jwhitman@st-louis-emh2.army.mil (Jerry Whitman) (06/12/89)
WHY IS IT . . . . ? Some one develops a nice tool that does a specific job well and some one else comes along and says "gee, that is nice, but if only it would - - " Some people are NEVER satisfied, and it seems I am particularly guilty! Does any one know of a way to translate mCAD files into printer compatable output? I realize there is little, if any, relationship between plotter files and printer graphics files, but seems there aughta be a way. What I really am looking for is a modest graphics package to do very simple architecture style drawings (read - very basic blueprint format) and output them to a dot matrix printer. mCAD has all the functionality I need and then some, but I see no way to translate the output to printer intelligible format. Are there any other PD drawing programs that can do this trick? I am looking for PD/ShareWare because this is basically a one time requirement that cannot justify a chrome plated industrilal versonion of a drawing package. I have not tried to display the objects on screen and do a screen dump. My experience with screen dumps has been less that gratifying quality. I need the printer output to be fairly clear and free of strange little lines and traces. If some one knows how I can coax a real screen image print I would be glad to pursue that path too. Thanks for your time and consideration. Regards, Jerry PS (Just when you thought I was done) - Does any one know of the current where-abouts of Tim Mooney, the author of mCAD? He deserves a hand for a very nice package whichI I would like to make use of!!
kms@ecsvax.UUCP (Ken Steele) (06/13/89)
In article <17437@louie.udel.EDU>, jwhitman@st-louis-emh2.army.mil (Jerry Whitman) writes: > > Does any one know of a way to translate mCAD files into printer compatable > output? > mCAD turned into IntroCad. A last version of mCAD (v1.6) had the special printer drivers that appeared in IntroCad. I saw figures from the mCAD version and they were VERY NICE. They were data figures and circuit diagrams for Tim's dissertation, which sounds like what you are looking for. The drivers were ASCII config files that you created for your particular printer. IntroCad is/was very inexpensive (under $100 mail order) and added more features. You might consider that purchase. If you know someone with IntroCad, you might try loading in and printing out your mCAD files. > Regards, Jerry > > PS (Just when you thought I was done) - Does any one know of the current > where-abouts of Tim Mooney, the author of mCAD? He deserves a hand for > a very nice package whichI I would like to make use of!! Tim was graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and, last I heard, was living somewhere in beautiful Rockville, MD working on IntroCad. --ken -- Ken Steele Dept. of Psychology kms@ecsvax.[bitnet || UUCP] Mars Hill College kms@ecsvax.uncecs.edu Mars Hill, NC 28754
tomb@hplsla.HP.COM (Tom Bruhns) (06/13/89)
jwhitman@st-louis-emh2.army.mil (Jerry Whitman) writes: > >Does any one know of a way to translate mCAD files into printer compatable >output? I realize there is little, if any, relationship between plotter >files and printer graphics files, but seems there aughta be a way. > Just last week there was a posting here in comp.sys.amiga from jvmiller@plato.rdrc.rpi.edu. He and a friend(?) are working on a utility that will take HP-GL command files and print them to a graphics (dot-matrix) printer. They are apparently about ready to release it to beta testing. I don't know if they have any commercial aspirations or are planning to release it to the public domain or what. I believe it also puts plots on the screen, but I'm not sure about that one. Also, I just downloaded PLANS from a local BBS. It was written by a fellow in Eugene, OR.; I don't recall the name. It looks pretty good. It's a 2-D drafting program that's pretty capable and fast. I _think_ it has raster - dot-matrix output in addition to plotter. The author is asking $50 for shareware contribution from non-commercial users. Hope this helps. Tom Bruhns tomb%hplsla@hplabs.hp.com
rachamp@mbunix.mitre.org (Richard A. Champeaux) (06/14/89)
In article <5160043@hplsla.HP.COM> tomb@hplsla.HP.COM (Tom Bruhns) writes: >> >Just last week there was a posting here in comp.sys.amiga from >jvmiller@plato.rdrc.rpi.edu. He and a friend(?) are working on a >utility that will take HP-GL command files and print them to a >graphics (dot-matrix) printer. They are apparently about ready >to release it to beta testing. I don't know if they have any >commercial aspirations or are planning to release it to the >public domain or what. I believe it also puts plots on the screen, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >but I'm not sure about that one. > > >Tom Bruhns >tomb%hplsla@hplabs.hp.com I'm the other author of PLT:. We're going to release it real soon now, probably Monday (We're still putting some last minute touches on it). We're going to release to a few people to test it first (actually, to anyone who requests it) to catch any glaring bugs we might have missed. Then we'll release it to public domain, through comp.binaries/sources.amiga first, and then any other way we can think of. We're more interested in fame, than fortune at the moment. The current version only prints to the printer because we never thought of sending it anywhere else. But I really like the idea of sending it to a screen. It would be trivial to implement, and would be very good for previewing plots. Anyone who's done a full page, high resolution color graphics dump, knows that it takes no small amount of time. Although we're working on making them more efficient, the routines to fill the rasters take no time at all. It's sending them to the printer through the printer device that's agonizingly slow. The next version, released probably about a month after the first, will support screen output. Thanks for the idea. Rich Champeaux (rachamp@MBUNIX.MITRE.ORG)
dougp@sbphy.ucsb.edu (06/19/89)
In article <56067@linus.UUCP>, rachamp@mbunix.mitre.org (Richard A. Champeaux) writes... >In article <5160043@hplsla.HP.COM> tomb@hplsla.HP.COM (Tom Bruhns) writes: > The current version only prints to the printer because we >never thought of sending it anywhere else. But I really like the idea of >sending it to a screen. It would be trivial to implement, and would be >Rich Champeaux (rachamp@MBUNIX.MITRE.ORG) How about a printer driver whos output is a window or a screen? the driver would create a task which would open a window or a screen with a close gadget which would contain the image or text that was sent to the driver. every form feed would create a new window with its own task. the purpose of the task would be to refresh the image when the window is resized and handling the closing the window. This driver could be used as a print preview on anything that used the prn: device. I don't know how you would choose the resolution or handle color though, maby just use the 8 primary colors availble on most color printers and use dithering. douglas peale
tomb@hplsla.HP.COM (Tom Bruhns) (06/20/89)
rachamp@mbunix.mitre.org (Richard A. Champeaux) writes: >>public domain or what. I believe it also puts plots on the screen, > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > >Thanks for the idea. > >Rich Champeaux (rachamp@MBUNIX.MITRE.ORG) >---------- Rich and Jim, Thanks to _you_ for your work on the driver! I'm sure a lot of us will find it very useful; I'm sure I will. (I just got the copy from Jim to test.) Tom Bruhns