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Plotting Large Images

14 REPLIES 14
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Message 1 of 15
cjneper
2284 Views, 14 Replies

Plotting Large Images

I'm looking for some expert advice in the area of plotting large aerial images.  I plot high resolution color aerial photos through Map 2014.  I have two PC's I am testing with.  The old one is an XP machine, 32 bit with 4 GB RAM.  The new one is Win 7, 64 bit with 16 GB RAM.  When plotting the large images, the Plot Files generated will be in the range of 600 mb - 1 Gb in size.  Seems like this should be no problem for either machine.  Yet both PC's will reach a point where they cannot handle the image size.  I don't believe it is a plotter issue because the plotfiles are generated on the PC before being sent to the plotter.  You would think the new PC could handle much more but it can't.  Is this a printer driver issue?  Is there a limit to what file size AutoCAD Map can handle? 

14 REPLIES 14
Message 2 of 15
antoniovinci
in reply to: cjneper

What happens if you plot not to paper but to a PDF file, then printing the latter..?

Message 3 of 15
cjneper
in reply to: antoniovinci

PDF usually works.  But going through PDF will sometimes degrade the image versus directly through the printer.

Message 4 of 15
antoniovinci
in reply to: cjneper

Well, you can easily set up a  very high output resolution in the PDF driver, e.g. 2400 dpi, and try thusly.

About the issue, it could be a network bottleneck: can you plot directly by Usb cable...?

Message 5 of 15

Hello,

 

There are system variables and settings that were designed to control the amount of system memory that AutoCAD can use when plotting files with raster images.  Here are some suggestions to try:

 

  • MAPIOPTIONS > Memory tab and increase the Memory Limit. (Note: Increasing the default amount may degrade your system’s performance. Be sure to leave enough RAM for your operating system and other applications.)
  • MAPOPTIONS > System tab and Clear Cache. 
  • RASTERPERCENT and increase the value to 90 or 95 (Max is 100). 
  • RASTERTHRESHOLD and increase the value to 1900 or 1950 (Max is 2000). 

Another setting you can try changing is the Raster Images control in the Plotter Configuration Editor (PLOT > Properties > Device and Settings Tab > Graphics node.

 

For more information, see the following blog post (a bit old, but still relavent): http://beingcivil.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/troubleshooting-guide-for-plotting-raster-images.htm...

 

Let me know if any of those help.

Thanks!



Diane Cloutier
Message 6 of 15
cjneper
in reply to: diane.cloutier

Yes I have tried adjusting these settings.  I've tried maximizing the variable settings, and the same plot will crash or have an incomplete image in exactly the same way.  Is the RASTERTHRESHOLD a hard limit?  Meaning anything bigger than that will not plot?  If that is true, 2000 mb is an INCREDIBLY small threshold for a plot file.  Is there any plans to increase this threshold in Map?  A 2 Gb limit will result in a lot of crashed plots.

Message 7 of 15
diane.cloutier
in reply to: cjneper

Hi,

 

The RASTERTHRESHOLD is not a hard limit.  Is the point at which "the availability of system memory is checked. The plot is aborted if the image is too big for the available memory." So it's just a check point.  (see help link from previous post... also, just a note that I noticed not all of the help links from my original post were working and have updated them.)

 

Also, 2000 MB is not referring to the size of the plot file, it's the memory needed to create the plot file.

 

If a limit is reached, either by computer or plotter or plotter-driver a good alternative is to create a DWF and then send the DWF to the plotter using DesignReview. The DWF-driver is better optimized in terms of memory consumption.

 

A PDF is a also valid option as Antonio suggested. In both cases, "DWG to PDF.pc3" and "DWF6 ePlot.pc3", you can adjust the resolution for the output.  

 

Have you tried Antonio's other suggestion regarding a network bottleneck?

 

What is the file type and file size of the files you are using?  Also, what is the desired plot size and resolution?

 

Thanks,

 



Diane Cloutier
Message 8 of 15
cjneper
in reply to: diane.cloutier

The pdf option works most of the time, but there are times when the PDF plot fails also.  I would like to avoid the extra step of creating a PDF or DWF file.

I don't believe the issue is a network bottleneck.  The plot files are generated on the PC before they are sent to the plotter, and if the plot fails, it will fail before it even gets to the network.  Our image file types are usually compressed ECW files, or uncompressed TIF files.  The TIF files typically range from 100 Mb to 10 Gb or more, the ECW files usually smaller but can be up to 10 Gb or more also.  Plot sizes vary from 11x17 to 36x48. 

