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Text File | 1991-02-19 | 28KB | 730 lines

HPLP.DOC -------- revision 2.1 1/30/91 For driver revision 1.10 ADI(R) LongPlot driver for HPGL Pen Plotters Copyright 1989-1991, Autodesk, Inc. License is granted for the use of this software and documentation on a no-charge, sharing basis. You may distribute and copy this software freely as long as it remains a completely unaltered package and is not sold for profit. INTRODUCTION This document explains the installation and use of HPLP.EXE, an Autodesk Device Interface (ADI) driver designed to run with HPGL pen plotters in conjunction with AutoCAD(R). Please read pertinent information found in: - Chapter 7 of the AutoCAD Installation and Performance Guide - Chapter 13 of the AutoCAD Reference Manual - Your plotter's user guide for information on using AutoCAD and HP plotters. This driver was developed by Autodesk, Inc. and does not represent an endorsement of any particular product. Autodesk, Inc. makes no warranty, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, regarding these materials and makes such materials available on an "as-is" basis. ADI Drivers - This driver is an ADI plotter driver. ADI is an acronym for the Autodesk Device Interface which was used to create this driver. You should be able to use this driver (HPLP.EXE) with any version of AutoCAD which supports ADI plotter drivers. Please see the AutoCAD Installation and Performance Guide, which shipped with your version of AutoCAD, to see if you have such a driver option. This driver was tested only with AutoCAD Release 10 and Release 11. *************************************************************************** LIMITATIONS OF THIS DRIVER Real mode ADI plotter drivers, such as HPLP.EXE have limited communication with AutoCAD, compared to internal or protected mode drivers. Due to this, real mode ADI drivers lack some of the features of internal drivers or protected mode ADI drivers. For example, there is no provision for AutoCAD to tell a real mode ADI driver about paper sizes or units of measurement (inches vs millimeters). There is no way for a real mode ADI driver to inform AutoCAD of its linetypes, changes in units of measurement, scaling or paper size. Thus it is sometimes necessary for you to answer similar questions, once for AutoCAD and once for the real mode ADI driver. Real mode ADI drivers have no way of storing your configuration choices in AutoCAD's configuration or drawing files. This driver is primarily configured by command line options. Your choices for these options persist until you reboot the computer or reload the driver with new options. Reloading a real mode ADI driver without rebooting your computer will waste memory because the driver is loaded twice. Reloading the driver with different command line options will, in some cases, require you to also reconfigure AutoCAD so that AutoCAD and the driver agree on the options you have selected. NOTE: Because of the way ADI drivers function, error trapping and user prompts will not function in a familiar way. In this driver, SPACE BAR acts as a space bar, not as a command line terminator, all user input prompts are terminated by a CARRIAGE RETURN, and CONTROL-C may have to be repeated more than once and should be followed by a CARRIAGE RETURN. ESC may have to be repeated more than once. Please be patient, most requests for termination will be accepted and acted upon. Protected mode ADI drivers do not have these limitations. **************************************************************************** HPLP.EXE HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS AND INSTALLATION The HP plotter must be connected to the computer with a standard serial cable as described in Chapter 7 of the AutoCAD Installation Guide. All the information needed for pin connections and switch settings is given there under the heading for Hewlett-Packard plotters and must be adhered to in order to insure correct results. INSTALLATION This ADI plotter driver is distributed on one diskette. This will be referred to as the "distribution disk". The distribution disk contains: HPLP.EXE - ADI driver. HPLP.DOC - this document. HPLP.HLP - for on-line command line options. You will probably want to copy the drivers into the same directory where you store AutoCAD. Here's how to copy the drivers onto your hard disk. (The example assumes an AutoCAD directory on drive C and is named \ACAD) 1. Change to the directory where you've loaded AutoCAD: C:> CD \ACAD [Return] 2. Insert the distribution diskette in drive A:. 3. Copy the driver files to your hard disk: C:> COPY A:HPLP.