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Poster Plotting Tips
Last revision October 9, 2009
- Which plotter should I use?
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Escher is newer and generally works better than ptolemy. Escher
is at least three times faster and has more memory to handle large or
complex plots.
Escher is a four year old HP DesignJet 800ps plotter that uses
42 inch wide paper. It typically plots a 5 foot long poster in
20 to 30 minutes.
Ptolemy is a ten year old HP DesignJet 2500cp plotter that uses
36 inch wide paper. It typically plots a 5 foot long poster in
one to two hours.
- How do I send my poster to the plotter?
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Please see the instructions in the
Making Posters
section.
- Why can't I send or release a plot from my own computer?
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The G.R.I.D. lab plotters are configured to accept plotting jobs
only from the computers in the lab.
Similarly, the release form can only be run from computers in the lab.
The plotters are complicated and can have problems ranging from
mis-sized or garbled plots to plotter "freeze-up" to a malformed
plot causing the plotter to spew out the entire roll of paper!
This is a self-service lab - there is no attendant. Therefore, you
must be present while plotting to handle any problems. The
"Cancel" button on the plotter is your primary first-aid.
- Plotting Tips
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Tip 1: Save your poster as a PDF and print from Acrobat.
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This can solve many problems, including font errors and image parsing
problems. It is important go through your options and choose
"high quality" when saving the PDF so that your
images don't get over-compressed. Note: opening the PDF file
in Illustrator will not solve the problem. Open only in
Acrobat so that editing capabilities are disabled.
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Tip 2: Don't send a file that is too large.
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Large files often have problems printing. A total file size under 100
MB seems to mork much better for typical posters that are a mixture of
text and images. Although the plotters have a native
resolution of 300 dpi, 150 or 200 dpi is quite adequate for images on
posters. People are not studying your posters with a magnifying
glass! Embedded images at 150 dpi use only one-fourth as much memory
as images at 300 dpi. Never use more than 300 dpi - the plotter will
just throw away the extra pixels.
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Tip 3: Don't send a file that is too complex.
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If you are plotting a vector-based file, such as a CAD type drawing
or a hand-digitized (not scanned) map, it is possible that the
drawing will be mathematically too complex for the plotter.
If there are thousands of line segments or vertices, the plotter
may run out of memory trying to interpret them all at once so it
can convert them into an image of pixels which it can plot.
The solution is to convert the file to an
image format first on the computer and then send that image file
to the plotter. For example, if sending a PDF file from
Adobe Acrobat, click on the "Advanced" button in the Print dialog
box to find a "Print as Image" option. Use a target resolution of
300 dpi or less for the conversion.
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Tip 4: Convert all text to outlines in Illustrator.
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Fonts can sometimes create problems. You can turn them into vector shapes to
avoid potential hang-ups. This means, of course, that the text will
become uneditable, so do all your proofing before you convert, and make
sure you keep a copy of the original file before conversion (to correct
text mistakes).
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To convert, first click on "Select All" in the
"Select" menu. Then go to the "Type" menu and
select "Create Outlines". All your text will be converted.
Deselect everything and save. Now try printing!
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Tip 5: Set the print area in Illustrator.
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Poster started printing from the middle? You need to set the print area
in Illustrator. See the
Making Posters
section for step-by-step instructions.
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Tip 6: Use the same image formats.
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Sometimes people bring RGB images into a CMYK document or vice-versa.
While this often works, too much mixing of
different image formats can cause problems. Choose one type of format
and stick with that. You can convert between image formats using
Photoshop.
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