Having problem printing solids to PDF

andy morris

Had a bit of a nightmare this morning.

I am currently using BricsCAD Pro Version 16.2.09 (x64) revision 42968 and it has served me well over the last 18 months or so for creating simple 2D piping drawings and schemes.

Last week I decided that, due to the complexity of the current project, that it would be best to take things into the third dimension.

This morning I assembled my 2D drawing, from a combination of 2D and 3D models. I XREF the models into model space of the 2D drawing file, and in paperspace I have my drawing frame and a viewport.

I have been using Cute PDF writer to create my PDF files. I know that BricsCAD has an export to PDF function but I just feel happier printing to PDF via Cute. I have had no problems at all, up to now, printing my 2D models/drawings using Cute.

This time, the resulting PDF print looked a bit odd, and when I zoomed in some of the lines were printed in a grey colour. I generally print in black and white, with the odd bit of colour if it makes sense to do so. I know that the CTB file I am using is set up correctly for my current drawing.

It appears to be something to do with the 3D model. All of the 2D entities print as expected.

And it only effects some of the lines. Some lines from the 3D entities print okay too. But, even though a line is on the same layer, with no overrides, at a change in direction, perhaps, it will change from black to grey.

I do not have the facility to print to A1 and I am therefore not sure what the print will look like. But I don't want to take any chances.

I then tried the PDF Export option.

Everything printed in the correct colour, but the solids show the tesselations, which is no good to me, and looks awful.

I always set DISPSILH = ON and ISOLINES = 0, so I do not get any tesselations showing in my drawing.

Current workaround, which took nearly two hours to arrive at, is to install Autodesk TrueView and print the drawing from there. Printing to PDF using Cute works fine, so I now know for sure that there isn't a problem with Cute.

If BricsCAD 17 solves this issue then I would consider it worth upgrading, but otherwise V16 is doing just fine.

cheers

andy

Hans De Backer

Hello Andy,
if you file a support request and attach a sample drawing, our support analysts will be glad to help you out.

andy morris

Hi Hans,

Thanks for your reply.

When you say "drawing," do you mean that you want the DWG files associated with this problem, or do you just want to see the PDF output?

cheers

andy

Hans De Backer

The PDF output might be helpful to illustrate what you want to avoid,
but what we really need is indeed the drawing, so we can verify e.g. which visual styles and other page setup settings have actually been configured.

DrJan

Hi,
Give a try to PDF Creator from pdf forge it's a free pdf printer. I had issues with printing transparent solid hatches (used built in BC pdf print and bullzip pdf creator and autodesk dwg to pdf - didn't work) but PDF Creator managed to do so nicely.