Huge plot file....

I have one drawing that is a mere 144 k in size. It has no Xrefs, no
Images, and as far as I know, no OLE objects. Yet for some reason, the plot
file that this drawing generates is 135MB and we get "processing errors" on
our print server. It takes about five minutes for it to generate this plot
file. It does it in 2004 but not in 2005. It does it on two different
machines (but I only have one machine with 2005). I have purged. I have
even Wblocked it out to a new drawing. In 2005, the plot file is only
3.5MB. A PDF from 2004 is only 2MB.

The only hatch patterns are lines. No dot hatch patterns. The only True
Type Font is Times New Roman and several other of our drawings have that
font and don't exhibit this kind of problem.

Any ideas?

 

The size of the drawing file has absolutely no relationship to the size of
the plot file!!

 

After some more playing with the drawing on different machines, here are
some more interesting tidbits and facts:

1. All operating systems are XP

2. I am making a PLT file using a PC3 file that references the xes8.hdi,
version 9.5.3 - 8.1.63.0 printer driver on my machine and version 9.0.0.1 -
8.0.16.86 on the other two.

3. Yes there is a lot of the TT font text in the drawing. Reducing the
amount of the text, reduces the size of the plot files proportionally.

4. If I convert all the TTF to an SHX font, the plot size reduces to a very
small 611k. So, the issue is strictly with the true type font in the
drawing and how AutoCAD handles it.

5. I initially limited my testing to two systems. AutoCAD 2005 handled the
drawing just fine producing a plot file of 3.5MB. On both machines, AutoCAD
2004 would balloon the plot file to 135MB.

6. I had the person who originally created the drawing to make a plot file
in AutoCAD 2004 (also on XP) and his machine produced a plot file of 3.5MB
also. So, both machines (other than mine) have the exact same true type
font (I copied them to make sure it wasn't a corrupt font file), the exact
same xes8.hdi file, the exact same PC3 and PMP files, the exact same AutoCAD
version and yet produce two totally different plot files of the exact same
drawing. I want all machines to be able to make the 3.5MB version.

7. Of the four machines I have played with, two produce the small plot file
and two produce the large plot files. Three of the machines are identical
in their AutoCAD setups (two produce small and one produces large).

8. Finally, sending this drawing to our HP LaserJet, using an HPGL/2 driver,
takes about 20 minutes for it to come out, so using that driver it is making
a large plot file as well.

So, any ideas now (other than killing the True Type font)? I am baffled.

 

Gee thanks. I was hoping for a technical description that could explain why
two virtually identical machines could take the same drawing and produce two
very different plot files.

The solution for now is to identify the poor suckers who get to plot these
drawings for everyone else!