aersloat
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Posts posted by aersloat
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One frustration that we have with the callout tool is the difficulty in aligning the text boxes. We always want part of the text box aligned rather than part of the leader. With the callout tool the align command just doesn't work. It always tries to align the leader. If we are annotating a detail it would be handy to select all the notes on the left side, say, and use the align tool to align them to the left without affecting where the leader is pointing too.
It seems that the callout tool as it currently exists is leader-centric rather than text-centric. That approach makes the tool far less efficient to use.
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As long as we are getting well off topic I will chime in. VW's new Sketch rendering mode is vastly different in function than SketchUp. SketchUp is intended for rapid predesign and schematic design in an interactive 3d world. It is aimed directly at architecture and is very similar in purpose (but an evolutionary milestone ahead) to the old ModelShop and the seemingly dormant DesignWorkshop.
You can do most of what SketchUp can do in VW, but at a huge cost of efficiency. SketchUp has rendering, callouts, dimensioning, etc., but while you could put together working drawings in SketchUp you would be foolish to do so. You could do working drawings in FormZ too, but that doesn't make it a good idea.
I don't think that VW's Sketch mode is intended for designing. It is a presentation tool. SketchUp can squiggle lines too, but again, it is more for presentation.
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Ahh. I did a quick search but didn't see anything. Thanks.
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We have used batch printing successfully when sending a set to our plotter; however, we just tried to batch print a set of sheets to pdf. The script runs and claims to be printing all sheets but only the first sheet gets written. I have confirmed this with another unrelated file and another computer. We have tried both the "save as pdf..." option as well as changing the output option to pdf. Doesn't make a difference.
Both files are converted 10.5.1 files. Both machines 10.3.4 w/VWA 11. One file had 12 sheets, the other 5.
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FYI, Dr. Software has some products that are still in development. I don't know if I would call Dr. Frame 3D "simple" though. FWIW, we use it in our office. http://www.drsoftware-home.com/df3d/df3d.html
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Just so you guys know... if you do have embedded images in your file and you use Panther's save to pdf feature you can compress those images by using the "Reduce File Size" Quartz filter under ColorSync in the print dialog. You can also bind sheets quite easily using the free "Combine PDFs" Program (look on versiontracker.com). If you need more control, like selective font embedding, Distiller is the way to go.
Although we have Distiller we have not used it for producing pdfs for a very long time.
This, of course, has nothing to do with Suzanne's issue.
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You may not have the 1055CM set up as a postscript printer from your windoze systems. You may want to try and do that and see if there is any improvement. There may not be, but it is worth a try.
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I don't know how well it works, but you can open a pdf file with GraphicConverter and save it as a .plt (or .hpgl) file. Might as well give it a try...
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Mark
Another firm that we do some work with uses a vectorscript to translate pen colors to black lines with weight (and back again) just before plotting. If you used standardized colors this should be pretty easy and unobtrusive to do. You might want to give this a go.
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quote:Originally posted by Katie:Any application will run in classic mode.
Whoa, Katie. That's not true. Only carbon applications can run in the Classic environment (cocoa based applications cannot) -- and if your carbon application is encased in a package then it can be tricky to get it to start in classic as sometimes the "open in the Classic environment" checkbox is missing.
Some carbon applications like Microsoft Office X also simply lack the proper resources to run under OS9 or in the Classic environment-- despite the fact that they are carbon.
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Could you clarify a bit... are you printing it from the Preview application? What kind of plotter/printer are you outputting to? What driver are you using? Have you tried deleting and recreating your printer/plotter in Print Center?
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Do you have the same problem if you print to a postscript file using the LaserWriter 8 drivers and then convert to PDF using Distiller? You should also try previewing the .ps file using MacGhostView (look on www.versiontracker.com) to see if you have the same problem in the raw postscript file.
If you don't have the same problems using Distiller then I would suggest abandoning PDF writer and switching to a Distiller workflow. Having Distiller processing a watched folder can be pretty transparent.
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Look in the printing section for some discussion. I think that in most cases this error indicates a corrupted font.
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Kurt,
By the way, I just got an Asante FR1004al to replace my Ugate (I needed better wireless range) and the print server in the asante doesn't work for me. The problem is that the parallel port on the asante is unidirectional and stalls on some more complicated jobs. My old Ugate, and others like I think the SMC barricade, are bi-directional.
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You shouldn't, of course. I am just suggesting a few ways that you might come up with a workaround. As I mentioned, if this was OSX you could script the whole deal and not have to interact with another program at all-- if you can do that (and I don't know if you can) in W2k then my guess is that it would be quicker than going through the postscript RIP and then cutting the sheets manually.
