#3D Studio Output
2 messages in this thread
Jim,
OK, a couple of thoughts. I hope that image size you're printing is
actually 7.5" x 10", not 8 x 10.5, since the first set of numbers directly
matches your file output resolution. Try to avoid unnecessary scaling. For
the larger image, you'd want to render to 3150×2400. You may actually find
that you can use a data res. of 150 dpi for satisfactory output (at 1/4 the
file size – 1/2 in each direction).
I'd suggest making sure your Printer setup includes a Device Not Selected
Timeout of 60, and a Transmission Retry Timeout of 1000. This only affects one
item in your WIN.INI file, usually at the bottom of the file, in a section
called:
[PrinterPorts] Tek Phaser II SDX (TekColor)=phaser,LPT1:,60,1000
You also need to edit the WIN.INI at another point, in the beginning of the
file (this was particularly a problem for us with all Tek printer, especially
with Corel Draw output). The section is:
[windows] DeviceNotSelectedTimeout=60 TransmissionRetryTimeout=1000
That should handle the timeouts, and you should then print directly, NOT using
the Print Manager. The Print Manager is really going to eat up time for
output, although it does allow you to continue doing some image editing. Your
choice as to which is the appropriate priority.
I believe there is also a utility for setting the parallel port on the II SDx
to accept binary, rather than ASCII PostScript (uses 1 byte per color per
pixel, rather than 2 for a Hexadecimal representation). If you can find Tek
utility to set that, you can change the Windows driver setup for the printer to
send Binary, with faster transmission speeds.
You could test using Photoshop to convert to CMYK and check both output times
and quality of results, but it hasn't proven worthwhile for us, due to color
shifts.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Kevin: I don't remember my Tek printers that well, but does the Tek II SDx have
a SCSI port and, if so, can you use it to send data? Some printers can, others
can't. It would speed things up, I think.
Chris
– Chris Johnston, Written 23-Jul-1994 @ 19:18:34
Using: Windows NavCIS PRO 1.2