All,
I'm attempting to take a load of work off of my back by creating an
automated print macro for our drafting department. Our current
workflow requires that we produce a PDF copy of every drawing we
generate - as well as a hardcopy. We are using AutoCAD 2008 along with
Adobe Acrobat 3D Version 8. Thus far, it has been the job of a single
person (me) to convert every drawing to PDF; I would like to simplify
the process. I currently have custom page setups for each of the sizes
we use; which I im****t for every drawing (very time consuming). I can
not save my custom page setups to the individual DWG files as they are
write protected. My idea is to create a custom toolbar with "A", "B",
"C", "D" buttons on it, linked to these buttons would be a macro that
loads the plot settings for that size drawing and then executes the
plot to PDF. Ideally the plot would be seamless (no dialog boxes). As
an added twist I would also like (if possible) to send the plot to a
laser printer at the same time. In a perfect world I would be able to
print a hardcopy from the newly created PDF, this is because prints
from PDF look much better than DWG's when they are reduced in size (we
print B, C & D sizes all on B size paper). I realize that generating a
hardcopy from a PDF is more of an Acrobat issue that an AutoCAD issue.
I can live with having to generate hard copies separately; the
automation process is the most im****tant goal for now. Does anyone
know if this is possible? Would it be best handled with LISP or VBA? I
have no knowledge of LISP and have only used VBA in Office with the
aid of a Macro recorder. Furthermore, Joe Sutphin was kind enough to
send me a copy of his VBA macro recorder to experiment with; results
to follow. Any advice you can provide will be appreciated. Paul
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