Discussion: Printing with CONDES - problem

I am printing some courses using CONDES v7. I am using an OCAD map template, 1:4000.

When I print the maps for whatever course it takes about 5:00 per map to print. When I go to printer properties it says the size of the file printing is 10MB per page which is NOT the actual file size.

Any ideas on why this is taking so long, and what could I do to speed it up?

What printer? It's common for the print file to be fairly huge. 10MB is pretty small (in my experience).

My Epson C88 has two acceptable quality settings for O'Maps. I forget what they are, but one takes 8+ minutes, and the next lower setting takes 2+ minutes. You have to do a test print of each to see how the settings differ.

Kyocera Mita - Ecosys: FS-C5016N

That is a color laser, 600x600 dpi, with 96MB base memory.

Can you tell if the computer takes a long time to send data? Are you using the USB connection to print to it? Are you sure you're using a USB2.0 slot?

I'm not sure I can help you much. A couple of thoughts, though:

1. Go through the printer options and see if anything catches your eye. If you can, select one quality level less than you're using now. I used to have problems when the printer (I forget the model) would try to interpolate a lower res image to make it look better. The spec sheet says your printer is 600dpi. If you're printing at 1200dpi, that might cause this problem.
2. Set a small print window and see if it prints really fast. If you're running out of memory, it might be. When I print a 1:10000 page in 8.5 x 11 or 11x17, the print files are often 50-100MB, so there is a chance you're using too much memory. I really doubt this is the problem, one, because you've got at least 96 MB, and two, because when I go over the limit, the printer just won't print---I'm talking a big laser printer now, not my Epson C88.

{Edit---I'm not 100% sure of those big file sizes. My computer has flashed up those numbers, but I really don't pay attention to them, so I may be wrong.}

Not sure if this will help, but might be worth a check. Open the template map in OCAD and check that it doesn't have any templates opened within it. Sometimes airphotos and fieldwork scans, etc are still open in the template map.

I will try all of these....thanks a lot guys!!

I tried to find the specs for this printer on Kyocera's home page. I found a 5015 instead, which I assume is fairly similar. it seems that this printer has two modes, either a PostScript emulation or PCL emulation.

If you are using the PostScript emulation driver version (Windows' printer properties probably can tell you this), and you print a bitmap image, this is likely to generate a large print job, which will take a long time for the printer to process.

This would be the case if the template map that you use is itself a bitmap image.

Another possibility: Condes has an "simulate overprint mode for PostScript printers" option. If this option is "on", Condes will produce a bitmap image of the map before sending it to the printer. This option is useful when you print to big professional printers, but can be a bit too heavy to work with when using a normal desktop printer.
(You can turn off this option in Condes 7 "File / Common Settings")

These are a couple of obvious pitfalls that I can fhink off.

You are always welcome to contact me directly (contact info on the Condes home page) if you have questions or comments.

Finn
Condes developer

PS: I can't help encouraging you to try Condes 8.

We do have Condes 8 installed on our office computer. I just used 7 since I am more familiar with it, and seem to design my maps/courses quicker with it as opposed to 8.

Thanks a lot for your words of wisdom. I will try and see what happens.