visual converter

[MoynoGuy]

Has anybody identified a third party product that will convert .plt format (files generated from Productview graphics server) to .pdf format?
I have a demand for on-line .pdf but need to also maintain the .plt as the viewable in productview.

Thanks

 

[Hora]

PLT is a PS(postscript) format, so you can choose any free PDF software to convert PS into PDF. I use CutePDF . Of course, Acrobat Distiller is the best.

-Hora

 

[MoynoGuy]

Unfortunately, I do not believe the .plt file that is generated through ProductView is a standard postscript file.

Thanks

 

[Hora]

should be. Open the PLT file in WORDPAD and see the first line of the header. If you'll see something like this:

%!PS-Adobe-2.0

then it is a PS. If not, then there are two othe possible formats: HP-GL2 or PCM.

Good luck.
-Hora

 

[MoynoGuy]

Typical of PTC I am afraid, but it appears to be proprietary even though it carries the .plt extension.
Odds of finding a converter appear to be slim.
Pro/Engineer is the best CAD software I have used but they really make it difficult to sell to the decision makers.

thanks for your advice
Jeff

 

[JohnAndrews]

I think Productview opens .drw drawing files, so you might not need .plt
If you have Adobe distiller, you can set a config.pro option adobe_distiller to allow output from Wildfire 2 to pdf
It looks like Wildfire 3 allows this even if you dont have distiller

 

[Hora]

MoynoGuy,

.plt is usualy the file you sent to plotter. All the plotters on this earth use either HP-GL2 and/or PS coding.The majority are now on PS. PCM is still used by the laser printers which are not PS. So PTC cannot be propietary of the plt, if plt is a postscript. By the way, ProE saves the plot file as "plt", but in reality is a "ps". I allways rename the extension "plt" to "ps" when I print the drawing in a file. Then I can convert it in PDF or use the postsript file in Photoshop. Don't be affraid, look at the header of the file, or simply change the rename the *.plt into *.ps and try to convert it with Adobe Distiller. If the file is not a PS, then Distileer wil return an error code. Simply.

-Hora

 

[JohnAndrews]

Sorry guys, are plot files required for UNIX operating system? I use Windows & always print direct to MS Printer Manager, so I never see a plot file.

 

[Hora]

John,

If you'll print the drawing "to file" instead of "to printer", ProE will generate a file with extension ".plt"

-Hora

 

[dgallup]

If you use the config.pro option PLOT_NAMES YES, Pro/E will use .ps extension for postscript, .hp for HPGL, hp2 for HPGL2, .cal for Calcomp, .ver for Versatec & .ger for Gerber. PLOT_NAMES set to no makes all plotter output files with .plt extension. You can tell what type of file a .plt is by opening in a text editor if you are fluent in plotter languages.

I never use ProductView, but if it is anything like Pro/E you can configure it to produce output for all these types as well as tiff, CGM, etc. There are viewers avaiable for all these file types. I still prefer to generate postscript and distill it to PDF. It gives the best looking hardcopy, is robust and error free and everyone can view it without another viewer. Creating PDF's straight from WF3 has a lot of bugs at the moment.