ANA Plot Manual - Advanced Plotting Devices
Contents
1. Exit Windows message box appears press the Enter key You will be outside of Windows Type in WIN at the C prompt and press the Enter key To enter ANA Plot double click the ANA Plot icon in the DesignArt group box Go to step 7 6 To install ANA Plot on Windows 95 98follow these steps i Click on the Start button Go to Run Close all programs currently running on your system ii Insert Disk 1 into drive A iii In the Command Line text box type a setup Click on OK Next the Initializing Setup screen will display iv Choose a install directory for the software or take the default Click next v When finished it is best to reboot the computer 7 If you are connecting a vinyl cutting plotter connect it to the computer s open serial port DB25 male connector or DB9 male connector CHAPTER 2 BASIC TOOLS 1 SCREEN LAYOUT Across the top you will see a listing beginning with file and ending with help This line is called the menu bar Each menu bar item is explained separately in the following pages The far left of your screen contains two columns of command buttons called the control panel You can invoke or trigger a command such as slant or move by clicking on one of these control panel buttons 2 MOUSE The mouse is the primary tool you use to communicate with the computer There is a Left Mouse Button LMB and Right Mouse Button RMB You will normally use the LMB The RMB is reserved for specifi2. You can click the Redraw button at any time in any operation to display a fresh screen of your current work Clicking the RMB on Redraw button redraws the display so that all text graphics and border elements will be drawn full screen This function ignores the Job Box It contrasts with double click of the Zoom button which brings up the Job Box full screen NOTE If you have difficulty Picking an object click the Redraw command button then Pick the object CHAPTER 4 PLOTTER OPERATIONS For those customers interested in vinyl applications the Plotter Control menu item contains commands that allow you to split your job select a plotter and control the plotting of your job Click the Plotter Control menu item and the following commands display SPLIT JOB NEST JOB SEQUENCE JOB SELECT DEVICE PLOT NOTE If all the traces on your job are Unpicked display black the plotter will cut ALL the traces If any traces are Picked display blue the plotter will cut ONLY the Picked traces Split Job If your job is larger than the capacity of the plotter you ll have to plot it in more than one strip The Split Job command allows you to set the horizontal split lines by which you want to split the job NOTE Place the splits so that they cut across as few text or graphics as possible to make aligning them easier Nest Job Nesting will remove empty space and position your text and graphics in the most efficient way to save vinyl Click Nest Job
3. of measurement can be set to inches centimeters millimeters and points by making the appropriate selection Preferences Preferences allows you to set your own default values for different commands Click Preferences under the Settings menu and a dialogue box will appear Preferences You now have the option to change the default values for the above listed commands If you do not want your job to shift down when you add text lines click on the insert line spaces to remove the check mark The system default is insert line spaces which means your job will shift down when you hit enter After you have made the desired changes click the ok button HELP MENU Under the Help menu you can find the full operation manual of ANA Plot Under Help scroll to the Index feature Example choose Control Panel Tools this will list all of the tools within ANA Plot Simply pick on any tool you require information about and a full description will display on screen INDEX USING About ANA Plot CHAPTER 3 COMPOSITION PAGE The COMPOSITION control panel contains three groups of command buttons located on the left side of the working area There are two columns of buttons each containing an icon representing the feature performed when that button is clicked The commands available as Composition tools are as follows MOVE COPY SCALE MIRROR ROTATE SLANT UNPICK PICK DELETE GRID MEASURE ZOOM REDRAW 1 MOVE ALT M The Move command a
4. ANA PLOT Program User s Manual Version 3 4c ANA Plot program is a simple sign cutting program which drives vinyl cutting plotters ANA Plot can import EPS DXF Al and other files from various programs including WORDS FOR WINDOWS and CORELDRAW ANAgraph Inc ANA Plot 3 4 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Hard disk space 2 Install instructions CHAPTER 2 BASIC TOOLS Screen layout Mouse Menu bar items File menu Import Special instructions for exporting text from CorelDraw Photo cut Printing Show color 10 Tools menu 11 Help menu OONDOABRWN CHAPTER 3 COMPOSITION PAGE Move Copy Scale Mirror Rotate Slant Unpick pick everything Delete Grid 10 Measure 11 Zoom 12 Redraw OONOABRWN CHAPTER 4 PLOTTER OPERATIONS 1 Select device 2 Plot control 3 Other plotter control features 4 Job queue list Warranty and License ANAgraph Inc warrants the physical diskette s to be free from defects for 30 days of purchase The remedy for breach of warranty is limited to replacement and shall not include any damages from use or unusability ANAgraph specifically disclaims all other warranties expressed or implied The computer software contained on the diskettes is licensed to the purchaser on an as is basis as ANAgraph specifically does not warrant this software to be free from errors or omissions Trademark ANA Plot and Design
