Setplot

Exports and paperwork

Print a groundplan at the right scale

Export a stage map as a PDF, choose the paper size, and print it at full size so the drawing can be measured off the page rather than guessed at.

All topics

Draw your plan at real-world dimensions, then choose a paper size when exporting. Setplot selects the largest available drawing scale that fits the sheet and prints that scale in the title block.

Export the sheet

  1. Open the production and choose Export from the editor.
  2. Pick Stage map from the Stage group. The line under the card tells you what this file will contain for this production.
  3. Choose Which set the drawing is of. A stage map is a plan of one arrangement, so a show with four sets is four drawings, or one One sheet per set export if you want the pack.
  4. Choose the paper size. A3 draws larger and is the usual plot size; A4 fits an office printer.
  5. Read the line above the download button. It says something like "A3 at 1:50", which is the scale the sheet will be drawn and labeled at.
  6. Choose PDF and download.

Two options are worth knowing about. Draw the rig on hangs the bars and fixtures over the plan, which turns the stage map into something closer to a lighting plot; leave it off for a scenic drawing. Name each piece writes each piece's name beside it and keys the colors below the drawing, which is what makes a plan readable by somebody who was not in the room when it was drawn.

The scale on a drawing is only true if the sheet comes out of the printer at the size it was drawn at.

  1. Open the PDF and print it at 100 percent, sometimes called Actual size.
  2. Turn off Fit to page, Shrink to fit and any other scaling the print dialog offers.
  3. Print A3 on A3 and A4 on A4. Printing an A3 drawing onto A4 paper is scaling it, whatever the dialog calls it.
  4. Check one known dimension on the paper with a scale rule before the drawing leaves the building.

If a 1:25 drawing is reduced to 1:27 during printing, it is about 7.4 percent smaller on paper. The title block still says 1:25. Check a known dimension before using the printed measurements.

Which format to send

Send PDF to anybody who is going to print or read the drawing, because it carries the scale and prints predictably. Send SVG to somebody who is going to redraw or trace it in their own software, since it stays a set of lines rather than becoming pixels. Use PNG for a slide, an email or a rehearsal room wall, where nothing is going to be measured.