FitPlot

The goal of FitPlot is simple:

• place various PDFs (or other common graphic formats files such as JPG, TIF, GIF, EPS, PSD, image in the pasteboard) on a virtual plotter sheet;
• Arrange all objects in a WYSIWYG environment moving and rotating them;
• Print the so arranged plotter sheet and eventually save it for later printings.

I know this can be done with blazoned vectorial applications, but here we have a small program that can just do it--nothing less, nothing more.

If your needs are very simple, and only need to import single-page files for layout, you may want to try FitPlot Lite.

Contact Sheet:

• This new command performs a kind of "Nesting" suitable to arrange images in rows and columns, commonly known as contact sheet.
• You can find this command inside [Tools -> Contact Sheet…] menu with [cmd + J] as keyboard shortcut.
• When launched, the program shows up a dialog where we can set all needed variables; if you are lazy, I've just prepared some quick menus (with presets suitable for the vertical formats A4 / letter or similar).
• These "quick menus" are in the [Tools -> Predefined Contact Sheet]:
• Portrait 3x3 [ctrl + 4]
• Portrait 4x4 [ctrl + 5]
• Portrait 5x5 [ctrl + 6]
• Landscape 2x4 [ctrl + 7]
• Landscape 3x6 [ctrl + 8]
• Use Saved Preferences… [ctrl + J]

Predefined Nestings:

• Some quick menus (with relative keyboard shortcuts) allow to perform nesting of images in a FitPlot document in an only move.
• These are the items you can find in the [Tools -> Predefined Nestings] menu:
• Less Paper on Wide Format [ctrl + 0]
• Less Paper on Single Sheets [ctrl + 1]
• Less Cuts on Wide Format [ctrl + 2]
• Less Cuts on Single Sheets [ctrl + 3]
• Use Saved Preferences… [ctrl + K]

Menu [Object Print Style -> None]:

• The first item of the [Object Print Style] menu is now the "None" style. Choosing this item will cause the removal of all styles applied to one image (or more images, in case you are using the contextual menu) in a single operation.

Improvements in the "Import settings from…" command:

• This command allows to import settings such as page format, for example, from other documents or templates. With this improvement you can now import also images and magnetic guides that are present in the file to import. The images, if present, are, upon request, placed above or below images that are already on the current document.

Added the new file type "fitplot bundle template":

• This kind of file will be, from now on, proposed as the FitPlot model document default (the documents to save in the templates folder).
• This file type has the advantage to save all images in a self contained "package" with guaranteed portability. It is stil possible to save in the old "fitplot template" file, for retro-compatibility, but it is no more the default type.

Improvements and bugs fixing:

• When a packing fails, the program shows more deeply where the problem hides and offers the chance to try again (suggesting the change of some parameters).
• Some minor problems have been fixed.