Legacy Display

[Howard]

When are you guys going to solve the problem with the Legacy Display option?? I’m really fed up! When I want to hard copy or PDF a drawing I have to go through this long routine of having to close down all of my open drawings, going to system options, turning on Legacy display, shutting down Alibre Atom, then re-starting Alibre Atom, opening the drawing I wish to hard copy, take a print, closing the drawing, going back to system options, turning off Legacy Display, shutting Alibre Atom down again, restarting Alibre Atom and then opening all my previous drawings and starting again!! Come on Alibre software writers there must be an easier way!!

 

[DavidJ]

Why are you switching to legacy display to print? Problem with specific printer?

Which PDF app are you using? Built in PDF writer has been improved since its introduction.

You mention 'drawing', can I check you mean 2D Drawings or are you actually trying to print something else?

 

[Howard]

Hi David
Thanks for a quick reply. There are no problems with the type printer I have, it's a Brother MFC 6490CW A3 printer, which works perfectly in TurboCad and AutoCad. In Alibre I'm only asking it to print 2D drawings, nothing special. For the PDF operation I'm using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Version 2021.001.20142.
I have tried all angles to avoid having to turn on the legacy display without success, hence the long process stated above.
It would be a help if the legacy display could be turned on or off without having to shut down the program.
Another thing I do not understand is Alibre definition of the Word 'LEGACY' I just don't see the connection, is this American-English or what??

 

[DavidJ]

Which PDF application do you have set to PRODUCE the PDFs from Alibre? I.E. what is set in System Options -> Drawings -> PDF ? Have you tried 'Use Built-in PDF Writer' ?

There have been some reports of problems with some printers - probably linked to the fact that Alibre has moved to later .NET framework - if the printer drivers have not been updated to work with the more modern .NET, that isn't really an Alibre issue, but it is of course frustrating. Strange as it may seem, outdated graphics drivers can also cause printing problems in some cases. Check to see if any more recent drivers are available for your printer, and graphics adapter.

Legacy
adjective
COMPUTING

1. denoting or relating to software or hardware that has been superseded but is difficult to replace because of its wide use.

 

[Max]

Another thing I do not understand is Alibre definition of the Word 'LEGACY' I just don't see the connection, is this American-English or what??

I'll chime in here too - it is legacy because it is old and outdated. It is also planned to be deprecated probably in 1-2 releases (after the next one). We kept it around for compatibility reasons early on - specifically for add-ons and PDF reasons - but those have been addressed. I'm not sure it's currently "widely used" as the definition above may indicate.

If someone is using it, it's probably for one of three reasons:

• Some very specific compatibility issue, e.g. printing on printer XYZ
• They simply prefer the visual nature of the older one, which I don't get but hey, to each his or her own.
• They are using very old hardware and require it for performance reasons

However, supporting two graphics pipelines is something we never intended to do in perpetuity, so if there is an issue you're facing that requires legacy graphics to fix, then please email max@alibre.com and show me an example - the way forward is to address whatever issue that is within the new graphics pipeline.

In your example, I need to know exactly what is happening - do you get an error, and if so what is it? Does it just print weird? Take a picture of it, etc.

Thanks!

 

[Howard]

My PC is not old, it's a Intel[R] Core[TM] i7-6700K CPU 4.00Ghz, installed RAM = 16GB, My graphics card is also not old a NVIDIA Geforce GTX 970, my printer maybe a little old but it has the latest drivers installed for Windows 10 Pro, no other programs that I use has a problem with the printer.
You ask for an example, well it's quiet simple really, if I choose to print in 3d mode using the file pull down menu and then choosing 'Print', windows shows the type printer dialog and the printer works but prints a blank page. When requiring a 2D hard copy within the drawing mode [legacy display off] again choosing 'print' within the file menu, Windows shows the print dialog, but then the Alibre program crashes out and shuts itself down, needless to say, I do not receive a paper print from the printer.

