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gaztech46
United Kingdom
27 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Feb 2015 : 16:46:08
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Hi,
Is there a way to print just a "selected area" of a schematic to pdf (or possibly direct to printer)?
I have a design that is very long across the page (landscape). When I try and print this to pdf (so that I can print it out to build a prototype) The PDF contains ALL the schematic and comes out tiny on A4 - crammed on the page.
I want to be able to print each stage of my schematic out on separate sheets so it would be ideal to only print the area I've highlighted. Doesn't matter if I have to set each sheet up separately to print - it's just that I can't find a way to do it.
Any ideas anyone? (I wish I had an A3 printer!)
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edrees
United Kingdom
779 Posts |
Posted - 23 Feb 2015 : 16:50:08
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Use the Windows snip tool.
Or print onto multiple A4 sheets (with an overlap), then use lots of sellotape! |
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Mike Warren
Australia
124 Posts |
Posted - 23 Feb 2015 : 20:39:43
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Using a calculator, you could manually enter offsets and scale in the "Position" tab of the print dialogue.
http://mike-warren.net/elect/epc-print-output.jpg
But for the future, I suggest you break your schematic into multiple sheets.
I created a set of rectangles to match various paper sizes and always place one of them as the first step in any page creation.
http://mike-warren.net/elect/a4-schematic.jpg
The I use an "Off-Page" symbol and display the net name for any nets that go to other pages. In the project in this picture there were only 2 pages, otherwise I would also have added some text listing the page this went to.
http://mike-warren.net/elect/epc-off-page.jpg
Occasionally I'll use a larger frame than the size I intend to print when I really only want one sheet. In these cases I have to accept that my schematic will print smaller than is comfortable to read. I would use an A3 frame but print at A4 and everything comes out at half the normal size.
http://mike-warren.net |
Edited by - Mike Warren on 23 Feb 2015 20:43:34 |
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gaztech46
United Kingdom
27 Posts |
Posted - 24 Feb 2015 : 09:22:37
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Ah... so the program doesn't do it natively then...
Fair enough - but I think it should do without having to resort to other means. Maybe one for the wishlist?
There are however some good suggestions here which I will try. Thanks for your input guys! |
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gaztech46
United Kingdom
27 Posts |
Posted - 24 Feb 2015 : 10:21:00
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So..... The ideas here got me thinking and I reckon I've actually found a better way to do it.
Using snip works - but you lose resolution.
Manually entering offsets also works but it's a lot of faffing about.
I had a copy of Acrobat Pro lying around so I installed it instead of the Reader software and did some experimenting. I found that if you print/plot the schematic to a long pdf (one that wouldn't fit an A4 page), with the Acrobat tools you can bound and crop each "area" you want, print it, then "undo" your crop - then bound/crop the next area you need to print and so on...
It's very quick, is a "visual" way to do it and most important, you don't lose resolution. All you need to do to print the chosen layout is to set your printer to print to A4, select the "Fit" option and set to "Portrait". Once this is set you can print one after the other in seconds.
Doing it this way it's irrelevant what size the whole sheet is as you can break it up into any number of parts. If individual parts of the schematic are drawn as modules (this is how mine is) then you can print each module piece out to get paperwork to build your prototype.
Quick, easy, simple. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Works great.
Hope this helps someone else. I guess you don't need Acrobat Pro as there are other free utilities that will edit PDF's - but note that you can't do this with just the Acrobat Reader software.
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John Baraclough
United Kingdom
129 Posts |
Posted - 24 Feb 2015 : 12:51:35
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A single schematic workspace can accommodate at least 12 A4 pages. No need for inter-sheet connectors just label your nets and add some A4 size boxes like Mike says. Actually A3 pages printed on A4 paper are quite readable.
To get the chunks you need in the right size go to the "Output->Plotting & Printing" pull-down menu and create an EPJ file. You can add as many plots as you like to the list, one for each section of the schematic.
Don't try to use the built-in PDF output but install a PDF printer driver such as CutePdf. It works much better.
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Birthdays are good for you: the more you have, the longer you live ... and I've had lots of them so I should know! |
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Printing Selected Area to PDF