Chapter 1.14

How to Print a Poster on the HP DesignJet 2500CP Printer

1.0 Title

How to Print a Poster on the HP DesignJet 2500CP Printer

2.0 Purpose

To produce a poster (printed materials) in color on the wide plotter.

3.0 Scope

This chapter is to give basic steps and tips on how to print, operate the plotter, change the media, but NOT on how to create a poster.

4.0 Applicable Documents

Revision History

4.1 The User’s Guide located on the shelf above Madeleine’s desk, in the SW corner of 406 Cory – Available only for consulting.

4.2 The Quick Reference Guide located in the slot behind the plotter.

4.3 BSAC Plotting Posters on the Wide HP Plotter (FrameMaker poster)

4.4 Notes on Printing on the Microlab HP DesignJet Plotter (BSAC, Bret Warneke)

4.5 Plotter Information on the Microlab Computers website.

5.0 Definitions and Process Terminology

N/A

6.0 Safety

N/A

7.0 Statistical/Process Data

N/A

8.0 Available Process, Gases, Process Notes

N/A

9.0 Equipment Operation

9.1 Accessing the Plotter

Labmembers with EECS accounts can access the plotter from a PC within the EECS domain, via the departmental PRINT server. Note: If there is a permission problem, please contact

Non-EECS members can access it from a UNIX workstation or from CAPE when printing from a PowerPoint session.

To add an EECS member to the print server: Go to Start-Run and type \\print. A list of printers appears. Double-click on lpc420. Go to Property-Security and add the login name.

Also, look at: http://www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/groups/bmad/Odds_and_Ends.htm - Adding Printers

9.2 Which Driver To Use?

There are two drivers available for plotting: postcript3 and the HP/GL-2 The plotter will show as HP 2500C Series HP-GL (on Madeleine’s PC) or HP DesignJet 2500CP by HP (on CAPE). The HP/GL-2 driver features more options than the postscript driver. Also, more PowerPoint posters have been sucessfully printed using HP/GL-2. See examples below.

9.3 Printing a PowerPoint Slide

The size of a standard poster board is 32 x 40.

For an example, see the poster of Ginger Chan et al. (on Optimization of the Mars Organic Analyzer: Applications in Extraterrestrial Life Detection and Wine Analysis)

The size of the poster is 40 x 30 in Landscape mode. It has .jpg images and text boxes.

► Make sure the text boxes and images are within ½ inch from the border. Otherwise, the graphics will be cut off.

► Avoid having too many high-resolution graphics or colored background, as it increases the file size substantially, and will take a long time to print.

1. In Page Setup, enter the width (40) and the height (30).

2. In Print… , select the plotter HP 2500C Series HP-GL or HP DesignJet 2500CP by HP).

3. Click on Properties on the right. Select Portrait or Landscape.

4. In More sizes… click off ANSI (A, B..) and enter the width and height in the righ windows.

5. Check the Layout View.

6. In the Advanced Properties window, make sure to click on the button …In Computer.for Process document, because the memory in the plotter being so low (16 MB + 4 MB of internal memory), it might not print parts of the slide and an error message Out of Memory/Data Was Lost will be displayed on the front panel of the plotter.

► Use the Autorotate only when saving paper. For instance, a portrait poster of 24 (width) by 36 (height) would be rotated it to fit the 36” wide roll.

Note: If in Paper Size window, the Application page size still shows ANSI A – 8 ½ x 11 in., click back to More sizes… to register the correct size.

9.4 To Print a PDF File

As an example, take the Si IC Periodic Table. In Print Setup, set to the orientation to Landscape. Choose Oversize:ANSI E (34x44) for Paper Size. Then you go to Print to print it. Make sure the size is correct in the right-hand window. Click on Fit to paper in Page Handling on the left, if needed.

Another example of a PDF file is crystal. Directly in Print, select Portrait for the orientation, ANSI D (22x34) for paper size. In Advanced, choose Autorotate (to save paper, particularly glossy, as the roll of paper is 36” wide).

9.5 How to Change the Media (roll of paper)

This procedure being a little tricky, requiring attention and patience, ask Madeleine (2-2716, M-F 8:00-3:30 – Lunch: 12:00-1:30). This recommendation also goes for changing the ink system.

9.6 Useful Commands (on silicon, at the prompt)

To send a postcript job from a Unix cluster: lp filename -dplotter

To look at the print queue: lpq -Pplotter

To cancel a print job: cancel plotter-## where ## is the job number

10.0 Troubleshooting Guidelines

See this link.

11.0 Figures & Schematics

N/A

12.0 Appendix

Instructions for Producing Posters for SUPERB Candidates

July 2007

► Prepare your poster on a 30” (height) x 40” (width) template leaving a ½ inch border.

► Create your poster in PowerPoint or PDF, but make sure the paper is properly formatted.

► Make sure you bring your file. The plotter is not installed on the network, and must be used from a dedicated PC which is installed on the network.

► Use Enhanced Metafiles (EMF) or Windows Metafiles (WMF) during the design of your poster, whenever possible. These files resize appropriately, are vector-based, and print well at any resolution.

Try Edit à Paste Special… (Enhanced Metafile) in PowerPoint.

► Show an electronic copy of your poster to your mentor/faculty advisor.

► Do a close read for typographical errors.

► Choose Tools à Options à Save à Embed TrueType Fonts (Embed all characters…) when you have finished editing. This prevents your symbols and fonts from showing up like boxes (e.g., ¨¨ rather than δξ) when you go to the plotter.

► Place your PowerPoint file on the web, or on a thumbdrive/USB memory stick, or e-mail it to yourself.

► Do NOT print out another copy if you see a small typo. An equivalent print at Kinko’s is over $80, and our supplies are as expensive as theirs, so please take precautions prior to printing it out, and ensure that you have followed directions carefully.