PDF underlay quality

[camshaft89]

This is more a general question for when I am plotting a CAD file into a PDF (using DWG to PDF).

I have found that quite often (depending on the quality of the PDF itself) when I have a drawing that includes a PDF underlay as part of the plot, it will look fine in the plot preview, and also when I am looking at the created PDF on my screen. But when I print out the resulting PDF, the lines that make out the PDF underlay will often be faded, sometimes even partially missing. I don't think this is an issue with my printer, as I have tried printing the same document on several printers, and only the lines making up PDF underlay look faded. As I mentioned, on screen the parts of the underlay look fine (similar boldness, line thickness and black tone as the lines that were actually drawn in AutoCAD), but are faded and hard to read when printed.

I will usually always try to re-draw or trace part of a PDF instead of plotting the PDF itself because the lines can often end up looking faded, but sometimes it is the PDF underlay itself that I need to be showing. I also know that depending on what program was used to make the PDF, or if it is just a scan of a page, the quality of the linework can vary emmensely. Most recently, I was working with a PDF that I knew was created from AutoCAD, but I wasn't able to attain the CAD file itself (hence I had to work with the PDF) - still though, I had issues with the PDF underlay looking faded when the final PDF I created was printed.

I know PDF underlays aren't going to look perfect because they are the result of lines being rasterized - but is there any way in CAD to reduce seeing fading/sometimes missing lines when those underlays are plotted? Often I only have the choice of inserting a PDF underlay into CAD and created a new PDF with it, and in my line of work, the plans I create must look as visually appealing as possible.

[rkmcswain]

See if this thread helps you.

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-2013-2014-2015/quality-of-pdf-output-when-pdf-underlay-is-used...

[camshaft89]

Thanks,

I did also crank up the DPI to 4800 on the DWG to PDF file. As you mentioned, it doesn't do much to help the PDF underlay quality on an actual print-out, but maintains the PDF line quality as you zoom in to a PDF, also significantly increasing the file size.

I was intrigued about this command called PDFTEXTRENDER, unfortunately I am running 2014 and don't have that. Could that command potentially be added to my older version of AutoCAD?

[rkmcswain]

I had not tried it, but I just did and I get the same results (see the other thread).

You might keep monitoring that other thread to see if another solution if offered.

Regarding enabling that sysvar in an older version, no that is not possible.

[camshaft89]

Thanks for your help. One thing I did notice after playing with my settings for a little while - the more I cranked up the DPI for creating PDFs, the worse the PDF lineweight quality got when it was printed out. Strangely enough, it seems you can either have a PDF that looks really good on screen, but prints poorly, or you can have a PDF that looks terrible on screen, but prints out much better!