using the plotter
- Eric Schrijver
- Eleanor Greenhalgh
- Christoph Haag
- S V
- Anne Laforet
- Gijs Heij
A small introduction to Roland, the plotter.
- http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/images/Relearn-2013/relearn_small_1072
- http://support.rolanddga.com/Docs/Documents/departments/Technical%20Services/Manuals%20and%20Guides/UMDXY1350a.pdf
So our nice new plotter is from the late eighties —very camp— and speaks HPGL.
Documentation on HPGL is quite vast:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPGL
- http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/manual/chapters/api/hpgl.html ← Documentation by the python library I use, only the commands they’ve wrapped are in this list, but as far as I know they cover all of them.
- http://www.isoplotec.co.jp/HPGL/eHPGL.htm ← with pictures :)
- http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/hpgl/
Installing Chiplotle
This is the Python library that lets you talk to the plotter. It acts a sort of driver/abstraction layer. It’s also possible to send commands with the cat command, but I hadn’t any success, and you’ll run into problems with big files since the plotter only has a tiny buffer (512k).- sudo easy_install -U chiplotle
Connecting the plotter
Connect the plotter via USB to your laptop and turn it on. It should be in /dev/ttyUSB0, or somewhere similar (e.g. /dev/tty/USB1). Run:- chiplotle
If you get error “no plotter found” when starting chiplotle, exit chiplotle to get back to the bash terminal:
- exit()
- sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB0
Or to avoid doing this every time plotter is plugged in, add daily user to group “dialout”.
Now restart chiplotle:
- chiplotle
Choose the plotter that best fits your hardware.
When in doubt choose the generic “Plotter”.
- [0] DPX2000
- [1] DPX3300
- [2] DXY1300
- [3] DXY880
- [4] HP7475A
- [5] HP7550A
- [6] HP7575A
- [7] HP7576A
- [8] HP7585B
- [9] HP7595A
- [10] HP7596A
- [11] Plotter
OSP’s plotter “Roland” is a DXY-1100, so type 2 and press Enter.
Chiplotle shell
You should now be in the interactive Chiplotle shell, with the chiplotle> prompt.See this tutorial for learning chiplotle syntax: http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/manual/chapters/tutorial/intro.html
Units and coordinates
Roland is approx 16000 × 11000 units wide. Use these units in chiplotle commands.- left bottom: 0,0
- far right: 16158
- top: 11040
- 40 plotter units = 1mm (is this true?)
- PR: point relative
- PA: point absolute
To print whole files
Instead of sending commands one line at a time to the plotter via the Chiplotle shell —requiring an esoteric pythonic syntax— you can write plain .hpgl files and send them to the printer.Chiplotle provides a script that helps you do this :
- plot_hpgl_file.py
From the terminal, give your .hpgl file as an argument to this script:
- plot_hpgl_file.py myscript.hpgl
To get a preview of your .hpgl file you can just use:
- convert file.hpgl file.png
Hello Plotter
- IN;
- IP0,0,16158,11040;
- SC1488,0,0,1052;
- VS1;
- SP1;
- PA1033.4863,270.10254;
- PD;
- PA1031.2642,269.94995;
- PA1027.351,268.29443;
- PA1024.3911,265.33453;
- PA1022.7356,261.42136;
- PA1022.583,259.19922;
- PA1022.7356,256.97708;
- PA1024.3911,253.06389;
- PA1027.351,250.10399;
- PA1031.2642,248.44849;
- PA1033.4863,248.2959;
- PA1035.71,248.44849;
- PA1039.6239,250.10399;
- PA1042.5829,253.06389;
- PA1044.2372,256.97708;
- PA1044.3896,259.19922;
- PA1044.2372,261.42136;
- PA1042.5829,265.33453;
- PA1039.6239,268.29443;
- PA1035.71,269.94995;
- PA1033.4863,270.10254;
- PA1033.4863,270.10254;
- PU;
The documentation of chiplotle is quite nice: http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/manual/index.html
And a tutorial (better than mine): http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/manual/chapters/tutorial/index.html