plotting plotfiles

Does anyone know of an inexpensive software that will allow to plot plotfiles, scalable and full size?

 

You have a PLT file and want to send it to the printer?
PrintFile is free, but I don't think it can do the scaling you need.
http://www.lerup.com/printfile/

Which printer are you using?

plotfiles, scalable and full size?

 

A frequently asked question. In the case of plotting plotfiles,
"Scalability" is device (language) dependent. Some cases:

1. HP DesignJets (HPGL/2): scaling is not directly supported, but some
scaling is possible by editing HPGL/2 code in the plotfile; most people
find this cumbersome.
2. Oce 9xxx/TDS/TCS devices (HPGL/2 + RCF): scaling is supported in the
(RCF) header
3. PCL devices (ao LaserJets): not supported
4. PostScript devices (ao some more expensive laser printers and some
DesignJets): scaling is not directly supported, but sometimes scaling is
possible by editing the file (again cumbersome); scale to fit to a
specific size is often possible by inserting simple PostScript code
before the file.

For 2 and 4 I implemented a scale option in my "GoPlot Plus" tool
(http://members.lycos.nl/goplot).

If you have HPGL/2 files and want more flexibility then you'll have to
use a program that interprets the plotfile and gives you the possibility
to print the result. Viewcompanion is an example
(http://www.softwarecompanions.com). A disadvantage of this method is
that it involves an extra interpretation step and the output may
sometimes be slightly different from what you expected, due to imperfect
interpretaton.

PDF and DWF also give more flexibility, but you always need a program
(like Adobe viewer and Autodesk DWF viewer) to interpret the file and
then print it.

Govert

 

You may want to look at our free trial version of RePlot
(http://cadfx.com/replot). (There is a download link on the left side of
the product page.)

It allows you to batch print plot files (.plt from hpgl/2, dwf, pdf, and
tiff) to any Windows system printer at virtually any scale. We designed it
to be a very easy to use, but powerful product for our customers.


Best regards,

Matt Pearson
CAD fx, Inc.
(877) 741-2175
(810) 732-0085