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page size / sheet size image centering
it is an incredibly tedious workaround to try and get a .pdf that places the image on single sheet with sheet size according to the scale desired.
instead it constantly wants to print like 4 pages when 1 is necessary and if I could just center the image i'd be all set.
incredibly difficult to try and set the sheet size or know what the sheet size is set for. i don't want to scale to fit because I want all drawings to output at the same scale.
i finally got a 3rd party .pdf driver that sort of works according to the preview but apparently (and unrelated to sweet home) it offloads the work to the cloud and I have no idea how to find the finished product. The preview looks like what I desire but i instead use the built in mac print .pdf function the result again is four pages for something that should fit on 1.
is there some better way to deal with this I am not finding.
i don't find any "export" option which could be another avenue for either .pdf, or even .jpg or whatever.
also, don't see any way to print rulers.
probably could think of other things to desire in terms of print/export function but that covers it for the moment.
thanks if someone has developed more facilty at this than i have.
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Re: page size / sheet size image centering
@hansmex thanks, they hide that option pretty well. export is supposed to be under the file menu or possibly within "save" or "print" options.
not familar with svg. dxf no problem. of course every reader with a decent rating means I have to upgrade my OS and I hate to do that because apple always screws with stuff I would rather they left alone and they don't let me upgrade just to the version that would run these programs but only to the latest most forward upgrade my platform can sustain. WTF, they hate their customers, or at least they always think they know better than we do.
Also, it is not clear what "viewers" could operate for print output. I assume that capability exists but mostly they are actually "convertors", which only gets me to wonder why I can't just set a sheet size and print area in sweet home and export a .pdf instead of walking through other programs.
of course this is a free open platform so I don't mean to whine that it isn't just what I need, but like most such platforms, I think it seeks to have broad appeal and this part isn't appealing to me.
if anyone has a link to an svg viewer that runs on mac 10.14 lmk. The lowest version I can find of a well rated viewer requires 10.15 but apple insists i upgrade to 12.7 which, to me is like putting a gun to my head and again they hate the customer so they don't make buyers remorse for upgrading easy even to go back to where you were, forgetting whether they don't offer interim hierarchical choices.
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Re: page size / sheet size image centering
@keet
thanks for that. I found a pretty nifty reader and svg creator, macsvg, butits print/export functions are limited and archaic. i can't address page size or orientation or scale to prevent it from fitting to page and it won't even flip orientation.
so i tried browsers as you suggested and have pretty much the same problem. if it was .dxf my normal readers could handle it. i used to work in vectorworks which could export dxf and pdf, but my computer with a runnable version loaded is down. and not sure if i could readily convert the sweethome file I was sent anyway. and never worked with .svg so i don't even know if it can open those. why doesn't sweethome dxf. is that proprietary or they have to license it?
i never had output problems with CAD before. you could easily set sheet size, print area, etc. and then export .pdf or print. because output was always the end goal whether as shareable file format or a print. this is like pulling teeth to get a decent file or print where different floors of a building that are different sizes nonetheless output into a readily readable format at the same scale and either print or open natively at the same scale.
one solution would be if I could at least export rulers or their facsimile with the svg. then I would be able to tell if they are displaying or printing at the same scale more quickly and easily.
thanks for the hints. currently in the close but no cigars mode still if there are any stoogie chompers out there.
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Re: page size / sheet size image centering
Sorry if I interrupt you or inopportune. I've made a lot of printed plans with this program. The demands was to be made at scale and to have compass indicator. Also I've work many years with paper maps at different scales. The paper size are not adapted accordingly with the scale but vice verses. The SH3D printing system is not perfect but it is good enough to make the job IF you are curious to discover it. For me was a little difficult at the begins but now I'm able to do 98% of tasks only with it. That's include the pdf export. The limitations of the SH3D printing depend of the available printer characteristics(A4 or A3, color or B/W). If non are available the max size is Letter. On the other hand is able to insert scale, date etc. For me, the single problem is to find the proper scale for each project. First, I reduce the borders size (1 inch is too large for me) and set the orientation. Second, I let the program to suggest the best fit scale and I look on the preview. Then I start adjusting some elements (compass position and dimension, other unnecessary elements) to gain the optimum scale to fit in the available paper size.
But maybe I'm wrong.
---------------------------------------- A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. Murphy's Law (Greer's Third Law) When all else fails, read the instructions.Murphy's Law
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Re: page size / sheet size image centering
@dorin
so, your work arounds are just what i've been doing with the exception that I can't find any command for inserting a scale. it doesn't come up when you search scale in the help menu. can you tell me where that is.
also, i don't see where you set the border? that is no doubt part of the problem i'm having when i think I have cleaned up around the drawing so there are no elements the would force it onto several pages but it still produces multiple pages when printed to .pdf.
And as soon as it thinks it doesn't fit, then, no matter where I put the drawing compared to the origin, it always moves the print to the center of what is drawn and makes me 4 pages. if I could just print setting the origin in one corner of the print then I can adjust the scale of printing or clip off parts of the drawing that are unnecessary, but its amorphous determination of where to center the print drives me crazy.
one reason this is frustrating is the building has a first level twice as large as the second level. you can designate scale in the File>Page Setup dialog. and then you can theoretically scale the output to a specified percentrather than to fit in the File>Page Setup>Page Format although my built in and add on "print to .pdf" functions don't always seem to take those instructions.
i have tried downloading print drivers for printers with larger paper formats but, unfortunately,I can't choose them if the printer is not actually on the network. As you point out, if you don't have an oversize printer then your output options (even if you are saving as .pdf) are limited to letter size. that is something that I would imagine could be fixed as there are page setup options in sweet home and nevermind tabloid, there ought to be ARCH C, D and E.
I know part of this has to do with interacting with different OS and the solution for Mac is probably different than for PC. Maybe this is more difficult to accomplish than I imagine.
thanks for your ideas and any info on how to insert scale and reduce borders.
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Re: page size / sheet size image centering
Under File menu you have: -Page setup... -Print preview... -Print... -Print to PDF...
The Page setup popup have: - on top: Page format button ---> size, orientation, borders - on bottom: -- 2 fields: Header: and Footer: -- Variables: When you click on Header or Footer field the Variables became active. The 3-th from left is the scale. You could also add some text in the front of it like "Scale: $planScale"
---------------------------------------- A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. Murphy's Law (Greer's Third Law) When all else fails, read the instructions.Murphy's Law
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Re: page size / sheet size image centering
Thanks Brian! Thanks to you I've been able to made SH3D to print pdf at any size (from Custom thru A0, Letter, Engineering B~E, Arch B~E to Envelop). That's the good news. The bad news (for you) I've done this under linux but you could find a similar solution for apple.
Under linux install printer-driver-cups-pdf pakage. This will add an PDF printer virtual device to the system. Make it default. Now, under SH3D you will have all possible paper sizes.
---------------------------------------- A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. Murphy's Law (Greer's Third Law) When all else fails, read the instructions.Murphy's Law
