If you do not find the application you wish to use in the list, please check with the ARC consultants before sending a job to the plotter
Note: it helps to convert to PDF format and send to the plotter using Adobe Acrobat.
Note that Word restricts the page size to a maximum of 22 inches in either dimension. If you need a larger plot, use another application, such as PowerPoint.
There are 2 ways to plot in Word:
To make a large size page in LaTeX, suitable for sending to the plotter, you need to set the \textwidth and \textheight values to be the width and height used by your text. Make sure at least one dimension is no larger than about 32 inches, to leave room for margins. (The maximum width of the plotter is 36 inches.) The other dimension can be anything from about 10 inches to the maximum plotter paper height (72 inches for the HP DesignJet 1055 CM plotters).
It is also of crucial importance to set the paper size via the command \special{papersize=xx,yy}, which will get passed to dvips and then to the plotter. If you want "portrait" orientation, the width (xx) should be smaller than the height (yy). This means that you cannot specify a width larger than 36 inches, the width of the plotter. It's possible to plot in landscape orientation by making the width larger than the height. In this case, the maximum width is 72 inches and the height should not be more than 36 inches.
Suppose you want a page which is 34 inches wide but only 14 inches high. To get portrait orientation, you must specify a papersize where the height is greater than the width, yet you don't want to waste paper by specifying a height of 35 inches. Here's a trick: Use the command \special{papersize=12in,14in}. The plotter still must use its full width of 36 inches, but will cut the paper off at 14 inches high.
For plotting, it is usually best to use the built-in PostScript fonts, which can be scaled to any size you want. Helvetica is often a good choice.
If you want to use the Computer Modern fonts (perhaps because you have equations and need the math fonts), first be sure you have configured dvips to use the Postscript Type 1 (scalable) version of the CM fonts (the default on RCS Unix), and also include the command \usepackage{type1cm} in your LaTeX preamble so they can be scaled to a size larger than 25 points, the largest font size built into LaTeX.
To get color, use the color package. The examples below show how to scale fonts to the size you want and how to specify color. For more information on using the color package, use your previewer to view the file grfguide.dvi. On RCS Unix, this file is in the directory /campus/doc/text/Latex2e/Packages/Graphics; on Windows, use the search/find utility to locate the file.
You can use a previewer, such as windvi, to preview your page. (zoom out until the entire page shows on your screen); however, the display will probably be more acurate if you run latex followed by dvips to create a Postscript file and then view it with GSView. To see the entire page as it will appear, select Media -> User Defined... and type in the width and height of your paper size in points (1in=~72pt).
You can use xdvi to preview your page. The fonts will not be in color, but if you zoom out (pressing "s" makes the whole page fit in the window), you can see the general layout on the page.
Using ghostview is usually not satisfactory (unless your paper size is tabloid size or smaller) because you can't set the size of page large enough to include the entire plot.
In GSView, open the Print window and select the plotter you wish to use from the list. (Note that you must have the correct printer installed.) Be sure "PostScript Printer" is selected, and click OK.
After running latex to create the .dvi file, you can use dvips to create a .ps file and send that to the plotter using the lpr command. The example below sends to vcp7100:
dvips myfile.dvi -o
lpr -Pvcp7100 myfile.ps
If you wish, you may use the -X options available with lpr to specify grayscale or print quality. Do NOT use the "paper" option. (The way to specify paper size is to use \special{papersize=xx,yy} within the LaTeX file, as explained above.)
