Plotter PostScript or not

[Anonymous]

Hi 

We need a plotter and we got a quote for two HP plotters, one with PostScript and one without. The one with PostScript is quite a bit more expensive, so my question is if we actually need it? 

I have read a bit about the PostScript language and understand that it was designed for printing complicated shapes, pictures, etc. but I cannot figure out if the HP alternative like PCL and HP-GL/2 is that much worse? We mainly use AutoCad + Inventor and also have a lot of old drawings in PDF format. Mostly we design larger structures with over 1000 parts. We only use Windows workstations. It is important that it can plot thin lines in different colors as well as complicated 3D models.

I have searched the forum and found different topics on this, but they are quite old. I guess plotters are more advanced today, so I opened this new post.

[Anonymous]

Hi 

We need a plotter and we got a quote for two HP plotters, one with PostScript and one without. The one with PostScript is quite a bit more expensive, so my question is if we actually need it? 

I have read a bit about the PostScript language and understand that it was designed for printing complicated shapes, pictures, etc. but I cannot figure out if the HP alternative like PCL and HP-GL/2 is that much worse? We mainly use AutoCad + Inventor and also have a lot of old drawings in PDF format. Mostly we design larger structures with over 1000 parts. We only use Windows workstations. It is important that it can plot thin lines in different colors as well as complicated 3D models.

I have searched the forum and found different topics on this, but they are quite old. I guess plotters are more advanced today, so I opened this new post.

[fabien_mongin]

Hi Mathias,

This is an interesting topic; I have not plotted any files since COVID lock-down.. but;

We are using other competitors plotters in our company without issues, and over the networks, as long as the settings were correct on the client PC; all plotted files came out without issues, these plotters are now 5-7 years old and still running well on Autodesk 2020 releases. (not HP cannot, so cannot comment on HP).

Regards,

Fabien

[fabien_mongin]

Hi Mathias,

This is an interesting topic; I have not plotted any files since COVID lock-down.. but;

We are using other competitors plotters in our company without issues, and over the networks, as long as the settings were correct on the client PC; all plotted files came out without issues, these plotters are now 5-7 years old and still running well on Autodesk 2020 releases. (not HP cannot, so cannot comment on HP).

Regards,

Fabien

[fabien_mongin · Accepted solution]

Hi Matthias,

Coincidence... 🙂  We had a case last week for a HP T520 (which I was not aware we had..) and Autocad Mechanical 2020.

We tried the resolution below but in the end we uninstalled and reinstalled the driver on the client PC which fixed the issue.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-lt/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2020/ENU/Au...

Regards

Fabien

[fabien_mongin · Accepted solution]

Hi Matthias,

Coincidence... 🙂  We had a case last week for a HP T520 (which I was not aware we had..) and Autocad Mechanical 2020.

We tried the resolution below but in the end we uninstalled and reinstalled the driver on the client PC which fixed the issue.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-lt/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2020/ENU/Au...

Regards

Fabien

[raja_sabnis]

Hi Fabien,

When you say you have competitors plotters, are you saying you have non-postscript plotter?

Thanks,

Raja

[raja_sabnis]

Hi Fabien,

When you say you have competitors plotters, are you saying you have non-postscript plotter?

Thanks,

Raja

[raja_sabnis]

Mathias,

So did you end up getting postscript or non-postscript plotter?  If you got non-postscript, did you run into any issues because of it?

Thanks,

Raja

[raja_sabnis]

Mathias,

So did you end up getting postscript or non-postscript plotter?  If you got non-postscript, did you run into any issues because of it?

Thanks,

Raja