Plotting Plot Files

[Foggy]

If I am sent a plot file (*.plt) how do I open and/or plot it?

 

If you are connected to a local printer you could shell out to DOS and type:<br>copy myplot.plt &gt; LPT1 (or whatever port you are connected to). If you are using a network plotter, you may have to capture the printer port as a virtual port (lpt3 for instance) and then copy to it.<br>This is assuming your plotter is a similar model to the one the plot file was generated for.<br>There are companies that claim to be able to convert .plt to .dwg for a fee. If the drawing is important to you, it may be worthwhile checking it out on the Internet.

 

[mathu230475]

Create a batch file named PLOTIT.BAT in your AutoCAD support folder with the following lines.<br>copy /b %1 &lt;insert the path to your plotter here&gt;<br>cls<br>@echo off<br>echo&nbsp;&nbsp;-------------------------------------------<br>echo&nbsp;&nbsp;The plot file Has been sent to your Plotter<br>echo&nbsp;&nbsp;-------------------------------------------<br><br>For example for our office we use:<br>copy /b %1 \\Ntserver01\Oce9400R<br>cls<br>@echo off<br>echo&nbsp;&nbsp;----------------------------------------------<br>echo&nbsp;&nbsp;The plot file has been sent to the Oce Plotter<br>echo&nbsp;&nbsp;----------------------------------------------<br><br>Next open up Explorer, select View¦Options¦File Types tab and pick AutoCAD Plot and edit. Select New and in the Action space, type Plot plt file. In path, type the path to your newly&nbsp;&nbsp;created batch file (example: C:\Program Files\AutoCAD&nbsp;&nbsp;R14\SUPPORT\plotit.bat) Select OK and OK. Now when you right-click on a PLT file, you’ll see the option to plot the file.<br><br>What we need to do is just right click and fire a print for system printer r network printer.<br><br>

 

Mathu

I have also created a shortcut on my desktop to drag and drop multiple plot files.

BUT...

1) All the DOS windows stay open, and have to be manually closed. Could there be some way to have these windows close automatically?

2) The print manager shows all of the plot files as &quot;untitled&quot; therefore I dont know what plot is what when I have multiple plots waiting. Does yours show the same?

I can't beleive that a simple copying of a file to the printer can not be done in windows...

Thanks for the info..

Dan

 

[PEG]

There is a program you can download for free off the net, it is called Epson Plot. If you call onto the Epson website (

http://www.epson.co.uk)

and go into special promotions you should be able to download it for FREE!!!

I hope this helps!!

 

[loeb]

More...

Instead of typing the printer name like \\Ntserver01\Oce9400R above, you can map a LPT port to that printer. The command would be

NET USE LPT1 \\Ntserver01\Oce9400R

Depending you what OS you're running, you might want to add

/PERSISTENT:YES to the end to make the map stick.

Also, PLT files are postscript files. You can rename them as PS files and use another program, like GhostScript to print them.

Instead, we associate the PLT extension to AdobeDistiller so that when we double click on a PLT, it is converted to PDF. PDFs are easy to plot as well as share with vendors and other departments