Print quality on HP800PS 42" Plotter

[peterk]

Since we upgraded from 11.5 to 2008 on Macs running OSX, 10.5.5 we have been experiencing a plotting problem with line weights varying according to their orientation ? ie a line drawn horizontal or vertical has a noticeably lighter weight when plotted than one drawn at an angle, say 45?. We are still using the same HP Plotter - 800PS. We print at 300dpi on normal quality.

We have plotted an old drawing on VectorWorks 11.5 on a Mac running OSX, 10.5.5 and it is fine, but the same drawing plotted from VectorWorks 2008 on the same computer and operating system has the lineweight problem, making me think it is a VectorWorks issue not a Mac OS one.

Has anyone else come across this problem please?

[Pat Stanford]

Turn on Quartz Imagin in the Display tab of the Vectorworks Preferences.

This will make VW use a round pen and maintain the expected line weights for diagonal lines.

Pat

[peterk]

Pat - thank you very much for your very quick response. We had a problem with disappearing fills when plotting soon after we started using 2008. We were advised then to turn off Quartz Imaging and it worked, so we have left it turned off. We have just tried plotting with QI turned on again, some fills are missing again & the line quality issue is still there unfortunately.

[Pat Stanford]

Then you have a printer driver problem, not a Vectorworks problem.

With Quartz on, you get round pens. With Quartz off, you get square pens (Quickdraw). You know what happens when you drag a square at an angle. At 45 degrees, the width of the line is the diagonal distance across the square.

Vectorworks does not have any other modes.

Maybe you can find a newer/better printer driver that will work with Quartz.

Pat

[peterk]

Thanks Pat - I will research it!