Creating Page Layouts, Printing And Emailing Plans And Images

This chapter explains how to use the Page Layout section to print out your plan, elevations, 3D views etc. It also explains how to save your page so it can be emailed direct to a customer. 

To enter Page Layout mode, click 'Mode' - 'Page Layout'.

Printer Setup
Before starting your page layout, you should choose the paper size, orientation and printer that you wish to use.

NOTE - changing the paper size or orientation after you have started adding items to your page layout can lead to your page not printing correctly

Click 'File' - 'Printer Setup'. 

Paper Size: Click the drop-down arrow to see the available paper sizes for the currently selected printer 

Paper - Source: Click the drop-down arrow to see the available paper sources for the currently selected printer 

Orientation - Portrait or Landscape: Changing the orientation will change the direction the page outline is drawn on your screen 

Margins: The gap to leave around edge of your page. If you are not sure what to set this to, leave as the default 

Printer...: Allows you to select the printer to use. Defaults to your systems default printer. Changing the printer may change the paper/source options.

The first time you do a page layout, the printer setup will use the default printer and settings on your system. However, ArtiCAD will remember your selection of paper size and orientation for any subsequent layouts 

Page Layout Toolbar

The print layout toolbar holds the buttons used to add items onto your page layout.

To move the toolbar, hold down the left mouse button in the bar at the top of the toolbar (where it says 'Print Layout') and drag into the required position.

Creating, Selecting and Moving Items

These are all items that can be added to a page layout by clicking on the relevant button on the 'Print layout' toolbar 

Creation: Create the item you require by clicking on the relevant button on the 'Print layout' toolbar 

Selection: Select the item by single left-clicking on it. A red box will surround the currently selected item 

Move: Move the item by holding down the left mouse button inside the red outline and dragging the item into position 

Edit: Edit the item either by double left-clicking on it, or selecting it and pressing the 'Edit' button on the Print layout toolbar 

Delete: Delete the currently selected item by pressing the delete button on the 'Print Layout' toolbar, or by pressing the 'Delete'/'Del' key on the keyboard. You will be asked to confirm deleting the item 

Scaling and Resizing Items

Scale: Plan and Elevation items can be drawn to scale. You can specify any scale value. The default is 1:20.  The item will be drawn on the page as it would appear on the currently selected paper i.e. a plan at 1:20 on A4 will appear larger then the same plan, same scale, on A3 - Edit an item to change the scale.

Alternatively, if you wish to make the item scalable on the paper, set the scale value to 0 (zero). This will allow you to resize the item, A selected item has a red box surrounding it. If an item can be resized, a black square will appear in each corner. Hold down the left mouse button on a square and drag to the required size. 

Draw Border: Draws a thin black border around the item. 

Lock Position: Once activated, you will not be able to move the item, though you can still resize it. Stops an item being accidentally repositioned.

Rotation: Items can be rotated two ways.

Using the keyboard and mouse - hold down the 'Shift' key on the keyboard, hold down the left mouse button on the item to rotate, and drag the mouse up/down.

Specify the angle - edit the item and enter the angle you wish to rotate the item through. See example below.

The same image with the rotation 45.

Page Layout Toolbar Options

Plan:

This dialog box is almost identical to the one found under 'View' - 'Plan options'. Changes made to this dialog will only affect the plan you are adding to the page layout.

Draw border, rotation, lock position and scale are covered above.

Include Walls, Base Units, Wall Units: All three turned on by default. Toggles whether the walls, base units or wall units are drawn on the plan.

Include Dimensions: Toggles whether dimensions are drawn on the plan. Click 'Settings' to choose which parts of the design to include dimensions.

Include Labels: Toggles whether labels are drawn on the plan. By default the unit label is its number. Click 'Settings' to change the labelling scheme. See also 'Edit dimensions and labels'.

Include Door: Toggles whether doors/drawers are drawn on the front of the units 

Type of Plan: Changes the type of plan. 'Normal' draws the plan as you would see it when designing. 'Worktop' only shows the worktop in the design, 'Cornice' only shows the cornice and so on. 

Click 'OK' to add the plan onto the page. Position as described above.

Elevation:

Scale and lock position are covered above.

Include walls, base units, wall units: Toggles whether walls, base units or wall units are drawn in this elevation. See examples below. 

Include dimensions: Toggles whether dimensions are drawn on the elevation. Click 'Settings' to choose which parts of the design to include dimensions

Include labels: Toggles whether labels are drawn on the elevation. The label will be the unit code.

Select the wall you wish to generate the elevation of. If you do not select a wall, you will get an error 'Please select a reference unit.'. Click 'OK' to add the elevation onto the page. Position as described above.

For colour elevations, store the image as you would for any other 3D view, then add to the page layout as described in the Image section below. See Viewing Your Design for details of storing an image.

Parts list: Creates a text box containing the current parts list, using the current parts list configuration. See Reports - Parts List for details on configuring the parts list. See also the 'Frame' tab right.

Client info: Creates a text box containing the client details. See Set Up Your Design for details of specifying the client details.

