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.