How to use HDI & ADI Plotter Drivers

How to use HDI & ADI Plotter Drivers in AutoCAD

Before ADI ® (Autodesk Device Interface) drivers have been the standard for plotting and other devices for many AutoCAD versions

-and this approach has satisfied AutoCAD users in the DOS and early Windows environments.

-however, the time has come to adopt a more efficient and standard approach for communicating with output devices.

Now

AutoCAD uses HDI ® (Heidi Device Interface) drivers as 
a replacement to the traditional ADI plotter drivers.

HDI features permit a modern graphical user interface that is more

consistent with the Windows standard.

• the Plot dialogue box is now more consistent with the Windows 
Print interface which makes it more intuitive to learn.
• Windows system drivers now support the same features as HDI 
drivers and system driver performance has been improved.
• page sizes, effective plotting area, resolution and media type are obtained directly from the output device.
• plot settings are now saved in drawings to simplify plot setup and save time every time you make a plot of the same layout.
• plot settings can also be saved and then restored in other layouts (in other drawings) which can save time setting up new layouts.
• plot previews are WYSIWYG (lineweights, color, screening, fill patterns, paper size, plot area etc..)
• plot styles can change the way objects appear in plots when you attach plot style table files to page layouts.
• plotter devices (*.pc3 files) are now easier to share with other users because they are more portable.