tennis4you Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 So in an effort to reduce PDF file size, I went to the dwg to pdf.pc3 plot driver and wen tot he custom properties. The dpi is set to: 600 400 400 400 I dropped the top number to 400 and the stucco hatch and AR-Sand hatch both print weird when we print to PDF. Some of the hatch is fine, some comes out too dark. It's pretty weird. If I leave the settings as the default then it prints perfectly fine. Anyone know why those hatches might be affected by dropping the dpi? Everything else appears to print great and the file size is reduced. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLW210 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Have you tried using slightly different hatch scales? Certain Hatches can be finicky in my experience. Are you just looking at the PDF? Does it actual print the PDF correctly to physical printer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennis4you Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 Thanks for the quick reply! So one of the hatches I am using that is turning out weird is a MicroStation Hatch that I had converted over. That one does not surprise me. The one that shocks me is the AR-Sand standard AutoCAD hatch. I am putting it in as scale 3.0 and it is printing weird too. They both print weird when the PDF goes to the physical printer. So it views weird and prints weird. Even if it just looked weird on the PDF that would be a problem because I provide clients with PDFs of their home and they want those PDFs to look sharp (as do I). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Do they print correctly if you go directly to paper from the .dwg? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLW210 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Can you post a portion of drawing with the problem hatch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennis4you Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 Attached is the PDF file. You can see the right side is acting weird. I printed it with the higher DPI after and it printed just fine.Elev.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Can you post a portion of drawing with the problem hatch? Do they print correctly if you go directly to paper from the .dwg? We need more information than just the PDF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennis4you Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 We need more information than just the PDF. My apologies, try this CAD file.Test.dwg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 What about when you print from the .dwg directly? It would really help to know that this an AutoCAD problem and not a PDF issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennis4you Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Seems to print fine directly from AutoCAD to the printer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Finally. So we've narrowed it down to the PDF plotter. Have you tried a different one, yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennis4you Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Actually I had not. I am just using the standard AutoCAD dwg to PDF.pc3 plot driver. I believe it is the only PDF plot driver I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 AutoCAD and PDFs have not getten along very well for a long time. Since you rely heavily on exchanging and viewing your drawing electronically, I would highly recommend that you look into a different format like DXF for which AutoDesk offers a free viewer. That being said, there are free PDF makers available that you could try. I've used and recommend Cute PDF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLW210 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 See if this looks okay on your machine. Only thing I did was switch to monochrome.ctb, since yours was missing. Test-Model.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLW210 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 AutoCAD and PDFs have not gotten along very well for a long time. Since you rely heavily on exchanging and viewing your drawing electronically, I would highly recommend that you look into a different format like DXF for which Autodesk offers a free viewer. That being said, there are free PDF makers available that you could try. I've used and recommend Cute PDF. I prefer PrimoPDF (I use this at home) slightly over CutePDF, but both are the best free PDF plotters, my boss uses AutoCAD 2005 and CutePDF and I had to work on some drawings with hatches for him once or twice. I believe hatches are just a Pain for PDF in general. I seldom see a difference from DWG to PDF.pc3 and Adobe PDF or the others on my 2011 AutoCAD. But, as mentioned by RobDraw, DXF may be your best solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennis4you Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 The stucco hatch looks good on your PDF. I use to use CutePDF back in the day. I do a ton of batch plotting (Publishing?) and it does not like me as much (made me save every file when it tried to name it during the entire process). I found the DWG to PDF plotter and loved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLW210 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Here it is from Adobe PDF. Edit: Added DWF Test Model (Adobe PDF).pdf Test-Model.dwf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennis4you Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 My only issue with dwf is that I have hundreds of clients per year and I would have to tell them all to get the .dwf viewer and that would stink as everyone can already view a PDF. Is there an Adobe PDF plot driver I can get somewhere to test it? I can always just leave the dpi at 600, 400, 400 & 400 as that works fine. It is just when I drop it below 600 the hatch gets weird, everything else looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 My only issue with dwf is that I have hundreds of clients per year and I would have to tell them all to get the .dwf viewer and that would stink as everyone can already view a PDF. Just because it's easy, doesn't mean it's best, just look at the time you have wasted fighting with PDFs. Aren't you doing your clients a disservice by not letting them know that there is a much better option? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 We have met the enemy and they are PDFs. This file format was not created with sharing CAD drawings in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.