Articles
Automated batch plotting
published in European Designengineer on October 2003
Even nowadays several companies perform time consuming routine tasks manually. ATR Soft is specialized to develop software to automate those tasks. CustomTools is an example of SolidWorks automation tool.
By using CustomTools it is possible to define different printer settings for assemblies, parts and drawing sheet templates (.slddrt files). In that way documents is always printed to desired printers and correct paper size.
If you like to print for example all drawings related to an assembly with tools provided by SolidWorks, you have to open every single drawing and then set correct printer and printer settings before you are able to print it. For large assemblies it takes forever and you have to know which drawings belong to the assembly.
By using CustomTools all you have to do is once configure printing settings and then you are able to print for example desired drawings of an assembly by couple mouse clicks. You can choose whether to select drawings to print from only the highest level or all levels of the assembly (See fig. 1).
CustomTools also includes other similar tools to automate common SolidWorks tasks and it can be used to connect to the MRP system.
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