Would you like to produce prints that rival those produced by the big expensive plotters in the Repro shops, but you only have a dot matrix, inkjet or laser printer? Then you should take a look at Pen Plotter Emulation software. Pen Plotter Emulation software accepts plotter files generated by your Cad program, processes them and outputs a file to your printer. The resulting print/plot can rival the output of some very expensive plotters. You gain a new level of control over the graphic image. And with the proper set up print/plot time can be drastically reduced.

Pen Plotter Emulation software is available from a number of sources. Print A Plot by Insight Development, 2420 Camino Ramon, Suite 205, San Ramon, CA 94583 markets a well reviewed pen plotter emulation program that is available thru the normal commercial channels. There is another pen plotter emulation program that I use called PrintGL which is available as shareware. (Shareware allows you to try out the program for free and then send the author the Registration Fee.) The Registration Fee for PrintGL is US$ 50.

PrintGL was developed by Cary Ravitz of Ravitz Software Inc. in Lexington, KY. Ravitz Software provides technical support with a BBS/FAX (606-268-0577) service. He also provides support via Compuserve E-Mail. (CIS # 70431,32) And he seems to "lurk" on the Compuserve CADD BBS. He usually replies quickly when someone has a PrintGL related question. Just because its Shareware from a small company doesn't have tomean a lack of technical support for the user.

Shareware copies of PrintGL are available Wrom: HDMNNSKVFVWRKJVZCMHVIBG BBS-606-268-0577, 1200..14400,M,8,1 Compuserve - GO ARETAIL, Library 12, File name = PRNTGL.ZIP
CWI Information Services -800-777-5636, 714-879-5423, disk G377
Public Software Library - 800-242-4775, 713-524-6395, disk 3142

Download the file from one of these sources, unzip the file and place it in your CADD6 directory and you are ready to print/plot. But first take time to print out PRINTGL.DOC which is the documentation/manual for PrintGL. You will be impressed/intimidated by the wealth of information presented in this manual. Don't be put off by all the control you now have over how your prints look. For your initial attempts you only need to set a few commands. Once you have an introduction to printing/plotting with PrintGL you will soon want to explore the options that meet your needs.

PrintGL is really a group of three Pen Plotter Emulation programs. PrintGL/D for DOS and PrintGL/W for Windows are free standing programs that process the plot file sent from your Cad program to disk and then send the plot print/plot file along to your plotter. PrintCAD works as a printer driver from within your Cad program to send the print/plot file directly to your printer. (Because I prefer to work with the PrintGL/D graphic interface in PrintGL/D, I have never tried PrintCAD.) One US$50 registration fee covers all three programs. The current version of PrintGL is 1.50. Although most of my experience with PrintGL has been with CADD6 and DOS, PrintGL is fully compatible with LT. Ravitz Software has another product call PrintGF that prints/plots graphic image files such as GIF files.

I was attracted to PrintGL two years ago because my client, a large Civil Engineering firm, uses AutoCAD exclusively. They use line color in their drawings to indicate line/pen width to the plotter. And I needed some way to make check prints from CADD that were compatible with their Acad plots. PrintGL to the rescue. I soon found out that prints from my HP 500C and PDP ProTracer printers were producing better print/plots than my clients $25K electrostatic plotter. And their were other benefits.

For my uses I find these PrintGL features to be the most used:

    1. Line widths can be determined by setting the line color number in CADD to "pen" number width setting in PrintGL. It gives you greater flexibility in setting line width/thickness than CADD allows with the LW setting. Line widths in PrintGL can be printed from one to twenty four dots wide.

    2. If you print in color, you can control the color of the printed lines.

    3. PrintGL has drivers for about 30 printer families including, for example, all HP DeskJets, LaserJets, and PaintJets and all Canon BJ, BJC,and LBP printers. It also supports a host of other printers I have never heard of. Most printers also offer IBM or Epson Emulation if your printer is not supported. PrintGL also can be set for output to a screen preview and can output PCX files which can be used by your FAX machine. You can send high quality faxes with different line types and widths.

    4. PrintGL can produce "shaded" lines. I use shaded lines for hatch patterns which always print too black and visually aggressive for my tastes and to indicate existing construction on remodelling work that is to be demolished.

