This page will try to diagnose common problems with plotting and explain the solutions that usually fix those issues. These unfortunately won’t cover all circumstances, so if you don’t see your issue here, or the solutions don’t work for you, please see the AT staff, or fill out a support ticket.
The plotter is stuck on “Processing…”
If you have a large amount of vector work in your document, the plotter is trying to convert all of it to printable raster information at its maximum resolution. This will make for crisp edged graphics, but can take many hours to process before the plotter be able to start the print. Cancel the print, and come to the AT office for a reimbursement as soon as possible. In the meantime, use the Print As Image function.
From the Print window in Adobe Acrobat, click the Advanced button in the print settings window. Click the Print as Image checkbox in the Advanced Print Setup window. This will drastically speed up the processing time at the plotter when plotting, but it will take more time to send the print from the computer. Be sure to give the computer several minutes to work through rasterizing your document. We recommend 150 DPI for rapid processing of your file. DO NOT select anything higher than 300 DPI.
My plots always come out as letter or another ANSI standard size, including files that previously worked correctly
This is a sign that your computer is overriding plotter settings from the print server. This can only be fixed by an AT office staff member disconnecting and reconnecting your computer to the print server, which will take 5-10 minutes and involve restarting your computer.
If this happens after hours, put your PDFs on a network drive or your Box account and plot your documents from a computer lab.