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Slow plotting a raster drawing in Autocad 2002

Slow plotting a raster drawing in Autocad 2002

Slow plotting a raster drawing in Autocad 2002

(OP)
Hello all,

   I am currently plotting vector/raster drawings using Autocad 2002 and GTX Rastercad Version 7.0. The problem is when plotting it takes an EXTREMELY long time (sometimes over five minutes per drawing) to process and print the drawing. When plotting a vector drawing there is no problem with, it plots at the regular speed. We use a network printer, so bulk plotting is not an option. My company never had this problem using older versions of Autocad/GTX in the past. It doesn't look like the drawings were scanned at a higher dpi either. Is there any type of shareware or internal command to speed the process up?


          Thanks,
            Don

RE: Slow plotting a raster drawing in Autocad 2002

(OS) Operating System (and any service packs installed)?

AutoCAD R2002 (any/all service packs installed)?

GTX Rastercad (any/all service packs installed)?

Plotter/printer:
Manufacturer?
Make/model?
Firmware updates?
Amount of internal memory?
Current driver? (or correct driver for OS)?
How (or where) is the driver set up to process or handle overflow?
Are you using a PC3 file or Windows System Printer?

How large are these images?

Do other applications (printing large raster images have this problem?)

- Tracy

RE: Slow plotting a raster drawing in Autocad 2002

(OP)
The system we're running is windows nt version 4.0. The plotter is a xerox 8830 series plotter and the drawings are plotted using dwf eplot driver. The plotter overflow is stored in the systems' que as the plots start to back up. The file size for these images are anywhere between 56 through 700kb, and are plotted 24X36. File size seems to have little effect on time length, as vector drawings of over 1mb take only a few seconds to plot, the smallest raster file takes over four minutes, and the largest raster takes approximately a minute longer than the smaller raster files. All of the service updates are current and are handled by the IT staff here.

Thanks again,
  Don

RE: Slow plotting a raster drawing in Autocad 2002

I do was have similar problems with rastor drawings - wow 5 mins, if only mine would take anything from 10 to 45 mins. There too were small files but spooled at almost 40-60MB. Printing via NT to Hp printers where no problem, but printing to new machines like xerox and toshibas were the hassel particulary the MFD's. I think we fixed it by changing drivers on the printers something to do with post-script drivers. We had to call in the experts - we complained and complaind to the manifactures till they fixed it.

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