    5. In all the tests I have done, the drivers from Ravitz Software are at least twice as fast as those supplied with CADD or LT.

    6. You can configure and save up to five printer setups. Mine are set for 8 1/2x11 HP 500C B&W, 8 1/2x11 HP 500C color, 11x17 ProTracer (B Size) , 17 x22 ProTracer (C Size), and PCX for FAX. Once they are set up, it is easy to toggle between them. Then all you need to do is designate the plot file and Run PrintGL.

    7. Most printers will not accept HP-GL print files from your Cad program, while
others require the installation of an additional (usually expensive) program.
PrintGL allows me to print/plot to my existing printers.

PrintGL can be run by commands entered at the DOS command line or through the PrintGL graphic interface. Because I am a poor typist, I prefer the graphic interface. The program contains many commands that I either don't use or understand. The CADD Plot menu and PrintGL graphical interface take care of it for me.

Here is a step by step by step procedure for setting up and producing your first print/plot with PrintGL. Its not as complicated as it first appears. You are already familiar with defining what you want to plot and how you want it printed if you have been printing from the CADD or LT set up menus.

With PrintGLD loaded in the CADD6 directory, go to CADD's File menu, and pick Plot. At this point you need to configure CADD's output plot file format. In the CADD Plot Set Up menu pick (4) Options, (1) Configure Plotter, pick HP7475A, then (3) Pen Settings,(2) Pen Width, set .080, then (3) Number of Plotter Pens, set 16 if you are using 16 colors. Then exit from (4) Options to the main Plot Setup menu. You will find the output has been set to the HP7475A plotter. Now pick (2) Port, (6) Disk File. For PrintGL you will be sending a plotfile to the CADD6 directory where PrintGL will look for it. Exit back to the Plot Setup menu. Then designate Page Size, (Not the sheet size but the printable area inside the margins.), Page Setup and Start Plot.

When the plot is finished, return to the drawing. You then type SH(Shell), which brings up a directory of shellable files, pick PRINTGLD , and <enter> twice to load the PrintGL graphic interface. (I have a Function key macro that makes this just one keystroke. The macro is, <SH,PRINTGLD,!,!;> don't type the <> brackets.) This will take you to the PrintGL Interface where you select the plotfile name and enter other parameters.

The first time around the block with PrintGL accept all the defaults with the exception of Plotfile and Output Format. When you open the Plotfile screen enter the name of the plotfile created in CADD (with the DPF extension.) If CADD plotted the file to the CADD6 directory, you don't need to enter a path.

Now go to Output Format and select your printer. Then toggle over to Run PrintGL and press enter. I think you will be pleased with the output and speed of PrintGL.

If you are using LT be sure to obtain the "HP-GL "Interim" plotting fix for AutoCAD LT." This is a new Hewlett Packard plotter driver developed by AutoDesk to replace the one that was originally shipped with LT. It can be obtained be either calling Autodesk Retail Tech Support for LT or downloading the file LTHPGL.EXE from Lib. 5 of the Aretail Forum on Compuserve.

In LT set "HPGL ON" in the Files menu. Define a 7475 plotter to plot to File. According to LT Tech Support leave the "Print to file" box empty. They told me it sounds counter productive, but you have already sent the plot to file in the plotter set up. Then plot to file and enter either PrintGLD or PrintGLW and proceed.

The latest version of PrintGL, PrintGL 1.50, has the ability to accept HP-GL/2 output from LT. HP-GL/2 produces files which are significantly smaller than HP-GL and it has the ability to read the line color and widths that you have used in your CAD program. (You will have to get the HP-GL/2 drivers from the HP Forum. The file is GLWIN.ZIP. There is configuration documentation included with GLWIN.ZIP. Set "HPGL OFF" in the File menu. Configure for a DesignJet 650C to file.) New also is a F-1 hotkey which pops up a Help screen when you are configuring. Auto run mode lets you set up PrintGL as a background task under DESQview or Windows that automatically processes new plotfiles.

After you are comfortable with the basics of PrintGL, you will want to explore the many possibilities of this program. The manual goes into detail to explain all the features of PrintGL. And along the way you will learn how to make your prints appear the way you want them and do it in less time. What a deal.