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Drawing missing lines when viewed in Preview

26 REPLIES 26
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Message 1 of 27
hp
Observer
5356 Views, 26 Replies

Drawing missing lines when viewed in Preview

Just started using the new trial of AutCAD LT for Mac and I am having problems when plotting to PDF. I have no problem saving the file as a PDF but once it has saved and I open to view it in preview lots of the lines don't show. The lines are there (they have plotted) as when I do quickview (pressing the space bar to view a file) the file shows up complete with all the lines. Im not sure if this is a problem with my CAD  or Preview.

 

I ruled out...

 

all layers I need were on whilst plotting 

all layers were selected to print

 

 

all lines show in quickview but not preview

26 REPLIES 26
Message 2 of 27
rkmcswain
in reply to: hp

What is Quickview? Is this something particular to Acad for Mac?

If the lines do not show during the PREVIEW command, then they will not print. Maybe they are on a layer that is set to noplot?

Can you post some screenshots or maybe the DWG itself?













R.K. McSwain     | CADpanacea | on twitter
Message 3 of 27
hp
Observer
in reply to: rkmcswain

quickview - when you press the spacebar to view a file.

 

I printed the file and it came out fine, its only when its viewed in preview that the lines disappear. as in i saved the drawing as a pdf and opening it in mac preview doesnt seem to work

Message 4 of 27
maxim_k
in reply to: hp

Hi,

What lineweight do you set to the lines you can not see in Preview.app
Could you post PDF file where you have troubles with viewing lines?
Seems that could be a problem of Preview.app. Which OS do you have on your Mac?

Maxim

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Maxim Kanaev
Architect
MARSS

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Message 5 of 27
NathanFitton
in reply to: hp

Hi

You may have already sorted the problem, but I had the same problem on my Macbook Pro Retina running Yosemite. Solved it by downloading Adobe Reader (free version) and using this as default viewer instead of Preview.app. All lines then present and correct.

Regards

Nathan
Message 6 of 27
maxim_k
in reply to: hp

Hi Nathan,

Could you attach here one of your problem OFF files, as I can not reproduce the issue on my System and want to investigate such problem.

Maxim

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Maxim Kanaev
Architect
MARSS

MacACAD | Linkedin

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Message 7 of 27
NathanFitton
in reply to: maxim_k

Hi Maxim

Sample PDF attached. I am leaning toward this being a Preview.app issue rather than AutoCAD, although I haven?t experimented trying PDFs created using other software to confirm.

What I have identified though is that in my case the missing lines are those in colour 250, which I have set to print as colour as a faint grey line. I have attached screen grabs from both Preview and Adobe Reader which highlight the problem ? both using exact same PDF file.


With Kind Regards

Nathan Fitton RIBA
Architect

[cid:A2531F88-0871-4910-B014-9851DF397EA1]


20 Belton Street
Stamford
PE9 2EF

T : 01780 482483
F : 01780 752281
W : www.rossthain.co.uk


[cid:44FEE121-37C4-448D-A85D-4BBDC3E39015] [cid:7B7886BB-4360-4E54-96B7-E5839BC81493]
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be legally privileged and are intended solely for the use of the addressee. If you have received this e-mail in error you are requested to contact the sender immediately, and not to disclose or make use of this information. Although Ross Thain & Co has an active anti virus policy, the organisation accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this e-mail, including any attachments.

P Please consider your environmental responsibilities before printing this or any emails
Message 8 of 27
maxim_k
in reply to: NathanFitton

No file (s) attached 😞
Unfortunately....

Maxim

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Maxim Kanaev
Architect
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Message 9 of 27
NathanFitton
in reply to: maxim_k

Obviously attaching files to an email to reply doesn't work!

 

Hopefully they will attach this time.

 

Regards

 

Nathan

Message 10 of 27
maxim_k
in reply to: hp

It appears you set the thickness of the lines in hatch which is invisible in Preview app to 0.000 when you save PDF file in AutoCAD. And it was "printed" with minimal thickness which are allowed with you printer driver - 0.00015 pixels

Maxim

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Maxim Kanaev
Architect
MARSS

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Message 11 of 27
maxim_k
in reply to: NathanFitton

Plus, I can see all lines in Preview app on Mavericks:

 

Снимок экрана 2015-01-05 в 23.05.13.png

 

Maxim


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Maxim Kanaev
Architect
MARSS

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Message 12 of 27
NathanFitton
in reply to: maxim_k

Thank you Maxim. I don?t recall having the problem viewing PDF files with the same line qualities in Preview.App prior to the Yosemite upgrade.

