Drudworks Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I have to say I've given Autocad a fair shake in the last 4 weeks and it will be a goodbye shake. It is the single most frustrating and least useful poorly written overly bulky and un-intuitive garbage software I have ever had the misfortune of installing on my computer. That being said, after 4 weeks of bashing my brains out I have a somewhat decent looking drawing and I approach my final challenge - printing. I am exporting to PDF to print at the local Staples but the architectural font I used does not get exported with the PDF. I fully expected Autocad to fail completely at this simple task so I am writing here to ask for the remedy. I promise to never write again as I would rather burn any future plans into wood with a soldering iron or the more speedy chipping into stone with cold chisel. Thankyou, Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 First of all, 4 weeks? You give up after 4 weeks? I've used AutoCAD for almost 10 years now, and around here I'm still on the low end. And I still bang my head against the program repeatadly. Not because it's a terrible program - but because like you said, it's a huge program, you always find areas that you have never used before. Take a look in the chat section, there's a thread there about what people work with. That is how versitile this program is. I'm not saying this to convince you that you're wrong - but don't expect many people here to agree with you. They might even loudly disagree with you, after all, most here work with this program that you seem to hate on a daily basis. Anyway, on to your problem. We need more information I think. You say that you export to PDF - since Export is a command in AutoCAD, I have to ask if that is what you use? Or if it is Plot that you use? What is the font that you use? Is it a Truetype or SHX-font? Is it all the text that does not get printed? What layer is the text on? Is that layer ON/Thawed? Perhaps the layer is set to Non-plot? Open the Layer Manager to check these things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 What version of Autocad are you using? I know 2010 allows you to export to pdf, but previous versions do not. Maybe this is the problem? Try plotting to pdf instead of exporting. But first, do as Tiger suggested and make sure your text is on a plottable layer. How have you been learning Autocad? Who has been instructing you? Have you thought about taking some classes? Autocad is a huge program with an enormous learning curve. You can't expect to master it in 4 weeks, 4 months or even 4 years. I think everyone here will admit that they are always learning something new. Even after more than 20 years with the program, I still learn new things. Which is why I love coming here to the forum. I would say you have not given Autocad a fair shake, in fact, I would say you have barely scratched the surface. Don't give up so quickly. :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave^ Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 also, download and install CutePDF to plot to PDF, which (imo anyway) is better than the 'plot to PDF' which comes prepacked in ACad 2007..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBullseye74 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 4 weeks is nothing your expecting too much, don't try to run before you can walk. As for being poorly written i don't think you can comment on it when you don't know anything about it! Pffff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipsophrenic Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Drudworks, I have been using ACAD for nearly 3 years now, and to be honest, for the first six months i felt like i was fighting a no-go battle, it takes time and patience with AutoCAD - everyday I learn something new. I don't think you've given it a fair chance in my honest opinion. as for pdf what version of AutoCAD are you running? if 2010 then not sure, but with 2008, i'd advise getting one of the many free pdf drivers availiable to download and plot to pdf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drudworks Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 I found cutePDF through another site offering fixes for Autocad shortcomings (A FREE 5 mb program that saves a PDF half the size of the peice of crap Autocad spat out and I believe it embeds the TT fonts) I am not going to defend my position only say that I have used hundreds of programs over 15 years and this one is my least favourite - excluding some viruses. When a program takes 5 minutes to load and is sluggish in general I can safely say that it is not well coded. I can assume that the base code has only had more fixes and functionality added in so many layers over years of releases - so much bloatware that it deserves a complete re-write. I do realize that I am trying to print rather than plot so I shouldn't expect much from a program designed for use with a plotter. This is one thing in a list of things that I have found lacking. It sounds like everyone else thinks the program is the cats pyjamas so I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. I have figured out a few of the quirks and I could probably attain some level of proficiency given enough time. What other options are there? This is the industry standard. Who knows, I might grow to love it too. Thanks again for the help from this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorg Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Ha, I give it the same argument i do microsoft over apple. I love to hate it You have to if you ever want to be good at it! CutePDF Writer is probably the best freebie out there :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arizona Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Drud, there is a reason AutoDESK is the World Leader in Drafting software, and it ain't because it's a crappy program. I've been making a living with AutoCAD for just short of 20 years. Yes, it is a Huge program. Bloated, it sure is. I guess I know about 40% of it's functions. It's freakin huge. 16 point floating decimal accuracy. It ain't easy to learn, hence, my next statment: Specalized Training! It's the only way to get anywhere with it. What program do you normally do your drafting in? I'm guessing some Correll product.