Procedure for Printing

This procedure shows three printing scenarios corresponding to three different needs.

The stages in this procedure are as follows:

Direct Printing

Direct (or "office") printing is the simplest scenario which aims at directly printing the object.

  1. Select PLM Access > Print....

    The Print dialog box opens to let you define the print settings to be applied when printing the object

  2. Click OK to validate your settings.

The settings are transmitted to the printer driver which, in turn, send the print job to the printer: the object is then printed on the output (paper, vellum, polyester, etc.) you specified.



Asynchronous Printing

Asynchronous (or "virtual") printing lets you work in a more complex environment because in that case, third-parties, a plot server and distributed printers are involved.

  1. Run a V6 session or a third-party (e.g. Multi-CAD).

  2. Depending on what you are running:

    • From a V6 session, select PLM Access > Print... then activate the Print to file check box to store the image printout in a file in the location you specify .
    • From a third-party application, use the print functionality to store the image printout in a file or in database.

    The plot server or database application retrieves the file.


  • The file containing the printout image is browsed in a viewer such as a CAD or a Web viewer.
  • Or, the file containing the printout image is sent to a printer. Depending on the options you selected, either one or many objects are printed.



Technical Illustration

Technical illustration lets you generate objecs that will be available on a wide variety of supports. This printing mode is also a "virtual" printing mode since no direct printing is required, it is a file format-oriented mode.

  1. Run a V6 session or a third-party (e.g. Multi-CAD)

  2. Depending on what you are running:

    • From a V6 session, open the file (SVG, JPEG, etc.) to be printed.
    • From a third-party, use the print functionality to store the image printout in a file or in the documentation database.

  3. If you are in a V6 session, select PLM Access > Print... then activate the Print to file check box to store the image printout in the location you specify.

    The server environment retrieves the document from the database.

The document is then transferred to people such as technical writers or web designers who can work on the document as needed.

Finally, the document can be displayed on the world-wide web, printed in books, stored on CD-ROMS, etc.