Bob, or anyone who uses a plotter for printing patterns with DS6.
Is there anything in particular I need to look for in a plotter to work with Dress shop 6.
Is there any particular format it needs to work with so that DS6 will coo-operate with it.
My husband is going to buy a plotter for something else & I am wondering if I can influence the decision as to which one, type , size etc.
Thanks,
Tris

I'll add my request on to that, except that my husband has bought the plotter. I hope I'll be able to use it, since that's part of the justification for getting it. Also, is it possible to put the patterns on disk or cd? My computer isn't hooked up to the plotter.

quote:

Bob, or anyone who uses a plotter for printing patterns with DS6.
Is there anything in particular I need to look for in a plotter to work with Dress shop 6.
Is there any particular format it needs to work with so that DS6 will coo-operate with it.
My husband is going to buy a plotter for something else & I am wondering if I can influence the decision as to which one, type , size etc.

Others, please respond. I know very little about printers and less about plotters.

But, that said, I will tell you what I can. First, I do not know what a plotter is any longer. If you do a Google search for plotters, you come up with links that include Epson plotters. But, if you go to the Epson web site and search for plotters, they will tell you they have none.

The Google search suggests that the Epson Stylus Pro 7800 is the lowest priced Epson plotter. Epson refers to that device as a wide format printer.

So, confusion factor number one - is there any longer any difference between a plotter and a wide format printer?

In the old days, a plotter had rods and levers and a pen that was directed around a page to draw lines. Plotters advanced till those rods and levers and pens could draw tiny details like 8 point font text. But, most of that type of hardware was superceded by the ink-jet printers that got bigger and bigger and can now handle large paper.

The new type of plotter (big ink-jet printers) should work the same as any other printer with Dress Shop or with MPD.

But, there are issues. First and most obvious - the driver that comes with the device when you buy it will be obsolete and probably will not work. I'm sure that some of them are good out of the box, but we never hear from the customers that had that experience. So, just about every customer that gets a plotter has problems and our first recommmendation is to get an updated driver from the maker's web site. The corrects many problems.

The second issue is how to set things up so Dress Shop or MPD and Windows and the printer / plotter all have the same paper size and margins in mind. The Page Setup dialog within Dress Shop and MPD will cause the pattern draft to be produced at the size specified there. But, that Page Setup dialog does not control the device - just the pattern draft.

When you print, the Windows print dialog has options for selecting which printer you wish to print to. People with plotters or tractor feed printers may also have a smaller page printer that they use as well. You do need to select which device you are using.

Now comes the next hassle. Does that device default to the same paper size and margin settings that you specified for Dress Shop or MPD? If you told DS/MPD to use the device's default values, you should be good to go. But, if you specified zero margins or some non-default paper size, then you must now also tell the device the same story.

IF you can get both the device and DS/MPD aware of the same paper size and margins, then Windows should do the rest, translating the image that DS/MPD produced into whatever the device needs to print from.

Can you print to a file and take that file to another computer? That can certainly be done, but it is technically difficult and you will have trouble doing it. Nasty as this sounds, it may be easier to network your two computers together. That would make the process much easier.

But, both can work. Both can be technically difficult. Neither Livingsoft Northwest nor My Pattern Designer can help you with it long distance as it involves hardware and software from other makers.

Now, all that said, there are plenty of users that have used plotters or wide-format printers with Dress Shop. Who recommends which ones?

Well, having the "old kind" of plotter, with the pen that goes back and forth, I can only speak from that perspective. My son has a sign shop and has the lastest and greatest of the wide plotter/printers, so maybe I can run down there and investigate, or quiz him and get the skinny........... but, the plotter I have does the job of printing (It looks like drawing to me) the patterns I need.

If I want "colored" lines, I just change the color pen.... Sure is a LOT cheaper with this plotter in printing patterns. The pens are cheap and last, and a big roll of paper I get for the plotter is cheap too and it lasts.

