View, Markup, Convert and Print HPGL, HPGL/2, HP-RTL, TIFF and CALS files

Software Companions - HPGL and Gerber Viewers

ViewCompanion Pro

ViewCompanion Pro® is a very powerful application for viewing, printing and converting HPGL, HPGL/2, HP-RTL, TIFF, CALS and other formats. Since most AutoCAD plot files (PLT) is using the HPGL/2 or the HP-RTL format, ViewCompanion can be used to view these files.
Conversion is one of the most important features in ViewCompanion and it can convert to the following formats:

Adobe PDF Adobe Postscript® AutoDesk DWF AutoDesk DXF CALS Group 4 Raster Computer Graphics Metafile Gerber RS-274X HP-RTL Raster	JPEG Raster Paintbrush PCX (PCX) Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) TIFF Raster Windows Bitmap (BMP) Windows Enhanced Metafile (EMF) Windows Metafile (WMF)
No extra applications or drivers are needed for conversion to the different formats. More details about the conversion formats can be found here.

If you need to distribute drawings, e.g. on the Internet, you can convert your drawings to Autodesk Drawing Web Format (DWF), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) or Adobe PDF. All these formats are very popular for distributing drawings.
You can even convert multiple files of different formats to a single multi-page PDF file.
HPGL plotter files can be converted to AutoDesk DXF format, which can be read by almost all CAD application, e.g.: Autodesk AutoCAD and Microstation.

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With ViewCompanion Pro you can add markups to the loaded file. Supported markup elements include rectangles, lines, dimension lines, area measurements, ellipses, polygons, text, arrows and images.
Hyper links can be added to markup elements, and a hyper link can either open another drawing in ViewCompanion, or open an Internet location using the default browser.
All markup elements are stored in a separate file. The original file will be left unchanged.
The markup elements can optionally be included when the viewed file is printed or converted.
The markup elements can be exported to a DXF file.

You can use ViewCompanion Pro to add markups/comments to your drawings.

ViewCompanion gives you advanced functions for zooming and panning, so that you can view your files fast and accurate, before printing or converting them. The mouse wheel can be used for zooming and panning operations.

Both batch conversion and printing is included.

All new licenses include 12-months of free software maintenance.

ViewCompanion Key Features

View, markup, convert and print files of different formats.
Conversion to other standard formats, see below for a list of supported formats.
Extensive set of command line parameters for conversion and printing.
Batch Printing and conversion.
Open files directly from a ZIP archive.
Drag and Drop supported. Both single and multiple files.
Rotate loaded files in steps of 90 degrees.
Load rotated with user-defined rotation.
Add footer/header containing date, scale, time and filename when printing.
Add watermark using text or a raster image.
Color or Black & White Printing.
Scaled print or fit to paper.
Poster mode for printing big format drawings on multiple sheets, e.g. print an A0 drawing in full size using multiple A4 sheets.
Print Preview.
Print to all Windows supported plotter and printer devices.
Overlay up to 10 files and print as one drawing.
Markup by using lines, text, rectangles, ellipses, images, polygons, arrows, stamps, dimension lines and measurement areas.
Truetype fonts used for markup text entities.
Include markups during printing and conversion.

Define user Pen Table full control of colors, styles and widths. Also supported for batch printing and conversion.
Individual Pen visibility control.
Entity information query.
Distance measurement with entity snap.
Polygonal area measurements with entity snap.
Compare two plotter files.
Supports Metric and Imperial coordinates.
DDE Interface for easy integration with other programs.
Send a file directly to another person using E-Mail from within the program. If a markup file exists, it will also be attached to the message.
Copy selected region to clipboard, and paste into another Windows application.
Text search and extract.
Store commonly used files in projects.
Easy to use installation and uninstallation software.
Customizable GUI.
Multiple Document Interface (MDI) makes it easy to view several files at once.
Microsoft IntelliMouse supported for zooming and panning operations.
Full screen mode.
Supports multi-page HPGL/2 files.
Supports multi-page TIFF files.
Supports HP-RTL files (HPGL with raster data).
Create password protected DWF and PDF files.

ViewCompanion Supported Formats

Load (View, print, markup and convert)

HPGL and HPGL/2.
HP-RTL (Raster Transfer Language).
TIFF (uncompressed, packbits, LZW, CCITT G3 and G4). Single or multi page.
JPEG.
BMP.
PNG.
CALS type 1.

All loaded files can be converted to the following formats: Adobe PDF, multi page. AutoDesk DWF version 6, multi page. CALS CCITT Group 4 Raster (Type 1) HPGL-2 - HP RTL JPEG Graphics Paintbrush PCX Portable Network Graphics (PNG) TIFF Raster (CCITT-G3, CCITT-G4, LZW, and Packbits compression), multi page. Windows Bitmap Windows Enhanced Metafile Windows Metafile	If the loaded file is a HPGL/2 file you can also convert to the following formats: AutoDesk DXF Gerber RS-274X Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM Binary) Adobe Postscript® Scalable Vector Graphics
The Multi page note means that a HPGL or TIFF file with multiple pages, can be converted to a multi page file of the specific format.