resullins Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 So, part of my job as the resident CAD expert is vectorizing images for my boyfriend's buddies to make logos for their cars. Usually, I just send the file as a .dwg and never hear any more about it. However, one guy says he needs a .plt file. I thought that the .plt file was what CAD made to send to the printer. It's my understanding that you can't "make" one. Is that right? Or am I totally crazy. I'm just used to plotting myself. Quote
rkent Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 If you know which model of plotter they need for the plt then you can edit the .pc3 file, pick the ports tab, select plot to file. Make a copy of the one needed and modify the copy for the plt plotting. Or you can type -plot from the command line, answer each prompt and when it asks if you want to plot to a file you answer yes, of course. Quote
resullins Posted July 7, 2011 Author Posted July 7, 2011 Hm... look at that. I've never had to work with actual PLT files before. Thanks! I hope that's all they need! Quote
irneb Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 Just make sure to use the correct driver for the plotter they have. A PLT can have nearly anything inside it (HPGL/HPRTL/HPGL2/ECM/PostScript/etc.) Some plotters/printers work with only one of those print-languages, some with more, some with their own proprietary language. And mostly each printer model has some quirks of its own (e.g. different bleed margins). It's always better to get hold of the exact driver for the printer if you're going to make a PLT. And if it's a windows driver then you can't directly save to file through ACad, the plt coming from that is what ACad would send to windows (not what gets sent to the printer). In this case change the windows driver in the Printers folder to save to file instead of a Port/Network. You'll usually end up with a PRN file in such case though - but it's much the same idea. If you have no idea what printer they're going to use, then it's possibly better giving them a PDF instead. That's what it's "meant" for (Portable Document Format). Quote
resullins Posted July 7, 2011 Author Posted July 7, 2011 Well, I asked if a PDF would work, and got a No. So I'm trying to ask the guys what kid of plotter he has, cause this is all new to me. Even if I have the driver on my computer, will it let me select it if I'm not connected? Quote
irneb Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 It "should" be selectable, if it's an ACad driver. Some Windows drivers don't want to do that though (e.g. our old Oce TDS600 has issues when it's not connected), but you may be able to create a new dummy printer and then simply use that same driver on that one. Quote
resullins Posted July 7, 2011 Author Posted July 7, 2011 Great... we'll see what the guy says! I really just prefer it when I can send them the CAD file to plot! Can you plot from DWG Truview? Quote
SLW210 Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 You can plot from DWG Truview. vectorizing images for my boyfriend's buddies to make logos for their cars By the work indicated I would say any .plt would work as they most likely are using Artcut and should be using HPGL. Quote
irneb Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 In such case make sure the PLT file is generated by a HPGL driver though. Probably not HPGL2, more like the penup & pendown items in the old HPGL for pen plotters. As for plotting from DWG Trueview: "Yes you can!" Quote
resullins Posted July 7, 2011 Author Posted July 7, 2011 How do I confirm that it's an HPGL driver? I have a couple of plotters loaded on my machine. Quote
SLW210 Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 Load up a dummy HPGL driver and use that. Use add-a-plotter wizard, select Hewlitt-Packard and one of the following. I got this list out of help List of Hewlett-Packard pen plotters are configured using the HP-GL device driver. The following Hewlett-Packard pen plotters are configured using the HP-GL device driver: •7475A •7550A •7580B •7585B •7586B •Draftmaster 1 (7595A) •Draftmaster 2 (7596A) •Draftpro (7570A) •Draftpro-DXL (7575A) •Draftpro-EXL (7576A) •DraftPro-Plus (C3170A) •DraftPro-Plus (C3171A) Quote
SLW210 Posted July 7, 2011 Posted July 7, 2011 If you could find out what program he is using it would help determine the file type needed. Quote
resullins Posted July 7, 2011 Author Posted July 7, 2011 If you could find out what program he is using it would help determine the file type needed. Yeah, I'm trying to get some info out of him... but he hasn't answered yet. And he'd better hurry, I'm gonna be in South America all next week! Quote
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