Menu Commands > File Menu

The Print command allows you to alter the current printer setup and/or print the currently active plot or a selection of open plots.

Shortcut:

Click

on the toolbar.

CTRL+P

The initial printer settings are identical to those set with the Control Panel:Printers application. Changes in printer settings are preserved only during the current DPlot session; DPlot does not make permanent changes to the Control Panel settings, nor does it save printer settings for subsequent DPlot sessions.

Dialog box Options

Multiple

Select the "Multiple" button if you want to print multiple documents on the same page. Placement of documents on the page is controlled by the order in which the documents are selected for printing. The spacing between documents is controlled by the value entered in the "Space between" box.

Print Quality/Speed Considerations

TrueType Fonts

If you use TrueType fonts in your plot, it may be necessary to check the "Print TrueType as Graphics" check box in the Print Setup or Print Options dialog box. Some printer drivers do not handle rotated TrueType text correctly unless it is converted to a graphic before printing.

Gray Scale and Color

For black and white printers, DPlot simulates gray scales and colors with a dithered pattern. In order for the curve to be printed as expected, the line widths for the curves must be greater than 0 (a single printer dot). The line width may be changed with the Symbol/Line Styles command under the Options menu. The color associated with each curve may be changed from the Colors menu. Alternatively, you can select the Color>Print B&W command on the Options menu to print all curves and grid lines in black.

3D Contour Plots

The quality of printed 3D contour plots is very highly dependent on printer settings. Though it is of course not possible to describe optimal printer settings for every available printer in this document, a description of settings for the Epson Stylus family of color printers may assist you in choosing the best settings for your particular printer. The most obvious printer setting that has an effect on print quality is resolution, though you’ll likely see little difference in resolutions above 720 dpi. Much more important are the dithering and color balance options. Choose either “fine dithering” or “error diffusion” rather than “coarse dithering”, and select “photo-realistic” color balance rather than “automatic”.

Large Data Sets

Printing large data sets can take a long time, depending on what options you have selected and of course on the speed of your processor. In general, solid lines are printed faster than other line styles, and line widths of 1 printer dot (ensured by setting the line width to 0) print much faster than wide lines. The differences between line widths and styles in print speed become more apparent when printing data sets of 100,000 points or more.

See Known Problems for a description of printing problems along with possible solutions. Problems not referenced in that topic should be referred to the author as described in the Technical Support topic.

Related macro commands

FilePrint

FilePrintMultiple

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