Any of you using this kind of plotter for architectural work ? Pros and Cons ? thx Ron
Any of you using this kind of plotter for architectural work ? Using a DJ w/ a smaller number at this office. 1055 iirc. Finding it harder to get colors matched than with the older 750. Maybe that's because I'm incompetent, dunno. After going on two years, we are starting to get complacent about the speed of the thing. Amount of annoyance and fighting has been normal, maybe even light.
We've got a 550ps and like it. Speed is the only real issue, but it's not that bad. We'd like a 2500, but we've got to score that really big project to justify it (and have the cash...we don't finance). I've worked with CalComp and Mutoh. Didn't like either of them. The CalComp TechJet was crap. The Mutoh was a pen plotter (they guy got it because it had a mechanical pencil option and he liked it for his poche).
I've had the same problem. It's probably because they are 6 six rather than the four color printers. Wasn't the 750 a four color? I haven't seen one in a while, but I think it was purely a CMYK printer. Am I remembering correctly? We have an older 1050 and a newer 5500 42" that are both 6 color, and I personally find the colors less "pleasing" than the older four color inkjets. Everything seems a bit more desaturated. Too much of a good thing?
A few things to be aware of... 1) Check the color profile of the image. Photoshop is good for this. Getting this right makes a world of difference. It's also one of the most annoyinging difficult things to do this. 2) Verify that you have current drivers (a "duh" but you'd be surprised). 3) Check with HPs site on the customer help forums, if you haven't already. Somebody has probably had your problem and a solution has probably been suggested. Getting your search terms correct is tough because most posters are idiots and don't put anything useful in the subject line. 4) Sometimes changing your image from RGB to CMYK makes a difference.
We've been digitally sending files for a couple of years...we have no diazo machine. Check plots are done in house, sets are done digitally at the repro desk. We have not missed the smell of ammonia wafting through the office.
Umm Don I was asking about the Designjet not the laserjet ! Anyway I have checked places like epinions and searched NGs via google. Not much, it seems its a little more geared to graphics than cad. In fact the person selling one used near my calls it a "poster machine"! My DJ600 has served me well until leaving R14, Acad 2000-and-on plot files BALLOONED in size and now it takes an eternity to spool to plotter. The 1000 series, ie 1050 seem the fastest and also geared to cad but alas non for sale used yet :-( Ron
I've gone through many of the things you've described above. I went into our print room today, and realized I had confused our 5500 with the 1050 and the older 750 I used long ago. The 1050 is a CMYK printer and the 5500 is the six color printer (with pink and baby blue being the two additional colors). I was confusing myself in my first post, and the difference between the two printers can be noticable. I still prefer the older 1050 because I had my screen configured in Photoshop (if I'm using the proper terminology) a long time ago and I know what I'm going to get with this printer. The new one will definintely lighten up things with the addition of these extra colors. Especially if you've done any color gradients in Photoshop (i.e. a sky) It's usually not a big deal, but becomes noticeable when we are printing out a large presentation on both printers at the same time due to time constraints. When you put the two prints up next to each other on a wall you can definitely see the difference. We usually try an limit any large printing to one printer or the other, but sometimes you don't have the choice when your standing around waiting to head to the airport and your team is still printing. Better slightly mismatched prints, than no print at all. ;-)
Sounds like a technique I learned while in school from a design partner of a firm I was freelancing with at the time. We would do the blackline prints which we underexposed (am I getting that right? It was a long time ago), so our hardlined hand drawings were on very dark, almost black/purple paper. We would then go back and trace with white color pencil and other colors. We even did the poche in solid white over this paper. It was time consuming, but made for some fantastic presentation drawings. We would even color the plans this way, and add black shadows after the base colors were down. It kind of gave a Beaux Arts look to the drawings. I still have some in my old portfolio because I liked them so much, and they had so much life to them.
You're damn right it was too much work. LOL After working with this firm, I decided to do one of my final presentations in the same manner for my first Grad School studio. Everyone else was pretty much doing ink on mylar, so I had to be 'different'. There was a point at about 3:00 am that I was wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew. It worked out, and I got many compliments during my jury. I even won an award for one of the drawings in a Delineation Competition later that year, but it was the LAST time I used that technique. I look back fondly on how they came out, but seem to conveniently forget how much work went into them. ;-)
