Plotting from NX6

[twohundredthhorseman]

Evening all,

We currently run NX2 in our engineering department however we are soon to upgrade to NX6 (quite a leap I understand). I have drawn the short straw and have been tasked with 'taking the lead' on the upgrade.

I have been playing around with the new software for a few weeks now and have managed to get most things working (such as our custom toolbars and GRIPS).

The thing I am struggling with a bit is plotting. With NX2 we have a plot queue on the server (managed via the plot queue manager). When we plot to the queue it doesn't actually plot the drawing out on a physical printer, instead it spits out a file to a certain directory on the network. The filename for this file usually consists of the part filename followed by a '.hpp' file extension. These .hpp files (happy files we call them!) are stored and are what the production and procurement departments use to buy or manufature the parts (they are our production drawings). The .hpp files are viewed using a software package called 'Swiftview' - they can also be printed from here.

If possible I would like to set up a similar thing with NX6. That way the engineering and design departments can continue to produce the same type of .hpp files and as far as the production and procurement departments are concerned nothing will change.

I know that NX6 can produce PDF files however the Swiftview software currently used to view the production drawings cannot view them (they don't even appear in the File > Open dialogue). I think that it would cause confusion if people in the other departments had to use Swiftview to view the .hpp files created before the NX upgrade, and then something like Adobe to view the PDFs created after. We could go over to PDF for all the drawings both old and new, however this would mean converting some 10,000ish .hpp files to PDFs.

Does anyone know if this is possible and how I can set up a plotter or printer in NX6 that will create the .hpp files that we are used to?

Any help would be gratefully received.

Regards,

Rob Cooper

 

[JohnRBaker]

OK, starting with NX 3.0 we replaced our plotting software with a 3rd party package from a company named SDI (note that these were the same people whom SDRC had been dealing with for years for plotting software so we sort of inherited the relationship, and besides, we had been looking to get out of the plotting business anyway as we couldn't really add any value).

That being said, the new plotting software can do exactly what you were doing before. The option you need to use is to output HPGL formatted files. Setting this up is covered in the Plotting section of the User Documentation. However, if you still feel that you need help, please contact GTAC as they have a lot of experience helping customers transition from the older plot environment to the current one and what you're describing is not unlike what many other customers are doing.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Xwheelguy]

If you have your maintenance up to date, you can go to the GTAC support site & look under NX -> NX 3 Release Documents -> NX 3.0 Plotting Quick User's Guide. I found this quite helpful when first setting up our printers & plotters.

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

http://www.enkei.com

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

 

[twohundredthhorseman]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your responses. I'll have a look at the NX3 Plotting guide and see what I can make of it.

Regards,

Rob