5. Art are trademarks of ANAgraph Inc Various trade names contained in this manual are the property of respective owners Copyright 1996 ANAgraph Inc ANA Plot This program is ANA Plot which has limited features To upgrade your ANA Plot to the full featured DesignArt PRO please contact your local ANA Dealer or ANAgraph at 714 540 2400 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This booklet is to assist the user so that he she can begin to use ANA Plot within a short period of time For more detailed instructions please read through the online help file ANAgraph s ANA Plot program requires Microsoft Windows 3 1 It is recommended that your system have DOS 5 0 or a later version 1 HARD DISK SPACE ANA Plot occupies about 2 5 megabytes of hard disk space to install However you should have about 10 megabytes of additional hard disk space available in order to operate the program 2 INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS 1 Make certain that your computer meets the hardware requirements of at least a 386 486 or a Pentium with at least 4 Meg or more Extended Memory 2 You must have an I O card 2 Serial and 1 Parallel e DB9 male Serial Port for Mouse e DB25 male or Second DB9 male Serial Port for the Plotter 3 If installing on Windows 95 98 jump to step 6 Installing DOS 5 0 or above is desirable if your system is currently using an earlier DOS version To verify what DOS version is in your system type in VER at any DOS prom
6. X Move p Tool Position PLOT Delete Job Job name If you have saved your job the job name will display If you have not named your job Untitled will display Material The default material displayed is Vinyl If you are using another material click the Down Arrow button on the right side of the material name Plot Speed Your plot speed is determined by the plotter and the material that you have selected This is shown as a percentage of the maximum speed The default is 100 You can manually change the speed to suit your particular need Weed Border You can create a border around your job so that you can more easily weed the vinyl Click the Weed Border box Mirror Image You can automatically cut or plot a mirror image of your job Click the Mirror Image box Rotate 90 degrees You can rotate your job at a 90 degree angle counterclockwise to the way it displays on the screen This is helpful in saving material However if you rotate 90 degrees any splits will be canceled and a new split has to be made Click the Rotate box Scale In Out Line Offset Scale In Outline offset allows you to scale previously defined inlines or outlines along with your job The default is the inlines and outlines will not be scaled when your job is scaled Sequencing Plot Sequencing Plot will minimize the tool movement or tool travel of your plotter s cutting or drawing head Normally the job will be cut or drawn in the sequence it was create
7. c operations 3 MENU BAR ITEMS The Menu Bar items each display a list of commands when clicked Each one of the menu items and its commands are described below 4 FILE MENU File is used to open save print or exit a file The following options are available when you click the File menu NEW OPEN MERGE SAVE AUTO BACKUP IMPORT PHOTOCUT PRINT EXIT New Click the LMB on New or press Ctrl N to start a new job It will wipe off whatever job or design you have on the screen Open Click the LMB on Open or press Ctrl O to open an existing ANA Plot job file The following dialogue box will display Open File File name flag jbs Job Path c ana jbs ectories Merge Click the LMB on Merge or press Ctrl M to merge a job into another job Save Click the LMB on Save or Ctrl S to save a job that has already been named Save As Click the LMB on Save As to save the current job The ANA Save File As dialogue box will display Simply type the job name in the file name box and click the OK button Auto Backup Auto Backup found under the File menu allows you to set the system to automatically save your job as you go in case of a power outage or system crash 5 IMPORT ANA Plot can import DXF EPS encapsulated postscript Al adobe illustrator WMF window metafile in vector format PCX PLT BMP in bitmap image and ascii text files DOC WRI and TXT To import a file from another
8. cturers instructions as well as Microsoft Windows for proper installation of the printer driver Click the LMB on print to print what is on your screen To plot a layout with a vinyl cutting plotter or large format plotter you must use the plotter menu item ANA Print Scale Bd Color Fill Fit on Page O Selected Objects Only Copies E Color Separation All Colors Printer HP LaserJet IIIP on LPT1 2 Orientation Paper n Portrait Size Letter 8 1 2 x 11 in O Landscape Source Upper Tray E 9 SHOW COLOR Under DISPLAY Menu you will notice Show Color item If your job has color assignment show color will display the finished colors as they appear 10 TOOLS MENU The Tools menu item allows you to change tools in the control panel Each of the commands in the Tools menu are described in detail in the following pages Composition Use these tools to design a layout or panel of artwork Color Separation Use these tools to assign colors Plotter Menu Click the plotter menu item to run the vinyl cutting plotter Settings Menu When you click this menu item the following menu displays JOB SIZE JOB MARGIN INCHES CENTIMETERS MILLIMETERS POINTS PREFERENCES Job Size The default job size or art board represented by the working area of the screen is 24H x 32L Click Job Size under Settings on the menu bar to change this job size Inches Centimeters Millimeters Points The programs unit
