How to Print in ARCHLine.XP: Single & Multiple Sheets

Sometimes learning a new program can be a little bit confusing if you’re not sure what to do. ARCHLine.XP allows you to drag your plans, sections and elevations onto a sheet which can then be printed one-by-one or all at once! This quick tutorial will help you understand some of the basics when it comes to printing. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Plot Layout

ARCHLine.XP prints onto sheets called the “plot” layout. First you need to create a sheet. To create a sheet with a titleblock go plot layout > prepare plot layout.

Step 2: Paper Size

Select your paper size. For landscape the width needs to be the longest dimension and for portrait the height is the longest dimension. You can also use an existing title-block which automatically fills in all the project details you input when you start a new project. To fill in project details go file > BIM > project parameters and fill all this in.

Step 3: Add a Plotstamp (Titleblock)

For title-blocks, you can edit the 2D group and save as a new title-block or you can simply use a template version. You need to fill in all your project details. The way it works is that ARCHLine.XP keeps things linked through variables. Eg. $sheet (Sheet Number), $projnum (Project Number), $date (Date) are all linked variables. Whichever input one variable receives is updated throughout the whole project. So if you create a new plotstamp all you need to do is input the variables where you need to. You can even create your own variables that can be updated by right clicking on the plot stamp and > “refresh this”.

Here are some useful variables:

  • $project (Project Name)
  • $company (Company Name)
  • $compaddr (Company Address)
  • $designation (Designation)
  • $check (Controlled By)
  • $projnum (Project Number)
  • $scale (Scale)
  • $sheet (Sheet Number)
  • $BuildingType
  • $projectsite
  • $begindate
  • $enddate
  • $Construciton_type
  • $CurrentFloor
  • $ProjectLocation
  • $ProjectAddress
  • $ArchitectCompanyName
  • $ArchitectAddress
  • $designer
  • $Height_above_the_sea
  • $GrossArea

You can check this whenever you create a plot-stamp with variables. These variables are automatically filled in if you’ve filled in the BIM section.

Step 4: Rename View + Fill Out Titleblock (Optional)

You can always go back and rename your views and edit your titleblock. 

Step 5: Project Navigator

Remember to name your sheet and your tab in the project browser and the view to keep everything neat.

Step 6: Placing Floor Plans

Drag your dimensioned floor plan across from the project navigator onto your sheet and select a scale. 

Step 7: Position Your Plan

Position your plan on your sheet.

Step 8: Edit Crop Boundary

The crop boundaries can be dragged to crop out anything you don’t want to see. It also doesn’t necessarily have to be a square crop. You can add nodes and customise you crop boundary to any complex level of cropping that you prefer. Simply click on the boundary and either offset and drag or customise by adding nodes and dragging them. 

Step 9: Printing

Hit CTRL + P to go to the printing dialog. In the print settings we will need to have a pdf reader. Adobe is the best option. Select properties and add a paper size. For A2 we need to make sure the width is 594mm and the height is 420mm for landscape. For portrait it’s the other way around. Now we just save it as “A2 Landscape”. Next, at “Size” select “A2 Landscape”. Scale factor = 1:1. Center the plot needs to be checked. Preview needs to be on and orientation is default.

Step 10: Printing – Select View

Click on view and drag the windows to the edges of your page. Double check that these properties shown below are selected. Make sure preview is also on.

Step 11: Save as Style

In your dialog box, make sure that once everything is ticked properly you need to save it as a style. So every time we need to create a sheet we can simply select the predefined settings. For this one we will save it as “A2 Australian Print”. It can be whatever you like. For a new sheet all we then have to do is go to select this style that we just saved.

Step 12: Print it

For a single sheet, just hit okay and print it to pdf. To print multiple sheets, we can proceed to check out the next steps.

Step 13: Print Multiple Sheets

To print multiple sheets go to file > print queue. This is the dialog for printing multiple sheets at once. 

Step 14: Add All Your Sheets

For this step we hit the + icon and add all our sheets. Note this means we’re adding sheets, not views. We can go ahead and add everything into this dialog and print at once. 

Step 15: Add & Edit Sheets

For each sheet, we simply need to select the style we previously created and simply add it to this dialog. Once we’re done, we just hit print and it automatically puts all the sheets together in a single pdf. Done and dusted! 

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