DeborahC
Palmetto Fl

quote:

Originally posted by DeborahC:
Well, having the "old kind" of plotter, with the pen that goes back and forth, I can only speak from that perspective.

Can you tell me what make (and model) that plotter is?
I may be able to get one which is being replaced at a friend's engineering firm, and hope it is a similar type to yours.

quote:

Well, having the "old kind" of plotter, with the pen that goes back and forth, I can only speak from that perspective. My son has a sign shop and has the lastest and greatest of the wide plotter/printers, so maybe I can run down there and investigate, or quiz him and get the skinny........... but, the plotter I have does the job of printing (It looks like drawing to me) the patterns I need.

Please share the maker and model number, even with older hardware. Thanks!

My Plotter is the Roland PNC950 CAM-1. If you need a driver to look at or the manual to the plotter, let me know and I can send it to you as attachment or where ever you wish me to put it.

DeborahC
Palmetto Fl

Deborah,
Yes, I would like more information on your plotter, plotter driver and any other program that you might use to get the pattern transferred to the plotter. I will take an attachment from you. Thanks much.

You will have to send me your email address. If there is a way to attach a file thru this message board, I haven't found it yet...

DeborahC
Palmetto Fl

DeborahC,
Please quiz your son.
It is the old style with pen Stylus that I'm interested in & hubby is looking at buying a plotter that does vinyl cutting of letters.
Do you happen to know what type of format the plotter you are using prints in. Hubby mentioned something about DXF format if that means anything. At the moment is is looking at a Roland.
Thanks for your help.
Tris

Deborah, I have been told that one can invite private messages or something like that, but I couldn't exactly figure out how to do this. It is not as handy to reach people as it used to be with the old discussion list. There must be a good (or bad) reason for this. I will reach you somehow.

send me an email with your home email address in the body of the message. You can send that to me in a private message if you wish. My home email address is:

dcrum@tampabay.rr.com

DeborahC
Palmetto Fl

quote:

Deborah, I have been told that one can invite private messages or something like that, but I couldn't exactly figure out how to do this. It is not as handy to reach people as it used to be with the old discussion list. There must be a good (or bad) reason for this. I will reach you somehow.

You can send private posts to other users and still maintain anonymous status by clicking on their user name in the email, rather than the reply link.

But, I do not think you can send attachments that way, either.

You can easily have the "old way" of direct contact by simply giving up the anonymous screen name. Post your email address and anyone can contact you directly. Do not post it and they cannot. It is a matter of your choice, not anything forced on you by this forum.

quote:

Originally posted by DressShopBob:
[QUOTE] Bob, or anyone who uses a plotter for printing patterns with DS6.
Is there anything in particular I need to look for in a plotter to work with Dress shop 6.
Is there any particular format it needs to work with so that DS6 will coo-operate with it.
My husband is going to buy a plotter for something else & I am wondering if I can influence the decision as to which one, type , size etc.

The new type of plotter (big ink-jet printers) should work the same as any other printer with Dress Shop or with MPD.

But, there are issues. First and most obvious - the driver that comes with the device when you buy it will be obsolete and probably will not work. I'm sure that some of them are good out of the box, but we never hear from the customers that had that experience. So, just about every customer that gets a plotter has problems and our first recommmendation is to get an updated driver from the maker's web site. The corrects many problems.



My DH purchased a HP wide format printer [AKA plotter] with a 24inch width. It was fine out of the box, so NOW you are hearing from me. If you use "printer properties" when you select the printer to be your default, and set the paper size to the custom size you want as well as any other options you want, [I use 24X60, fast or draft printing and an option to trim to size which saves paper], then when DS calls up the printer dialog box, the defaults are just what you set.
I also make sure that under File>Settings>paper setup every thing matches.

Almost all the time I can fit a pattern piece on one length of paper!!

Good luck with your printers.

Deena in Houston

Deena, which HP model number is that, please?

Diane

quote:

Originally posted by Deena:
My DH purchased a HP wide format printer [AKA plotter] with a 24inch width. It was fine out of the box, so NOW you are hearing from me. Deena in Houston