Note that it includes all the client details fields, even if nothing is entered in them.

Text & Arrow: Text and Arrow are usually used together. 

Text: Text creates a piece of text that can then be positioned on your page. You can change the font, size and colour of the text and select from a range of pre-defined labels.

Draw border, rotation and lock position are covered above.

Text Store: Allows you to store and retrieve commonly used labels for use on your page. 

Select Font: Allows you to choose the font, size, colour and style of the text. 

Transparent Background: Allows whatever is beneath your text to show through. See example below. 

Type the text you want to appear on the page in the box below the 'Run lua script' drop down. By default the box is empty, but in the example image above it contains "Enter text to display here."

When you create a text item and add it to the page, the contents of that text item are automatically added to the text store. To use already stored text click the drop-down arrow and scroll through the list.

Left-click on the item on the list you wish to use, then click 'Use This' to add into the text box above.

NOTE - clicking 'Use This' will remove any text currently in the text box. However, once the text from the store has been added you can then type additional text into the text box.

To remove unwanted text stored on the list, select the item and click 'Remove'. To add the text onto the plan, click 'OK'. Position as described above.

Arrow: Arrow allows you to draw a line with an arrow head on the end. Use it to point to items on the page. Usually used in conjunction with a text item.

Choose the style of line - solid or dashed. Click 'OK' to start drawing the arrow.

Single left-click the mouse where you want the arrow to start, then single left-click where you want the arrow to end. The arrow head is placed at the end.

Frame: A frame is a template for your page. The frame can be as simple as putting a border around the edge of the page, or adding the current date, or even have your company logo and other pre-defined text built in.

Two frames are included by default - DATE and Standard. Select the one you require from the list and click 'OK' to add to your page. See examples below (images are quite large, may take a few seconds to load).

 
An example plan, with the 'DATE' frame, on A4.



An example plan, with the 'Standard' frame on A4. Note that it has put the parts list, client details and your company details onto the page.

When using the Standard frame, the parts list can sometimes run over the space allocated for it and merge with the client information. Remove the frame and add it again, but try a smaller font, or reconfigure the parts list to have less information. See Reports - Parts List

If you would like your own custom page frame created, please contact your Local ArtiCAD Sales Team for more information.

Layers:

Move the Layers dialog by holding down the left mouse button in the blue bar at the top and dragging to a new position. Close the layers dialog by clicking the X in the top-right corner. Click the 'Layers' button on the print layout toolbar to make it re-appear. By default your page will have one layer (called "Layer1").

To create a new layer, click 'New Layer'. The first new layer will be called 'Layer1', the next 'Layer2' and so on. 

To rename a layer, single left-click on the layer name to select it, then single left-click again. The name will highlight in blue, and you can type your new name. Visible layers will have a tick beside them. Un-tick to hide the layer.

Adding, moving and editing items works exactly as described above, except you will only affect the currently selected layer i.e. the layer highlighted in blue in the 'Layers' dialog.

Printing your layout

In ‘Print Layout’ you can select which pages to print from your page layout. 

You can keep ‘All’ selected to print all of the pages, or enter the page numbers needed below:

Saving Your Layout

Click the 'Save' button to save the current state of your page layout. All items and layers will be saved.

By default, your page layout is saved as a Layout file. Only ArtiCAD can read this type of file. However, you can return to a Layout file and move items around, edit text etc. It is recommended you save as a Layout before saving as any other format (see 'Emailing' below).

Saving your Layout as a PDF
Click the ‘Print Layout’ button to export your page layout as a PDF

Instead of selecting a printer, chose ‘Microsoft Print to PDF’:

You can then save the print output into any folders on your PC

You will now be able to view this in your default web browser when you open the file.

Move to Front/Back
When placing items onto your page they are stacked in the order they are added i.e. the second item is drawn on top of the first, the third item is drawn on top of the second and so on.

To move an item forward/back, right-click on the item.

Bring To Front: Move the item to the top of the stack of items i.e. will be drawn on top of all other items. 

Push To Back: Move the item to the bottom of the stack of items i.e. will be drawn under all other items. 

Bring Forward By One: Move the item up the stack of items i.e. will now be drawn on top of the item immediately above it in the stack.

Push Back By One: Move the item down the stack of items i.e. will now be drawn underneath the item immediately below it in the stack.

The same image, but with the first image brought to the front. Though it is just as valid to push the second image to the back.

NOTE - Moving an item forward/back changes its position within the current layer only.

Emailing Plans, Images etc.

By default, your page layout is saved as a Layout file. Only ArtiCAD can view files of this type. If you wish to email your layout to a customer you need to save it in a format they can view. We recommend the JPEG format as this is the most widely accepted format.

Click the 'Save Layout' button on the Print Layout Toolbar.

Change the 'Save As Type' to 'JPEG image (*.jpg)'. Name the file as appropriate.

NOTE - Only the currently active layers will be saved.

Attach the newly created image to your email as you would any other file. The exact method for attaching the file will depend on your email client. Please consult the documentation supplied with your email client if you are unsure how to attach a file.

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