topic Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER in Documentation

PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 15:50:14 GMT

Could someone please tell me the proper way to send a 3D view of an Archicad drawing to Plotmaker and plot?

I have tried several ways and everytime I plot from Plotmaker the lines are all "jagged".
However when I plot the same 3D view in Archicad it plots pefectly.

thanks

p.s.: LINK! YOU OUT THERE?

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 17:49:03 GMT

unfortunately, the saved views of 3d elements save as low resolution images, not vector based pmks.

you must save/publish a pmk for each 3d view, then import the pmk's into Plotmaker.

covered other places in the forum, too...

Wes

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 18:33:40 GMT

i have tried that....
unfortunately i am using an HP DESIGNJET 500 w/ the HPGL2 card.
and its telling me that I do not have enough memory to print.

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Djordje — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 18:36:18 GMT

drew wrote:
i have tried that....
unfortunately i am using an HP DESIGNJET 500 w/ the HPGL2 card.
and its telling me that I do not have enough memory to print.

Add memory.

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 19:28:22 GMT

Djordje wrote:
Add memory.

hah!
u mean theres no other way?

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 20:55:39 GMT

drew wrote:

hah!
u mean theres no other way?

I am not too familiar with the 500, but the 650 I use has an advanced setting that will allow you to process the document in your computer...check your plotter properties

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

aahatimo — Wed, 21 Jan 2004 19:16:48 GMT

drew wrote:
i have tried that....
unfortunately i am using an HP DESIGNJET 500 w/ the HPGL2 card.
and its telling me that I do not have enough memory to print.

drew,
on my hp500 w/ hpgl2 card plotter there is a setting under printing prefs > advanced document processing> one is 'maximum preformance', the alt is 'avoid out of memory'. help message for later alt: 'the document will always regardless of installed memory installed in printer. printing will be noticibly slower.'
have you tried that? that maybe the similar setting to what richard mentioned.
btw, i purchased a 128 mb kingston memory card from hp online for the hp500 / 800 hpgl2 card for $50. much better deal than the $300 +/- for hp memory. that maxes out the memory at 160mb.

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 17:01:02 GMT

Thanks for the help!

I tried the "avoid out of memory" and it worked pretty good... i mean, a few lines were missing but it'll do for now...

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Djordje — Fri, 23 Jan 2004 07:07:22 GMT

drew wrote:
I tried the "avoid out of memory" and it worked pretty good... i mean, a few lines were missing but it'll do for now...

The golden rule is to fit the PlotMaker file into the printer's memory; if you computer has enough, than the driver settings should be such that the print is processed in the computer. However, that can slow the machine down, and IMHO printers should take care of that. In a multiuser environment, computers can grind to a halt if everybody is processing their own prints, and thewhol eoffice is idling because the memory in the print device is not enough.

That's why I said "Add memory" - in the long run, that is the best way. Of course, do NOT go with the brand memory, any reputed OEM brand will do (Kingston etc).

Re: PLOTTING 3D DRAWINGS FROM ARCHICAD IN PLOTMAKER

Piotr Dobrowolski — Sat, 24 Jan 2004 13:55:51 GMT

The golden rule is to fit the PlotMaker file into the printer's memory; if you computer has enough, than the driver settings should be such that the print is processed in the computer. However, that can slow the machine down....

It all depends more on the speed of connection to the machine..
I use the ancient HP 450 on LPT port and from what I noticed the larger files with some bitmaps etc (mainly from Corel) are printing significantly faster when "in computer" option is on (180degrees from what the manual says). If prn file produced from layout is larger than 2-3 Meg I rather use "In computer".
It all changes to oposite if the plotter is connected to the USB or LAN!! (But not the old machines - even if on LAN - all stuff is pushed through tight old LPT)

Regards,
Piotr