User's Guide

VERPLOT

Submit a postscript, CGM or HPGL file to the Versatec 8900 for plotting.

Function:

Submit a file to the Versatec 8900 to be plotted. The specified file must be in postscript (PS), Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM), or Hewlett Packard Graphics Language (HPGL) format (see User Note 5).

Specifying INFILE="-DISK" sends a request to edcsnw29 to display disk availability.

Parameters:

Submit a plot job to the Versatec 8900 plotter on edcsnw29. The verplot shell script is executed to format and ftp files to the edcsnw29 system for plotting.
INFILE
Input file. The file to be plotted on the Versatec 8900 electrostatic plotter. The file must be in postscript, CGM, or HPGL format.

If -D or -DISK is used in INFILE, then the verplot shell script is executed to query edcsnw29 for available disk space.

FILEFORM
File format. The file format of the input file being plotted.

  = PS:   Postscript format. The input file is a postscript file.
  = CGM:  Computer Graphics Metafile format. The input file is a 
	  CGM file.
  = HPGL: Hewlett Packard Graphics Language. The input file is a 
	  HPGL file. 

CHRGCODE
Charge code. The charge code number or mnemonic to charge the production of the plot to.

MEDIA(PAPER)
Plot media. The media type on which INFILE will be plotted.

  = PAPER: Plot on paper.
  = MYLAR: Plot on mylar (see User Note 6).

CUTFLG(YES)
Cutline flag. Flag specifying whether or not a cutline will be drawn around the resulting plot. A cutline is a thin line drawn outside the boundary of the plot. CUTFLG is ignored and a cutline is always drawn if FILEFORM = PS.

  = YES: Plot cutline. A cutline will be drawn around the 
	 resulting plot.
  = NO:  Do not plot cutline. A cutline will not be drawn 
	 around the resulting plot.

LABEL(--)
Plot label. The user defined label to be printed at both the top and bottom of the output plot. If FILEFORM = PS, LABEL will be ignored. A system label containing such information as user ID, date, time, job name, and number of copies will be printed on every plot. If NULL, only the system label will be printed on the plot.

NPLOTS(1)
Number of plots. The number of plots to be printed.

ROTANG(--)
Rotation angle. The number of degrees to rotate the input file on the resulting plot. Rotation is performed in a counterclockwise direction. If NULL, the plot will not be rotated.

KEEP(NO)
Keep plotfile on edcsnw29. The interpretation and rasterization steps of the Zeh software are done in the SYSBATCH queue. This is a very time-consuming process, especially on large postscript files. These processes generate color separation files, which are used in the PAPER or MYLAR queue for the actual plotting, and then are normally deleted.

This option allows the user to keep the files online. This allows the operators to submit the jobs to the PAPER or MYLAR queues to generate more copies, without the overhead of reprocessing through the SYSBATCH queue.

This option is useful when a large number of copies need to be plotted. To avoid potentially losing an entire job if machine or media problems occur, the user can submit the job with a low number of copies and have the operators repetitvely resubmit just the plotting portion of the job until the required number of copies are plotted.

For example; generating 50 copies of a Landsat image would generate almost 150 feet of paper. If this is a single job and something goes wrong, the resources can be wasted. By using KEEP=YES, the user could submit the job with COPIES=5, and have the operators replot 9 times.

Note: the plot files are normally deleted because they are large. Do not use the KEEP option unless the operators are notified so that they can manually delete the files later.

  = YES: Keep the plotfile. The color separation files are kept online
         on edcsnw29.
  = NO:  Delete the plotfile. The color separation files are deleted.

Examples:

  1. LAS> verplot infile=rooster;ps fileform=ps chrgcode=las

    The user has requested that the postscript file ROOSTER;PS be plotted on paper using a charge code of LAS.

  2. LAS> verplot infile=[huewe.plot]utah;cgm fileform=cgm chrgcode=41605 media=mylar label="my plot" nplots=2

    The user has requested that the CGM file [HUEWE.PLOT]UTAH;CGM be plotted on mylar using a charge code of 41605. The label "my plot" will be printed on both copies of the plot.

  3. LAS> verplot infile=-d fileform=ps chrgcode=41605 or verplot -d p 5

    The user has requested to see the available disk space on the plotting system. -DISK or -D is used as input to INFILE, and the inputs to FILEFORM and CHRGCODE are ignored.

Description/Algorithm:

VERPLOT executes a UNIX shell script to create the appropriate parameter and FTP files used by the ZEH plotting software. The script also initiates the FTP transfer of INFILE to edcsnw29 for rasterization, interpretation, and plotting. There are 3 main queues used by the ZEH plotting software. The SYSBATCH queue is where interpretation and rasterization of INFILE occurs. The other 2 queues are plotting queues for the different media types. The user's plot will be submitted to either the PAPER queue or the MYLAR queue for plotting based on the media type selected.

Nonfatal Error Messages:

    None.

Fatal Error Messages:

  1. Input error: *** INFILE *** does not exist

    The user specified a non-existent file. Check for spelling errors and rerun the program.

  2. Insufficient disk space on edcsnw29

    There is not enough space on edcsnw29 to process INFILE. Check with the operators to see when the job should be rerun.

User Notes:

  1. The interactive program ZSUB may also be used to submit plots to the Versatec 8900. ZSUB provides a graphical user interface but is currently only available on Data Generals.

  2. The interactive program SHQ may be used to check the status of plots that have been submitted to the Versatec and/or to change plot priority. SHQ is currently only available on Data Generals.

  3. VERPLOT may also be executed from the UNIX command line. Enter one of the following commands for more information:

       '%verplot -help' or '%verplot -h' for program information
       '%verplot -disk' or '%verplot -d' for disk space information
    
    

  4. The ZEH software supports both postscript and encapsulated postscript.

  5. The PBM utilities located in /usr/local/bin/pbm on most EDC machines may be used to convert LAS images to postscript format for plotting. Several commercial packages output formats that may be plotted on the Versatec. Although this is not an exhaustive list, following are several packages that output one or more of the formats that may be plotted on the Versatec:

       . ArcInfo
       . Interactive Data Language (IDL)
       . ERDAS Imagine
       . Adobe Illustrator
       . Adobe Photoshop
       . Quark XPress
    
    Refer to the documentation for these packages for more information.

  6. By default, the mylar queue is generally closed (i.e., plots can be submitted to the mylar queue but they will not be plotted). An email message is sent to production control each time the user runs VERPLOT with MEDIA = MYLAR, indicating that a job has been submitted to the mylar queue. At the appropriate time (generally on an off-shift), the paper queue can be shut down and the mylar queue opened for plotting. NOTE: Due to the fact that plotting to mylar requires production control to switch media on the plotter and that mylar is in shorter supply than paper, please test your plot on paper to ensure it plots correctly before submitting it to the mylar queue.