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I would like to plot a GDSII file, inexpensively.

 We design ASIC devices and our customers want us to deliver to them a piece of art work suitable for framing and display.   The database I have comes from Cadence Encounter and is in the form of gds.  This gds has about 8 layers that I would like to have on the plot. I will need to adjust the colors and fill patterns to get the desired look.  I can import that into Cadence's Virtuoso if necessary if necessary.  I also import the same gds into Mentor Graphics' calibredrv.  Neither of these tools can generate a format compatible with a local printer.  I do not have a plotter at my site so I need to send out to have it plotter.  Two vendors have plotters. A Local print shop uses a Epson Stylus 9900 and Fedex Kinkos has an Oce 450.  Both take pdf,  The local print shop also takes tiff, bmp, jpeg everything else adobe illustrator can import.
 
I was hoping I could find an inexpensive, off the shelf, easy to use utility to convert/filter the file.

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That makes a lot of sense.

ACE 3000 may suit your purposes as it outputs a very "small & efficient" PDF file which can be plotted anywhere, with the following limitations:
1. ACE 3000 is a conversion tool, so only solid colors can be outputted. So you could map the layer colors you want but not patterns.
2. The GDSII should be under 2GB for Windows.


Here's a sample movie tutorial showing me loading a GDSII and outputting to PDF:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwC7n5BajR0

Here's some sample PDF files you can review:

All Layers in one PDF:
http://www.numericalinnovations.com/data16/ABACUS.pdf

Separated Layers per PDF:
http://www.numericalinnovations.com/data16/ABACUS_6.pdf
http://www.numericalinnovations.com/data16/ABACUS_7.pdf
http://www.numericalinnovations.com/data16/ABACUS_8.pdf
http://www.numericalinnovations.com/data16/ABACUS_9.pdf
http://www.numericalinnovations.com/data16/ABACUS_17.pdf
http://www.numericalinnovations.com/data16/ABACUS_45.pdf


Note:  Most Large Plotters outputs from 600DPI to 1200DPI, so you can assign the DPI you require however 600DPI is a good starting point.