Topic: AutoCAD's DWG to PDF.pc3, how to ...

[Hangman]

Hello everyone,

I am curious as to how - those of you who use the AutoCAD 'DWG to PDF.pc3' - how you make it work for you.

Lemme' splain.  We don't have any third party PDF drivers (yet) and we are getting a little concerned about the quality of our PDF prints.  They come out half the lineweight of our dwgs.
I have studied our .ctb file and in essence, I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot as we are using a .ctb file, but we are setting our lineweights at the layer, not at the color in the .ctb file.  The .ctb file's lineweight is set to 'use object lineweight', but the objects are set to 'bylayer'.
Our senate oversight committee is not willing to change this and the house of representatives is prefering to switch back to Microstation.  The whole political system here is in a complacent uproar and no one has the balls to move to a socialist, dictatorship form of a company here.  I have already tried to convince the powers that be to make a stand, but the political corruption runs too deep.  It's amazing the company is still functioning with all the waste that goes on in a political arena such as ours.

Ahhggg, I've gotta get off the political soap box and back to the topic at hand.

So I am wondering how those of you who are printing to PDF's using AutoCAD's 'DWG to PDF' are set up ??

Do you have any suggestions on how to make the lineweights of the PDF reflect those of the dwg (without any major redesign of the .ctb file or of the presidency or governmental establishment) ??

Please throw out your thoughts, you may mention something I am not thinking of that could help solve this little domestic disturbance.

Thanks.

[M-dub]

We use it successfully and actually, AutoCAD's DWG to PDF.pc3 file works the best for us out of all of the PDF drivers we currently have.

One thing you need to make sure of is that all objects have their lineweights set to BYLAYER (for them to print your intended lineweights).

In your CTB file, select all of the colours and then from the Lineweight pulldown, select Use Object Lineweight.


Does that shed a little light at all?

[M-dub]

Another tip would be for you to get one print to work as you intend it to (send it to your printer).  Then, once you're satisfied with that result, Plot again and select Previous Plot from the Page Setups and then select DWG to PDF.pc3 from the list of printers and you should get the same result, but in PDF format.

[Krushert]

Just throwing this out there.  Is your printing settings in your Reader set correctly? 

What version of Cad are you using?   We had problems with hatch printing correctly from a PDF for the O8 DWG to PDF version.

2010 DWG to PDF version has been working pretty slick.

[M-dub]

Good point.  Are you having problems with the lineweights on the PDF itself or on the hard copies produced FROM the PDF?

[Hangman]

Good point.  Are you having problems with the lineweights on the PDF itself or on the hard copies produced FROM the PDF?

Ahhh, ... Yes !!   
OK, question, ...  what do you mean

... having problems with the lineweights on the PDF itself or on the hard copies produced FROM the PDF?

?
I can print a drawing from AutoCAD to the printer and get the results we want.  The lineweights are as we want them displayed on a 24x36 sheet of paper.  When I print from AutoCAD to the 'DWG to PDF', to a file, then open that file using Adobe's reader 9, the lineweights are at least half of what the dwg print is.  So I think, from the hard copies produced from the PDF.?.
Does this answer the question ??

Just throwing this out there.  Is your printing settings in your Reader set correctly? 

What version of Cad are you using?   We had problems with hatch printing correctly from a PDF for the O8 DWG to PDF version.

2010 DWG to PDF version has been working pretty slick.

Sorry, we are using 2010 Map3D.  I had read a post where the Adobe Reader 9 would be a problem, but that is not as readily fixable as one might think.  If we get rid of Reader 9 and go back to 8, do we also advise our clients to the same ??  If that be the case, why not just email them the old version of DWF viewer and let them install and use that ??  Answer:  because it's inconvenient and they know PDF's not DWF's.
I agree with the arguments and I've fought that battle for years now.  I still have the old DWF viewer that was only ...  1.6 meg in size if I remember right.  Easy to email out and instruct on how to use it.  And it still opens the DWF's created with 2010.

Anyway, back to the topic:  How do you adjust the "printing settings" in the reader, and why ??  From what I've researched so far, the problem lies in the conversion from DWG to PDF.  Scratch that, so you are suggesting that when we view the drawings with the reader and print them out, that is where the problem may be ?.  But even in the reader, the lineweights are not correct, no need to print them out to see that.  Would the reader not be displaying correctly ??

< ... >
One thing you need to make sure of is that all objects have their lineweights set to BYLAYER (for them to print your intended lineweights).

