• If you are printing from a MAC, you MUST switch the print job to ASCII, if you do not, the plotter will roll out an entire roll of paper onto the floor. If this happens, the person (or the CUFS number) to which the job was printed will be charged for the entire price of the roll (~$30). There are step-by-step instructions on how to avoid this.

• The new plotter can take either 36 inch wide paper, or 42 inch wide. The length of the poster can be any length, as the paper comes on a roll.
• The price for a poster is $1/square foot
  Therefore, if you are charging it to your personal account, check to make sure your balance is great enough to take the job first. Posters usually cost somewhere around $15-$20 dollars. See the To Check your Personal Account Balance In Windows section for information on how to do that.
• Use Illustrator 8 or higher for best results.
  Some people also use PowerPoint. That works OK, but not great, and when something goes wrong, its much harder to troubleshoot.
  Some people create PDFs and then try to print those. Some have had very good luck with this method, some have had very bad luck. If you try it, just be aware that it might not work, and it might be messy.
  Some have tried creating EPS files from other applications (like CorelDraw) and importing them into Illustrator. Again, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
  By far the best supported method of creating a poster is to use Illustrator from the start.
• Use one consistant image type. The reason for this is that some image types are postscript and some are not, and combining them can really confuse the printer. I recommend using .gif (for graphics) or .jpg (for photographs) files.
  There are some details on Converting files further down in this document. GraphicConverter on the Mac is a great way to do it. Use the "Convert" tool under the "File" menu.
• The printer can print to 600dpi, but images should be set much lower. This is because such high resolution makes the files huge, and take a longer time to print, and 150dpi looks nearly as good.
  Set up your images in Photoshop, size them to the exact size you'd like them on the poster, and make them ~150dpi. Then save them as .jpg or .gif, and import them into your poster.
• Avoid the symbol font. Instead, create little ° symbols out of a little letter O and then size it to be a degree symbol. Use similar tricks for other symbols. The symbol font just really doesn't work on the plotter. Often, they simply don't print, and leave little spaces.
• Print when the System Administrator is around. Many, many things can go wrong when printing a poster. It's much more complicated than printing to a laser printer. When the SysAdmin is around, they can trouble-shoot the problem much better. Check the list of things under Confirming your poster is ready to print.

• It's important to know the difference between the Artboard and the Pagesize. The ArtBoard is the area in which you are creating your poster, and is represented by the dark,solid black line on your screen:

  

  The Pagesize is represented by the innner dotted black line:

  

  If these don't match, it's because the "Document Setup" conflicts with the "Page Setup", and your poster can print out incorrectly:

  

  More information on setting the "Document Setup" and the "Page Setup" is below.

  You can move the Pagegize by using the "Page Tool:"

  

  Choosing the Page Tool, and then clicking in your work area allows you to move the Pagesize box around. Note, you're dragging it from the Lower Left Hand Corner. Play with it a bit. Some printer drivers leave room for margins, some don't. If there are two dotted lines, match the outer line with the Solid Black Artboard line. If there's only one dotted pagesize line, match it to the Artboard.

  You can also do a search on Illustrator Help for "Artboard" for more information.

  Keep this in mind through the next section.

1. Check to see if you have the printer drivers installed.
   Go to the File Menu, and choose "Print Setup", and you'll get this dialog:

   

2. Choose the Name: dialog, and see if you have PAS-800-PS and PAS-800-GL2 listed:

   

   If you do not, you do not have the correct printer drivers installed on your machine. Don't worry about it, you can still create your poster. Go to the section of this webpage about setting up your poster without printer drivers.

   If you would like to download the drivers, they are available on the Public drive. Directions (http://www.geo.umn.edu/computer/file_server.html) for accessing the file server are available and the PC drivers are located here: Public:\printer_drivers\Win\800PS\HPGL2Ras\En\ .
   Only do this if you know what you are doing with installing print drivers.

   Note: this will NOT allow you to print to the plotter, it will just let you set up your page sizes.

   If you have the drivers, continue here.

3. Close the Print dialog box, go back to the File menu, and choose "Document Setup":

   

   Confirm that "Use Page Setup" and "Single Full Page" are turned on. Otherwise, you'll get something that looks like this:

   If the "Use Page Setup" is not set:
   

   or

   If the "Single Full Page" isn't set:
   

4. Then click on "Print Setup" on the right hand side of the dialog:

   

5. Choose the PAS-800-GL2. This driver works much more frequently than the PS-800-PS. If for some reason, the PAS-800-GL2 won't allow you to print, there are instructions below on how to use the PAS-800-PS driver (not written yet).
6. Choose whether you want your poster to be Portrait or Landscape.
7. Choose your papersize:

   

   If your size isn't there (and its likely that it won't be) you'll have to set it specifically. Go into "Properties:"

   

   and you'll get this screen:

   

   Make sure you have the correct Roll width (36 or 42 inches) selected, and then choose the "Size" list:

   

   Scroll all the way down to the bottom and choose
   "Edit Paper List".

