I have received some .plt files from an engineering firm I need to view and plot. I have also just wasted an hour searching, with no luck, the blogs, forums and Help information on how do that. There's lots of info on what the file type is for, (generic printing) but not on specifically how to deal with them. Autocad (vanilla '06) doesn't see the files to open them, the DWF viewer won't open them either.
I thought if I could create one maybe I could find out how to deal with it. Help says: "If the plotter is configured to plot to a file,... Each drawing sheet's plot file is saved with the same name as the sheet, with the appropriate file extension for the file (for example, .plt, ..." but I cannot find any "Plot to file" option, and if I publish to a DWF file it's extension is, not surprisingly, .dwf.
It can't be that hard, so I must be missing something. Can anybody point me in the right direction?
PLT (= PLoT) doesn't say anything concerning the format of the content, if the plotter driver used is outputting e.g. PostScript data you won't be successful in viewing with a HP-GL/HP-RTL plot viewer.
Therefore just ask the person generating the data which plotter driver supporting which format resp. plotter language (e.g. PCL, HP-GL, PS, BGL etc.) was used. Or open the file with an editor and check, if you can see anything readable concerning the contained format in the header of the plot file.
Many years ago I found a program that was exactly what everyone would want to do this. A truly amazing product. It would even take a plot file, and after viewing it on the screen, let you print it on your laserjet, so even those dopey programs that didn't plot to laserjets could output a plot there.
You could then include a plot in a report and email to someone who could print it - great.
I have no idea if it's still available, but here's the first few pages of text from the manual I still have on disk.
I hope this guy is a millionaire now - he certainly deserves it.
See if you can find a reference to it somewhere on the net and post it back here.
Best regards,
Melanie
The manual:
S P L O T - The Pen Plotter Simulator V2.52 --------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 1989-94 by Alexandr NOVY All rights reserved.
U S E R ' S M A N U A L F O R MS-DOS V E R S I O N ---------------------------------------------------------- July 1994
INTRODUCTION ---------------
The SPLOT program is a highly effective tool intended for simulating the pen plotter on the display of an IBM PC. The SPLOT program is the very thing you need to make your work with the plotter more effective. The SPLOT program will give you a guarantee you will always draw on your plotter what you really want. That is why it will save your nerves, your time, your plotter, pens and paper, that means your money.
The SPLOT program can offer:
- active support of about 50 HP-GL instructions (according to the type of your plotter).
- active support of 20 DXY-GL instructions (for ROLAND plotters).
- possibility of exporting a picture to the printer and in this way to obtain an output of a high quality. The SPLOT program uses the best graphics resolutions available for each printer that it supports and optionally uses data packing to improve transfer speed. In this way the SPLOT program will make a fast and excellent plotter of your printer. It supports all usual types of printers including color ones.
- exporting a picture to the HP-GL, HP-GL/2, DXY-GL, PLOTCALL, DXF and PostScript formats.
- possibility of making picture cuts (the ZOOM function). In this way you can scan, draw on the plotter or print only the selected part of the picture.
- possibility of completing the picture with a text including multilingual characters - in this way the SPLOT program will teach your plotter German (Spanish, French, etc.) easily and quickly without complicated switching between character sets! The built-in HP-GL or DXY-GL exports respectively, will make it possible. Due to these exports it is also possible:
- to offer a highly optimized output for your plotter (where each pen is grasped only once).
- to teach your plotter the advanced instructions you would get only if you buy a more expensive plotter or additional hardware (e.g., the SPLOT program can simulate connecting an additional HP 17440A graphics enhancement cartridge to the HP 7440A ColorPro plotter).
The SPLOT program can be used by:
- anybody who wants to work with his plotter in the WYSIWYG style (What You See Is What You Get).
- anybody who wants to develop his own plotter program applications. You can reach it with the SPLOT program easily even if you do not own the plotter at all!
- anybody who wants to use his printer as a plotter occasionally or constantly. In many cases using a printer may be faster and moreover, this may be an alternative of a high quality.
- anybody who wants to program a printer in graphics mode and at a high level and who does not want to develop complicated software which would enable it. In these cases using the HP-GL language in connection with the SPLOT program seems to be very advantageous for creating own graphics outputs. The HP-GL language can be learned very easily and in addition, it offers unexpected possibilities.
The SPLOT program is available in various versions according to the type of simulated plotter. This means that each SPLOT.EXE module is designated for a certain plotter type. This principle gives the maximum reliability of simulation of the given plotter type. At present versions for the following plotter types are at your disposal:
Plotter type | Plotter syntax ------------------------------------------------------------ HP 7470A | HP-GL HP 7475A | HP-GL HP 7440A ColorPro | HP-GL HP 7550A | HP-GL HP 7570A/7575A/7576A DraftPro DXL/EXL | HP-GL HP 7595A/7596A DraftMaster I/II | HP-GL ROLAND DXY 1100/1200/1300 | DXY-GL / RD-GL I ROLAND GRX 300/400 | RD-GL II
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.