Support for HPGL2 files- Hey guys this is really really important - we have to stop this NOW

MicroStation's HPGL/2 drivers and plotter configuration files are in the
...\PlotDrv\ folder and not the ..\PlotDrv\Unsupported\
folder. That said, we do encourage the use of Printer.plt, as more and more
vendors are putting a good deal of emphasis on providing
Windows drivers specifically to take advantage of capabilities that their
new offerings provide (things that they know best about).
HTH

Phil Chouinard [www.Bentley.com]





I have just read that Bently are phasing out HPGL2 files.

Do they realise what they are doing?

Advantage of HPGL2 files

They can not be altered (although they can be edited)
They can be sent directly to a plotter without using any program.
They can be read by viewers such as Columbus, Viewcompanion, AutoVue and
Webplotter
They have the page size embedded in them so users CANNOT accidentally plot
them out of scale.
They are universally understood by print houses- I can send one around the
world and know the output will be the same.
They are relatively small.
Page sizes can be matched exactly to ensure scaling.
They can be reproduced on most printers without modification.


Advantage of Windows based printer files (*.prn)

None that I can see

There is no PCL5 viewer available (well, they was one I found but it was a
bitch to use)
I cannot send one PCL Language file to another Printer (at least not the
ones in our office)
Any PCL file will need to be read by a windows program and as soon as you do
that, you
get to choose your paper size, and as soon as you do that you get the chance
of mistakes

And besides, there is a bloody great bug in the way Ustn reports metric
paper sizes from the OS. It worked perfectally in SE
but they stuffed it up in Version 7 and it is still there in version 8.

If you dont believe me try it. Go to printer.plt and select any size. you
dont get whole numbers you get a page size of
409.914mm by 250.825. You get exactly the same with J but if you were to
load exactly the same driver into SE
you get whole numbers. I told my select support people that years ago, but
they thoughtI was an idiot.

But hey, AutoDESK do not support HPGL2 files on their Web based site
Buzzsaw- they recommend we use
their proprietary DWF format. Which I now have to open in their viewer and
if the engineers forget to put the page size
on their sheets, I have to guess the page size.

Look I am just about coping with making everything work as bably as AutoCAD
but I absolutely draw the line at dropping HPGL2

Anthony Cox
Red Box Design Group
United Kingdom

 

I suspect that Bentley are being practical. Autocad has similarly abandoned
the responsibility of trying to write drivers for different plot systems. I
think they simply don't have the resources to try and maintain standards for
a moving target like HPGL/2. They're dumping the responsibility of the
driver to the manufacturer (which makes sense, since it's THEIR printing
product..) and are writing code to support ONE output, the Windows standard.
Honestly, it makes perfect sense from their point of view. You can still
generate HPGL/2 output from an HP printer queue to, say, an HP1050C printer,
which still uses HPGL/2 AFAIK, by specifiying print to file instead of
printer. And if HP phases out HPGL/2 for their printers, then it's hardly
Bentley's fault for that. I understand what you're saying. HPGL/2 is a
versatile and widely understood standard. Maybe it's time to consider
another standard, such as PDF or something like that. That's "progress" for
ya... ;-)

Cheers,

Scott..

 

Anthony and Kirsty...

Where did you read that? None of the messages you cited state such a thing.

HP-GL/2 drivers remain in \standards\pltdrv\hpgl2.plt
Don't confuse HP-GL/2 with HP-GL, which was relegated to the \unsupported
folder in MS/J.

What Phil was saying, I believe, is that as plotter manufacturers introduce
yet more sophisticated plotters, it is likely that support for advanced
features will be delivered in Windows drivers, and those advanced features
may or may not be available via HP-GL/2.

I notice that you list a number of advantages of HP-GL/2, but were unable to
add any disadvantages. From your perspective, that make it a fairly solid
de facto standard.

However, more people seem to be turning to PDF as a CAD-independent delivery
mechanism for electronic drawings. Adobe has introduced some significant
advances in V6 of Acrobat, which make PDF worth consideration.

 

OK Time to eat humble pie

First of all I will admit I am having a major mental blank about Autocad
and anything that even remotely smells of AutoCAD

Through my own incompentance I am having trouble migrating to V8.
I am finding that simple things are now difficult. So when I read HPGL
and Obsolete in the same sentence I lost it.

(HPGL2 and Printing are one of the few things I really understand)

So I apologise.

Yours Sincerely

Anthony Cox
UK

 

Jon

I have a problem with PDF in that it requires a user input to select the
page size.
PDF was originally set up for word documents, and allows users all sorts of
options
like shrinking to fit, squashing letter sized outputs into A4 without any
major
repurcussions. Having this feature for scaled lline drawings makes me
uncomfortable.
It also allows the user to select page sizes, and I cannot edit
a PDF to determine the original page size- where as I can do it with PLT
files.

We are Architects and 98% of our work is, and will always be, line work.

(But hey, I never used to put money into teller machines for the first 5
years because
I didnt trust them)

I suspect this is and old dog and a new trick problem

We do use PDF- have done for years, but just not for the important stuff but
I hear
what you are saying- time to relearn.

AC

 

There you've got it. HP-GL/2 is still fundamentally a pen plotter
language, so it's not a good option for things like gradient fills,
transparency, and other fancy stuff that new printers and drivers are
capable of.

Mark