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galingula Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Lines and lines and lines Meaningless symbols abound I hate AutoCAD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzframpton Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 You can't use AutoCAD for simple tasks. MS Paint can do some things better than AutoCAD. If you were only using it for four weeks then you were probably doing very simple tasks (assuming of course). Now, if you're in my business.... there is no comparison that AutoCAD is the grand-daddy of them all. Just remember that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea1307 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 It sounds like everyone else thinks the program is the cats pyjamas so I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. I have figured out a few of the quirks and I could probably attain some level of proficiency given enough time. What other options are there? This is the industry standard. Who knows, I might grow to love it too. There are other options, some that are even compatable with autocad .dwg files. but depending on what industry you work in AutoCad or one of it offspring programs tend to be the standard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkent Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I have to say I've given Autocad a fair shake in the last 4 weeks and it will be a goodbye shake. It is the single most frustrating and least useful poorly written overly bulky and un-intuitive garbage software I have ever had the misfortune of installing on my computer. It is a complex program with lots of options and choices which makes it useful and very hard to learn. I think SAP software is the worst ever written. I am exporting to PDF to print at the local Staples but the architectural font I used does not get exported with the PDF. In the properties settings for the dwg to pdf.pc3 you can check off a box to have all fonts captured. See easy as pie if you know where to look. I fully expected Autocad to fail completely at this simple task so I am writing here to ask for the remedy. The program has many faults and most of us have a love hate relationship with AutoCAD. But assuming it won't work after only 4 weeks of using it is jumping to conclusions. I promise to never write again as I would rather burn any future plans into wood with a soldering iron or the more speedy chipping into stone with cold chisel. I was lucky enough to start on AutoCAD in 88 and I took a night class at a local college. And I was lucky enough to get a good instructor and I was a board drafter so I didn't have to learn software and drafting at the same time. I say I was lucky because I have grown with the program, starting with R8 and so I have learned the new commands and quirks a little at a time. I still remember the first three nights of class and I kept thinking I could have drawn this stuff on the board in 1/4th the time and what a waste this was going to be. The on the fourth night we learned the Array command, I sat straight up in my chair and had a profound Ah Haa moment and realized this was powerful stuff. If you take a good class and give it some time you will gain proficiency and begin to see how powerful AutoCAD can be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I found cutePDF through another site offering fixes for Autocad shortcomings (A FREE 5 mb program that saves a PDF half the size of the peice of crap Autocad spat out and I believe it embeds the TT fonts) Autocad has never offered pdf as a print option until pretty recently. And the reason it doesn't work very well, in my opinion, is because they want you to use their dwf format, not pdf. But you have always had the option of using Adobe or one of the free pdf programs that are available. So this is not a shortcoming of Autocad. It's by design. And until you learn the program, you really have no right to complain. I'm sure the majority of the problems you are experiencing are due to your lack of knowledge and understanding of the program. There are millions of people that use Autocad, or one of it's vertical products, every day with little or no problems. Of course Autocad does have its quirks and issues, but so does every other program ever created. There is no such thing as a perfect piece of software. They all crash occasionally and they all do strange things from time to time, but that doesn't mean that they are poorly written or they are a piece of crap. The majority of issues can usually be traced back to user error or inexperience. This site is a testament to that. :wink: So get yourself some training and enjoy the program. And if you really want to see a program with a user interface and controls that will boggle your mind and leave you wondering, "Who the hell created this?", take a look at Blender some time. That program is just wacky. But hey, at least its free, so you can't really complain too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drudworks Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 And if you really want to see a program with a user interface and controls that will boggle your mind and leave you wondering, "Who the hell created this?", take a look at Blender some time. That program is just wacky. But hey, at least its free, so you can't really complain too much. This is funny. I have used Blender for around 10 years and I love it. I don't know Autocad well enough so I have to agree on that point. I'll have to get back to everyone in another 10 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drudworks Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Here are some links to my Blender creations: Youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/ggghhhrrr personal website: http://www.zenchuck.com/ all done with Blender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzframpton Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Here are some links to my Blender creations: Youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/ggghhhrrr personal website: http://www.zenchuck.com/ all done with Blender. Comparing Apples to Oranges. AutoCAD is a solid modeler that is known for its fast and accurate 2D tools. Blender is a NURBS Mesh modeler. Two totally different programs. Not to mention you are comparing 10 years of experience to 4 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeC Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Drud, Maybe you should get a job at Autodesk and help them solve all of the issues with Autocad! Like other have said, it takes a long time to grasp Autocad. I'm in my 15th year and rely on this forum to solve things that seem simple for others, but they are things that I've not yet encountered. You might even try asking some people in this forum to plot your file to .pdf! By the way, I wouldn't use a soldering iron as a wood burner, but the cold chisel would probably work pretty well in stone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryder76 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 That being said, after 4 weeks of bashing my brains out I have a somewhat decent looking drawing Just curious, what were you drawing and what prompted you to install and use ACAD to do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 This is funny. I have used Blender for around 10 years and I love it. I don't know Autocad well enough so I have to agree on that point. I'll have to get back to everyone in another 10 years. Great! You've proven my point. With enough knowledge and experience anything is possible. And remember, I didn't say Blender was a bad program. In fact I know there are lots of people creating some pretty amazing stuff with it. I just happen to think the interface is a bit screwy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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