PDF Scaling

[BenE]

Whenever I plot to .PDF, the drawings don't come out to scale. I thought it might be the plot margins within Adobe, but I haven't been able to figure out how to correct this. Any ideas?

[skipsophrenic]

Are you using the pdf writer that came with the program or a 3rd party driver?

[BenE]

Truthfully, I'm not sure. When I plot to pdf, I use the plot option of Adobe PDF, or if I'm plotting a tiff, I use a custom .pc3 with a reduced DPI.

[skipsophrenic]

Am not sure as with Civil 3d, but with AutoCAD 2008 the pdf writer that came with it had some bugs in it - (Not sure if it's been corrected since though sorry)

EDIT: if it des turn out to be the default PDF Printer i would suggest trying a different PDF writer you can get plenty on the internet for free - just google "PDF Writer"

[BenE]

I'll take a look at Autodesk's site to see if there's a patch or anything. Thanks.

[skipsophrenic]

ok, if not see my edited post.

[nocturne00]

in your assesment, by how many percent do you think the pdf file is off scale?
and under Plot>Plot Area> Did you use the Layout option or Window option? coz sometimes using the window option will throw off the scaling of the Drawing plotted.

[Secretagdan]

Okay this is what I think that it is.

You print to file, then you open up the file as a pdf file, then print. This file that you print is not to scale. I am assuming that this is where you are having problems.

I do not believe that it’s Auto CAD that is the problem, but your PDF print settings that may be your problem.

You need to have the proper paper size selected from your printer before you can do it this way. (If the drawing was originally 8 1/2" x 11" you need to have it selected) Next all that you need to do is set the printer margins to 'none' as in my example. If you select 'fit to printer margins', your drawing will not print to scale.

[wannabe]

Can you check in the properties on the plot menu to make sure the page size is set to what you want in there aswell. Then also click on the custom properties, within the plot menu properties, to see what the page size is set to on there.

Whilst AutoCAD may be correctly set up, the virtual plotter may be using another page size. If you follow the above instructions, you may be able to reconcile the differences.

[BenE]

Hey, guys. Thanks for all the responses, and sorry for my late response. I'm a student and only work half-time.

Nocturne00: I use extents as my plot area. Using the hand held scale and a print of the PDF, it appears to be scaling down 5%.


Secretagdan: You are correct that I am plotting to PDF, and the print is scaled. I am using Paper Size 11x17 (for an 11x17 paperspace and plot), and scaling is off.

Wannabe: It's all set to 11x17.

Thanks again, everyone. I'm going to give CutePDF a try and I'll post my findings.

-b

[BOB'27T]

I would suggest selecting layout instead of extents. Extents will resize the drawing to fit, which is going to be inaccurate.

[BenE]

And we have our winner!! Looks like there's no need for the new PDF writer. Just another rookie error. Thanks a lot.

-b

[BOB'27T]

Wow! I'm the prize winner! Glad to be of help!