PicDude wrote:
> I am generating the gerbers for a relatively large PC Board using
> Eagle, and it is taking a *very* long time.
>
> ...
>
> My guess is the groundplane is the reason

Probably.  What width parameter did you use for it?  Small width values can
make photoplotting (and generation of photoplotter files) take a long time.

> Currently (over 2 hrs into the processing),

Wow, that really is "long".  Usually the whole process takes a few seconds.
The longest it ever took for me was on the QuickProto-01 board because it
had a sea of holes with a ground polygon around them.  But that only took
maybe a minute or two on several of the arpetures, maybe 5-10 minutes total.

> it is up to "Printing
> aperture D41".  I understand that an "aperture" is an individial
> element on the board.

No.  It is one of the various shapes use to draw with.  Gerber plotting is
really a line drawing process with various shape and size "pens".  Large
areas are drawn by going over them in a raster pattern, just like you would
if you were trying to fill in an area with a real pen.  Of course the finer
the pen tip, the longer this takes.

Photoplotters draw with light onto film, hence the "pens" are apertures that
result in a beam of specific size and shape.  In the old days, there were a
few standard apertures on an aperture wheel that had fixed holes pre-punched
into it.  Now the equipment can do variable aperture on the fly.


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