Message 9 of 15
antoniovinci
in reply to: cjneper

cjneper wrote:

I don't believe the issue is a network bottleneck 


 

If you're looking for help here, you outta do what we advise: no room for philosophy, sir.

For the second (and last) time: try a direct plot by USB cable, and let us know what happened, period.

Message 10 of 15
Alfred.NESWADBA
in reply to: cjneper

Hi,

 

>> the ECW files usually smaller but can be up to 10 Gb or more also

Oops, raster files with up to 10GB should be converted for plotting onto 36x48" (maybe with 600dpi or more) and you are using 16GB memory?

And you have plotted using such files with XP/32bit, wow.

 

If PDF output fails also then either memory settings (like MAPIOPTIONS) or system variables for plot (Diane mentioned them) or settings in the plotter driver (also resolution) are set to high for your system.

 

- alfred -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred NESWADBA
Ingenieur Studio HOLLAUS ... www.hollaus.at ... blog.hollaus.at ... CDay 2024
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(not an Autodesk consultant)
Message 11 of 15
cjneper
in reply to: antoniovinci

Thanks for the suggestion Antonio.  I have tried using a USB cable.  The result is no different, and often slower than going through the network.

Message 12 of 15
cjneper
in reply to: Alfred.NESWADBA

Alfred,  What do you mean when you say the raster files up to 10 Gb should be "converted"?  Converted to what?  They are compressed ECW files now.

Message 13 of 15
Alfred.NESWADBA
in reply to: cjneper

Hi,

 

>> What do you mean when you say the raster files up to 10 Gb should be "converted"?  Converted to what?

You mentioned in post 8 that your TIF files have up to 10GB, so that's why I tool the number 10GB

"Converted to what" ==> converted from the raster image resolution to the plotter resolution

That means you don't send the TIF to the plotter as it does not have the same rastering as the plotter has, so it has to rerender the image to fit to the resolution of the plotter for the page-size defined in the layout.

 

Small sample: if you have a image with 100x100 pixel (i know that unrealistic, but easier to understand) and you want to plot it to 10x10 inch using a printer resolution of 600dpi AutoCAD (or what ever software you use for printing) has to resize the image from 100x100 pixel to 6000x6000 pixel (10 inch * 600 pixel per inch).

So while a compressed tif with the 100x100pixel image might have just a few bytes the raster built in memory (before sending it to the printer) needs 6000x6000x3 byte = 108MB (the value 3 comes from an image with 24bit=3byte for true color).

 

While 100 pixel are easy and fast converted to 6000 pixel your 10GB image needs a lot more ram and processor power to be transformed to the resolution of the plotter.

 

Hope that is more clear now, - alfred -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred NESWADBA
Ingenieur Studio HOLLAUS ... www.hollaus.at ... blog.hollaus.at ... CDay 2024
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(not an Autodesk consultant)
Message 14 of 15
cjneper
in reply to: Alfred.NESWADBA

Thanks Alfred.  Now can you check my math for me?

I have a typical image that is 12,400 x 12,400 pixels.

So if I want to create a 36 inch square plot at 600 dpi that would require 36x600 = 21,600 x 21,600 x 3 = 1,399,680,000 bytes of memory?

That is 1.4 Gigabytes.  Am I correct?

That seems reasonable, but it seems I have more trouble sometimes when I zoom into a small area of the image (i.e. 2000 pixels square) and try to plot that at 36 inches.  So I wonder how memory needs are affected in that situation? 

Message 15 of 15
Alfred.NESWADBA
in reply to: cjneper

Hi,

 

>> I zoom into a small area of the image (i.e. 2000 pixels square) and try to plot that at 36 inches. 

>> So I wonder how memory needs are affected in that situation?

In most cases the output resolution is the bottleneck and as I wrote in my sample: even if the input is small (your sample with 2000 pixel) the output is what raises the memory needs, so the 36 inch square output is it, that results also in 1.2GB.

 

It might be necessary to calculate more memory if the input has also a big filesize/resolution.

It is possible to calculate less memory if you lower the output (e.g. half resolution results in a quarter of the memory)

It is possible to reduce the memory needs if the calculation results are done on a file on the harddisk instead within memory (but then real slow).

 

HTH, - alfred -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred NESWADBA
Ingenieur Studio HOLLAUS ... www.hollaus.at ... blog.hollaus.at ... CDay 2024
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(not an Autodesk consultant)

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