Plot to pdf give unwanted results.

When plotting or printing, I first tried to export to pdf. But never could get the results needed. Could not use pen assignments to get the line width correct. I use pen assignments rather then linewidth for my colors. So I started to print to pdf. Using PDFXChange printer. This worked good because I can use pen assignments and color to get the correct output line width. Until lately when a customer said that their Adobe reader was not reading text correctly and showing dots rather then text. Other customers with the same file can read the text correctly. In an attempt to correct this issue for this one customer, I messed with the setting to get Adobe to read text correctly. And so far have failed. On top of that, now when I export to PDF, the results are in color and all lines are real fat, all lines and text have the same fat line width. The pdf is not readable. Before, everything was in black and lines and text had different line widths and was readable, just could not use pen assignments. I check all the setting in Export to PDF settings and all is unchanged from before, but something is messed up. Any ideas anyone? I am having this problem with several files, not just one. Running V16 on Win7 machine.

Comments

  • Try:
    Settings
    Drawing
    Display/Viewing
    Lineweights
    Default Lineweight - 0.000
    Lineweight Display - Off (uncheck Display Lineweight box)

  • Default in .0, display is off. no difference. still exports in color. now all line weights are 0.
    see attach file. TestPDF-1 is in black with line weights, TestPDF-2 is color with all line weight 0. TestPDF-1 is what it should be. But something changed and can't get it back.

  • This might sound like a stupid question, but is it looking to the correct ctb file, one that prints all-black?

  • When exporting to PDF there is no option of selecting a CTB file or STB file.

  • Just to make sure, I set the correct CTB in print (as if printing to pdf), applied, then exit without printing, then export to pdf, no change.

  • Roy Klein Gebbinck
    edited August 2018

    If you want 'Export to PDF' to use your plot settings then PdfUsePlotStyles should be on and, I think, PdfPaperSizeOverride should be off.

    General tip:
    When Before embarking on this type of experiment it is advisable to:

    1. Create and use a temporary profile.
    2. Create backups of files.
  • robbt: By "export to PDF" do you mean "Publish" with the "Publish to" option set to "PDF"?
    If so, I have a problem with that too, in v17.
    It doesn't print color 233 to color 250, which is what my CTB file says to do.
    Instead, it prints color 233 to object color, as per my old CTB file (changed months ago).
    I don't have that problem if I Publish to "Plotter named in page setup."
    And I don't have that problem if I "Print" an individual sheet.
    But then I miss out on all the special features you get with Publish to PDF.
    I'd file a support request, but I assume it's already been corrected in v18 and there won't be another release of v17.

    Roy: My PdfUsePlotStyles settings has always been on and my PdfPaperSizeOverride setting has always been off. Any other ideas?

  • Roy Klein Gebbinck
    edited August 2018

    @Anthony Apostolaros:
    There probably won't be any new V18 releases, so new V17 releases would be very, very unexpected.

    The problem you mention has already been fixed in V18 though.

    For V17 and V16 this workaround seems to work:
    Make sure the page setups of the layouts you want to 'Publish to PDF' are not based on <None>.

    BTW:
    The problem with using the _Export command (or the _ExportPDF comand) to create a PDF is that the content will be scaled to fit the page.

  • Anthony Apostolaros
    edited August 2018

    They're all based on <none>, and if I try to change them to anything else in the drop-down list they immediately change back to <none>.

  • Roy Klein Gebbinck
    edited August 2018

    @Anthony Apostolaros:
    There are two ways:

    1. It is possible to change the Page Setup in the dialog of the _Publish command and then save that change to a sheet list for future use.
    2. But in my previous test I uses the _PageSetup command and changed the 'Based on' setting there.

    In both cases you cannot select another layout but have to use a separate page setup. This separate setup can be created from an existing layout though. The 'Based on' dropdown in the _PageSetup dialog is confusing as it includes layout names when these cannot be selected.

  • In previous versions, I used the "Based On" option a lot. Back then, it was part of the Page Setup dialog for each layout. But since it moved to the Page Setups tab of Drawing Explorer I haven't been able to get it to do anything.

    The "Page Setup" column of the Publish dialog has only two choices for each layout: <Default: None> or Import.... But selecting Import... just wastes some time and ends up returning to <Default: None>.

  • Roy Klein Gebbinck
    edited August 2018

    If you add setups using the _PageSetup command they will appear in the 'Page Setup' dropdown of the _Publish dialog. And when you choose 'Import...' a dialog should appear. Maybe it appears off screen on your computer. Note that I have tested both methods mentioned in my previous post on V17.

  • A little bit off topic. But to print to pdf I use "PDF Creator" It is just like printing to a printer except that it prints to pdf. I use it because it creates small pdf files, can merge the sheets into one document and because I can change the dpi settings for photo images in my drawings. It's also free. (In my AutoCAD days I used to use qvPdf, but that went haywire. If you are on a mac that has an excellent built in pdf printer.

  • MDunn
    edited August 2018

    Not sure if this will help anyone, but I created a lisp routine for creating PDFs called XPDF.lsp, shown below:
    (defun c:XPDF () ;initiates lisp routine

    (Command "ExportPDF" ;exports dwg as PDF
    "") ;changes file extension to PDF

    (princ "\n\t BricsCAD DWG to PDF, ") ;Comment @ routine completion
    (princ) ;No Nil returned

    ) ;Ends XPDF routine

  • @MDunn,

    Thanks for your lisp.

    Can this lisp be extended to choose a window and open the save dialog, so you can have more control over the output?

    I usually only do 1:1 pdf exports and find the whole pdf creation a very long winded affair.

    I know Bricscad is similar to Autocad in the way things are printed and I'm not knocking this, but a proper export to .pdf would be nice like dxfout, whereby you would get exactly what is in the original .dwg.

  • David,
    That lisp routine used the BricsCAD Command ‘ExportPDF’ w/ whatever predefined settings w/in that command, & I do not know how to change any of those settings. Would be nice to know where they are so we could change some.
    The attached lisp routine was originally created for Acad, & altered to be used in BricsCAD. It plots Extents, perhaps could be changed to plot a window, haven’t tried it.
    Basically what this lisp routine is, is just a plot or print routine that prints to a PDF.
    W/ the added benefit of selecting the printer (.pc3) & the .ctb file of your choosing so you can control the colors etc.
    In Acad, I had one for MS & one for PS, depending on what Tilemode it was in.
    It saves the PDF to C:\Users\xxxx\Documents\ which is a pain in the butt & I am not sure how to change this either. I have not yet found the secret places BricsCAD hides its confuration settings for such things.
    Wouldn't the default of the current dwg path/filename be more logical, like Acad does? Not sure why anyone would have coded it to save to C:\Users\xxxx\Documents\; who puts anything there?!!!
    Good luck, let me know if this helps.
    Mike
    PS: Have a really cool plot routine for very large P&IDs plotting overlapping cut sheets to 11x17 if anyone is interested.

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