James Greene
Fachbüro für EDV Beratung, Systeme und
Dienstleistungen
Plot2EMF: HPGL Plot to Windows MetaFile Conversion Utility
Version 4.2.1012 - 08. January 2006
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Copyright © 1999-2006
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Plot2EMF Download (Basel, Switzerland)
CONTENTS
What is PlotEMF?
Plot2EMF is a utility for Microsoft Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000 that will convert HP-GL and HP-GL/2 plot files (e.g. .PLT files generated by AutoCAD) to a Windows Enhanced MetaFile format that can then be copied or imported into various Windows-based applications.
Why Plot2EMF?
Microsoft Office 4.x included a HP-GL import filter, but for some reason, this was not distributed with the 32-bit Microsoft Office releases. However, there is still a need to import HP-GL files into various Windows applications, so Plot2EMF (Plot to Enhanced MetaFile) was developed to fill this need.
What is an Enhanced MetaFile?
A MetaFile is defined as "A collection of structures that stores a picture in a device-independent format." (From the Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit helpfile). The Windows MetaFile format (.WMF files) was introduced with Windows 3.x, and was enhanced (.EMF files) for use with Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.x.
Because the metafile contains a list of drawing commands, and not the drawing itself, metafiles can be scaled much easier than pictures (bitmaps).
Installing Plot2EMF
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Download the plot2emf42.msi file from
http://www.informatics-consulting.ch/software/plot2emf42.msi
(Basel, Switzerland) or
http://www.informatics-consulting.de/software/plot2emf42.msi (Berlin, Germany)
and store it into a temporary directory, e.g. C:\TEMP
- Double-click on the plot2emf42.msi file to install Plot2EMF.
Notes for Windows 95 Users:
Plot2EMF requires the Windows OpenGL libraries (to support opening and printing of OpenGL-enabled metafiles). If you are using the original Windows 95 (4.00.950 or 4.00.950a), you may see the message that a required DLL is missing. If this is the case, then you need to download the OpenGL libraries from Microsoft. The libraries are also available as the self-extracting archive file on the Microsoft ftp site at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/MSLFILES/OPENGL95.EXE. This contains opengl32.dll that is needed to run OpenGL programs under Windows 95. Check the README file for installation instructions. OpenGL 1.1 is bundled with Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0.
Using Plot2EMF
How to Associate Plot2EMF with HPGL filesIt is recommended to associate Plot2EMF.EXE with HP-GL files, so that a double-click on a .PLT file will automatically start Plot2EMF.EXE. To do this,
- Start Plot2EMF.exe
- Select the "Preferences..." item from the "File" menu
- Select the file extensions to associate with Plot2EMF
- Press OK to save the new association(s)
Plot2EMF supports several command line parameters to modify the default configuration. For example, /A1 instructs Plot2EMF to assume a page size of DIN A1 instead of the default DIN A4. All command line options can be configured when Plot2EMF is running, either through the Edit|Options... or File|Open HPGL Special... menu commands.
Starting Plot2EMF with a filename parameter (e.g. double-clicking a .PLT file) will start Plot2EMF and automatically convert the selected file.
Plot2EMF can also be started without any parameters, and will then prompt you to select the file to be converted. Files may also be converted by dragging them from the Explorer window onto the Plot2EMF window.
ScreenShot
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Support
Plot2EMF comes with NO WARRANTY to the extent permitted by law.
Please report any bugs to