Plot

[nowikovs12]

Hi there I am plotting the plans in CAD and for some reason some parts of the drawing will be gray? when I print preview the plan all the lines are black, but when I export it as pdf some parts of the drawing will be in gray,.... please help

[ReMark]

I would check my plot style file settings first.

[nowikovs12]

plot style? how do I get on plot style setup? do you mean clicking on plot and that setup? in there I can only find page setup, size, plot area, but nothing about colours, could you give more guidance please

[ReMark]

Invoke the Plot command. This should bring up the Plot - Model dialog box.

 

Look in the lower right-hand corner next to the Help button. There should be a circle with a black arrowhead pointing to the right. Use this to expand the dialog window (click it).

 

In the top right-hand corner find where it says Plot style table (pen assignments). In the box below those words what does it say? My guess is it might say None. That's OK.

 

Click the arrow to the right. Find and select monochrome.ctb. A box may appear in the middle of your screen asking you if you want to assign this plot style to all layouts. Click on the Yes button. The box should close.

 

Now print your drawing. What happens?

[nowikovs12]

ha ha it works!!! I didn't know about this, second time I plot plans, in first time I didn't had this problem thanx a lot terminator u saved the world

[ReMark]

You're entirely welcomed nowikovs12. I'm glad to hear that it (the plot) went well for you. As for saving the world...let's not get carried away there. All I did was pass along a little knowledge. Thanks.

[Cad64]

thanx a lot terminator u saved the world

 

Saved the world? What kind of plans are you working on?

[ReMark]

Saved the world? What kind of plans are you working on?

 

Beats me. All kinds of warning symbols though. One looks like this:nuke: Does that mean anything to you?

[nowikovs12]

ha ha just ordinary layouts it was very important to solve that problem, because I had to hand it in all sorted now 3ds max

[ammobake]

There are a few possibilities here..

 

It sounds to me like an issue with the plotter, itself.

 

I'm guessing that when you use "DWG to PDF" the actual PDF file looks O.K..

 

IF that is the case, then the cause of the problem is an issue with the plotter, itself, OR the plot settings in adobe.

 

obviously, if you use "black and white" or "monochrome" default plotter settings to print what is clearly a black line in adobe, you shouldn't be having an issue. But sometimes the user specified settings for the plot can be different than the default settings you have set up for the plotter/printer on your computer (This has happened to me).

 

Go into "printers and faxes" in windows and check out what the defaults settings are for the plotter. Then, go into autocad and prepare the plot in the "Plot" dialog box like you usually would send it to that plotter and then click "properties" at right. Review the settings to ensure they are what you want. Using this method will OVERRIDE any default setting that is programmed into the plotter, itself.

 

We have a printer at my work that is programmed to print everything on black and white. But sometimes you NEED color prints. This is one reason you might want to override the printer with user-specified settings. When you do this, Autocad will create a temporary PC3 file JUST FOR THAT PLOT and then it will be removed. You will know when this happens because it will let you know it is creating a temporary PC3 file and you will have to click OK.

 

Vualla, color prints on a plotter programmed for black and white prints. I would at least try this out using the settings you want. It would at least rule out the printer's programmed defaults as the cause of the problem.

 

-ChriS

[nowikovs12]

the problem I had was when I was plotting the plans as pdf and clicked on print preview the lines and black hatch looked black the way I wanted them, but when I actually plotted the layout and viewed the pdf file most of the plans looked gray, including the hatch, when I fallowed instructions by remark, plotted it by using monochrome and opened that pdf, the lines were black and hatch also black, you might be right, because that is a temporary setting to apply the monochrome, I will look into that, but I have still noticed that some lines when plotted as pdf are still gray, if I have a detail of joining or furniture, some parts of the drawing will be in gray lines, I changed the colour, changed layer colour, moved them from layer to layer I dont know, at least the main plan and sections are black, but some parts are still gray, thanx for the info

[ReMark]

And here I thought we solved the problem. Partial solutions are not solutions at all in my opinion.

 

Well I would have to have a copy of the drawing to play around with and see if I could reproduce your results when plotting to PDF.

[nowikovs12]

i wanted to post it but it is too big to put it on, its 1.4 MB but you can only upload 200 KB I could send it to you email?

[ReMark]

Possibly.

 

Have you checked the ctb or stb plot style file itself?

[nowikovs12]

what is ctb or stb? sorry

[ammobake]

I'm assuming, then, that you are plotting directly from model space using DWG to PDF.

 

Do you have your monochrome CTB applied to model space in page setup? If so, then it should always print monochrome regardless of what you print from modelspace.

 

CTB = "color dependant plot style" (easier and popular from what I've seen)

STB = "named plot style"

 

If you set up your drawings so that the layers are organised (walls as green, dimensions as magenta, for example) Then you can set up a CTB that will print those specific colors as certain lineweights regardless of what layers they're on. It can really make your prints come out nice.

 

You can toggle between CTB or STB by using "CONVERTPSTYLES" in the command line.

 

Then you can go back to page setup and select whichever plot style you want (@ top right of the Page Setup box) . You can also click the little pencil to the right of the dropdown menu and create a new CTB from scratch or modify one already selected. There are also alot of plot styles available for download. Also, keep in mind that in order to be able to select a specific CTB or STB in page setup, it must be in the correct folder. Under "Control Panel" in windows, Autocad automaticaly creates a "plot styles" folder when you install. This is where CTB's and STB's go. And you can download them and drop them in this folder too.

 

Some companies and organisations use pre-specified layering and plot styles on all their drawings for consistency. That is what I do at work as well. Setting up a standard template along with the layers set up like you want, titleblock, sheet size pre-determined, etc.. saves you alot of time. And you can create the template such that the CTB will always be applied to the drawing in paper space.

 

Also, if you specify a CTB plot style in model space you will have the option to apply it to ALL the sheets in the set if they aren't set up already.

 

An STB works similar to a CTB, only instead of printing certain colors as pre-determined colors and lineweights, an STB applies color and lineweight to the final print depending on object and layer properties. For example, layers set up with plot style set to "BYLAYER" will inherit the plot style assigned to that specific layer. The "PROPERTIES" pallette has a dropdown menu you can use to check and/or modify the assigned plot style for an object. Doing this just makes things alot more complex, IMO.

 

You can set up your CTB's by sheet size as well. For example, I have a standard CTB set up for 100% lineweights for 18x24, 24x36 sheet sizes.. Then I have a 50% lineweight CTB for smaller 11x17, 8.5x11 prints. I think you can also set up plot styles by viewport, but that just makes things unnecessarily complicated in my book.

 

-ChriS