Kevin

Two questions here that perhaps someone can shed some light on. 1. Font Integrity - It has been brought to my attention that corrupted fonts can cause problems in printing. Does anyone have advice on a font utility that checks for corrupted fonts? 2. Font Sets - I have hundreds of fonts in my system. For Vectorworks I only use two or three. Does anyone know of a way to limit the font list in VW to only the fonts that I want to use? I have heard of font management utilities such as Suitcase. Is this what I need? Any advice from someone who has used these programs would be appreciated. Perhaps the VW Tech could comment on program compatibility with these utilities.

Kurt;Thank you for taking an interest in this matter. I have heard that there are utilities that can check for corrupted fonts. If you have advice on this I would appreciate it. I am posting a new topic in General Discussion to that very topic of font integrity and management. I have a Mac G4 that I use for Vectorworks. I also have a G3 that I use for less demanding programs. They are hooked up, along with the HP 455CA on an ethernet switch. What I do now is to print from a VW file to the G4 hard drive. I launch the RIP in the G3. In the RIP I choose the files that are on the G4 drive. Then I click the green button that begins the processing and printing. I can also launch the RIP on the G4, but that ties up the G4 while it prints. What I cannot do is use the "Print" button in the rip. It results in a "-8993" error code. I can only use the "File" button, thus saving to disk. From what you describe, it sounds like you are able to print directly to your second computer without saving to disk. Is this correct, and if so how exactly do you do it? Thanks again for your help.

nightvision;The laserwriter driver has a limited number of default page sizes. However, the HP Rip comes with "PPD" files that have the larger page sizes you need. It has been a while since I have set this up, but my recolection is that from the chooser you can select laserwriter and then click the setup button. The HP tech support guys can walk you through it if you like. The support is free for the price of a phone call. That is the setup I use, however I cannot get the RIP to print directly to the plotter. I must first save the file to disk and then I open the file in the RIP. It works fine

Austin; Thanks for the info. Where does one find this "Print Sheets" command. I have looked everywhere. I am using VW 8.5.2 on a Mac.

I don't know about batch exporting, but could you tell me what the "Print Sheets" command is? This sounds interesting.

Davis Design;Your idea sounds interesting. I will give it a try. It seems to me though that this will create a very large file size. How do you blueprint these images? My experience with greyscale in working drawings is that the exposure in blueprinting is critical. Too light or too dark and the image does not come out. For this reason I avoid it. My preference is to stick to hatches where the linework is black or white and the file sizes are of a reasonable size. I do use Renderworks and textures for color inkjet renderings for presentations. I have imported .jpg images with sucess too. My next step is to try using the digital camera to capture and import image textures. But for now my interest is producing black and white elevations for working drawings. I use multiple materials on my projects and it would be much more effective to show those materials graphically instead of just a note with an arrow pointing to a wall. Thanks for the input.

Katie;Thank you for your replies, and for working late. It seems to me a very daunting task to create something like a barrel roof tile hatch using small straight lines. It is probably something that would take much too much time to figure out and execute. I appreciate the thoughts on converting the files. If anyone can do this, it would be wonderful. My email is kschley@cox.net.

Kurt;I am new to this board and have no idea why my previous post is posted again. From what you describe, I am running a very similar setup. I have two Macs and the 455 on a ethernet network. Both are running OS 9.2. You say that you print TO the print server. How do you do this? I save to computer #1's hard drive, then launch the RIP on computer #2. From the RIP I then select the files that are on computer #1. Computer #2 then processes the files and sends them to the plotter. What you describe sounds different. Can you explain? Thanks.

I have had the 455ca for about 3 years. It never allowed me to print directly out of the print dialog box. However the workaround has worked for as long as I have had this plotter. From the print dialog box I print to FILE. This creates a postscript file on disk. Then simply open the file in the HP Rip. It works every time. No exporting, no .pdf files. Occasionally the Rip files become corrupted. There is a simple proceedure, (discarding the preferences for one), that fixes the problem. Once I have all the files printed to file, I can open them all in the Rip and print. I usually Rip them on a second networked computer so that my primary computer is not tied up with the Rip and printing process. I hope this answers some of your questions/problems.

I have had the 455ca for about 3 years. It never allowed me to print directly out of the print dialog box. However the workaround has worked for as long as I have had this plotter. From the print dialog box I print to FILE. This creates a postscript file on disk. Then simply open the file in the HP Rip. It works every time. No exporting, no .pdf files. Occasionally the Rip files become corrupted. There is a simple proceedure, (discarding the preferences for one), that fixes the problem. Once I have all the files printed to file, I can open them all in the Rip and print. I usually Rip them on a second networked computer so that my primary computer is not tied up with the Rip and printing process. I hope this answers some of your questions/problems.

Katie;Thank you for such a thorough reply. I have used the supplied hatches that you refer to; tile, brick, wood patterns. But if I understand correctly, there are no hatches for stone, shingle, barrel roof tile. I have used the textures in Renderworks and they work great. I have also imported textures from outside sources with equally good sucess. I used a stone texture from Stone Cad. But of course these are of no value in the creation of 2d working drawings. Do you know of a way to convert a VW 9.0 hatch for use in VW 8.5.2. Those hatches in Vectordepot may be just what I need, but they will not open in VW 8.5.2. As far as using the hatch creation tool, how can I create the curves of flagstone or barrel roof tile? From what I can understand, the hatch creation uses straight lines. If you or anyone has a source for VW 8.5.2 compatible hatches I would be interested. As I said previously, there must be an awful lot of architects out there with the same question and problem that I have.

Jim;Thank you for your input. I went to the Vectordepot site and downloaded the files that you sugested. Apparently they are in a newer version, 9.0 or higher. I cannot open them in VW 8.5.2. I find it hard to believe that hundreds or thousands of architects are using Vectorworks and are unable to show a shingle wall or a stone veneer wall. Is this ability really not part of the program? I see examples of other peoples drawings that show a richly detailed exterior elevation with all the materials shown. How is it that they are able to do this?

In drawing exterior elevations, how do I show the various cladding materials such as stone or shingle. I do not see these in the hatch folder. The Cultured Stone company has a program called Stone Cad which has many stone pattern fills. It exports these to a .dxf file which I cannot figure how to use.