HPGL — Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language
Open BetaHPGL is a text-based vector plotter control language created by Hewlett-Packard and publicly documented in 1984. It is not an image but a stream of ASCII commands (IN, SP, PU, PD, PA) the device executes as pen or blade movements. Over forty years HPGL migrated from pen plotters to vinyl cutters, laser engravers, and CNC. Our exporter generates HPGL directly: each map layer gets its own pen (1-8), polygons are closed, points are drawn as small crosses. HPGL has no labels — the output is clean outlines of roads, buildings, and water bodies.
Vigtigste funktioner
Om formatet HPGL
HPGL is a plotter control language invented by Hewlett-Packard and publicly documented in 1984. It is not an image but a list of commands the device carries out literally: lift the pen, lower it, move to a point. Over forty years the language has outlived pen plotters and is still understood by vinyl cutters, laser engravers and CNC machines.
A map is exported to HPGL when the result has to be a physical object: the outline of a district drawn with a real pen on paper, a city silhouette cut out of film, a street plan engraved into wood. The file is text — you can open it in an editor and read every command.
The stream contains the IN, SP, PU, PD and PA commands: initialization, pen selection, movement with the pen up and down. Each map layer gets its own pen numbered from one to eight, polygons are closed, and point features are drawn as crosses about five meters across at map scale. Coordinates are written in plotter units — forty units per millimeter.
The format's limitations are stated honestly: two-dimensional outlines only, with no fills, raster or labels — older devices simply have no text commands. The physical color of a line depends not on the file but on which pen or which blade sits in the matching holder.
Hvilket program åbner HPGL-filer
Følgende programmer og applikationer kan åbne, redigere og arbejde med HPGL — Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language-filer (.hpgl), der er eksporteret fra OSM2CDR:
Format specifications
- Proprietary format
- 2D only
- Lossless (no quality loss)
- No attributes
- Output: 1 file
- A text HPGL plotter stream (IN/SP/PU/PD/PA), one pen per layer (1-8), points as ~5 m crosses, coordinates in plotter units at 40 units/mm, 2D outlines only.
Hvem bruger HPGL-kort
Sådan eksporterer du HPGL
Sådan åbner du filen efter eksporten
- Sending it directly — to a plotter with a serial or network port the file goes as a byte stream: on Windows that is copy /b map.hpgl COM1, on Linux cat map.hpgl > /dev/ttyUSB0.
- LightBurn — import the .hpgl for a laser engraver or cutter: the pen layers turn into separate sets with their own speed and power.
- Chiplotle (Python) — a library for HP pen plotters: it lets you look at a preview, adjust the scale and push the file to the device.
- Roland CutStudio and similar programs — open the file for a cutting plotter; before cutting, check that the dimensions fit the width of the roll.
- A visual check — Inkscape with HPGL support or online viewers will show exactly what is going to be drawn, before you start the device.
Populære kort i HPGL
Få korteksport i HPGL — Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language
Download professionelle HPGL-kort fra OpenStreetMap. Øjeblikkelig generering, ethvert område.