Poll - Do you "Print to File"
- Thread starter Max
- Start date
Ralf
Alibre Super User
Please take a look:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6713&start=45#p69641
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6713&start=45#p69641
RocketNut
Alibre Super User
Now I think about it. Why isn't there a plot function in Alibre? I just used the print to file function for my large prints and turn over to plotting house. Here I use a
Epson WorkForce 1100 Wide-format Printer (it print up to 13"X19") with a CIS. I would think for some you guys out that can afford a 60" wide plotter, a plot function would be just the ticket.
Epson WorkForce 1100 Wide-format Printer (it print up to 13"X19") with a CIS. I would think for some you guys out that can afford a 60" wide plotter, a plot function would be just the ticket.
Hop
Senior Member
RocketNut said:
I think Max answered this question:
Max said:
There are third-party software houses that make it their business to provide HPGL2 drivers for a whole bunch of CAD and other vector graphics applications. See here http://www.winline.com/applications.html. You will notice (if you pursue the link) that all the "big bucks" CAD vendors have signed up but not Alibre. Nor has Delta CAD (my favorite 2D drafting toy) for that matter. Apparently it is a non-trivial task to translate a 3D model, or even a 2D drawing, into HPGL commands that a plotter (vector or raster) can interpret.
I personally have an ancient Roland flatbed X-Y plotter with a serial RS-232 interface. I even have some ink pens for it, still sealed in their foil wrappers that probably would still work. It was used as recently as twenty years ago to produce scientific graphs (suitable for publication) from data captured into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Would I consider hooking it up to my PC now, if I had an HPGL driver for it supported by Alibre? No. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. The world has pretty much made mechanical plotters obsolete. Unless you still cut rubylith or cloth. A CO2 laser works better though...
Some thirty years ago, a company I worked for used a screamingly fast raster printer based on toner dispersed in kerosene, said toner being deposited by charges placed by a zillion little wires arranged across the width of a specially coated paper, the charges on said wires being driven by very fast electronics as the "paper" zipped past the "print head" at several feet per second. A sophisticated vacuum system removed almost all of the kerosene for re-cycling after the toner was laid down, so the "print" was almost dry as it came out. To get all this speed you needed to use a specially coated continuous stack of micro-perforated paper that would accept the charges that attracted the toner. Don't even ask what that special paper cost. But the images were permanent and it did photocopy well.
About that same time period I attended a trade show and saw a demo of a large-format color version of this printer. It would make several passes, depending on the number of "pens" used, re-winding the "paper" after each pass. It produced perfectly "drawn" E-size or larger documents (width about 60 inches, length limited mainly by the size of the paper roll) in just a few seconds. It actually took longer to "rasterize" the vector drawing than the time it took to print it. Unfortunately the entire raster image had to be available in memory before printing started because you couldn't pause the paper feed once it got up to speed. If you had to ask what it cost, you couldn't afford one. If you wanted "copies" you printed another one. Ozalid machines (which could make monochrome copies) along with this printer all but disappeared about the same time, just a few years later, as technology passed them by.
I could be wrong in my perception, but I think large format color video monitors, projection displays, high resolution laser and ink squirter printers, large disk farms, networks, personal computers and laptop computers all combined synergistically to pretty much bury the need to produce large format drawings, even for the production floor or archival use. I know large format drawings are still made (visit FedEx Kinko's to see what is available), but I would be very surprised if they are really considered to be necessary. Please feel free to correct me if my perception of this is incorrect. :roll:
Hop
AndrewTing
Senior Member
Reading Hop's post is like flipping thru history textbook... :shock:
NateLiquidGravity
Alibre Super User
You can get very large ink jet printers. http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF02a/18972-18972-3328061.html I use a hp designjet 500 almost daily to produce shop drawings.
Hop is right about the need for large format drawings going away. Of course it hasn't disappeared completely, but it is only a matter of time and with the pace of technological innovation, that time becomes shorter daily.
The last project I was on, an ebay data center was using a mix of drawings and electronic data. One could "fly" through the project and see everything as designed in 3D. Much like exploring a 3D world in a game, only this was "accurate". From this master view, one could print out parts or views of anything needed. For instance lets say, a question comes in from the field about the location of a cable tray with respect to the fire control sprinkler line. This location can be zoomed into from any direction to any degree of precision and printouts can be made, which if things have gone according to plan, will answer the questions.
The reality of the process, is not too far from this, although drawings preferably full sized for clarity and visibility, are still needed for the guys in the field doing the actual work. The company I was working for figured they didn't need a plotter, and they were handing out 8x11 sheets, and the next size up to the field guys (me) but we couldn't read the dimensions at this scale. We had to have the full sized drawings in order to get the needed clarity. We were always going over to the electricians to get drawings (they had a full sized plotter).
Until the field guys have access in real time to the master plan ( wireless notebooks, ipads.....?) drawings will be needed , and full size ones at that due to fact that dimensions have to be legible.
rollin'
The last project I was on, an ebay data center was using a mix of drawings and electronic data. One could "fly" through the project and see everything as designed in 3D. Much like exploring a 3D world in a game, only this was "accurate". From this master view, one could print out parts or views of anything needed. For instance lets say, a question comes in from the field about the location of a cable tray with respect to the fire control sprinkler line. This location can be zoomed into from any direction to any degree of precision and printouts can be made, which if things have gone according to plan, will answer the questions.
The reality of the process, is not too far from this, although drawings preferably full sized for clarity and visibility, are still needed for the guys in the field doing the actual work. The company I was working for figured they didn't need a plotter, and they were handing out 8x11 sheets, and the next size up to the field guys (me) but we couldn't read the dimensions at this scale. We had to have the full sized drawings in order to get the needed clarity. We were always going over to the electricians to get drawings (they had a full sized plotter).
Until the field guys have access in real time to the master plan ( wireless notebooks, ipads.....?) drawings will be needed , and full size ones at that due to fact that dimensions have to be legible.
rollin'