I have several fixtures that I use when engraving multiples of items with individualized information (such as tags or panels). Typically, the items are arranged in rows and columns, spaced wide enough to make inserting and removing easy but close enough to generally maximize use of the entire bed. Images of the actual items are on a visible in the job template file on a nonprinting layer for reference when laying out the engraving. The engraving information is color coded by column to minimize head motion across blank space and speed up the engraving. Unused items are deleted from the template files before saving individual job files.
When a proof picture is needed for one of these jobs, I highlight all the engraving, change the fill to simulate the appearance of the engraving on the item (e.g., brownish for a wood item, gray for anodized aluminum), enable printing of the item images layer, and then I select the various rows and columns and move them closer to reduce the size of the proof picture. Additionally, for items that are shaped such that there can be several columns but only a couple of rows, the proof picture can get cumbersomely wide so I typically rearrange the items, for example 12 items in 2 rows of 6 each might be rearranged as 3 rows of 4 each.
So, my question is, can anyone tell me how to efficiently automate this process in CorelDraw? I first tried recording a macro to rearrange an entire fixture's worth of items but found that the macro won't work if I have deleted unused items (which is one of the first things I do when I set up a new job file). Guess I could set up one specific macro for one item jobs, another for two items, and so on for a total of "X" macros for a fixture that holds "X" items, but that's pretty unwieldy for fixtures with more than a few items.
Any good ideas?