# 6018 - Windows® 95 PostScript Printing Issues Under certain conditions, problems may be encountered when printing to a PostScript device. The following information will help you isolate and resolve these issues. Verify the PostScript Driver Version It is important to verify that the latest PostScript driver is in use. To date, the most current revision is Version 4.1 or more recent. To check the version of the driver, click Start, Settings, Printers. Click printer icon, and click File, Properties, Paper, About. To obtain an updated driver, contact Adobe Systems Incorporated. Load the Error Handler Before determining the best approach to getting a file to print, it is import to find out exactly what the problem is. Downloading an Error Handler, before the print job, will force the printer to print out error messages indicating the source of the problem. If the Error Handler is not loaded, your printer will go idle. Your printer driver may have error reporting capability built in. To check this click Start, Settings, Printers. Click printer icon, and click File, Properties, PostScript. Enable the Print PostScript error information check box if available. Errors Reported by the Error Handler The most common error encountered when printing graphics files is the LIMITCHECK error. This error can arise if a PostScript limitation has been exceeded. This can be caused by commands such as EOFILL, EOCLIP, STROKE, FILL and CURVETO. These operators are all sensitive to the resolution of the PostScript device. The cause of this problem is usually an object(s) that is too complex, most often a curve with an excess of 300 nodes and complex fills. Although PostScript is a universal language, these errors may not become apparent until the file is printed on an imagesetter. This is because high resolution devices typically create more line segments when flattening a path. The this type of error will no happen as often on PostScript level 2 devices because of improvements made to the PostScript language. PostScript Error Types Offending Command= EOCLIP Nametype: Limitcheck. This message indicates a path implementation error, usually where PostScript is unable to complete the clipping routine for filled objects. To resolve this, try the following: Click File, Print, Options, Options. Under PostScript Preferences, set the Maximum points per curve to 300. Click File, Print, Options, Options. Under PostScript Preferences, enable the Auto increase flatness check box. Remove any extraneous outlines. Consider substituting solid color fills for gradients or pattern fills in irregular shaped objects Offending Command= EOFILL Nametype: Limitcheck. This message indicates a path implementation error when PostScript is completing a fill routine. To resolve this, try the following: Click File, Print, Options, Options. Under PostScript Preferences, set the Maximum points per curve to 300. Reduce the number of nodes on complex objects with the Auto-Reduce command. To do this marquee-select the nodes of a selected object using the Shape tool, right-click, and click Auto- Reduce. Offending Command= LINETO or CURVETO Nametype: Limitcheck. An implementation limit has been exceeded, usually indicating too many nodes on a straight or curved path. Reduce the number of nodes on complex objects with the Auto-Reduce command. To do this marquee-select the nodes of a selected object using the Shape tool, right-click, and click Auto- Reduce. Offending Command= STACK OVERFLOW Nametype: Limitcheck. The stack limit has been exceeded, often indicating embedded EPS files, too many nodes on a path, or complex fill patterns and bitmap fill patterns in complex shapes. To resolve this, try the suggestions for the EOCLIP errors. Offending Command= STACK UNDERFLOW Nametype: Limitcheck. The stack does not have enough objects for the requested operation. To resolve this, try the suggestions for the EOCLIP errors. Offending Command= INVALID RESTORE Nametype: Limitcheck. This message may appear after canceling a print job. Try clearing the print spooler by turning the printer off, and on. Offending Command= INVALID FONT Nametype: Limitcheck. This error may appear if the file requires a font that has become corrupted. Try reinstalling the specific font. "Undefined" errors are very common. Usually they indicate a communication issue. Printing Alert This dialog box indicates a potential problem regarding linear fountain fills that could have a distracting effect in which distinct steps, rather than a smooth progression of shades, are visible on the output. To help prevent the banding from showing on output, let CorelDRAW automatically adjust some settings as required. This can be done by clicking File, Print, Options, Options. Under PostScript Preferences, enable the Auto Increase Flatness, Auto Increase Fountain Steps and the Optimize Fountain Fills check boxes. PostScript Preferences Maximum Points Per Curve This option specifies the maximum allowable number of control points per curve. Reducing this number helps alleviate printing problems caused by objects that are too complex. You can change this value to be lower or higher. When printing files that have complex fills, i.e. fountain fills, vector fills, bitmap fills, texture fills and PostScript textures, within complex shapes (text or a freehand drawn shape) then you should lower the value to 300. This helps simplify the data sent to the printer. This value can range between 20 and 20,000 Note: Lowering this value may lengthen print times. Auto Increase Flatness If enabled, CorelDRAW will automatically increase the flatness value in increments of two until the drawing prints. Attempts to print an object will cease when the flatness value exceeds by 10 the value set in the Set flatness to list box. At this point, the printer will drop the object and prints the next object. If you can print a file to a 300 DPI PostScript printer, but your Service Bureau cannot print to a higher DPI device, try reducing the flatness value. This simulates the calculations needed to produce the graphic on the high end device for troubleshooting purposes. Lowering the flatness value to .20 will simulate the complexity of an image setter printing at 1270 DPI. Since this increases the complexity of the paths, it is a good way to test whether the file will print to a higher resolution output device, although it is not a guarantee. Auto Increase Fountain Steps If enabled, CorelDRAW will automatically increases the number of steps used to render fountain fills as required, to avoid banding. Optimize Fountain Fills If the number of steps in a fountain fill is greater than the number that the output device can render, the number of steps used to render the fountain fill is decreased automatically. Set Flatness To Increasing this value will simplify the print job but it will also affect the overall quality of the image. As a general rule, try increasing the value in increments of four or five until the drawing prints. Note: When Bezier curves are used to describe a path on a PostScript printer, the device must first flatten the path in order to render it as a series of straight lines. The flatness setting affects the degree of accuracy used during the flattening process. The higher the value, the less accurate the flattened or approximated path will be. A circle, for example, will start to look more like a stop sign as the Flatness setting is raised. Suggestions to avoid error messages • Make sure the correct printer has been selected and that the printer is functioning correctly from other applications. • Reduce the number of nodes on long paths. CorelDRAW allows you to globally change the complexity of a path. Marquee-select the object with the Shape tool, and right-click. Click Auto Reduce. This feature will reduce the complexity of the path. • If the object has a fountain fill, reduce the number of fountain steps in the Fountain Fill dialog box. • Break a complex object into smaller less detailed objects. To do so, click any combined objects and click Arrange, Break Apart. • Remove any extraneous outlines • Click Start, Settings, Printers. Click the printer icon, and click File, Properties, Details. Change the value in the Transmission Retry list box to 999. Click Apply, and OK. This will set the time that Windows will wait for the printer to report that it is ready to receive more data. A value of 999 is equal to an infinite amount of time. • Click Start, Settings, Printers. Click the printer icon, and click File, Properties, PostScript. In the Wait Timeout list box, change the value to 0. Click Apply, OK. This specifies how long the printer should wait to receive more PostScript information from the computer. After the specified time passes, the printer will stop trying to print the document and will print an error message. Dealing With Corrupted Objects or Files Open the problem file. Click one object, and press SHIFT TAB to scroll through the objects on the page. Sometimes a very small object that you didn't notice may be corrupted. Try deleting the object or dragging it off the page. Save the remaining objects and enable the Selected Only check box in the Save As dialog box. Another way to locate a corrupted objects is to marquee-select half of the objects, and print, save, or export as required, with the Selected Only check box enabled. If a problem occurs again, marquee- select a smaller number of objects until the corrupted object is located by a process of elimination. The object should be deleted and recreated.