Effective plotting area backwards

[john.uhden]

Running 2002 in Win10 an Win7 on network printing to an HP5550n Color LaserJet.

The most important plots are to 11x17 landscape.  A few of the PCs plot just fine, but a few don't.

Picture that you are plotting the side view of a car.  On the misbehaving PCs, the length of the car is coming out parallel to the short side of the paper with half the car cut off.

I noticed that on the good PCs the effective plotting area is like 16" wide by 8" high, which seems logical.  But on the bad PCs it's the reverse... 8" wide by 16" high.

I have tried changing PLOTROTMODE from 2 to 1 to 0 but no change in results.

It's an extremely annoying problem because a different user has to open the file just to print it.  This is a production organization, so they can't afford to lose time ****ing around with workarounds.

Any ideas?

[dgorsman]

Printing using a common PC3, or directly to the Windows printer?  Does the printer have any kind of "best fit" setting that would attempt to auto-rotate the input?

I've seen this problem in the past and I can't remember if we fixed it on the AutoCAD side or not.  It may have been on the IT side, as the default paper selection and orientation of that printer was changing nearly weekly.

[john.uhden]

We're using PC3s, but I can't tell if its "common" (as on the network) or local.

I don't see any rotational or "best fit" choices in AutoCAD or the printer setup except for landscape vs. portrait.

I have chosen landscape, as is usual.

[paullimapa]

it could have something to do with the drivers in Win7 vs Win10 being different assuming the problem only occurs on computers running in a certain OS.

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[john.uhden]

@pendean and @paullimapa:

Seriously thanks so much for trying to help.

I have been the one telling my client for years not to upgrade his AutoCAD from 2002 until hardware and/or software dictates.  The work that they do (drafting the panels for vinyl swimming pool liners and sending the patterns to automatic cutting machines) needs nothing more than what 2002 provides (lines, arcs, polylines, dimensions, text, and custom AutoLisp programs).

As his older PCs reach their last days, he has to replace them, and all you can find these days have Win10 OS.  But even a few of his newer Win7 PCs can't plot landscape 11x17 properly to his HP5550n Color Laserjet.  I did find today that if they rotate the objects 90° and plot portrait it will come out correctly.

I am hoping for a real solution, not a workaround, that doesn't require his having to purchase new AutoCADs and a printer.

Alas, maybe I am being too optimistic.  Has the time come?

[pendean]

Plotter driver versions could be different too: are you by chance I.T.? If not, reach out to one, the quickest solution would be to clone a problematic PC to match one that works just fine.

There are other reasonably valued CAD programs out there that look/feel like R2002 if the cost of an AutoCAD subscription is not in the company's future. That may be what is next if anyone wants to change software.

[john.uhden]

Thanks, Dean.  I guess that when it comes to anything AutoCAD related that I am IT, so I have no one to whom I can pass the buck.  The best I can do is to go groping for assistance and write him more programs to do the design drafting faster.

I had never thought of an AutoCAD knock-off.  Can any of them run AutoLisp/Visual Lisp?  That's a definite requirement.

[Scottu2]

John,

The printer symptoms are similar to what I encountered with the HP T730 plotting D-size.

The T730 printer measures the physical paper at 33.97".  Regardless of software settings the T730 would auto-rotate because the plot area was actually larger than the measured area.  What I had to do was create a paper size that was .1" less than the long direction, 22x33.9 (was 22x34).

For the HP Laserjet 5550n try making a custom paper size of 11x16.9.

Also, if there is a significant delay between prints then change the printer port to go directly to the printer TCP/IP port instead of using the (WSD port).

Scott

[john.uhden]

The successes and failures are split between Win7 and Win10, but all the 32 bits succeed and all the 64 bits fail.  Of the failures, one is using PCL-5 and the others all PCL-6.  They all print to the printer's IP address.

[john.uhden]

I tried creating a custom paper size but AutoCAD crashed.  Maybe tomorrow.

[john.uhden]

At this point I'm looking for workarounds.

If I plot using the CutePDFWriter I can print the PDF file perfectly.

So is there a way I can have AutoLisp create the PDF and have it print the PDF to the printer (without additional human intervention)?

[Scottu2]

This is un-tested. Try the command shell to issue the print.

Use acrobat reader with the specified filename and printer name to print.

However, i do not see how to specify paper size, fit to paper size (perhaps define the defaults on the windows printer driver).

Another problem may arise when the PDF paper is not available on the printer, like a D-size --> A-size on center and clipped.

Maybe autocad VLAX can open and control the print dialog box of acrobat reader?

shell "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe /p /h " & filename

cmd /c "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\\AcroRd32.exe" /n /s /h /t file.pdf "my printer-name"

The following switches are available:

/n - Launch a new instance of Reader even if one is already open
/s - Don't show the splash screen
/o - Don't show the open file dialog
/h - Open as a minimized window
/p <filename> - Open and go straight to the print dialog
/t <filename> <printername> <drivername> <portname> - Print the file the specified printer.

[Scottu2]

John,

Check the command structure manually:

Please correct the command line statement to read:

In the windows Run box:

cmd

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\acrord32.exe" /p "filenamepath"

Within Autocad Create the LISP routine to execute after generating the CutePDF.

Design notes:

Enclose the program to run in quotes

program switches outside of quotes

filename enclosed in quotes

(setq a "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Adobe\\Acrobat Reader DC\\Reader\\acrord32.exe")

(setq b " /p ") ;spaces both sides of printer switch command

(setq c "c:\\user\\xxxx\documents\\filename.pdf") ;

(setq Q (chr 34))

(setq PrintFilename (strcat Q a Q b Q c Q))

at this point use lisp to write a batch file: PDFtoPrinter.bat

and write the variable PrintFilename

and execute the batch file with:

(command "shell" "PDFtoPrinter.bat")

It will take a moment for windows to find and open acrobat reader.

The dialog box will appear.

Adjust printer to use, paper size, fit, color and etc.

Click Print

PS: Acrobat stays open after print command.  Perhaps someone else may find away to execute the command using VBA.

Scott U

[john.uhden · Accepted solution]

We solved the problem today.  Installed the newest PCL 6 Universal driver, set up one PC3 for 11x17 and one for Letter and saved page setup names for each.  I don't think I should have to have done all that, but the draftsmen are satisfied (better than playing musical chairs and waiting their turn for the chair that works).

[Scottu2]

John,

That great news!

The PDF workaround would is not good for everyday printing, when the other stations are working just fine.

Scott U.