* [Return] LOADING THE DRIVER The AutoCAD HP plotter driver must be installed (loaded into memory) prior to entering AutoCAD. It is a "terminate and stay resident" (TSR) software program which uses about 20k of RAM. Once loaded, it remains in memory until you turn off or reboot your computer. THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMAND LINE SWITCHES As discussed above, your ADI driver does not have the ability to communicate with AutoCAD to modify plot specifications. Thus, these can only be set at the time of driver installation by using the command line switches (options) listed below. Think through your plotting requirements prior to installing the HPLP driver as it will remain in memory until you turn off or reboot your computer. Remember that you must configure AutoCAD compatibly with the options you select on installing this driver. If you plan to use the same command line options each time you use this driver, you may want to create a small batch file to invoke the driver with your selected options, or you may want to add this command line to your autoexec.bat file. To install the driver: C:> HPLP [Return] The driver defaults are: - Plot directly to the plotter (not to file nor to a remote device) - Page advance is on - Units are set to inches - Plotter is cabled to COM1: - Installed at interrupt 0x78h (78 HEX) To change this setup, you can choose to include one or more command line options: Interrupt vector: ----------------- To install the driver for a different interrupt vector (default is 78 HEX): C:> HPLP -Ixx [Return] (where xx is the new interrupt number in HEX) Serial Port Configuration: -------------------------- To install the driver for a serial port other than the default (COM1:) C:> HPLP -Cx [Return] (where x is the new serial port number) Page Advance: ------------- To disable the page advance at the end of the plot: C:> HPLP -P [Return] Locating temporary files for LongPlots: To instruct the driver to use a RAM disk for storing temporary files: C:> HPLP E [Return] (logical drive E in this case, no colon (:) is used) Plotting to file: ----------------- To write plot files directly to disk for later plotting: C:> HPLP -Ffname [Return] (will create a file named 'fname' on your default drive.) Wait option: ------------ C:> HPLP -W [Return] Certain combinations of inks and plotting media must dry before being rolled on to the take up reel. This option is normally used with liquid ink and vellum or mylar plotting media and will allow you to signal to the driver when to advance the paper. Remote operation: ----------------- C:> HPLP -N [Return] This option turns off the driver's internal check for plotter's clip limits and for the plotter's physical presence. Use this option if you wish to plot to a remote device. As no error checking is done, you must supply accurate paper sizes, plot origin, and insure that the remote device will actually receive the data the driver sends. Failure to do so will generate unpredictable results. Experimentation is recommended to achieve optimum results. Metric: ------- C:> HPLP -M [Return] If you wish to change the plotter units from inches to millimeters use this option. *** NOTE: AutoCAD and your driver must agree on units. If you configure this driver for metric units, you also must configure AutoCAD for metric units, and you must set the correct number of plotter steps per millimeter. Command line errors: If an error is encountered when the driver processes the command line options, the driver will exit without being activated or loaded. You will be notified if there is an error. Simply examine the command line options you entered and try again. Examples: To install the driver using a combination of the above options: C:> HPLP -Fplotdata.plt -p -i7b -c2 -w This will do the following: 1. (-F) Create a plot file named 'plotdata.plt' in the current directory for later plotting. 2. (-p) Disable the page advance at the end of the plot. 3. (-i) Configure for interrupt vector 07b (hex) 4. (-c) Configure the driver for serial port 2 (COM2:). 5. (-w) Wait for the operator to signal that ink is dry prior to activating the take-up reel. (Only during LongPlot). You then will be asked to indicate which HP plotter you are using. Please enter the number of the corresponding model. HPLP supports the following devices: 1. 7475 2. 7550 3. 7580 4. 7585 5. 7586A & 7595A (DraftMaster I) 6. 7586B & 7596A (DraftMaster II) (Roll Fed) 7. ColorPro 8. DraftPro 9. Draftmaster DXL 10. Draftmaster EXL Select option 6 if you intend to do long axis plots. If you do not have a 7586B or a 7596A Draftmaster with a roll feed option you will only be allowed to plot to the extents of the plotter as described in the plotter's reference manual. RECONFIGURING HPLP Reloading the driver without resetting the computer will use more memory (another 20k) but will activate any new command line options (if issued). Reloading the driver without resetting the computer is NOT recommended. You should exit all active programs and reset your computer prior to changing any of the command line options for this driver. --- DO NOT RESET YOUR COMPUTER WHILE AUTOCAD IS RUNNING ! --- Exit AutoCAD prior to resetting the driver. After resetting your computer, call HPLP with any new command line options or select a different device from the driver's model table. If you selected a different device, you may need to change AutoCAD's plot configuration to correct pen speeds, line styles, the number of plotter steps or the number of line styles. Then plot as you would normally. CONFIGURING AUTOCAD FOR THE HPLP PEN