   You'll get this dialog:

   

   Set your pagesize, being careful to get the correct length and width. Check the little icons.

8. Hit "OK" until you're back to your Poster.

   It should look something like this:

   

(if you can't see this image very well, RIGHT click on the image and a menu should pop up. Select "View Image" and the image will appear in it's own window at the correct resolution.)

If the Pagesize and the Artboard don't match, reset the pagesize. Directions were near the top. Lastly, let the System Administrator take a look before you print, to make sure everything is set correctly. Confirm everything is correct. Then hit "Print". Detailed instructions on how to use the printing system are available at http://www.geo.umn.edu/computer/printing_pc.html

1. Check to see if you have the printer drivers installed.
   Go to the File Menu, and choose "Print Setup", and you'll get this dialog:

   

   Click on "Format For" and see if you have PAS-800-PS as an option.

   

   If you do not, you do not have the correct printer drivers installed on your machine. Don't worry about it, you can still create your poster. Go to the section of this webpage about setting up your poster without printer drivers.

   If you would like to download the drivers, they are available on the Public drive. Directions (http://www.geo.umn.edu/computer/file_server.html) for accessing the file server are available and the Mac drivers are located here: Public:\printer_drivers\OS8-9\'HP DesignJet 800 PS3'
   Place this fine in your "Printer Descriptions" folder (search for the folder) and then you can set up the printer through the Chooser.

   Only do this if you know what you are doing with installing print drivers.

   Note: this will NOT allow you to print to the plotter, it will just let you set up your page sizes.

   If you have the driver, continue here.

2. Close the Print dialog box, go back to the File menu, and choose "Document Setup":

   

   Confirm that "Use Page Setup" and "Single Full Page" are turned on.

   

   Otherwise, you'll get something that looks like this:

   If the "Use Page Setup" is not set:
   

   or

   If the "Single Full Page" isn't set:
   

3. Then click on "Page Setup":

   

   and you'll get this (yes, we've seen this before):

   

4. Choose the PAS-800-PS as your printer:

   

5. And choose your paper size:

   

6. If your page size isn't there, click on " Page Attributes" and choose "Custom Page Sizes":

   

   You'll get this dialog:

   

   Click on "New", and you'll get this:

   

   Set your page size (remember, "Width" is the width of the paper roll, either 36" or 42". It's not necessary really to set margins, but you can if you want. The plotter can generally print to about 1" to the edge of the page. Name your configuration (something like 42x108).

7. Hit "OK" until you're back to your Poster.

   It should look something like this:

   

(if you can't see this image very well, click and hold on the image and a menu should pop up. Select "Open this image" and the image will appear in it's own window.)

If the Pagesize and the Artboard don't match, reset the pagesize. Directions were near the top.

Lastly, let the System Administrator take a look before you print, to make sure everything is set correctly. Confirm everything is correct. Then hit "Print". Detailed instructions on how to use the printing system are available at http://www.geo.umn.edu/computer/printing_mac.html

• Why won't my poster print? (in no particular order)


1. There are Adobe Photoshop objects in your poster.
   1A) There are Gradients or Patterns in your poster.
2. The machine from which your printing doesn't have enough memory. This error is responsible for the "Illustration Can't Print" error that many people have gotten in the past.
3. There is too much network traffic, from outside Rm. 206 or Pillsbury Hall.
4. You're using an incorrect printer driver.
5. The printers are off-line.
6. There is an object in your file that the printer can't accept.
7. Your file is too big.
   Files over 50 Megs quite often won't print. See the section on reducing the file size.
8. You're using Binary Postscript instead of ASCII postscript. (Macintosh only) More information on this one on the Can't Print? Page.
9. other...

1) Adobe Photoshop objects
By far the biggest problem when printing to the plotter is that there is an image or object in your poster which the plotter cannot accept. These are usually postscript files created in Adobe Photoshop and then placed or imported into Illustrator. This is not nearly the problem now with the new 800-PS plotter as it was with the old 755CM plotter, but it can still cause problems.

Avoid creating objects in Photoshop and importing them straight into Illustrator.
Photoshop files are natively postscript files. Quite often it is these postscript objects that are crashing the print jobs. Instead of saving the objects as Photoshop files, export or convert them as a .gif or .jpg.

This method is much more reliable, and will save you hours of headaches.

• What is Postscript, and .gif or .jpg?
  
• How do I save or export my file as a .gif or .jpg?

• I've converted all my images and objects from postscript to .jpg or .gif, and my poster still won't print. Why?
  Are you sure you haven't missed any postscript objects? Did you create arrows, or boxes, or anything like that in Photoshop? If you're absolutely sure you don't have any postscript objects, your poster may simply be too big for the plotter to handle.

1A) You've used Gradients or Patterns in your poster.
Gradients especially cause problems. They require a significant amount of memory to do the calculations to get a proper gradient, and the plotter is not good at all at doing those. Try to avoid using them.

(a gradient)

Patterns probably aren't as bad as gradients, but still use them with care. And if you have problems with your print, try removing these first.

