Plotting Issue

[padraig]

Hi All,


I am setting up a pen plotter to work with WF3 and am having some difficulty getting the results I want.


Basically its an 8 pen plotter and I will use 4 pens.


1 - Black


2- Green


3- Red


4- Blue.


I would like things to work as follows.


Geometry = Pen1


Dimensions and notes = pen 2


Centrelines and hatching = Pen 3


Hidden lines = pen 4


I have read the help files and am trying to understand pen tables but without success. If someone could provide some help or better still a pen table as above, that would be great.


Thanks in advance.

 

[dr_gallup]

Here is a sample pen table file from way back when we had a pen plotter:

!Pro/E geometry lines are white on the screen, plot with broad pen #2 (0.50mm)
!
pen 2 thickness .05 cm; drawing_color attention_color
!
!Everything else plots with fine pen #1 (0.25mm), if a pen is MISSING the HP DM
!defaults to pen #1!!!
!
pen 1 thickness .025 cm; half_tone_color
pen 3 thickness .025 cm; dimmed_color
pen 4 thickness .025 cm; edge_highlite_color
pen 5 thickness .025 cm; letter_color
pen 6 thickness .025 cm; highlite_color
pen 7 thickness .025 cm; magenta_color
pen 8 thickness .025 cm; section_color

In your case you want
pen 1 thickness .05 cm; drawing_color attention_color
pen 2 thickness .025 cm; letter_color
pen 3 thickness .025 cm; section_color
pen 4 thickness .025 cm; dimmed_color

 

[padraig]

Hi Dr_Gallup.


I have used the settings provided in my Table.pnt file but I still het the same results. Geometry plots with pen1. Axes, dimensions, hidden lines and notes all print with Pen2. Pens 3 and 4 are not used.


Do I need to adjust the system colours? or am I missing something else?





Thks


Padraig

 

[dr_gallup]

What do you have in your penplotter.pcf file? Is it calling the correct pentable.pnt?

 

[padraig]

I didn't even know about this file. I just clickedfile print then chose my HP7585B plotter and then Configure. I ticked the box to use Pen Table and entered the path, in this case c:\table.pnt. I had edited the file in Notepad before with the four lines I got from you.


PS: I have just serched my hard drive and cannot find penplotter.pcf.


thanks


Padraig

 

[dr_gallup]

Printer Control Files (.pcf) let you configure a plotter in Pro/E so you can get reliable, repeatable plotting every time. Your system came with several in loadpoint/text/plot_config. Here is one I use to generate B size output (no matter what the drawing size) on a postscript compatible printer & save the postscript file for PDF generation:

plotter POSTSCRIPT
button_name POSTB
button_help Plots B size output to HP 8000
plot_drawing_format YES default
plot_segmented NO default
plot_roll_media NO default
plot_handshake NO default
plot_label NO default
create_separate_files NO default
plot_with_panzoom YES default
rotate_plotting NO default
allow_file_naming YES
plot_name YES
interface_quality 3 default
plot_destination file_and_printer default
plotter_command windows_print_manager \\GVLEX1\GVL28124
pen_table_file G:\solid\drw_files\postscript20.pnt
plot_sheets all default
paper_size_allowed B A
paper_size B default
plot_clip NO default
plot_area NO default
!landscape_postscript_print yes default
plot_access create

You don't have to use .pcf files, they just make life easier. Y can make one by clicking save from inside the configure dialog. Like most Pro/E control files they are just ascii text so once you figure them out it is easier to use a text editor than to go through Pro/E.

 

[padraig]

Thanks for the info David. My query is though, how can I get the ProE to use the pens I want.I have used the 4 lines you gave me in table.pnt and only pens 1 and 2 are used. Do you think I need to change anything in system colours? or is there another issue?

 

[dr_gallup]

Have you looked at the message log? Info/Session Info/Message Log. It might give you some info if the path name to the pen table file is wrong.

Stupid question: How many pens does an HP7585B support?