PLOTTER DRIVER It is necessary to configure AutoCAD for an ADI plotter driver. AutoCAD will save your settings in its configuration file until you change the settings. (Examples given here are based on the AutoCAD Release 10 menu system). Configuration: Select from the Main Menu: 5. Configure AutoCAD Now select from the Configuration Menu: 5. Configure plotter You will go through the standard plotter configuration dialogue. Many of the prompts, such as number of pens, are unique to each plotter. Please see the table following this discussion for the information about the supported devices. Select the ADI Plotter option. Select installed ADI driver. Set the maximum horizontal (X) plot size in inches to 64 if your plotter is roll fed and you wish to do long axis plots. Otherwise, set the horizontal plot size to the maximum allowed by your plotter. (See the note below on correct paper sizes). For METRIC plots, enter the page sizes in millimeters. Set the plotter steps per inch. For long plots, the 7586B/7596A uses 1016 steps in both the X and Y directions. If using METRIC units, set the plotter steps per mm to 40 for both the X and Y directions. If you do not plan to do long axis plots see table below to get the correct settings for your model plotter. Set the pen speed information when requested. AutoCAD's ADI plotter driver defaults to pen speed of 1. Increasing this to the maximum indicated in the table below will insure the plotter plots at its highest rating. Adjust the pen speeds as needed. STEPS PER PEN LINE MODEL INCH PENS SPEED STYLES X Y 7475 1021 1021 6 38 12 7550 1016 1016 8 80 12 7580 1016 1016 8 60 12 7585 1016 1016 8 60 12 7586A/7595A 1016 1016 8 60 12 7586B/7596A 1016 1016 8 60 12 ColorPro 1016 1016 8 40 6 DraftPro 1016 1016 8 38 12 DXL 1016 1016 8 80 12 EXL 1016 1016 8 80 12 If you have selected the Metric (-M) command line option, you should also answer the question "Size units (Inches or Millimeters) <current>" with "M". Otherwise, hit return to default to inches. See OPTIONS section of this document for further details on this option. If you have any questions, see the chapter on plotter options of the Installation & Performance Guide and the discussion of Plotting in the AutoCAD Reference Manual (Chapter 13). AutoCAD will now be configured to plot using the installed ADI driver. If you selected model option 6 - 7586B/7595B - you can do long axis plotting. PAPER SIZES - the -N command line option When the -N command line option is used, HPLP relies on AutoCAD to supply the correct paper sizes during plotting. If you find that you are clipping in any given direction (X or Y), please adjust the page size value in AutoCAD. Please see chapter 13 of the AutoCAD Reference Manual for details on how to configure the paper size. This method of configuration should allow users to plot to a remote device (a plotter not actually cabled to the computer). PLOTTING ON STANDARD SIZE PAPER Issue the Plot command as normal. Specify the part of the drawing you wish to plot by answering the prompt: What to plot -- Display, Extents, Limits, View, or Window <D>: AutoCAD displays the basic plot specifications and asks if you want to change any of them: Do you want to change anything? <N> Plot as you normally would. Make sure the pen speed information is set correctly, your plotter is cabled correctly and is turned on. (Some models require that the "Remote" button be activated). If you configured the driver for a roll fed plotter, the ADI driver will prompt: Longplot(L) or Standard(S)? <S> Press the 'S' key and RETURN. The driver will begin to process the plot. LONG AXIS PLOT PLOTTING ----------------------- ********************************************************************** AutoCAD doesn't directly support Longplots. AutoCAD can plot only about 65,535 plotter steps in each direction, which is about 64" for HP plotters which use 1016 steps per inch. Longplots are done by rescaling the plot data after it is sent to the driver, to magnify the plot at a small cost in plot resolution. Because there is no two-way communication between real mode ADI plotter drivers and AutoCAD, this scaling process is a bit complicated. *********************************************************************** SPECIAL NOTES AND REQUIREMENTS The -F (plot-to-file) option can't be used when longplotting. HPLP will create a temporary file while longplotting, but this is not an ordinary plot file. Scripts This driver asks at least one question during each plot (the "Longplot(L) or Standard(S) <S>?" question). Because this is a real mode ADI driver, a script will not be able to answer this question. Scripts can only supply answers for questions asked by AutoCAD. Long axis plotting requires 36" wide paper ROLL FEED. A .3 mm black fiber tip or .35mm drafting pen MUST be installed in pen stall number 8 to draw proper alignment marks between frames during long plots. Failure to use the correct pen in the correct pen stall can produce improper alignment during long plots. You will need to calculate the X axis length of the plot and calculate the number of 64 inch tiles required to