Ignore the message from dvips: "no match for special paper size found; using default"
Example 1: Portrait orientation with wide text (32") and small height (10")
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{helvet} % Selects Helvetica PS font for sans serif
\renewcommand{\rmdefault}{phv} % Helvetica for roman type as well as sf
\renewcommand{\ttdefault}{pcr} % use Courier for fixed pitch, if needed
\usepackage{color} % enable use of color commands
\textwidth=32in % real width of latex text
\textheight=10in % height of latex text
\special{papersize=12in,14in} % small width ensures portrait orientation
\thispagestyle{empty} % no page numbers
\parindent=0pt % paragraphs are not indented
\begin{document}
\color{blue} % basic color for document text is blue
\fontsize{120}{140}\selectfont % 120pt font (~1.6in high); 140pt linespace
\bfseries % begin using boldface type
\begin{center}
\textcolor{red}{The Text Inside These Braces is Red} \\ % use red temporarily
This Text is Blue \\
So is This \\
Because Blue is the Basic Color
\end{center}
\end{document}
Example 2: Portrait orientation (text area 30"x32"), with included EPS graphic
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{helvet} % PostScript font Helvetica for sans serif
\renewcommand{\rmdefault}{phv} % Helvetica for roman type as well as sf
\renewcommand{\ttdefault}{pcr} % use Courier for fixed pitch, if needed
\usepackage{graphicx} % graphicx package for including ps files
\textwidth=30in \textheight=32in % size of latex text
\special{papersize=34in,36in} % portrait orientation
\pagestyle{empty} % no page numbers
\begin{document}
\fontsize{80}{90}\selectfont % fontsize 80pt, linespace 90pt
\bfseries % begin boldface
\begin{center}
This is a test of plotting an encapsulated ps figure inside a latex file.
\includegraphics[scale=4]{somefile.eps} % include an eps file of your choosing, scaled up
This text is below the graphic, and can be considered its caption.
\end{center}
\end{document}
When creating a drawing pick one of the standard Sizes (in inches):
A 8 1/2 x 11
B 11 x 17
C 17 x 22
D 22 x 34
E 34 x 44
F 28 x 40
or a metric size (in mm):
A4 210 x 297
A3 297 x 420
A2 420 x 594
A1 594 x 841
A0 841 x 1189
If you want a size other than those listed, choose "variable", and fill in your values for the dimensions.
Create your drawing using Pro/Engineer and then, when you are ready to print, select Print... from the File menu. In the Print window, select "Generic Color Postscript" as the Destination and then click Configure.... From the drop down choices for Size, select the same height and width you chose when you created the drawing. Select the Printer tab, and under Rotation (at the bottom), select "Spin 90".
Finally, in the box for Plotter Command, type the command to send to the plotter. What you type depends on the platform you are using and the plotter you are selecting. For example, to send to vcp7100, you would type the following.
On Windows: print /d:\\printers.win.rpi.edu\vcp7100
On Unix: lpr -Pvcp7100
On Windows, don't forget to connect to sambasrv (using the RCS Files and Printer Sharing icon) before printing.
From the File menu, select Print with Preview...
the Print window will appear.
Most plotting problems are due to sheer size of the Photoshop file. Here are some ways to reduce the size of your file:
If the longest side of your image is under 35 inches, it works best to to print the image such that the long size is the width of the image. If you want to switch the orientation of the image, then you should rotate the entire image in photoshop just before printing.
Hit:To use the plotters from a Windows PC, you must be using a machine that has the appropriate printer installed.
Use the UNIX command lpr to send a PostScript file to a plotter, specifying one of vcp7100 vcp7100g or vcpltcf on the -P option
For example, to send the file "mygraphic.ps" to vcp7100, the command would be:
By default, output is color with "normal" or "standard" print quality. You can choose grayscale or specify print quality (pq) and paper size by using the -X option on the lpr command
The -X options are:
For example, to choose grayscale and "best" print quality on vcp7100, the UNIX command would be:
| Paper Choice / Name | US Measurement (inches) | Metric Measurement (mm) |
|
US Letter(ANSI A) |
8.5 x 11 |
215.9 x 279.4 |
Many plotting problems are due to huge files that overwhelm the capacity of the plotter. The size of the file in your application may not appear to be overly large, but this can be deceiving because files can expand greatly when converted to PostScript for printing.
A good way to create a PDF file from an application is to use the Adobe program Acrobat Pro. You will usually want to create the PDF file with the same large page size as in your application
You should now be able to use the Print menu from Acrobat Pro to send your file to one of the plotters. Be sure to select an appropriate paper size.