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Printing to PDF

14 REPLIES 14
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Message 1 of 15
mduncan536
2919 Views, 14 Replies

Printing to PDF

I am printing a dwg to pdf and when i preview the drawing it looks fine, but then when it is a pdf it looks like the attachment. Am i missing a setting somewhere? can i adjust the output of the pdf?

 

Thank you

14 REPLIES 14
Message 2 of 15
Charles_Shade
in reply to: mduncan536

Are you asking why does it look washed out on the monitor?

Just increase the magnification if this is what you are asking.

 

Is it printing poorly when you send it to your printer?

This could be a DPI setting that needs to be adjusted.

 

Or something else?

 

Please mark any response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question.
Kudos + gladly accepted if you are feeling magnanimous
_____________________________________________________________

Message 3 of 15
pendean
in reply to: mduncan536

If this is solely a 'washed out on screen" issue, zoom in the PDF and you will see it's only your screen/monitor fudging the display. You can avoid this a little bit, especially around the words, if you get away from using SHX stick fonts (use Windows fonts). They will look better on screen.

 

The stick fonts show up as super thin lines, your PDF Reader most likely has the ENHANCE THIN LINES box checked (turn it off and they disappear becuase your stick lines are too thin for modern display).

 

Message 4 of 15
gurod031076
in reply to: mduncan536

Hi I got the same problem as you, and found the solution. What I did was to publish everything to DWF, and once you have that file plot that DWF to PDF that will maintain the original thickness of your lines. You might need to download the DWF reader from autodesk first.

This is only one extra step than what we were used to do but is worth it, I rather do that than keep zooming over and over. Good Luck !!

Message 5 of 15
heinsite
in reply to: gurod031076

This is exactly how I plot to PDF also.  The PDF driver within AutoCAD has always given me lousy results so I almost never use it anymore.  Originally I would plot to DWF first because for many years the resulting PDF files were smaller than they would be if plotted directly from AutoCAD.  Later I discovered the line quality was also higher.

 

To me the time is no bother either... and quite often I find additional uses for the DWF.

 

Dave

------------------------------------------------------
Dave Hein, P.E.
Message 6 of 15
pendean
in reply to: heinsite

Skip a step and just get a better 3rd party PDF driver installed in Windows (or use it in AutoCAD, not the DWF viewer): For those that do not know most are free, a few are not, all work great, PDF creation in one step and not two fromk inside AutoCAD/LT.

 

And while you are at it, ditch Adobe Reader X and either go back to version 9 or upgrade that too and use another like FOXIT Reader or others (most are free too).

Message 7 of 15
TGFSERV
in reply to: mduncan536

I have been using AutoCad LT 2000 on Windows XP Pro with AutoDWG DWG2P pdf converter. It has been working just fine. I have downloaded AutoCad Lt 2013 Trial version. I have used the plotter conversion "DWG to PDF.pc3" converter. The pdf result shows inconsistant variations in line and text clarity, ie: Some characters in the text are sharp and clear and others are faded. Same is true for lines. Straight lines are sharp but fillet lines or arcs are faded. I have a new computer ready to go with an AMD10 processor with 10 GB of Ram and 2TB of memory. Will this conversion problem go away with the new machine and a non-trial version of AutoCad LT 2013?
Message 8 of 15
Charles_Shade
in reply to: TGFSERV

If your new computer is ready to go download the trial and see.

What you are seeing is a graphics issue and not a DWG to PDF issue.

I've been using DWG to PDF for two years here and have never seen this issue.

 

How does the pdf plot? Clean or faded as you see on screen?

What PDF viewer are ou using?

Have you zoomed in on the PDF on screen?

If Adobe do you have Enhance Thin Lines checked?

Message 9 of 15
TGFSERV
in reply to: mduncan536

Using the converter software separate from AutoCad has worked well for me for the last two years also. However it won't read the saved trial drawings.   I am using Adobe Reader X.  Unless I zoom to 100% or greater the fading doen't change.  I am not familar with the "Enhance Thin Lines" option. Where?

Message 10 of 15
Charles_Shade
in reply to: TGFSERV

The Trial version drawings should not be any different than a licensed version drawing file.

Is there a problem with your 3rd party PDF driver and AutoCAD LT2013?

Have you tried to update the PDF driver?

Message 11 of 15
pendean
in reply to: TGFSERV

Looking at your PDF, you are using stick fonts (SHX) and not a quality TTF font, is that correct?

 

What are your PDF output settings in LT2013? What other PC3 file settings are turned on?

What were the PDF output settings in the converter? Bet they need to match, but since you are the only one with this converter you'll have to dig and find out. Post your findings here.

Message 12 of 15
TGFSERV
in reply to: mduncan536

All files plotted or printed just fine.  It appears that Adobe was viewing culprit.  I installed Foxit Reader and everything works fine.  Thank you for your suggestions.

 

TGFSERV

Message 13 of 15
TGFSERV
in reply to: mduncan536

You are absolutly right.  I dumped Adobe and installed Foxit.  Works great!!  Thanks

 

TGFSERV

Message 14 of 15
pendean
in reply to: TGFSERV

FOXIT is not only great, and free, it has markup tools built into it too (for free).

Message 15 of 15
halfmast33
in reply to: mduncan536

In Adobe Reader

File > Preferences > Uncheck "Smooth line Art"

 

If you have Acrobat you can open the PDF in Acrobat and prin it using Acrobats pdf which must have a better rendering engine.

 

 

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