PLT file how do you open and plot them?

[kevin.43234]

Does anyone know how to open plot files (.plt) and print them in Arch Desktop 3.3 on Autocad 2002 platform?
What is the purpose of these stupid files if you can't open them with any program???

[mjfarrell]

You don't directly open them.
You copy them to the port that
the EXACT printer to which they
were PLT'ed to or you get garbage.

There are some other methods
then end result being nothing
pretty.

[Tom Dorner]

.plt files are a hold-over from the 1980's era when it was the only way to let someone plot a drawing with giving them the .dwg file.

That said, there are applications let will still let you submit them to a printer. Our Xerox 8850 will still take them with the Xerox submission tool. You may be able through Windows to drag the .plt file onto the printer icon and see what happens. Others may have some better insight to this question.

Of course the modern replacement of the .plt file is a PDF or DWF. There is also the myth out there that .plt files cannot be "reverse engineered" into a CAD file. Of course I can do that to a .plt file in about 10 seconds (using TurboCAD)

Hope this helps.

Tom

[Ed Jobe]

What is the purpose of these stupid files if you can't open them with any program???

There are a couple of reasons. It has allowed a company to send a file to a repro house, knowing exactly what they would get and without causing the repro house to have to figure out how to plot. Also, some have used them as archives of previous versions of a file. But that may not be safe, since, as Michael mentioned, the files are plotter specific. Personally, I don't use them. If your printing is all in-house, just print straight to the printer, not to file.

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

You may want to give the following thread a read -

Plt files

Have a good one, Mike

[James.Head]

I have had to regularly convert HPGL PLT files to Autocad since it was our only way of translating a PCB drawing from our PCB design CAD tool into Autocad for producing assembly drawings. The best tool I found for the job was HPGL2CAD from GuthCAD of Australia, link http://www.guthcad.com.au/ .

There is a limited downloadable shareware version available, but the author was very helpful and ran several trials with our, very large, files before we got the settings just right.

The program runs from a command prompt and is easy customisable by the user using INI files for different translations. The price was also very cheap.

Regards,

James

[jwanstaett]

We plot all are files to plt file in HPGL/HPGL-2 format
this way if we need a copy of the plot all we do not need to open the drawing
just send the file to the priter
most are computer are set up so all you need to do is right click and select send to printer
and the file is ploted

We also use View Companion
to open and view the files or bath plot to 8x11 plots in place of 18X24 plots




View Companion is a powerful viewer for HPGL/HPGL-2 files running under Windows 95,98,2000 and NT 4.0.
It provides fast, accurate viewing of these files that can be generated by Your CAD program, or a plotter driver.

View Companion has advanced functions for zooming and panning, and does also supports Microsoft's new IntelliMouse for performing these tasks.

All Windows based plotters and printers are supported.

View Companion can also save the loaded file into other standard formats.

View and print HPGL and HPGL/2 files.
Microsoft IntelliMouse support for zooming and panning.
Full screen mode.
Supports Metric and Imperial coordinates.
Multiple Document Interface (MDI) makes it easy to view several files at once.
Customizable toolbars and menus
Drag and Drop supported. Both single and multiple files.
Rotate loaded files in steps of 90 degrees.
Copy selected region to clipboard, and paste into another Windows application.
Add headers and footers containing date, time and filename.
Color or Black & White Printing.
Scaled print or fit to paper.
Print Preview.
Print to all Windows supported plotter and printer devices.
Convert to other formats (DXF, PDF, TIFF, Postscript etc).
Rasterize to raster formats like TIFF, PNG, JPEG etc.
Easy to use installation and uninstallation software.
DDE Interface for easy integration with other applications.
Batch Printing.
Batch Conversion.
Pen Table.
Pen Visibility Control.
Detail Magnifier.
Open files from URL locations.
Query information about entities.
Measure distances and areas.
Supports multipage HPGL/2 files.
Supports embedded (RTL) raster images.
Entity Information.


http://www.softwarecompanions.com/viewcomp.html

[Hippigypsy]

Does anyone know how to open plot files (.plt) and print them in Arch Desktop 3.3 on Autocad 2002 platform?
What is the purpose of these stupid files if you can't open them with any program???

Yeah, I hear ya. It's easier for them to send you the same file they're sending to the printers, then to make you a PDF file.
Autocad has an express tool, that was working in 2002, it still runs in 2005. Look under EXPRESS - File tools, convert PLT to DWG (plt2dwg). It's never worked for me, our vendors don't send me plt files made in HP format, you might have better luck then I did.

Another program that was recommended to me was hijaakpro.
Go to http://hallogram.com.
Good Luck!

[luc.magnee]

Dear Kevin,
Here's an extract of an article out of the HP knowledge base that should answer your first question :

"A plot file is output that is created by the same software process used when data is sent directly to a printer; however, the data is output to a file name on a hard disk or floppy diskette versus a computer hardware port. This output file can then be sent to the printer at another time (or location) without having the software re-generate the information.

The plot file contains data that is formatted into the printer's language."

So what you call "stupid files" are in fact the only possibility for those people working with Autodesk products like ACAD, ADT, ... but who can't afford buying a ploter (think of students working on those products at home, then ploting their drawing at school, young architects just starting and making use of a plot center,...) to get the highest possible plot quality.

If you ever plot a heavily solid hatched drawing to a PDF you can notice some weird inconsistencies, the same happens with DWF files (don't misunderstand me I find the DWF files great when used for information exchange over the internet). plt files are the only one that ever give me a 100% predictable plot.

So you see that using a file FOR THE PURPOSE IT WAS CREATED (in this case "remote" ploting) is not that stupid.

How do you use a plt (or prn) file TO GET IT PLOTED :

Assuming the ploter you wish to use is connected to the LPT1 port : open your Command Prompt , move to the directory containing your plt file, then use COPY /B FILENAME.PLT LPT1. It's just that easy !

Hope this will help you.

[jkipfer]

I've been looking into the viewing plot files myself. If we create 150 of them to send to the repro guys, it would be nice to check a few of them to ensure they will come out o.k. I see there are dozens of viewers out there that will do this: PloView, Trix, Fplot, guthrie cadviewer, etc., but they all cost money. There must be a free one out there. I feel cheated that I can make the files but not view them!

Does anyone know of a free (not limited trial) program to view and print plot files?

Thanks,

Jason