hold that X axis length before plotting in order to determine the correct plotting scale factor for Long Plots. The Plotter's Limit Light You may notice that the "Limits" light on the plotter may blink on and off during Long Plot. This is normal and should not be considered an error. The plotter is determining if the coordinates sent to it are within the frame currently being plotted. If the limit light blinks, the plotter is discarding that coordinate. Pen Speed Settings The default pen speed setting for your ADI driver is 1. If the inks used in your pens have a short drying time, you may increase the speed up to the fastest speed supported by your plotter for fastest plots. Experimentation will provide the best results. TO BEGIN PLOTTING ----------------- 1) Issue the Plot command as normal. Specify the part of the drawing you wish to plot by answering the prompt: What to plot -- Display, Extents, limits, View, or Window <D>: with the appropriate response. AutoCAD displays the basic plot specifications and asks if you want to change any of them: 2) If this is the first time you use the HPLP driver, you should answer: Do you want to change anything? <N> Yes 3) AutoCAD will display the current pen settings. Set the pen information as needed. 4) Answer the following prompt: Enter the Size or Width, Height (in units) <default>: Select MAX - which should have been set to width = 64 inches (or the corresponding value in millimeters) in the AutoCAD plotter configuration dialogue. 5) The following prompt: Specify scale by entering: Plotted units=Drawing units or Fit or ? <default>: IMPORTANT!! - SPECIAL PLOT SCALING REQUIREMENTS FOR LONG PLOTS In order to create long-plots, HPLP.EXE has to magnify the plot sent from AutoCAD. This question (asked by AutoCAD) must be answered with a scale factor which will keep the total number of plotter steps in each direction from AutoCAD below the 65024 (64" x 1016 steps per inch) limit. Let's start by considering the relatively simple situation where you want the plotted size to be the same as the AutoCAD drawing editor size you selected. In other words, we'll assume you would want to plot 1:1 if AutoCAD were able to create long plots directly. You may scale down your plot by using a value figured by the following formula: DS - is the size of the long axis of your drawing in AutoCAD drawing editor units. PS - is the size of the long axis you want your plot to have M - is the amount of magnification which HPLP will have to use to make this drawing plot the desired size. This is also the number of 64" tiles which will be plotted. PSF - is the plotting scale factor to give AutoCAD DSF - is the drawing scale factor (the relation of drawing units to plotted units, e.g., 1"=12") DSR - is the drawing scale ratio - if DSF is 1"=12", PSR is 1/12 PSF = DSF (because you drew the same size you want to plot) M = DS / 64" (round up to next largest whole number) In other words, divide the long axis of the Plotted Size by 64" Then round the result up to the next largest integer (whole number). PSF is 1"=M" The Scale Factor you enter for AutoCAD is 1=M, where M is the result from the calculation above. For example: Scale factor in AutoCAD Drawing Size Plotted size = Drawing size (drawing units) ----------------------------------------------------------- 1"=2" 64" < DS < 128" 1"=3" 128" < DS < 192" 1"=4" 192" < DS < 256" - - - 1"=10" 576" < DS < 600" (maximim longplot) Example A: if your drawing is 49' long you would enter 1=10". This is the size in drawing units (49' * 12"/foot = 588") divided by 64" (588 / 64 = 9.18) rounded up to M = 10. Example B: If your drawing is 100 inches long, dividing by 64" yields 1.56. Rounding up, M = 2. So, if you enter 1"=2", AutoCAD converts the drawing to 50 inches. But, when you actually plot, you'll tell the driver to produce a 100 inch drawing. ** Note: These drawing units don't have to be inches and feet, they can be kilometers or cubits but the same ratio applies between plotted units to drawing units. If you used a drawing size different from the final plotted size you desire, a slightly more complex computation is required. M = PS / 64" PSF is 1" = (M / DSR)" Example C: You want to draw at 1"=60". The long axis of your drawing is 1500' (300" when scaled 1"=60"). M = 300 / 60 = 5. PSF = M / 1 /60 = 300. Enter using the following table based on the drawing size in the drawing editor: Drawing Plot Scale ratio Scale factor drawing size plotted size magnification DSR PSF DS PS M ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/12 1"=24" (or 2') 64' < DS < 128' 64" < PS < 128" 2 1/12 1"=96" (or 8') 500' 500" 8 1/60 1"=300" (or 25') 1500' 300" 5 ** Note: These drawing units don't have to be inches, they can be kilometers, feet, etc., but the same ratio applies between plotted units to drawing units. Note that AutoCAD will calculate and display a maximum plottable area based on the scale factor you supplied. This will be smaller in each direction than your actual plot. The plot will be larger by the magnification M applied by the ADI driver. In Example B above, if your drawing is 100"x30", AutoCAD