In your CTB file, select all of the colours and then from the Lineweight pulldown, select Use Object Lineweight.
 < ... >

This has been done.  Any objects drawn, the lineweights are set to ByLayer.  In the Layer Manager, the layers are set to the lineweights we desire.  In the CTB file, the colors are set to 'use object lineweight'.

Question:  could a single entity drawn, be set to some specific lineweight, and that setting throw off the entire plot ??

Thank you guys for your help.

[M-dub]

What size PDF are you creating?  If you turn on the Rulers (under the view menu) is it also a 24 x 36 electronic pdf?  I'm wondering if you're creating an 11 x 17... not sure if it would matter though.  The lineweight should still be the same.

Question:  could a single entity drawn, be set to some specific lineweight, and that setting throw off the entire plot ??

Not that I've ever seen.

[M-dub]

When you're viewing the PDF, does CTRL+5 do anything?

[Hangman]

When you're viewing the PDF, does CTRL+5 do anything?

Viewing from AutoCAD before the print to file, or from the Reader before the print to printer ??  brb.

[Hangman]

When you're viewing the PDF, does CTRL+5 do anything?

When you're viewing the PDF, does CTRL+5 do anything?

Viewing from AutoCAD before the print to file, or from the Reader before the print to printer ??  brb.

From the reader !!
Holy Lineweights batman !!  I didn't know that !!  Although it doesn't affect the print, just the view before printing.

Although, you mentioned something that got me thinking,

What size PDF are you creating?  If you turn on the Rulers (under the view menu) is it also a 24 x 36 electronic pdf?  I'm wondering if you're creating an 11 x 17... not sure if it would matter though.  The lineweight should still be the same.

And THAT Sir, is the problem !!  We are plotting 24x36 to PDF, and then wanting the same lineweights when printing the PDF to an 11x17.  Appearently, when you "fit to printable area" and "shrink to printable area", it shrinks the lineweights in accordance with the scale drop.
Wahoo !!  Thank you for enlightening me this discovery.

Now, is there a toggle switch somewhere to turn off the scaling of the lineweights when you scale the drawing to a smaller size ??

[M-dub]

Now, is there a toggle switch somewhere to turn off the scaling of the lineweights when you scale the drawing to a smaller size ??

You should be able to get what you're looking for by changing the paper size to 11 x 17 when you create the PDF... I think.

[Krushert]

Now, is there a toggle switch somewhere to turn off the scaling of the lineweights when you scale the drawing to a smaller size ??

You should be able to get what you're looking for by changing the paper size to 11 x 17 when you create the PDF... I think.

I think (so therefore I am wrong) that Hangman wants the reader to NOT scale the line weights. 

[M-dub]

Now, is there a toggle switch somewhere to turn off the scaling of the lineweights when you scale the drawing to a smaller size ??

You should be able to get what you're looking for by changing the paper size to 11 x 17 when you create the PDF... I think.

I think (so therefore I am wrong) that Hangman wants the reader to NOT scale the line weights. 

I know... and maybe I'm wrong, but I'm thinking that if he uses those same lineweights, but sets his pdf page size to 11 x 17 instead of 24 x 36, he might get what he's looking for... smaller drawing with the same lineweights.  If not, create a new .ctb file with lineweights that DO give him what he's looking for.  He could have a D-size.ctb and a B-size.ctb.

[David Hall]

We use the D-Size ctb, but check the scale lineweights box, and it reduces them when we use smaller paper

[Hangman]

We use the D-Size ctb, but check the scale lineweights box, and it reduces them when we use smaller paper

I agree with you Commander, this is I think, the best way to go about it.  Only in my case, I would have to reverse it.  We want the lineweights of the 24x36 to be the same on the 11x17.  So I will have to create a second ctb file and double the lineweights.  Because the house of representatives here likes to print their PDF's to full size (24x36), and then print them out to 11x17, thus the scaling down issue.  It'll take an act of congress just to get these people to either print their PDF's at 11x17 and print the same, or print their PDF's at 24x36 with a ctb file for 48x72, so when they do print their PDF's at 11x17, the lineweights will appear as they want them, as 24x36 weight.
If there was a toggle or check box or something turning off the scaling down of the lineweight when printing the 24x36 PDF on an 11x17 paper, it would be ideal.  But I spent the last two and half hours last night searching through the preferences and online looking for a possible toggle or check box.  I haven't been able to find anything.
Oh well, I guess we'll discuss this issue for the next two years before coming up with a general practice.  Stupid politics.