I certainly understand your frustration. Hopefully HP can improve their driver. Sending them some polite feedback might encourage them to do so.
It is interesting to note that your problem exists only with VW10. I would be curious as to what changed in the printing architecture that made this so.
We have had an HP 1055cm for more than 4 years now. I think that when we got it we were using MiniCad 7 on OS 8.1 as well as AutoCAD 14 on Win95-- although it has been a while and I am not sure.
Through five major (Mac) OS revisions (which included two complete printing architecture overhauls) as well as at least four major revisions to VW and three generations of computers we have not had any trouble generating output (besides a problem with corrupted fonts and jaguar that we can't blame on anyone).
We only rely on HP for the ppd, however.
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I have no real business throwing my 2 cents in, but I am a little bored and find this an interesting thread.
It would be great if NNA could certify complete systems, or certain component combinations, but it just isn't ever going to happen in any substantive way. The resources just aren't there. The suggestion that they concentrate on market major market items isn't all that practical either. My reading of this thread is that NNA could certify that the 500ps works with your configuration. It is just slow and the (poorly written) hp postscript driver won't rotate the sheet. What might be more helpful would be a list of configurations that don't work very well. I don't think HP would be amused, however.
There must be something whack with this particular plotter. It isn't supported by gimp-print or linuxprinting. That should raise some serious flags. It isn't like this plotter came out yesterday-- and with the relatively wide support that the linux crowd has for the other hp plotters you have to wonder why this plotter is unsupported.
HP Software RIPs just aren't good-- on any platform. For my money their emulated postscript isn't so hot either. Their true postscript devices (like our 1055cm) are expensive, but they seem to perform well.
Dell doesn't write the operating system. Their certification of Autocad working on their hardware is next to meaningless. What are they going to do if it stops working, or if a feature somewhere doesn't work or if a badly written printer driver doesn't rotate a sheet? They sure as hell can't fix it. They don't write printer drivers and they don't write the OS. Contrasting Dell with NNA just doesn't make sense. The bigger question is why Dell doesn't certify VW on their hardware. How would it help you in your current situation if they did? It wouldn't.
Any firm which has 50 seats trying to plot to a 500ps is nuts. You should be glad that you aren't them.
NNA has always had a very good return policy in addition to their very good technical support policies. This has usually applied to upgrades as well.
I am proud to say that I have never used W2K, and I probably never will... but I can't help but think that there should be a workaround that doesn't require a ton of time or wielding scissors. How about installing adobe's postscript driver, or a pdf writer, write out your print jobs to file and then print from Acrobat Reader or a GhostScript based viewer? If Reader works, and I think that you indicated it did, then that would be a pretty quick work around. Skip the HP RIP.
If you were on OSX (which I am sad to say that you aren't) you could very easily script it with AppleScript. It would not shock me at all if you could script it in W2K as well. I would be shocked if it were as easy.
Better yet, if you wrote out the file to postscript or PDF and then opened it in Reader or GhostScript and weren't able to see your grayed layers then you could really howl at Katie because the HP driver would be out of the equation.
Of course, if you view it in Reader and it looks correct and then print it using the default windows driver and it doesn't come out then you are assured that it really isn't VW and you owe Katie some chocolates.
Maybe you have tried all of that and the quality just doesn't do it for you. There still might be a few other things to try involving other languages.
Anyway... sorry. I just find it hard to resist the printing threads.
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Marc
First I would recommend updating to 10.2.6.
When you are in Print Center, hold down the option key when clicking "Add Printer." This will enable the "Advanced" option in the next pull-down sheet. Select "Advanced" and then try the "Windows Printer via SAMBA" You will need to know the path to the printer. I believe that the url sytax is "smb://Server_Name/Share_Name" If you do a google search for "print center samba printing" you will find several links with additional info.
Peter is correct, of course, in that you will still need to have a driver for the printer. If is isn't a supported postscript printer or one that has a native mac driver then you should be able to get a driver by downloading and installing gimp-print.
Good luck.
edited to prevent the autoparsing of the url sytax
[ 06-30-2003, 08:20 PM: Message edited by: aersloat ]
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Kurt
I actually have a maxgate ugate 3300 cable/dsl router with parallel port print server. AFAIK maxgate is out of business. I believe that the Asante and all the others are essentially the same products. I have a Lexmark Optra E312L laser printer hooked up to the parallel port of the router. The ip address of the printer is just the router's address. In my case that is 192.168.0.1. The Lexmark has emulated postscript as well as a ppd (it has a usb port intended for mac use). I just created a LPR/LPD printer in print center and input the ip address and selected the ppd.
