Thom Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 We are looking at a new HP 5500 plotter. We are PC based. What does post script give us? Does it improve printing speed or quality? Quote Link to comment
0 Travis Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Post script will generally not be faster, in fact is slower with bit-mapped images. It will give you better "transparent" layers (of image, not VW layers); it typically gives much better type (kerning, m- and n-spacing, ligatures, etc.) control; and is more device independant with respect to visual scale. But since most everything we'd want to print from VW needs to be true to scale, we'd rather the device not be doing any scaling for us. We've used both PS and non-PS printers and, with the current quality of mfg printer drivers, find no additional value for CAD work. A graphics design firm, on the other hand, may well have the opposite opinion. Good luck, Quote Link to comment
0 G-Pang Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Thom, If you can afford HP Designjet 5500. I'm strongly recommend you to get postscript. You will notice the difference when you print presentation drawings. Colour print on Postscript is lot better than Raster. With HP DJ 5500 PS, You can choose to use Raster/GL2 or Postscript or both. G-Pang Quote Link to comment
0 Thom Posted March 8, 2007 Author Share Posted March 8, 2007 There is a considerable difference in pricing. Is there a way to get the same or close quality with a 3rd party driver? Quote Link to comment
0 Guest Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 On windows, you have to use the HP supplied drivers. Quote Link to comment
0 G-Pang Posted March 9, 2007 Share Posted March 9, 2007 Before you buy any plotter. You have to consider drawing type will you print most. Normally, HPDJ5500 user require high quality print ( It can handle very light cyan& yellow ). Postscript feature will benefit this group of user. If you not require high quality print, you may not buy this plotter. This plotter is really good for presentation print but NOT as good as DJ4000/4500PS on CAD drawing. HP4500PS is a good option if you take cost as key factor. It can print twice dpi and faster print speed compare to DJ5500PS. But, the colour control is not good as DJ5500PS. This model is good for 80% CAD drawing & 20% Graphic Presentation. Postscript feature will result a smooth quality print specially the colour surface and tone/pattern. Raster/GL2 or Ghostscript cannot match it ( may be in future ). The comment given base on my experience in my office. Currently, for large printing ( exclude A4 & A3 ), we use.. Colour - HP Designjet 5500PS X 1 nos. Colour - HP Designjet 4000PS X 5 nos. B/W - Oce TDS800PS X 1 nos. B/W - Oce TDS400PS X 2 nos G-Pang Quote Link to comment
0 Thom Posted March 9, 2007 Author Share Posted March 9, 2007 Does anyone have any experience with the Canon IPF 8000 Power Graph Quote Link to comment
0 jnr Posted March 27, 2007 Share Posted March 27, 2007 I have a 42" HP 500ps. I can't tell you how many times having PS and non-PS drivers available have saved my rear end. Versions 9 and 10 had horrible problems with printing layer links, grayed out layers and hatches and patterns. PS saved the day. I'm an architect and frequently mix cad files with bmps, jpgs, tiffs, png on a variety of paper types. Yes PS takes longer, but the result is well worth the wait. Quote Link to comment
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Thom
We are looking at a new HP 5500 plotter. We are PC based. What does post script give us? Does it improve printing speed or quality?
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