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With the introduction of MicroStation V8i, several printing/plotting options will be available. This technote will explain the different options and answer questions existing users may have.
Batch Print is no longer delivered in the File pull down in MicroStation V8i. The replacement for Batch Print is Print Organizer.
Print Organizer is a utility for creating, managing, and publishing project deliverables. Print Organizer is a batch printing utility for printing and reprinting sets of files and models stored in a print set file. The individual files and models are called print definitions and can be grouped in folders and sub-folders. The collection of print definitions is called a print set file.
Another advantage of Print Organizer over Batch Print is that each print definition can have its own settings whereas with Batch Print, any changes affect all plots in the batch job.
Legacy data created for the Batch Printing utility such as pen tables and job set files are supported in Print Organizer.
If you prefer to use Batch Print until you become proficient with Print Organizer you can use the key-in ‘mdl load batchplt'.
MicroStation PDF Composer was introduced with MicroStation V8 2004 Edition as a tool for users to easily take a set of design files and create a content rich PDF.
There is no MicroStation PDF Composer for the V8i release. Since ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer V8i is enabled by a ProjectWise Passport, and all MicroStation SELECT subscribers receive a ProjectWise Passport subscription as a no-charge benefit of SELECT, MicroStation users now have a license to run ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer.
ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer V8i has all the features that you had with your MicroStation PDF Composer. Any plot set (IPS), Design Script (PEN) or Settings (SET) files that you have created with MicroStation PDF Composer will continue to work with ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer. Additional format support is provided with ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer to include your PDF and Microsoft Office (DOC, XLS and PPT) documents in plot sets. This enables you to create a complete PDF document of both your plans and specifications. You must load Adobe Acrobat or Ghostscript (free download) on your machine to process Microsoft Office files to PDF using ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer.
You are not required to be a ProjectWise or ProjectWise InterPlot Server user to use ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer, but it does integrate well with ProjectWise and you can take advantage of ProjectWise InterPlot Server's added functionality of true network plotting and its digital plan room.
MicroStation PDF Composer V8 2004 Edition and V8 XM will continue to be available as users migrate to ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer V8i.
You will need to remove MicroStation PDF Composer before loading ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer.
ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer is state retentive while Print Organizer is not. This means that ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer will remember the settings defined in the plot set such as level settings and reference file settings. Print Organizer does not retain this information and will update the print definitions to the current state of the design file being referenced. There is no guarantee that what you plotted the last time is what you will get on the next plot.
The PDFs created from Print Organizer is not as robust as the PDFs created from ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer. Print Organizer allows PDF creation including bookmarks, engineering links, optional content, searchable text and 3d PDFs. In addition, ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer allows intelligent PDF creation including MicroStation Project Explorer links, digital signature fields, and object properties. PDFs created from Print Organizer do not maintain the scale info for the measurement commands in Acrobat while PDFs created from ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer do maintain this feature.
Print Organizer allows only MicroStation design files (DGNs) and AutoCAD drawing files (DWGs) to be added to the print set file. ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer allows raster files, Office documents such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, PDF documents, and dpr file in addition to MicroStation design files and AutoCAD drawing files.
Additional advantages ProjectWise InterPlot Organizer include:
Depending on what software is installed, you may see up to 5 printing options in the File pull down menu in MicroStation V8i:
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