9. d Plot to Offline File If checked this option allows you to plot to a file on the hard disk This HPGL compatible file can be used as an import file into other Drawing packages or to plotters routers that do not communicate through the normal serial I O ports Color Select When you click Color Select the Color Select Dialogue Box displays The colors that are used in your job display by the color name Get Plotting Area Plotter Height If the currently selected plotter supports the returning of the plotter height this button will be accessible This button allows you to poll ask the plotter for it s current plotting area If the plotter does not support the question the default height for the plotter will be displayed Height and Length Height is measured from the top trace of the job to the bottom trace Length is measured from the far left hand trace to the far right hand trace This may be different from the job size you specified as most designs do not touch the job border Scale You can scale your job from 10 to 999 of its original size to plot The default scale is 100 Across Down These are used to specify multiple copies Type in the number of copies across and the number of copies down The multiplication of these two numbers is the total number of copies to be generated Across Space Across relates to the X axis or from left to right on your screen You can make copies across next to each other with a specifi
10. ed space between each Down Space Down relates to the Y axis or from top to bottom on your screen You can make copies down next to each other with a specified soace between each Border Space This is the distance from the outside trace to the Weed Border Split Overlap The split overlap is the distance that one strip will overlap another in order to make alignment of the strips easier Material Advance This will feed material from the plotter in the same amount as the job size before cutting If you have multiple copies the plotter will feed only one copy at atime This feature is for ANAgraph s AE series of plotters only Split If you want to cut only one strip click the Split button to display the Split Select dialogue box The strips are numbered from top to bottom You can select the strip that you are going to plot or select All Strips The default is All Strips Clicking a selected strip will deselect it 2 OTHER PLOTTER CONTROL FEATURES Plot When you are ready to plot your job click the Plot button Cancel Click Cancel to remove the Plot Control dialogue box from your screen X Move The X axis moves from top to bottom on the plotter or from side to side on your screen Entering a distance in the X Move box and then clicking the Move button moves the platen that distance Y Move The Y axis moves from left to right on the plotter or from top to bottom on your screen Entering a distance in the Y Move bo
11. ght corner of the box for the desired level of slant The slant ing angle will display in the status line 7 UNPICK PICK EVERYTHING Pala The Unpick command allows you to unpick an object changing all lines from blue to black Clicking the Unpick command button unpicks ALL of the Picked lines in the working area Clicking the Pick Everything button picks ALL of the lines in the working area NOTE If you have difficulty unpicking an object with the hand icon click the unpick command button Another way to unpick all objects is to click into empty space or the blank area within your job 8 DELETE E The Delete command allows you to delete all objects that are picked turned blue Pick those objects you wish to delete and press the Delete command If you have made a mistake click the Undo under the Edit menu and your deleted image will reappear When you have objects picked that you wish to delete you can also press Del on the keyboard o GRID The Grid command allows you to easily layout a job by displaying a dotted grid in the job area Since the job box represents the job size the grids only shows up in the job box 10 MEASURE The Measure command allows you to measure between two points in the working area 1 zoom The ZOOM command allows you to magnify a part of the working area You can zoom more than once for greater magnification gt 12 REDRAW The Redraw command allows you to redisplay the working area
12. llows you to move objects in the working area 2 COPY Fal ALT C The Copy command allows you to copy objects in the working area Pick one or more lines of text and or graphics or even one or more traces in a graphic or character 3 SCALE E ALT A The Scale command allows you to change the scale or size of text and or graphics You can change the scale of text and or graphics proportionately changing the height and length at the same rate or non proportionately changing the height or length independent of each other 4 MIRROR a The Mirror command allows you to create a mirrored image of an object across an imaging line First Pick the line s of text and or graphics and click the Mirror button 5 ROTATE ALT R The Rotate command allows you to rotate text lines or graphics Pick one or more lines When you click the Rotate button or press Alt R a dashed line box will enclose the Picked area with a small white cross in the center The cross indicates the axis of Rotation of the box Click any point near the box and drag it in a circular direction NOTE In this operation you must click and drag without releasing the button If you simply click and release the button the axis point moves a suant Z The Slant command allows you to slant text and or graphics Pick one or more lines of text and or graphics and click the Slant button A dashed line box will enclose the Picked area Click and drag the upper left or upper ri
