Do you send PostScript plots to the 1055? If not, then you're not utilizing
the extra $2000 option - that language has to be specified with the plot
type. Plain AutoCAD plots are not in the PostScript language unless you
specify them to be - you can set up an EPS "dummy" plotter in AutoCAD and
print to that file format, which you can then sent to that plotter.
PostScript is a language, a file format. It doesn't happen automagically,
you have to export a PostScript file. AutoCAD uses PCL (HP-GL/2) plotting
formats, not PostScript formats. The difference between PostScript and PCL
is akin to the difference between the DWG file format and the PDF file
format - one is vector, one is raster, and if you want a PDF, you have to
export that format in some fashion. Google "postscript and autocad" and
you'll get a wealth of information about this.
How are you monitoring this "file size" on your 1055 vs the 1050? Does one
just work better? Are the internal hard drives in both of them the same? Do
they have the exact same amount of RAM? Are they both set to the same plot
mode? These are the things that determine plot speed.
Aerials plot fine without PostScript - quite often the plotter isn't the
problem when it comes to plotting aerials...high resolution SID imagery
takes a LOT of power to process, and can fail if your computers are not up
to spec.
--
Jason Hickey
Autodesk, Inc.
http://beingcivil.typepad.com
"sfore" wrote in message news:6231286@discussion.autodesk.com...
Thanks for the info, but I'm still a little confused. We're a civil
engineering firm that mainly uses Autocad Civil 3D and Land Desktop. We use
various types of images on many of our projects. Are you saying for CAD
plotting only, regardless if I have images (sid, tif, jpg etc....) or a
rendering in my drawing, that a postscript plotter will not plot any
better/faster than a non-postscript plotter, even on large print jobs that
contain aerial photos?
I want to be sure we get the right plotter for our needs. We currently have
a hp1050 and a hp1055. The hp1055 is a postscript and the plot file size is
much lower and manageable than on the 1050. We can't send large print jobs
to the 1050c like we can the 1055.
We want the HP Designjet 4020 (was 4000), but I'm unsure if I should get the
postscript model or NON-postscript model. The postscript model is about
$2000 more than the NON. My last employer had the HP 4000 and I'm 98% sure
it was NON-postcript. Everything always seemed to plot fine including
aerial photos.
Shawn