Printing from Creo Parametric 3.0 M020 is completely messed up.
I have several cases open attempting to deal with this, but I've decided to share the information here as well in case it can help others.
SPR 2253535
Video #1
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Summary of Problems
- Paper orientation is NOT controlled or set from the plotter config file (PCF).
- Paper orientation is NOT based on the currently active drawing sheet.
- Paper orientation can ONLY being set by the user interactively.
- Paper orientation is modal.
- Modal setting is not applied (effective) unless the paper dialog is opened and “OK” is selected.
- “Landscape” doesn’t mean “paper long dimension is width”
- “Portrait” doesn’t mean “paper long dimensions is height”
- Rather, “portrait” means “rotate the selected paper size 90 degrees”. “Landscape” means, “don’t rotate”.
- This means if a "portrait" paper size is defined, "landscape" orientation has to be selected so it doesn't get rotated.
- Changing the orientation from "landscape" to "portrait" doesn't swap the paper dimensions like the sheet size dialog does.
(This may or may not be intentional, but it is not consistent with drawing sheets.)
There seems to be two ways to fix the problem, either set the paper orientation via the PCF file or set the paper orientation based on the current drawing sheet. I greatly prefer the second solution.
1. Set the paper orientation via the PCF file
Pros:
- This seems to agree with the intent of the "paper" settings dialog – to select the paper size and orientation the drawing will be plotted on.
- The PCF file can already control the paper size. Controlling the orientation from the PCF file seems logical.
Cons:
- A separate PCF file will be needed for each sheet size orientation – one for landscape and one for portrait.
- Landscape and Portrait oriented drawings will now require separate plotter config files.
- Landscape drawings sent to portrait oriented paper do not print properly.
- Portrait drawings sent to landscape oriented paper do not print properly.
- There is no way for Creo to automatically select the correct plotter config based on sheet orientation.
- If the plotter is capturing the Postscript for use electronically (PDF, etc.), the Postscript orientation will be incorrect any time the drawing orientation doesn’t agree with the sheet orientation. For example, when a landscape oriented drawing is output to a portrait sheet, the PDF created will be oriented vertically (portrait) instead of horizontally (landscape).
2. Set the paper orientation based on the current drawing sheet (my preference)
Pros:
- A single plotter config file can continue to be used for each paper size (like Wildfire 5).
- The Postscript data output will always be oriented correctly (the paper is automatically rotated to agree with the drawing vs. the other way around).
- A drawing could still be set to output opposite its sheet’s orientation by changing the orientation dropdown, but this should not be kept modal. It should always reset to the drawing’s orientation each time print mode is started or a different printer (PCF) is selected. [This is how virtually all other software works. If you change printers you have to reselect “landscape” or “portrait” if you want something other than what the item is.]
Cons:
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