• Plotting in ArchiCAD11 on Macintosh

Changes between ArchiCAD 10 and ArchiCAD 11

The plotter drivers have been completely rewritten in ArchiCAD 11. In ArchiCAD 10 plotting was possible only through TCP/IP. In ArchiCAD 11 you can use any connection type that MacOSX supports, by using the operating system's printing layer to connect to the plotter. This means that the device has to be installed as a printer on your computer. ArchiCAD's plotting mechanism will send HPGL data to the device through this printer connection. The printer driver is not processing the data; it is only necesary to establish a connection to the device. If your device has no vendor-specific printer driver for the Mac OS, you can install it as a "Generic Postscript Printer". You can also use the "Generic Postscript Printer" driver in case your vendor-specific printer driver is not CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) compatible, in which case it is not capable for setting up a connection between ArchiCAD and the plotter (details below).

Note: As a result of this rewrite, the plotter settings for ArchiCAD 10 are not compatible with the ArchiCAD 11 plotter drivers. Therefore, in ArchiCAD 11 you have to set up the plotter again. You cannot preserve the old settings. The reason for this is that plotter drivers are stored now in XML format. ( In ArchiCAD 10 the drivers had .gpd file format.)

Plotter setup

Step 1-4 describes how to install your device as a printer on your computer. If your device is already installed, skip these steps and proceed to Step 5.:

• 1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences / Print and Fax / Printing. Click the plus + button to add a new printer. The Printer Browser dialog box appears.

  2. On the Default Browser tab page, select the desired printer name. In case your network printer does not show up in the Default Browser, you might need to set it up using a different IP protocol - see paragraph "Choosing Different Protocols" below.

  3. The proper driver will be automatically selected and its name will appear in "Print Using:" list. If no proper driver is found, select "Generic Postscript Printer"

  4. Click "Add".

• 5. In ArchiCAD, open File > Plot Setup. Use the "Setup" button in the "Connection" field to choose the selected printer.

  Note: If your device is installed and connected, but it is not selectable in the list (its name is grayed out), then the driver might be old (not CUPS-compatible) and incapable for connecting ArchiCAD to your plotter. In this case, install the device once again with the '"Generic Postscript Printer"' driver.

Choosing Different Protocols

If you can't find your network-connected printer in the Default Browser, please follow the steps below to create a printer for different connection methods/printing protocols supported by your plotter. The terms in the examples are based on Mac OS X 10.4.9.

• 1. From the Apple menu, select System Preferences / Print and Fax / Printing tab page. Click the plus + button to add a new printer. The Printer Browser dialog box appears.

  2. Select "IP Printing"

  3. In the "Printer Type" pop-up menu, select "LPD/LPR", "Internet Printing Protocol" or "HP Jet Direct/Socket", according to what protocol your plotter supports

  4. enter the IP address of your plotter (by name or dotted decimal notation)

  5. leave the item "Queue Name" empty and leave the "Printer Model" on Generic PostScript Printer.

  • Note: If you are using an Océ plotter, you must enter a name in the Queue field; do not leave it blank.

  6. click "Add"

CategoryPrintingPlotting