plotting to a tiff image

We are going into the digital age here and will be scanning our drawings in
as tiff images to the server, then using ReproDesk Server from Oce to plot
collated production sets.
Is there a way to bypass scanning and create the same quality tiff image
directly from AutoCAD 2004 or 2005?
Or should we think about using a different format like pdf?

 

I suggest exporting to a bmp and then converting with any decent graphics
editor. Take a look at Konvertor or Paint Shop Pro.

rs

 

You can use the Raster driver to plot directly to TIF Play around with the
output resolution and have your vender plot a few. Once you have what you
want just save it as a PC3 file and you can use any time you need to.

Hope this helps.

Bud Schroeder
AutoCAD Test Development
Autodesk inc.

 

Thanks for the replies.
Been trying out the heidi drivers in AutoCAD.
Is there a way to create a raster tiff image with higher than 100 dpi
directly from AutoCAD?
If you want that then you have to convert everything from another graphics
software?
Seems like a lot of work just to get a decent tiff image.
Too bad AutoCAD can't create a higher resolution tiff image.
And then what about the scale of the plot file?
I suppose it depends on what software you are using to production print the
issued files as to the accuracy of the scale, right?

 

Any image format for an engineering size drawing can be huge at high
resolutions. We're testing some stuff out for customers and a 24"x36" PDF
that is 1.5 MB ends up being a 12.7 MB tiff when converted to send to a
plotter. And that's a group 4 monochrome tiff which is about as small as
you can get.

But when you think of it the Oce probably prints at 400 dpi so you have
(24"x400) * (36"x400) or 138 million pixels in the file which could be on
(black) or off(white). So it takes a large amount of memory to start
processing stuff like this which is why they have the dpi set lower on the
drawing.

Now with the Oce if you spent the extra bucks for the Adobe Certified
solution to handle PDF files that is the way I would go hands down. We have
customers doing large arials with lines merge that Oce has tested and it's
no problem. If you went the cheap route and your trying to use ghostscript
with it you may not get real great results and it may take some time to
process.

Now if you went the cheap way and want to contact us we may be looking for
some people to test a hybrid solution which would allow you to use our
software to batch all the drawings into a single PDF and then break that
apart into very high resolution tiffs that are all numbered for you to dump
them into ReproDesk. So you get the best of both worlds. And we've had
several clients who have already dumped creating plt files for plotting in
favor of PDF because they get higher quality and dual use of the files.

--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
-------------------------

-------------------------
518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.

 

As you have Reprodesk, I would suggest that you plot to HPGL/2 (or any
other format that you use for normal plotting) and use Reprodesk to
produce the Tiffs for you. This works perfect.

Govert

 

Thanks for the replies.
I have only been able to get a resolution of 100 dpi from AutoCAD 2004
when creating a tiff . And as far as creating something else and then
converting it, I was hoping to avoid having an extra step involved. Maybe I
will find a format besides tiff that AutoCAD 2004 can create from the plot
command that will fill the bill as far as a digital issue file that gets
archived/plotted from the server.
At this point the idea is to plot the set to bond and then scan it in as a
tiff image to the server and then move/rename the file to match our naming
convention. The reason that we are using tiff is because that's what the
Oce software engineer recommended for our application (sharing files
internationally).
It would be nice to get away from the time it takes to scan it all in if we
can find another format that works for us that is plotted to file directly
from AutoCAD.

 

The DPI listed in a tiff, or jpeg, file has nothing to do with the file
itself. It is a function of the display device.
A 1000x800 pixel file may show up as 10" x 8" at 100 dpi in Photoshop or 5"
x 4" at 200 dpi in some other program, it still has the same number of
pixels.

If you need higher resolution, crank up the number of pixels AutoCAD is
spitting out. You may need to create a custom plot size.

 

Greg,
look at this solution.

http://www.tgsoft.ch/English/PLT2TIF.htm

From PLT (HPGL2) you can create very high quality TIF files. (Monochrome &
Color)
The quality of a monochrome TIF at 400 DPI is identicaly as what an Oce
plotter can produce.

Very fast, and easy to use.


Up to 22" and 200 DPI it's freeware.
(Higher resolution and size -> Shareware)

Regards
Toni

 

If you need to archieve there isn't a much better format than PDF. Tiff
images are great but very few people have a great viewer to be able to view
them and are used to working with them. Were with a PDF almost everyone has
the Adobe Reader installed and even the secretary could pull up the PDF and
print it out to whatever printer.

Oce and other plotter manufacturers like tiff files because a monochrome
tiff is easy to plot. There is not processing to figure out the dithering
for grayscales or lines merge so for them there is no liability and they
just have to send it to the plotter. But to me the ability for anyone to
view it and print it to any printer or plotter and the fact that 20 or 50
years from now you should still be able to view them far outways creating a
tiff format just because it's good for Oce. If they wouldn't rob everyone
with the cost of the postscript option on the controller it would be just as
easy for you to send a PDF through Reprodesk as it would the tiff.

--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
-------------------------

-------------------------
518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.