Author Topic: Plotter assignment woes  (Read 7350 times)

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jumpy

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Plotter assignment woes
« on: June 08, 2015, 06:52:53 AM »
Small plotting quirk for you:

2 machines running cad
#1 - 2016
#2 - 2012lt

Both have the same hp plotter installed - same IP and Port.
Both versions of CAD have the same default plotter set in the options dialog.

Default Qnew template and sheetset overrides file (created by #1) have all plotter settings set in the PS tabs + page setup manager.

#1 plots using SSM overrides ok. Qnew PS tabs show correct plot dialog settings.

#2 plots using SSM overrides. Qnew PS tabs show *None* in the plot dialog. This is important because the 'publish to plotter' in the SSM relies on the drawing sheet plotter setting (specified by the Qnew file used to create the drawing from new).

Question: What is #2 missing to return *none* in the plot dialog?

We connect to the plotter over the network, but we don't have a server installed print server (deemed unnecessary £££). I've been very careful to set all of these plotters in the template and override files the same so that our default template for drawings has no user decisions to make. So what do you think is going wrong?
Acad 2018 / LT2018

ChrisCarlson

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #1 on: June 08, 2015, 08:19:28 AM »
I believe the default plot settings for a layout are determined by the individual template file not the ps override. Page setup override is separate from the default plot settings.

If you do QNEW on #1 (thru the command line, not SSM) does the plot settings appear correctly?
How about doing the same for #2?

If different, are they pulling the same .dwt file?

jumpy

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2015, 09:25:19 AM »
Sorry, I should have added that the Qnew and SSM overrides .dwt's are located on the server. Both machines look to them for their 'settings'.

They are looking to the same file, but #2 fails with the *none* option where it should read the plotter.

I know in the past I had compatibility issues with versions 2015 and later with the 2012LT.
For some reason when autodesk revised cad they made it so you could downgrade a .dwg to a previous version, but did not see the need to doing the same with .dwt. So I had to save my template files to an earlier .dwg version then rename the file extension to .dwt. I'm sure I took this into account when I modified the plotter designations.


EDIT:
#2 plotting from SSM with the new override .dwt does not work either; override file contains plot settings for a0 a1 a2 a3.  The a3 works as it sends plots to a ricoh office copier but the a0 a1 a2 goes to an hp designjet 500ps 42 and it is this that is causing all the trouble.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2015, 09:39:45 AM by jumpy »
Acad 2018 / LT2018

mjfarrell

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2015, 09:40:54 AM »
while it shows 'none' , does it actually plot correctly?
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Michael Farrell
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ChrisCarlson

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2015, 09:42:42 AM »
If you close the SSM and open a new drawing on each computer (from that template), are the plot settings displayed correctly?

I think you are saying #2 still displays an issue. In that case there is an issue with the template file, create the template through #2 (2012LT) and ensure it opens and displays everything you need it to on #2. Then attempt to open the template file on #1, #1 should show the correct default plot settings.

mjfarrell

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2015, 09:58:40 AM »
I have similar issue here, however they plot correctly so the *none* indicator doesn't bother me.

Forget about what is showing in the plot dialog, and test the output results.
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Michael Farrell
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ChrisCarlson

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2015, 10:06:05 AM »
It plots correctly through the SSM Publish using Page setup Override? I would agree it should, provided the override is setup properly as the override contains the view/extent/layout, page size, scale, plot style, etc.

If the plot dialog displays a None, plotting through the SSM via Publish to Plotter will result in an error.

jumpy

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Re: Plotter assignment woes - keeping a slippery grip on my reason.
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2015, 10:21:43 AM »
while it shows 'none' , does it actually plot correctly?

No   :-(

If you close the SSM and open a new drawing on each computer (from that template), are the plot settings displayed correctly?
Also no  :-(
#1 finds the plotter, while #2 shows *None*.

I'll have to have a further look into the template files that are being used.

I've tried the 2012 machine #2 setting the Qnew template with the plotter details installed from that machine then saving the template.
The result is that the 2016 machine #1 cannot find the 'plotter' so it substitutes the *None* options.  :x
lol

This has to be something to do with the name of the HP plotter installed on the machines.




The SSM override template uses 2 plotters. A ricoh (for A3) and an HP designjet (for A2 A1 A0). The ricoh overrides work fine, but the designjet fails, substituting the *None* plotter option.
Acad 2018 / LT2018

Rob...

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2015, 10:26:44 AM »
This has to be something to do with the name of the HP plotter installed on the machines.

That was my first thought as we have that issue here. New machines sometimes don't get the same name for the same plotter. It looked like you would have had this covered, though.
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jumpy

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2015, 10:39:40 AM »
Gonna run some windows printer test pages and see what the printer name/model etc come out as, then go from there. Un-install the plotter, re-install if it comes to that. But that's a job for the morning I think.

Much obliged for the feedback, chaps.
Acad 2018 / LT2018

ChrisCarlson

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2015, 10:44:17 AM »
Well you can see the plotter name through CAD, do you have a shared drive for the plotter configuration?

jumpy

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2015, 05:30:21 AM »
Well, after much faffing about I discovered the plotters were named ever so slightly differently on the two machines ;way to go IT support. I guess they just installed the first driver in the list and tried to override the plotter name  :?

Plotting harmony restored. Now if only I could figure out why my plot/publish details report is blank when sending jobs from the SSM. I wonder if there's a sysvar that controls this in v2016?

Thanks for aiding and abetting in the process of elimination.
Acad 2018 / LT2018

mjfarrell

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2015, 08:42:33 AM »
does VIEWPLOTDETAILS command return anything?
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jumpy

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #13 on: June 10, 2015, 10:03:45 AM »
I get the dialog box, but it's blank where it should return a list of plotted jobs/plotter names, sheet titles time/data etc.

I'm wondering if there's a variable to control this.
Funny thing is if I go and search for the continuous plot log: C:\Users\jumpy\AppData\Local\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2016\R20.1\enu and look for the PlotandPublishLog.CSV it's right there with all of the plots in it.

If I plot from an open drawing ie. ctrl+p and plot via the plotting dialog box, I get the plot/publish detail notification popup, click on that and the viewplotdetails box shows the most recent plots via this method.

Plotting via the SSM - send to plotter in page setup or plot with an override I get the popup, but the viewplotdetails dialog is empty.
Acad 2018 / LT2018

mjfarrell

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Re: Plotter assignment woes
« Reply #14 on: June 10, 2015, 10:41:53 AM »
I just noticed the same thing here in 2014...

I get notice that the Plot/Publish job is complete with no errors...
however clicking the link for details returns
Quote
There are no plot or publish details to view.

It is of no real importance to me, because the plot job did finish and all my plots did come out correctly.
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Michael Farrell
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