OS10.2.4, VW10, Macplot raster and HP800PS

[Acanthus 0]

for reasons that i won't go in to we have had to upgrade 1 computer on a 25 station network to OS 10.

the problem is how do we plot to the 800PS when all the other computers (OS9.0/9.2) are using Macplot raster (Ultra Graphicpak v 5.1.2) over the network. we can use the OS10 driver for the 800PS but this turns it in to a postscript which produces undesired results.

has anyone had similar problems and any advice on the solution.

Ian White

[rcarch 0]

if you are printing to an 800PS, then you do want it in postscipt. the PS suffix means that the plotter has a builtin hardware RIP that is much faster than macplot rasters software rip. what kinds of problems are you having? make sure that you have it setup properly in OSX PrintCenter with the 800PS driver. Set it up using Appletalk or the IP address. We use one and have very few problems on the printer side.

[Acanthus 0]

rich carroll

the 'problem' we are encountering when printing postscript is that patterns print as colour blocks, which is great when producing colour presentation drawings. for this sort of plot we use the postscript.

however, when plotting working drawings we don't really want the colour information, more what you see on screen when patterns are used, which is what happens using Macplot.

sounds pedantic i know, but if you know a way around this please let me know it would be most appreciated, as there is no OS10 macplot yet.

Ian White

AFM Architects (UK)

[Kurt Magness 0]

I thought Xrip from microspot (macplot) worked on a HP800ps ? I also thought HP as a OSX driver for the 800 series. You could try the gimp print driver for free and see what it does.

[skip 0]

Ian,

Hi, we are also UK Architects and use Macplot and Raster 5.1.2 on VW 10.1, MacOS 9.2.2.

Apologies for diving into your thread but we have just upgraded to VW10.1 from 8.5.2, and had to updrade Macplot from 4.7.

We use an HP 1050C plotter [no PS].

We are experiencing severe problems on Macplot providing only monochrome [not even greyscale] and are having difficulty fathoming this out.

You appear to get colour via Macplot albeit your want patterns to behave differently. We find Raster is fine for full colour but painfully slow for general working darwing production, when plot runs are big.

can you confirm that you get the full [8] colours from HPGL/2?

skip belton

[rcarch 0]

"however, when plotting working drawings we don't really want the colour information, more what you see on screen when patterns are used, which is what happens using Macplot."

Ian-

I am not sure what you are driving at. Please elaborate and I will see if I can help you. We use postscript for everything and do not have any isssues with the output. Prior to OSX, we used Macplot Ultra GraphicPak, and I always disliked the output, especially the line weights and lack of crispness.

[Microspot Development 0]

Ian,

You could use Microspot X-RIP v1.5 to drive your HP DesignJet 800PS over the network.

http://www.microspot.co.uk/x-rip

Microspot X-RIP does not use the postscript output produced by VectorWorks but instead uses Quartz to rasterise the document.

Kind Regards,

Graham