Mystery circles on PDF/printout

[s.peters]

Hello,

I am having a recurring problem and was wondering if anybody could help.

I create an assembly, then a drawing from the assembly, i add a parts list and annotate everything, then include a title block. Everything looks fine. Then i print or PDF the drawing and odd circles appear which aren't present on the original drawing. They appear to be randomly positioned and don't line up with any other cylindrical feature, i cannot work out how to remove them.

I have told all non-essential layers not to print and in the PDF the circle is on the same layer as the drawing (Visible (ISO)).

Can anyone help, here are some screen shots:

Thanks,

[mflayler2]

Any chance the circle is around an imported component of your design or a translated component?

[Anonymous]

I'm also getting this problem all the time, only while creating PDF's, not while printing directly.

(I'm not using imported parts, and these are assemblies that previously had none of these circles when making PDF's in previous versions)

[mcgyvr]

Those are Alien crop circles.. Time to call in the professionals... 🙂

What are you using to create these PDF's (Built in Inventor, Acrobat Printer, Cutepdf printer,etc..)?

We use acrobat and cutepdf here and NEVER have a problem..

[Anonymous]

This is using the built in PDF generator.

[mcgyvr · Accepted solution]

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@Anonymous wrote:

This is using the built in PDF generator.

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Try downloading cutepdf.. Its free and installs as a printer that you just print to instead of saving to.. See if that works any better.. I've never been happy with the built in pdf stuff that Autodesk offers.

[CelticDesignServices]

This might sound odd, but i've seen things along these lines (or circles in this case) when creating PDF's.

There's actually a setting to creat a "high quality" PDF and that solved the issues we were seeing at the time, mainly with shaded views.

From Inventor, Print Setup, PDF, Properties tab:

Select the Default Settings pull down and select HQ Print, see if that helps.

[s.peters]

Thanks mcgyvr, works perfectly!

I've been trying to find a solution for months.

[Anonymous]

Oddly I don't have that menu you show, but when I make a PDF I can change the DPI on the options button, I'll try this next time it happens.

Good suggestion.

Hey Autodesk, how about some help here?

[Martin_Goodland]

The box shown by CelticDesignServices is the printer settings box for Adobe Acrobat rather than the options box seen when using Save Copy As pdf. If you don't have a version of Adobe Acrobat installed you won't see the box.

Regards

Martin

[Anonymous]

Hey Autodesk, can you fix this?

[Anonymous]

Hi Mark,

The user said that wasn't his/her issue, but I'M Having the issue you were describing! Imported part with a mysterious circle around it being produce ONLY when making a pdf with the built in pdf generator.  Any fix you know of?  I tried rolling back to the old version of the file, but no dice.  It doesn't have any visible sketches or anything either.  I narrowed it down to the file that is causing the issue.  When I hide the part (a water heater) the circle goes away.

I've attached the file in question 😞 I can't figure this out.

Thanks for your help!

-xen

p.s. I used cute pdf and that DID get rid of the circle, but the scaling is strange with the print outs.  I just wish the built in generator could be fixed.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I also get these circles when creating pdf's with the built-in pdf generator. The strange thing is that the circles ar not always shown on the same spot, sometimes i have big ones, sometimes small ones, sometimes 1, sometimes 2. The option to create pdf's with cutepdf or eq. will also give 'corrupt' graphical results. (maybe the size of the drawings is the problem with that).

Can anyone help me? Whats autodesks solution for this problem?

Thanks in advance,

Wim

[Anonymous]

the SP2 update fixes this problem

[mrkarthik1995]

Hi,

I am also facing an issue like this. 

Please find the attached snapshot of Inventor drawing and exported PDF.

When exporting or save copy as PDF, it will show the mystery circle.

I have temporarily resolved this issue by using print->PDF.

But why this issue came and how to resolve this permanently?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! If you are on 2019, please install 2019.4 update followed by 2019.4.9 update. If you are on 2020, please install 2020.3  update followed by 2020.3.3 update. For 2021, please install 2021.1 update.

Many thanks!

[alexandre5ED8X]

Hi! The problem is still existing on Inventor 2022, is there a way to fix it? Thank you.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Alexander,

It should have been fixed. Try this. Go to the part or assembly -> Manage -> Rebuild All. Then switch back to the drawing. Now export it to PDF. Does it look fine now?

If not, please share the file that exhibit the behavior here or with me directly johnson.shiue@autodesk.com. I need to see the files to understand the behavior better.

Many thanks!

[dennis.throckmorton.vasteel]

I'm having the same issue.  It didn't occur UNTIL I upgraded to Inventor 2022 (was on 2020 previously).

I tried to "rebuild all" to no avail.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Dennis,

This is indeed a bug in 2022. It has been reported as INVGEN-53114, set to be resolved in 2022.1 update in July (not the already available 2022.0.1). The the moment, the only workaround is to print as PDF.

Many thanks!