HPGL save/export

[Bug Importer]

Hello

my windows computer stopped working (hardware failure)
bought a new p4 3Ghz and installed fedora
use fedora for a few weeks now = nice

but I am searhing for a program to drive a vinyl
cutting plotter for signmaking

treid inkscape liked that it does the TTf fonts so well
i think the program could be usefull for TTF text
signmaking

pitty i cannot save or export drawings as hpgl plot file
PU=penup / PD=pendown X,Y;

greetings luberth

http://cstep.luberth.com
http://www.sticker.tk

[Wilsonronl (wilsonronl)]

For what it is worth, there is a shell script and a
Postscript program (yes, Postscript is also a programming
language) in the message:
http://calmarc3.cchem.berkeley.edu/archives/bum/96/archive/0322.html

It works by redefining the various Postscript drawing
primitive (moveto, lineto, etc.) to output the corresponding
HPGL commands. The script uses GhostScript to run the
program and the document, producing HPGL output.

Unfortunately, it does not implement the curveto primitive.

Probably, someone could complete the missing functions. I
wish I could offer, but I have no HPGL printer/plotter to
test with.

[Horkana-users (horkana-users)]

Is there a generic library which could be used to help with
the HPGL export?

You might want to try using Dia which does support HPGL
http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/

[Bug Importer (bug-importer)]

I don't know about that, but I noticed that Dia not only
imports SVG, it exports HPGL.

dia -t hpgl -e drawing.hpgl drawing.svg

should work. Look at the *.inx files in Inkscape's
extensions folder for examples of export scripts (and other
fun stuff).

I don't have any HPGL devices to try this with, so I don't
know if it realy works.

[Bug Importer (bug-importer)]

Comments

Date: 2006-08-30 04:36
Sender: nobody
Logged In: NO

If you are also searching for Linux sign vinyl cutter /
plotter signmaking software
please leave a comment here?!

luberth
http://www.Sticker.Tk

Date: 2006-08-30 04:31
Sender: nobody
Logged In: NO

Would be verry nice if inkscape supports HPGL
so that a cuting plotter can be used
HPGL looks like
*****************
PU;PA0,0;PD50,0;
PU;PA0,8;PD50,8;
PU;PA0,16;PD50,16;
PU;PA0,0;PD0,16;
PU;PA25,0;PD25,16;
PU;PA50,0;PD50,16;
*******************
PU=PenUp PD=pendown PA=absolutemove PR=relativemove
pr pa are not realy needed

i noticed the output python scripts
so it should be possible to change an output script
only there are curveto commands in those scripts
i would like straight line only commands

anyone willing to help, discus about this hpgl
please let me know

in every city/village/town on this planet there are
proffesional and hobbyist working with hpgl cutting plotters

so there should be enough interest

luberth
http://www.Sticker.Tk
sorry dutch is my mothers language

[Horkana-users (horkana-users)]

Originator: NO

apparantly PLT is a variety of HPGL so I've closed another request, since
it duplcates this one.

[ 1642623 ] Export to PLT
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=604309&aid=1642623&group_id=93438

[Krzysztof Kosinski (tweenk)]

I recommend to bump the priority of this to Low or even Medium. It seems that Inkscape has an estabilished niche presence as an application to create drawings for cutting plotters, because it's free and gets the job done. However, the main advantage of Illustrator and CorelDRAW in this area is the ability to print to a plotter directly. Adding HPGL export would be the first step to enabling direct plotter communication, and this is a feature very much wanted by people for which it is relevant.

I don't have a cutting plotter and know little about the Unix/Linux printing infrastructure, but I'm contemplating getting a used one to try working on this. With this feature (and some additional work to enable printing to a plotter directly), Inkscape would become a real competitor to proprietary vector graphics programs in this area.

[Krzysztof Kosinski (tweenk)]

It seems that initial work would be to write a robust HP-GL/2 viewer/importer, because the open source hp2xx converter doesn't work very well (it is for HP-GL and not HP-GL/2).

[Alexandre Prokoudine (alexandre-prokoudine)]

HPGL extension is in works by ACSPike and will be committed to SVN really soon now

[Alexandre Prokoudine (alexandre-prokoudine)]

Well, it was actually committed one or two days after the last comment :)

[Alexandre Prokoudine (alexandre-prokoudine)]

HPGL extension is shipped with Inkscape since several years. InkCut project provides UI for cutting.