Asante is correct that normally you would need either a postscript device or a native printer driver. However, with a gimp-print supported device you should be fine.
Give it a go and let us know how it works out. The cable/dsl routers are getting quite cheap and if they work (with gimp-print) in lieu of a jet direct server that would be great for a bunch of folk.
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Are you talking about the HP430? or is there actually an HP400? Gimp print claims to support the 430. Keep in mind that you will have to get some kind of print server as the 430 does not have an ethernet interface. Instead of buying one from HP you might want to try one a third party. I have a dsl/cable router at home that came with a parallel print server attached which has worked flawlessly. If you get it I would defintely try gimp print before buying x-rip.
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Some of the GCC printers needed a ROM update to work with OSX-- so Greg might have a problem if his printer is old enough-- but all the shipping printers should be fine. My understanding is that GCC was fixing the issue for free but that they don't use flash ROM so you had to send something in to them for an exchange. Check their site for more info.
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It should not matter to the printer if you are using postscript fonts or truetype fonts. The "35 fonts" are (probably) loaded into the printer's rom. The printer also has some ram, which might be upgradeable. You might also be able to add an external hard drive. Anyway, depending on the printer you may be able to download postscript fonts that you often use to the printer. This can save time during printing. With today's printer speeds, networking speeds, and processor speeds-- and your printing volume-- it should not be an issue.
What I was talking about was Adobe's Postscript printer control language. Apple has used postscript printer drivers for a very long time to communicate with (primarily) laser printers. It is a safe bet that they will continue to support ps printers natively in future operating system updates. The important thing about that is you will not have to wait for the printer vendor to update a printer driver. An example would be that our HP 1055cm plotter worked with Mac OSX public beta when it came out years ago.
Also, some companies emulate postscript to avoid paying adobe royalties. Some companies like HP have both emulated postscript as well as real postscript. When you see "postscript compatible" listed it is usually a good bet that it is not real postscript. Sometimes the emulation is very good. Sometimes it can be problematic.
BTW, if you upgrade you printer RAM don't buy it from the printer vendor. Find out what kind of RAM it is and buy it from someone like thechipmerchant.com. I paid $16 for a SIMM that Lexmark had listed for somewhere around $300 on their site.
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I would stay away from HP's large format laser printers. The Xante is probably a good bet, as well as some of the GCC Printers or even some of the Xerox printers. We use a venerable Apple Laser Writer 8500 for printing out 11 x 17 as well as 12 x 18 half size check plots.
I would advise making sure that whatever you get has true Adobe Postscript not emulated postscript.
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quote:Originally posted by Katie:We discussed corrupted fonts at one point with you. You said it wasn't a corrupted font problem. I believe I mentioned it on the other printing posts as well.
Now, now Katie... no point in trying to defend yourself...
Seriously though, the Nemetschek NA folks do a great job on these boards and they certainly work hard to address problems (like this one) that are really unrelated to VW itself. Other applications, notably AppleWorks, generate the same error when trying to print a specific corrupt font. This is really something that our friends at The Cupertino Fruit Co. should be addressing.
BTW, Font Doctor may be able to help some people-- but when we were having this problem back in September it was unable to find the corrupt font. It is possible that they have improved the product somewhat.
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Hugh
Before you do that you might want to try a software DHCP server-- just to see if your jetdirect can obtain an address from it. You can try the "Sharing" item in System Prefs or you can try this DHCP server: http://www.faisal.com/software/DHCP-3.0.readme.html
main source distribution here: http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP/dhcp-v3.html
There is some configuration, but not much. Good luck.
[ 05-20-2003, 07:25 PM: Message edited by: aersloat ]
A question for those with corruption issues
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by aersloat
I just switched from an external USB drive to a usb drive hooked up through a new airport n basestation. I just tried opening a file I was working on last week and it is corrupted. 12.5.1, new build. No one has reported any corruption issues yet at the office saving to a tiger server (I'm remote).
After some additional sleuthing, the file became corrupt as soon as it was moved to the airdisk. Each day I work on a file I duplicate the last saved file. In this case, the file was moved, duplicated, opened, and not saved or modified. It became corrupt (not zero length though). VW reports an error on open, says it will try to open with as much data as possible, then crashes.
I recovered from the last good version and have been working with it for the past 90 minutes or so. Autosave is on but only with confirmation and it is not set to a separate backup. VW just reported the corrupt file warning while working and I saved to the desktop. This was a few minutes after the last autosave dialog if I recall correctly.