13. located under the Plotter pull down menu If you have not saved your job in the current layout the system will prompt you to save before nesting After you have saved the job the following dialogue box will appear Plotter Size Setup SELECT DEVICE YOU MUST SELECT THE PLOTTER THAT YOU ARE GOING TO USE BEFORE PLOTTING WHEN YOU CLICK SELECT DEVICE THE PLOTTER SELECTION DIALOGUE BOX DISPLAYS THE NAMES OF THE PLOTTERS LISTED WILL VARY DEPENDING ON THE DRIVERS THAT ARE ADDED TO YOUR SYSTEM CLICK THE NAME OF THE PLOTTER THAT YOU ARE GOING TO USE FOR THE CURRENT JOB AND CLICK THE OK BUTTON 1 PLOT CONTROL Select the plotter you are driving from the Plotter Selection dialog box When you click on Plot in the Plotter pull down menu the following dialog box will be displayed listing the plotters name gt ANAgraph AE 70 Plotter Driver V 3 1h Plot Options Job Layout Job Queue List Job Name untitled Get Plotting Area Material Vinyl Lee Vii el Plotter Height 23 25 E L Height 1 269 in Weed Border Bytes Sent _ Mirror Image Length 2 034 in Rotate 90 degrees Scale i x Copies Sent Pi x Abort Current Plot _ Scale In Out Line Offset Across 1 Space in _ Sequencing Plot Down 1 Space 0 250 in _ Return To Start Border Space Pause Current Plot in Plot To Offline File in Split Overlap 0 250 y Material Advance Soit Resume Current Plot Replot Job
14. program i Go to the program whose file you want and open the file ii Export the file as an acceptable ANA Plot 3 4 import format Usually you can do this by going to the File menu of the program and choosing Export A dialog box will appear where you will select the type of file to export There are some EPS files that are not compatible with ANA Plot so generally it is better to use the Al format if it is available iii Go to ANA Plot and from the File menu choose Import The Import dialog box will appear Ppp eps test5_eps Posts EPS E se wassin E iv In the directories list box select the directory where the exported file was saved v From the File Name list select the file you want 6 SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXPORTING TEXT FROM CORELDRAW Before you export text from CorelDRAW you should select each text object in your CorelDRAW design and press Ctrl V to convert the text to curves and then Ctrl K to break apart the curves The text or graphics can not be filled and must have a hairline outline form around them Then follow the export procedure described above 7 PHOTO CUT Photo Cut allows you to create vinyl photographs It is a process in which images are converted into lines with various thickness to represent varying color densities 8 PRINTING It is necessary that your printer is properly hooked up to the system and that the proper printer driver software is installed You must follow the printer manufa
15. pt 4 Install Microsoft Windows 3 1 following the Windows installation instructions 5 Install ANA Plot using the following instructions Begin your installation by starting Windows The installation process is the same whether you are using the 3 5 or 5 25 ANA Plot Install diskettes i Have the Windows Program Manager on the screen Make sure that no other application programs are currently running on your system Program Manager mi File Prin Clipboard MS DOS Manager Manage Viewer Prompt amp Windows PIF Editor Read Me Accessories Games StartUp Applications v vi vii viii Insert the ANA Plot Install Disk into drive A or drive B of your computer If you are using a mouse or tablet move the pointer to the File menu item in the Program Manager Menu Bar When the File pull down menu opens click the Run command in the File menu Program Manager File New Open Move Copy Delete Viewer Prompt Properties Run eaa Age StartUp Applications A Run dialogue box will display with a blinking cursor in the command line Type a setup or b setup if you are using drive B Click the OK button or press ENTER Select Continue when prompted Command Line C Run Minimized Then the ANA Plot group box will appear under the Windows Program Manager page Exit Windows Press the ALT F key The File pull down menu appears Press the X key When the
16. t plotted will be plotted again Delete Job This allows certain jobs to be deleted from the job queue Highlight the jobs to be deleted by clicking the job with your LMB Then click the Delete Job button Home Plotter If the currently selected plotter supports this command you can send the plotter head to it s starting position origin by clicking on this button The button is only accessible when the plotter is not plotting
17. x and then clicking the Move button moves the head that distance Move When you have entered the X and or Y values in the above boxes clicking the Move button moves the plotter If you want to draw or cut with the XY Move command you must first bring the tool down using the Tool Position command before clicking the Move button Tool Position Up Down To move the tool head up off the material click the Up button To move the tool head down on the material click the Down button In normal plot operation Tool Up Down is taken care of by the system 3 JOB QUEUE LIST The Job Queue box lists all of the jobs currently in queue to be sent to the plotter Normally the job listed at the top is indicated as plotting Once a job is completely sent to the plotter it is removed from the queue Bytes Sent This displays how many Bytes are left to be sent to the plotter Copies Sent This displays the number count of multiple copies across sent to the plotter Abort Current Plot Click the Abort button or press Ctrl Alt X to stop plotting the current job The plotting operation of the current job will be aborted Pause Current Plot Click Pause to temporarily stop plotting the current job This is helpful if you need to attend to the material Resume Current Plot Click Resume to continue plotting the current job after the plotting was temporarily interrupted by clicking Pause Replot Job Click Replot Job and the job that was jus
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