As we move farther away from IPLOT and closer toward MicroStation plotting, we will have configuration files setup to automatically perform many of the steps below.   For now . . . this is the procedure for using MicroStation plotting to plot the Descartes Plan/Profile or Plan/Plan sheets.

To avoid confusion, I'll be using the Phaser17 plotter as the output device for this example.

NOTE: Before any attempt at plotting, you must verify/set the "Windows" Measurement System that you are using, (Metric or US) if you want to have any success at plotting to scale.

Step 1 . . . Select the Measurement System:

• Select Start > Settings > Control Panel

• Double click on the Regional Settings icon to invoke the Regional Settings Properties dialog.   Single click on the Number tab.   Set the Measurement System as desired, click on Apply and click on OK.

Step 2 . . . Invoke MicroStation Plotting:

• From the Image Manager dialog, or MicroStation pulldowns, select File > Print/Plot . . . or simply type print in the Key-in Browser.

• The MicroStation Plot dialog will appear as shown below:

Step 3 . . . Select the Plot Driver:

• From the Image Manager dialog, select Setup > Driver

• From the Select Plotter Drive File dialog, select dcgen.plt and click on OK.

Step 4 . . . Select the Pen Table:

• From the Image Manager dialog, select Pen Table > Load

• Since (for this example) we will be using the Phaser17 plotter, we'll select that pen table and click on OK.

Step 5 . . . Select the Output Device, (the plotter):

• From the Image Manager dialog, click on the Page Setup icon.

• From the Print Setup dialog, select the Printer, Paper and Orientation settings, and click on OK.

Step 6 . . . Select the Entity, (plot fence contents or view):

• From the Image Manager dialog, select Entity > Fence

Step 7 . . . Select the Plot Layout:

• From the Image Manager dialog, select Setup > Layout

• From the Plot Layout dialog, there are many settings.   The most important setting here is the "Scale to" field.   Enter an even number such as 2.   Otherwise, the scale will be wrong.   You may also select Center to Page, for automatic centering.

Step 8 . . . Adjust the Image for Plotting:

• From the Image Manager dialog, select Setup > Device

• The Descartes Image Plotting dialog allows for a number of adjustments to the raster image.   Among the options is "Gray Scale." When this is checked, a color image can be plotted in gray scale.   I thought this would be important to mention because it was driving me nuts as I started experimenting with this application.   Although the image was shown in color in MicroStation, it was plotting gray.   It's rather buried deep inside MicroStation plotting.

Step 9 . . . Preview and Plot the sheet:

• Now that everything is set up, you may preview what the plot will look like by selecting the Preview/Refresh icon from the Image Manager dialog.

• If everything looks good . . . click on the Plot icon.   There is nothing left to do now but go and pick up your plot.