Original LXSeries Forum

Hello,

Firstly, I want to say I am loving what you guys are doing with this set of programs! Being a young lighting designer, I really can't afford to drop the money on Vectorworks + Spotlight and Lightwright, so this is an incredible service you're providing. Even more, I love how pared down lx beams is compared to it's counterparts.

Now to my issue:

I've been having a problem with printing and exporting at the right scale. I have a plot that I'm just trying to make into a scale pdf version.

I have the paper size set at 18" x 24" with 0.25 margins, as a user setting, at 100% scale, 'from Corner' selected, and "Scale to Single Page..." unselected. Scale unit is scale feet. Turning on the grid, it appears that the edges of the grid line up with 18" x 24"

If I export this, it makes a document 13.42" x 18.34" large. If I print and save to PDF, I get an 18" x 24" document with a scaled down drawing in the upper left corner.

I changed the settings to use the Arch C settings from the menu and I get the same sized file. I changed the selection 'from corner' to 'center content' and I export a file 6.96" x 9.51" large, and printing to pdf shows an even smaller drawing in the corner of 18" x 24" page.

If I check "Scale to Single Page..." I export at 16.03" x 21.92" and this also exports to this size after I uncheck "Scale to Single Page"

This is all spooky to me, so I reverted to an older saved file and started again. This time, I follow all the same steps as above and can only export and print at 13.42 (or 13.41)" x 18.34" ... every time.

I used to have success exporting properly scaled drawings. I noticed things got a bit funny around the last update, but it might be something else. Is there any scale setting I'm missing?

Other info:
I'm running Lx Beams Version 4.8.3 (11914.1)
I was having the problem with El Capitan, so I just uprgaded to Sierra.
Recently I threw away the Lx Free app from the app from the apllications folder into the trash bin, feeling it was redundant to lx Beams.

Thanks,

Reed.

How are you determining what the size of the exported PDF is? Are you actually printing these and measuring with a ruler? Or, are you seeing that information from a software application?

The margins are used when setting the document size through the standard sizes. And, documents are exported in PDF at the current zoom.

Here's a procedure to generate a 18 x 24 PDF:

1) Set the margins to zero. (set each margin field to zero and press enter).

The margin fields should show a light red background because they are invalid for the printer. This won't matter for exporting PDF.

2) Then, with the margins set at zero select Arch C from the standard sizes menu.

3) Insure that the document is zoomed to "Actual Size". (View->Zoom->Actual Size)

4) Export a PDF. The resulting size should be 18 x 24 inches.

Printing and exporting at the current zoom seems to be one of those things that you'd like to work as you expect it. But, the computer has no way of knowing if you are trying to intentionally export/print a larger or smaller version. Or, if you want to export the actual size version and the zoom is where you left while you were working...

The latest builds of LXBeams have addressed this for printing. The default in these versions is to always print zoomed to actual size, regardless of the current zoom. If you want to print a larger/smaller version, you must use the popup menu in the Inspector's Document tab and explicitly enable printing using the current zoom setting.

The very latest build of LXBeams, Version 4.8.5 (12226.1), extends this option to include exporting PDFs. So, going forward the default will be to export a PDF at actual size unless the "Print/Export PDF at Current Zoom" option is enabled.

Thank you!

The export and print size seems to be changing in relation to the viewing zoom in lxbeams.

I can't see an option to change it in the pop-up menu of v4.8.3 and "checking for updates" says I'm up to date, so I'm gonna check the site for a newer build and back to you.

I was verifying the size of the PDF using the Inspector in the Preview app. I hadn't noticed this was happening until I went to print at a Kinko's and the guy said my 18" x 24" drawing was only 10" x 13"

Thanks!

On the LXBeams download page, look for the section called "More Downloads"

Then, the link is called "LXSeries Pro Latest Build".

It sounds like your problem was exporting while zoomed. Its easy to accidentally zoom a little with my new MacBook Pro and its large trackpad. So, I think defaulting to exporting at actual size makes the most sense.