I did try changing the plot style so that the line weight for colour 250 was 0.002 (which should have overcome the problem if the minimum for the driver was 0.00015?), however lines of this colour are still refusing to display in Preview.app.


With Kind Regards

Nathan Fitton RIBA
Architect

[cid:109B0EDF-DC20-4B2A-BF5A-283C0A9362BB]


20 Belton Street
Stamford
PE9 2EF

T : 01780 482483
F : 01780 752281
W : www.rossthain.co.uk


[cid:4505CEB6-FD1C-4EFC-B67A-A1CAB6B582D7] [cid:B2AD5D9E-D661-4533-B92C-404CACD14984]
This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be legally privileged and are intended solely for the use of the addressee. If you have received this e-mail in error you are requested to contact the sender immediately, and not to disclose or make use of this information. Although Ross Thain & Co has an active anti virus policy, the organisation accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this e-mail, including any attachments.

P Please consider your environmental responsibilities before printing this or any emails
Message 13 of 27
maxim_k
in reply to: NathanFitton

Yes, in Yosemite I cannot see thin lines when I open file in Preview app, but it is not true for all zoom levels, if I use Cmd+"+" shortcut to zoom-in four times, than the lines become visible.

Maxim

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Message 14 of 27
CosmicRocket
in reply to: maxim_k

I have the same problem. Lines are missing on AutoCAD PDF prints in Mac Preview app. PDF's displays fine in Adobe Acrobat.

 

I have attached the original file to this post.

 

Appreciate any suggestions?

 

Preview.jpg

 

Acrobat.jpg

Message 15 of 27
maxim_k
in reply to: CosmicRocket

Hi,

 

The lines you mentioned are visible in Preview app when you se zoom to 400%:

2015-03-26 14-56-57 Sample PDF.pdf (1 page).png

 

 

The weight of the strokes of the "invisible" lines is "0 mm" and the color is light-gray:

 

 

2015-03-26 15-01-01 Sample PDF.pdf @ 4800% (RGB Preview) .png

 

So there is nothing to do with this issue in Preview app - this is the way of how Preview app render PDF files with thin lines.

If you need to see these "zero-width" lines with less zoom factor, yhan you need to use Acrobar reader.

 

Maxim


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Message 16 of 27
CosmicRocket
in reply to: maxim_k

It would be really nice to find a way to have these lines display as my office has used these lineweight settings for a very long time and we are happy with the look of the drawings (when they display propoerly). This is a new issue in Yosemite. Prior to this OS they would display normally.

 

If anyone has any developments on this please post.

Message 17 of 27
enquires
in reply to: CosmicRocket

I've had the same issue whihc has only surfaced recently in the last couple of months. At first I thought it was an issue related to my XREF file, which was a Vectorworks export.

 

Had a similar issue on my lastest drawing and this was an ArchiCAD export.

 

Forward the files to Autodesk and after five days the only comment from AutoDESK was that the Xref file was not a correct DWG and therefore the issue must lie with the XREF file.

 

I like several other here have suspect the Preview App on the mac and the only work around I have found is to use Adobe, but the current Adobe DC preview is slow and therefore have managed to download a version 11 which seems to work beterr & quick.

 

But I have now been told by my client that they are having issues plotting out the PDF's, so I am suspecting that something larger is afoot with the way the Mac OSX process the plot to PDF.

 

 

Message 18 of 27
erm247
in reply to: NathanFitton

What about when you share your drawing? Will you ask others to use Adobe instead of Preview to open it?

 

I've got the same problem and I need to be sure my pdfs are visualised correctly by anyone using widely diffused software (i.e. Preview.app)

 

Message 19 of 27
NathanFitton
in reply to: erm247

I'm not aware of it being a massive issue for 3rd parties yet - I think the majority of people we deal with use PC so aren't affected. On the odd rare occasion then yes I advise using Adobe.

 

Interestingly though, the same issue appears if the file is viewed on iPad.

 

I haven't experimented to see if there is any difference between PDFs created on a Mac vs PC, but that would be the logical next step.

Message 20 of 27
erm247
in reply to: NathanFitton

Hi there,
I read somewhere that lines set as 0.00 thickness get printed at the
minimum thickness allowed by the printer drivers you're using. For some
drivers that is too small for Preview to render properly...

Long story short: I kept the Layout set up as per my Kyocera printer's
drivers but I modified my drawing template using 0.05 as the minimum
thickness and avoiding 0.00 thick objects.
File > Export pdf... and everything displays properly.

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