About Setting Up Printers

To be able to generate a printed output, the device must be correctly prepared. To do so, configuration files are provided for 3D PLM printers and you can also use environment variables.

Configuration Files

For the sake of convenience, a single configuration file is used to configure the printer and the driver.

3D PLM Printers

By default, 3D PLM Printer configuration files are stored in permanent setting files which are located in:

C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Dassault Systemes\CATSettings\Rn\Authoring

(where "n" is the current release number).

These files are:

  • CATPrintersSettings.CATSettings (contains the list of printers defined in the Printer List).
  • Print.CATSettings (contains information about the drivers and the printer parameters).

Printers are managed through the Printers tab.

Note that configurations from previous releases are also supported, which means that if your printer configuration file is in XML format, you can import it through the Printers tab.

Windows Printers

As far as Windows printers are concerned, the application uses the driver and printer setting files installed on your computer.

Environment Variables

You can use environment variables in both declaration and execution scripts.

Variable Used to define...
%CATPRT_DOC_SHEET_COUNT% Number of sheets to be printed. It is automatically updated by the application.
%CATPRT_DOC_SHEET_NUM% Number of the sheet to be printed.
%CATPRT_DOC_PATH% Path of the document to be printed.
%CATPRT_DOC_NAME% Name of the document to be printed.
%CATPRT_PRINTER_NAME% Name of the printer to be used to print the document.
%CATPRT_PAPER_WIDTH% Paper width.
%CATPRT_PAPER_NAME% Paper format (e.g. A4, etc.).
%CATPRT_PAPER_ORIENTATION% Paper orientation. (e.g. Portrait, etc.)
%CATPRT_PAPER_UNIT% Unit for parameters (e.g. "mm" for Millimeter).
%CATOUT% Name of the sheet to be printed.

Print Definition of V4 Linetypes

V6 lets you choose between two methods for the linetype print definition.

These methods are:


  • V6 process (the default one) which uses standards defined through Tools > Standards.... For more information, see Infrastructure User's Guide: Customizing: Standards: About Standards.
  • V4-type process: in V6, you can create the V4LineFontType environment variable which lets you use line types similar to those used in Version 4. The V4LineFontType variable is based on seven standard types detailed below:
  ISO/ANSI JIS CATIA Version 4
Solid [ ] [ ] [ ]
Dotted [1:1] [1:1] [2:1]
Dashed [4:1:5] [3:1] [8:2]
Dot-Dash [7:1:1:1] [9:1:1:1] [10:1:2:1]
Phantom [7:1:1:1:1:1] [15:1:1:1:1:1] [35:1:2:1:2:1]
Small Dotted [0.5:0.5] [0.5:0.5]  
JIS Axis [2:1:10:1] [2:1:10:1]  

This data is similar to the default data contained in the LINEDEF file (a Version 4 external file used to create a mapping between the linetype and the plotting). The last two types in the list are "V6 only" (they did not exist in Version 4) and are defined using Tools > Standards....

For detailed information on how to set an environment variable, see Installation and Administration Guide: Customizing Your Environment.