Specifies how to configure the virtual pens and fill colors.
If you used Virtual Pens with a CalComp plotter in Release 14, you simply defined "Pens" in your CDCL file. With AutoCAD 2000, you must define "Colors" because they are used for area fills such as wide Plines and True Type text. Some CalComp devices allow you to define both Colors and Pens in CDCL. These include the TechJet Color GT and GT/PS, the TechJet Designer, the 68000 series EPPs, the DrawingMaster series, Solus 4, and the Econografix. Other CalComp plotters only allow you to define Colors at the plotter's control panel. These include the EconoPro, the TechJet Designer 720, and the TechJet color. If you have one of these plotters, don't try to define Colors in the software, as the plotter will ignore the definitions.
A Microsoft(R) Word document, CalComp_Virtual_Pens.doc, located in the driver directory in which the CalComp HDI driver is installed, explains how to define Colors in software, using CDCL. The following is a brief summary of the document.
You must create a color (RGB_COLOR) for each pen you define. First define the color, then define a pen (COLOR_PEN) mapped to the color you just defined.
- color#
-
Same as physical pen number
- R
-
Red value 0-100 percent saturation
- G
-
Green value 0-100 percent saturation
- B
-
Blue value 0-100 percent saturation
COLOR_PEN(pen#, width, color#, line type)
- pen#
-
Virtual pen number used by AutoCAD
- width
-
Width of pen in plotter units (pixels)
For example, for a 400 DPI raster plotter a 2mm line is 31 plotter units
(2/25.4)*400 = 31
- color#
-
Color number to map to, as defined above
- line type
-
MAJOR, FLAT, ROUNDED, or SQUARE
The following is an example CDCL file.
&&&&CALCOMP DEVICE CONTROL
* Universal PIN number
USER_PIN(8378)
* Color 1 is RED
RGB_COLOR(1, 100, 0, 0)
* Pen 1 is mapped to color 1, 4 pixels wide, rounded end
COLOR_PEN(1, 4, 1, ROUNDED)
* Color 2 is Yellow
RGB_COLOR(2, 100, 100, 0)
* Pen 2 is mapped to color 2, 31 pixels wide, major end
COLOR_PEN(2, 31, 2, MAJOR)
* Color 3 is a 25% gray
RGB_COLOR(3, 25, 25, 25)
* Pen 3 is mapped to color 3, 10 pixels wide, flag end
COLOR_PEN(3, 10, 3, FLAT)
^^^^END OF FILE