Qckvu3 Windows Printing and Plotting

Qckvu3 is Artwork's third generation layout viewer supporting GDSII and OASIS layout databases. Our printer driver enables the user to print in color and black and white to Windows supported printers.

Usage

First load the GDSII or OASIS file you wish to print.

Turn on any layers you wish to print. Layers that are not visible will not print. You will probably want to turn off markers and turn the array setting to full. You may wish to turn off text.

Adjust the display filters as needed. If the display filters are set too large (i.e. 20/20) then the plot may also show the blocked our display areas. In the example below, the display filters are set so high that the large green and magenta structure fill regions will not produce a pleasing plot.

Adjust the outline color and fill colors as desired for the plot. Remember that your paper has a white background; therefore if you regularly use a black background change it to white and then re-evaluate your choices for color and fill.

Print Setup

The File | Print Setup dialog enables the user to select the desired printer, page size and orientation. Note that while some printers may support page sizes greater than 11 x 17, our printer driver will not be able to print at 300 dpi resolution above that size.

Page Setup

The File | Page Setup dialog gives the user precise control over printing details.

Print Units

Inches or MM - select the units of the page dimensions. This is needed to interpret the margin values.

Print Region

This section gives the user control over which region of the layout is to be printed.

Print Extents - the program prints the extents of the current open structure -- even if your display is zoomed in.

Print Current View - The plot will consist of the data currently showing in the display window.

Print Specific Window - The user specifies the layout region to plot by either using the mouse or by entering the exact coordinates into the appropriate fields. When entering coordinates one uses the layout coordinates and the layout database units.

Margins

Margins - Define the page margins on the left/top/right/bottom.

Print at Center of Paper - Centers the plot on the page based on the margin settings.

Scale

The user can choose to allow the printer driver to compute the scale that fits the plot region to the available page region or can request a specific scale factor. If the user selects the scale factor, it is possible that the resulting plot area may not fit on the page and that data will be lost beyond the edge of the page.

Print Preview

The Print Preview option allows the user to preview the plot on screen before printing it.