Expert: Bob - 5/16/2006

Question
We are using a laser etcher,which requires a .bmp file, to etch the face of a clock and alignment points and then a waterjet that uses .dfx files to cut out the clock.

I have the drawing as a .dfx. Now I need to convert it so that the etcher can use it, so I'm trying to take the drawing from AutoCAD2002 and put it into a drawing (I have Paint Shop Pro 6, Adobe Photoshop 7.0, and Adobe Illustrator CS availible). The problem is that I need to keep the drawing at the same size as it is in AutoCAD(about 27" x 25"), and it is coming into the other document much smaller (a little less than a quater of it's orginal size).   I don't want to scale the part that will be etched because the points that we will be using to align the waterjet need to be exact.

How do I get it to a .jpeg or .bmp file with it's orginal dimensions. I'll be able to handle the process from there. Rendering to a file is not working at all.

Any help that you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time

Maggie Wallace


Answer
HERE IS THE ANSWER SOMEONE WELL RESPECTED GAVE ME

BOB

Re: BMP file at full size from Acad dwg or dfx?
Look up RASTERDPI and PLOTTERMANAGER for setting up a BMP plotter.

and more importantly.... Understanding dpi resolution with the Raster
File Formats HDI plotter driver
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=2880522&linkID=247...
and
http://www.dotsoft.com/procedures.htm#PlotToRaster

Look out for the huge resulting file that might take quite a while to
create.