(a pattern)

If you must have gradients and patterns, try creating the objects with them, and then converting that object to a .gif or .jpg. and re-importing the resulting image into your poster.

2) The machine on which you are printing doesn't have enough memory.
Try moving to one of the newest machines (as of Summer '02, these are the black PCs and the blue macs.) During Poster Printing Season these are prioritized for PosterMaking, except during a class. Feel free to kick anyone off who is using them for non-poster making.

Reboot the machine, and log in properly, before trying to print.
Rebooting will clear the memory from any previous print jobs, and will solve many problems, including the "Illustration Can't Print" error.

3) There is too much Network Traffic
This problem most often occurs when people are trying to print from either outside of Pillsbury Hall, or sometimes from within Pillsbury but outside of Rm. 206.

There is very little that can be done about this problem, as it's due to the network traffic on campus, over which I have no control. Try printing from the Lab.

4) You're using the Incorrect Printer Driver (PCs only)
This is a tough one to diagnose. Basically, if you've converted all of your images to .gif or .jpg files, and you're still getting wierd errors, try switching to a different printer driver. (From PAS-800-GL2 to PAS-800-PS or vice verse. The PAS-206-Plotter is no longer valid.)

When starting to use a new printer driver, do the following:

• Double-check the printer icons on the computer to make sure none of the printers are off-line. See the PAS Printing Errors, Printers offline webpage for more information on this.
• Reboot. This clears out the memory and insures that anything funky a previous user did to the machine will be cleared.
• Log in. See PAS Printing Errors, logging in.
• Open your file, and set up the printer. See For Best Results in Creating a Poster earlier in this document.

5) The printers are Off-Line or you didn't log in correctly.

See PAS Printing Errors, Printers offline webpage for more information on this.

6) There is an object in your file that the printer can't accept.

Quite often, a poster file will get an object in it that the printer can't accept. This object is often invisible. Or it can be a weird setting that got set in the file that isn't immediately obvious. The easiest way to fix this is to create a new Illustrator file. Set up the page size first before adding anything to this new file. Then, copy object by object (or a few objects at a time) all of the stuff from your old, corrupt poster. Do not use the SELECT ALL option in Illustrator, as that will select the object creating the problem as well.

Save this new poster under a new name, and try printing it. This will solve all sorts of other problems as well.

7) Your file is too big

Your file is too big. The printer only has 160meg of RAM. And the process of printing the poster creates a file at least twice as big as your file size. So an 80meg file would easily max out the RAM on the plotter. So while it can handle files that are larger, if anything at all goes wrong, the print job will crash. There are many ways to reduce the size of your poster.

• Reduce the resolution of your images.
  Regardless of what images you are using, the highest resolution that the plotter will print is 600x600 dpi (dots per inch), so scanning your images at a higher resolution won't accomplish anything other than increasing the size of your poster.
  Reducing the image to 150dpi, or even 72dpi, produces good quality images, and will save you big headaches, because posters which are too big often won't print.
  (NOTE: higher resolutions are often useful for other applications, so if you already have those, reduce the resolution on the version of the image you want to use for your poster.)
  Reduce the resolution in Photoshop (but remember to save as a .gif or .jpg).
• Remove any background image or patterns you have that cover the entire poster.
• Reduce the thickness of lines in your poster.
• Remove any filled objects that you don't need, or just remove the fill itself.
• Link your images into Illustrator rather than placing them.
  This has it's advantages and disadvantages. What this does is it creates a link to your file on the hard drive, instead of embedding the file into the poster file. This saves a signficant amount of room, memory wise. However, if you don't take your files with you when you move computers, you'll lose the images when you try to open your file on another machine. So you have to store the poster and the image files together, and you can't rename or move your images without also making that change in Illustrator. See the SysAdmin for details on this.

  File size and Memory Usage

  There is no direct relationship between file size on your computer and memory used in the printer to print that file. In fact, because of file compression (and general complexity) it is often impossible to estimate how much memory will be used. In general, thicker lines (>0.5mm), complex objects (such as polylines) and fills will all use significantly more memory.

  This also means that size of the largest file you can store in the printer's queue is not the same as thing as the amount of memory installed in your printer.

  Two tips for PostScript users with file-size problems:

  • (obsolete, I'll try to find the equiv. for the new plotter): Try reducing the page size in your software and then scale the print in the printer's front panel. See page 4.13 of the HP DesignJet User Manual (pdf file).
  • Try reducing the resolution of any bit-map objects in your file, for example photographs.

8) Other... Even after all of the objects within a poster have been converted to a usable format, occassionally errors still come up on the plotter. These errors appear on the plotter status window itself, you won't see the error sitting at the computer.

The most common error is this:
(This is specific to the old plotter, needs to be updated for the new PAS-800-PS.)

"Out of Memory/Data was lost"

This error can be either due to the Postscript problem, or simply your poster is too big.

This is what the HP manual says about it:

"If an "Out of Memory/Data was Lost" Message is Displayed: