SSM Plot Offset Issue

[Anonymous]

Hiya - I've set up a batch plot through the Sheet Set Manager in AutoCAD 2014,

and when I plot each file (about 80 sheets in total), the plot window is fine however plotting through SSM seems to offset everything just slightly.

Have attached two screen captures for reference.

Have tried to plot using extents, realigning the title blocks, offsetting the plot window but to no avail.

Any advice appreciated!

[chriscowgill7373]

Have you tried setting up a named page setup?  I've never had an issue like this when using named setups. sometimes the settings that are there when using publish can be different than plotting, but when you use a named page setup, you are almost guaranteed to get the same result.

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

I see that you are visiting as a new member. Welcome to the Autodesk Community! 

I suggest that you create a new PC3 configuration for your plotter and then create named Page Setups to apply to your drawings in Publish as Christopher has suggested.  You might also open some of the drawings and make sure that they are nice and clean (Audit, Purge, -Purge>Regapps).  You might even try using a different CTB file to see if that helps.

Does this happen with all printers including DWG to PDF?

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

I am checking back to see if my post or @chriscowgill7373 helped you with your problem. Please add a post with how you decide to proceed and your results so other Community members may benefit.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if a post or posts solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi @john.vellek,

Thanks for your and @chriscowgill7373's responses - unfortunately I have not had any further success with the offset issue. I have set up a new PC3 file, tested a few .ctb options and have made a new named Page Setup Override.

Not sure what to do now, have had to resort to plotting individual pages, which will become a pain when attempting to issue a drawing set of about 50 drawings total!

Best,

Fiona

[Cadologist · Accepted solution]

To confirm, are  you plotting directly to hardcopy (paper) or to DWF or PDF? I've run into a variety of issues with PDFs from text being cut off, to parts of the page missing to blank sheets missing completely on a batch plot.  If you were plotting from DWG to PDF, try DWF..... you can always plot a DWF to PDF using a PDF driver to get a more desirable result.

Sounds like you checked everything in the page setup (layout, CTB, etc.)

A workaround that I found useful was to get one sheet to plot correctly and save it as a Page Setup. Assuming all the other drawings within the SSM (Sheet Set Manager) were created with the same template, so very likely all sheet borders/title blocks are in the exact same location (coordinates), otherwise this may not work.

Enter Publish to open the dialog box and drag/drop all the drawings you need to plot, including the one with the "good" Page setup. You can drag/drop the drawing files from Windows Explorer into the Publish dialog box.  

Once you have all the drawings that you need to plot (i.e.: the 50 drawings you said earlier), you can then IMPORT the "good" page setup into all the drawings you dropped into the Publish dialog box. Once the imported page setup is applied to each sheet (you can use the control key + a) press PUBLISH.

I have had great last-minute success with this approach whenever there was a plotting issue where something was just not working correctly.  Give it a try, good luck!

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

Is it possible to attach a sample Sheet set that behaves like this? I would like to examine your page setup.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Cadologist,

I ran into an issue where I could only export Page Setups as PC3 files but could only import PCP or PC2 files into a new page setup.

What I ended up doing was manually measuring the approximate offset error and fixing it that way.

Seems to now plot correctly as a batch.

Thanks for your replies and suggestions though! (Thank you also @john.vellek for your assistance)

[Anonymous]

Dear Mr.Fionar

Can you just make it more clear, by just doing a screen cast or so, that will help us out with this trick in future.

Thanks in advance

Regards

DMC

[Anonymous]

Dear Mr. CADOLOGIST

Can you please do a screen cast on the same and publish it here, so that it will be more helpful for us.

Thanks in advance

Regards

DMC

[Cadologist]

Good Morning di****hmc,

I will look into developing a Screencast for this solution (but it may be delayed due to corporate workloads and my preparation for my class at AU2017 this year). I was planning to screencast several other solutions for future reference but have yet to spend enough time in that area. Great idea by the way!