I can live with having to go to the system menu and turning 'Legacy Display on or off, but what really is a pain in the back side is having to shut the Alibre program down to execute the 'Legacy Display' command.

You say that this will be addressed, maybe within the next 2 updates, after the next update, this would mean waiting three years! Come on...... surely you can do better than this??

 

[DavidJ]

Newest driver package from Brother for that printer is from March 2013. More than 2 years prior to Win10 release. If, as I suspect, the issue is with drivers/latest .NET, then there is nothing that we can do.

Try Publish to PDF (no need to use Legacy mode) after making sure that System Options-> Drawing -> PDF is set to 'use built-in writer'. After creating the PDF, try printing it from Acrobat Reader.

 

[Max]

Thanks Howard. So If I understand you correctly you are trying to do two things:

1. Print a picture, as shown in the 3D work area, of the 3D model as it appears in the part workspace
   • The resulting print is blank
2. Print a 2D drawing
   • Results in a crash, closing Alibre.
   • It would be helpful if we had an image of the error, if there is one.

I think you should ping support because there are probably some error logs being generated that may assist in diagnosis.

It's important to note two things here:

• Our release cycles are not once per year - they are about 3-4x / year.
• As I don't know what the issue causing this is, I'm not necessarily saying we will fix it - I also am not saying we won't. I just don't know. It may not even be within our power to fix it if it's a driver issue with the printer. So this is why we need to see exactly what the error is.

Can you please get in touch with support on this?

<edit> Looks like I was typing as David was responding too. His workaround is a good one for 2D drawings - Publish them to PDF using the built-in writer and then print from PDF.

 

[DavidJ]

If you do want a 'screenshot' type picture - the best quality will come from Export from the 3D workspace to an image format (JPEG for example), then open that resulting file from your favourite graphics/photo software and print from that.

 

[Howard]

Hi David and Mr CEO of Alibre,
Your solution as to publishing the 2D drawing to the built in writer and then printing from a PDF file works fine and saves a lot of time, GREAT!

As to the 3D workspace, well the only thing I can export is STP or SAT files, there is no possibility of producing a JPG file, so I'm a little stumped with that problem, maybe there is another way of doing it? as I often require a coloured 3D print for clarity

All in all I'm pleased that I do not have to use the 'Legacy Display'

Thanks for your quick answers and solutions
Regards,
Howard

 

[simonb65]

I often require a coloured 3D print for clarity

Just orientate and declutter the view as you would like it presented and use Windows 'Snipping Tool', does everything you need (all be it not built into Alibre!), that's how most (all of mine) of the images shown on this forum are captured and shared. Just set your workspace background to white to make it seamless when pasted in a document, etc.

 

[DavidJ]

JPEG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, GIF should be on the list of export options from the 3D workspace - towards the bottom of the list.

Simon's tips about de-cluttering apply regardless of how you 'grab' the image.

 

[Max]

Just for reference to David's post, in 3D workspaces File > Export > choose an image format. You will almost always choose PNG or JPEG. If you aren't sure what to pick, pick either of those. PNG will be maximum quality and higher file size.

 

[bigseb]

You know what would be great? Being able to export pngs with a transparent background. Normally I just change background to white and then remove it in other software. A bit of a time saver...

 

[bigseb]

You know what would be great? Being able to export pngs with a transparent background. Normally I just change background to white and then remove it in other software. A bit of a time saver...

Also, please don't prioritise this over any other suggestion I have made. Would be cool to have but everything else is more important.

 

[Howard]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the response, it would be great if I could export JPG files etc. but as I said before I do not have this option within the Export menu. The snapshot that Max has shown above just does not excist in my Alibre menu. Is there a possibility that this option has been excluded in my Alibre Atom Version??

Regards,
Howard

 

[DavidJ]

I've just checked on my system - Atom3D doesn't offer those image export options. I've asked internally if that is by design or an omission.

For now you'll have to use the Print Screen function or the Windows Snipping Tool (as mentioned by Simon above). The snipping tool is probably fastest.