasonably addressed.
What you describe sounds like a fairly chaotic workflow, and I believe is outside the realm of the problem that variable (e.g. style-based) print definitions were intended to solve. That said, I can imagine the concept of a variable print definition storing not just the name of a print style but the contents of a print style as well. Adding such capability would be non-trivial, and be moving in the opposite direction from simplicity, but would be considered if there were sufficient demand and justification for it.
Even if "manually specified options" were allowed to be used in conjunction with variable print definitions, it would not work if differently scaled sheets were drawn into the same model. Without using fixed print definitions, there is no way to identify and apply unique print parameters to individual boundaries within the model.
I suspect that much of your print workflow complexity stems from continued use of multiple boundaries in a single model. If you switched (I'll go ahead and say "upgraded") to sheet models where each sheet model was set up using the appropriate print scale, then you might find it easier to automate your printing tasks.
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Andrew,
Thanks for the input. I do not have files with boundaries requiring different print scales. If we have a file with multiple boundaries all of those boundaries would print at the same scale. I am not looking for anything complex. I think it would be easy to allow us to define a custom scale to a variable print definition. This would be used for something like cross section & profiles. My intention would be to just leave variable print definitions set all the time, even for sheets with a single plot boundary. That way we do not need to switch it on and off.
I will take your advice and file a change request with a detailed description of what is needed. Hopefully others find this type of workflow desirable. For highway design we may add, remove & modify sheets many times making it hard to manage the .pset until the final submission.
Service Ticket 7000086641 has been filed.
Enhancement (Change Request) 68329