will display a maximum plot size of 50"x15". DISREGARD THIS MESSAGE! The true plot size will be controlled by the X-Axis length selection which you make at a subsequent prompt. If you correctly answer that prompt, your plot will really be 100"x30". You will be asked two additional questions by the ADI driver before the plot is started. Once again, make sure your plotter is cabled correctly, is turned on, and is on line. The ADI driver will prompt: Longplot(L) or Standard(S) <S>? Press the 'L' key. It will then prompt: Length of X-Axis for Plot? Enter the number of inches that you want the plotted length of the long axis to be. In Example B, above, you would enter 100 (inches). The ADI driver will automatically scale your drawing to fit within the desired length. This length will also control how far the plotter advances the paper at the end of the plot. For those who are curious, the driver actually will figure the magnification factor, M, by which to scale plot data by (assuming inches) figuring M = INT(X-Axis/64) + 1. In other words, it figures M just as we did earlier. Then the driver scales up all plot data by multiplying by M. The plot is magnified by this factor in both X and Y directions. You may have noticed that any answer between 64 and 127 would produce the same magnification (but would advance the paper a different amount at the end of the plot). Note that you must enter a legal value here, otherwise the prompt will be repeated. A legal value is numeric, greater than 0 and less than 15240 mm or 600" (depending on your selection of inches or millimeters). If you specified the -M command line option for metric units, be sure to convert the length of the X-axis from inches into millimeters. To convert inches into millimeters, multiply the inches by 25.4. Remember that AutoCAD must be configured for metric units if the driver is configured for metric units, and the plotter steps per millimeter must be properly set in AutoCAD. Stopping the Plot Routine Standard Plotting - If you wish to stop the plot routine while AutoCAD is sending vectors to the plotter, abort it in the normal manner (Control C). Because you are using an ADI driver, you may have to hit Control C more than once. Please pay attention to the prompts displayed during the plot routine. Long Plotting - The Long Plot driver must send information to the plotter to fill the number of frames required to complete the plot. This could be any number of frames. To adapt to different size drawings, HPLP will create a file on disk and read the information from that file. The driver only has to process your drawing file once for this operation and plotting from file is much faster than reprocessing the drawing file for each frame. NOTE: Please insure that you have enough disk space to accommodate the file HPLP creates during this process. If you run out of disk space, you'll need to reset your computer and free enough disk space for the process or, if you are using a RAM disk, you'll have to increase the size of the RAM disk to accommodate the file. See "Notes on Operation", section 4, below for more information. You will see the following: 1) AutoCAD's "Processing Vectors" prompt. Canceling the plot at this point (Control-C) will abort the plot function and cease plotting. 2) HPLP's "Doing frame #(n)" prompt. Canceling the plot at this point (ESC is requested) will advance a page on the plotter (unless the -P option is enabled) and cease processing. (n = current frame number) NOTES ON OPERATION Here are some tips for using the HPLP ADI driver with AutoCAD: 1. Because you must install the plotter driver before entering AutoCAD each session, you may want to place the HPLP.EXE command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file with the correct options set if you will use it every session. ** Note: The HPLP ADI driver will take up about 20k of RAM. 2. Do not turn the plotter on and off in the middle of a plotting session. An error message will be displayed if you try to use the HPLP driver while the plotter is turned off. 3. Reloading the driver without resetting the computer will take valuable memory from AutoCAD. Please exit all active programs and reset the computer if new command line options are needed or a new device needs to be configured. 4. Disk Space Considerations: If you wish to plot to file (-f option) please insure that you have sufficient disk space to do so. File sizes are not dependent on the size of AutoCAD's DWG file, rather they depend on the contents of that file. CHROMA.DWG, while only 12,359 bytes as distributed with AutoCAD, expands to almost 700k bytes when plotted to file by HPLP. This is due to the amount of fill the plotter must do in order to plot this file. Each solid filled object in the drawing requires that the driver send pen movement information sufficient to fill the object. Simple line drawings will require much less disk space. AutoCAD and ADI are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. IBM, PC, XT, AT are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. HP and HPGL are trademarks of Hewlett-Packard Corporation.