ArchiCAD 16 and new HP DesignJet T520 Plotter

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I am behind the times and am using ArchiCAD v.16, adn have just upgraded my plotter from old to a new HP DesignJet T520. My version of ArchiCAD does not support the driver for this plotter as the driver did not exist at ArchiCAD 16 release and updated releases. Wondering if anyone has met up with this issue and knows how to create a new Printer ID within ArchiCAD with the current printer driver associated within ArchiCAD? Or do I need to bite the proverbial expensive bullet and upgrade ArchiCAD to v.22?
Thanks,

Doug

[Aaron Bourgoin]

unless I'm missing something - you should install the print drivers that come with your plotter on your system and then "Print" to the plotter from ARCHICAD.

Don't "Plot" when you can "Print".

Plotting is a command that should be removed from ARCHICAD. It's a task best left to political assassins.

[Barry Kelly]

Or Publish to PDF and then just print the PDF.
You can also set up the Publisher to 'print' to the printer rather than save as PDF.
Personally I prefer PDF because then you don't need an Archicad license to open the file and print - anyone can print a PDF.

Once the Publisher is set up it is just a couple of clicks to publish (print) and entire set of drawings - even multiple sets all at once.

Barry.

[Anonymous]

Aaron wrote:
unless I'm missing something - you should install the print drivers that come with your plotter on your system and then "Print" to the plotter from ARCHICAD.

Don't "Plot" when you can "Print".

Plotting is a command that should be removed from ARCHICAD. It's a task best left to political assassins.

Hi Aaron, Thanks for responding. Yes printing could work but still does not speak correctly to the printer. It will print the sheet but only in portrait format, which leaves 12" of unprinted space along each printed sheet that would need to be hand cut (yikes) and then waste paper. Have tried numerous permutations to get it to orient in landscape style, including custom paper sizing, to no avail. Even had an HP Tech trying along with me and we were foiled. Did end up with HP Tech creating a work around producing a PDF (As suggested by Barry) and printing from Adobe Acrobat Reader. Looks like I need to get my Publisher skills up and running. Or upgrade ArchiCAD, tempting as I am sure there have been some cool new additions in the last 6 releases. Thanks again Aaron, Best Doug

[Anonymous]

Barry wrote:
Or Publish to PDF and then just print the PDF.
You can also set up the Publisher to 'print' to the printer rather than save as PDF.
Personally I prefer PDF because then you don't need an Archicad license to open the file and print - anyone can print a PDF.

Once the Publisher is set up it is just a couple of clicks to publish (print) and entire set of drawings - even multiple sets all at once.

Barry.

Hi Barry,

Thank you for taking time to respond. Will try to get Publisher working to produce sheets/sets on the plotter and get them oriented correctly. If can't do it that way, will Publish PDFs and print from Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Best Doug

[Karl Ottenstein]

Doug wrote:
... to produce sheets/sets on the plotter ...

Not to beat a dead horse...although I guess I am: Note that for many years HP themselves call devices such as your T520 "large format printers". There has not been a plotter manufactured in decades. Any plot drivers that still exist are there for compatibility with ancient software that only understood pen plotters. 16 is old but not that old. 🙂

Your T520 is a printer.

Even in 16, the print orientation should be in the Page Setup dialog of both AC (File menu)and the Publisher setup. But don't get confused with portrait/landscape orientation vs the shape of your page. Since your page is laid out in 'landscape' shape, you want to print it in 'portrait' mode (straight up) to keep it from rotating I think? Adobe with its 'auto rotate' setting is another story. I'm sure you can resolve any issue with printing directly from the product, although there are advantages to PDF given by Barry.

Cheers,
Karl

[Erwin Edel]

Might just be our large format printer, but I find that publishing from ArchiCAD to the printer yields faster prints and more defined line thickness differences. Looks like something is lost when going to PDF.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Doug wrote:
Yes printing could work but still does not speak correctly to the printer. It will print the sheet but only in portrait format, which leaves 12" of unprinted space along each printed sheet that would need to be hand cut (yikes) and then waste paper.

PS. I saw online that the T520 comes in both a 24" and 36" version, and no doubt the 36" version can still take 24" rolls. You might make sure that you have the printer preferences set up to know that it has a 36" roll if the portrait/landscape orientation isn't the issue. As to HP tech not being able to help: I haven't found any company that seems to have competent people at their front line support these days (other than GS of course!)... and always seem to have to escalate to 2nd or 3rd level support to get someone who actually knows the product vs reading a script.

[Anonymous]

Karl wrote:

Doug wrote:
Yes printing could work but still does not speak correctly to the printer. It will print the sheet but only in portrait format, which leaves 12" of unprinted space along each printed sheet that would need to be hand cut (yikes) and then waste paper.

PS. I saw online that the T520 comes in both a 24" and 36" version, and no doubt the 36" version can still take 24" rolls. You might make sure that you have the printer preferences set up to know that it has a 36" roll if the portrait/landscape orientation isn't the issue. As to HP tech not being able to help: I haven't found any company that seems to have competent people at their front line support these days (other than GS of course!)... and always seem to have to escalate to 2nd or 3rd level support to get someone who actually knows the product vs reading a script.

Hi Karl, Thank you for the plotter info. Yes does seem to make sense to use the T520 as a printer. I used to have my old HP 430 set up under a plotter default for my larger prints and then my HP 5200 set as default for printing in tabloid or letter format. System worked well for years. When I checked into the driver for the T520 - it is the one for the 36" printer, but that was a good idea to check on because it is behaving like it is a 24" roll. There may be some setting somewhere that is still off. Was able to get the printer to work thru Adobe Acrobat on a pdf and went the full 36" width. But as Erwin Mentioned I did notice the output not quite as defined as I would like. Thanks so much for the advice. Will keep after it and get things running smoothly soon, I hope.

[Anonymous]

Erwin / Doug,

Are you using the postscript driver for printing the PDF files? I typically get a much better result on any printer using postscript drivers for PDF files

Scott