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CTB to STB. Looking to make the office switch, looking for guidance

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Message 1 of 6
claimed4all
598 Views, 5 Replies

CTB to STB. Looking to make the office switch, looking for guidance

In my current office we are plotting using a CTB file.  All lineweight/gray scale is dictated by color.  Currently have about 15 cad users in 3 offices using 2 different CTB files.  One for surveying and one for engineering.  We are currently revamping all of our title blocks and figure we will make the switch to STB files.  Several users want to use them, and we would love to make lineweight independent of color.  Its a big task, but if we are going to combine plot styles with the survey department, then doing it now is better than later.  Its a big task since out Civil Drawings start out with about 600 layers.

I somewhat understand the CONVERTPSTYLES command.  So I made a color conversion table.  Which you can not modify and or alter.

My end result I am looking for is I want my 20 series colors (20-29) to print shades of gray.  I then want two colors to be masking colors.  I want all lineweight to be by object.  I also don't want "Style_10 (missing)" to show up, so I would love to purge unused styles.

What is my best course of action to make this happen?  Are we crazy for thinking about this and shooting for a goal to be testing this within 1.5 weeks, then a full company conversion on all 2015 projects.

 

5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
AllenJessup
in reply to: claimed4all

I can't help you with the STB. We still use CTBs. However I did want to point out that a CTB doesn't have to be color dependent. We have all ours set to plot lineweight BYLayer. So the lineweight of the layer governs. The lineweight of the layers in out template are set to what we want plotted.

 

I think STBs are probably a more elegant solution. However I've never seen the need to go to the trouble of converting.

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 3 of 6
DMFACER
in reply to: AllenJessup

I think Allen's advice on setting the color and lineweight to be independent in the CTB file is really good, and may be a good solution for you if you're not looking for a huge transition (especially based on your timeframe).

 

As someone that did transition from CTB to STB a few years ago, I'm not quite sure I understand what you're trying to accomplish by switching.  You said in your post that you wanted color 20-29 to plot gray, but with STB, the color (20-29) doesn't control how color 20-29 would plot.  I think you might be confused because you converted your CTB to STB, and are seeing all the "colors" as plot styles.  We did not convert our CTB over.  We started from scratch from the Style-based Civil 3D template.

 

Just to give you an idea of how STBs can work, we have 6 plot styles set up to use in our STB file:

 

Gray Fine

Gray Medium

Black Fine

Black Medium

Black Full

Color Full

 

Each of these is assigned to layers in our standard template.  The "Full" styles are set to pull the lineweight from the object (which is controlled through the layer).  The "Fine/Medium" styles have specific lineweights set in the Style.  Then, obviously, the Black/Gray/Color control the plotted color of the object (Color pulls the color assigned to the object).

 

Just to note, we did not transition any of our old CTB projects over to STB.  We still have the old CTB files on the server so they can plot old jobs using the old settings.  All new jobs are forced to STB by our templates.

 

We had a lot of push back against switching, but now that everyone is on board, the only complaints we hear about plot styles are when someone has to go back to an old job and use the old CTB files.

 

Hope this helped.

 

 


"The most dangerous phrase in the language is 'We've always done it this way.'" - Rear Admiral Grace Hopper
Message 4 of 6
rl_jackson
in reply to: DMFACER

I also do as Allen describes. And this method also allows you to set the width of the object as well. So If I want a particular line to print thinner or thicker, I just go to that particular object an change it.


Rick Jackson
Survey CAD Technician VI

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Message 5 of 6
claimed4all
in reply to: AllenJessup

I like this idea Allen.  Never thought about making the lineweight to by object.  Talked it over with the other department we think this may be far the best solution.  Problem is, I need to find a new for it.

 

Currently for our CTB we have COMPANYNAME.ctb

If we switched to STB we could have COMPANYNAME.stb

 

With the proopesed change we will need a NEWNAME.ctb file, since we can't use COMPANYNAME, as that file is linked to way too many CAD files.

Message 6 of 6
AllenJessup
in reply to: claimed4all

All sorts of possibilities. You could make a COMPANYNAME_2.ctb. You could name it COMPANYNAME_LWL.ctb. Our .ctb is LWL.ctb for LineWeight by Layer. COMPANYNAME 2014 is another. As long as you let everyone know what one to use and how it works. It should be fine.

 

Allen



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

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