DWG Trueview wont export to PDF

[neil.hammacott]

Hi Can anybody help,

I use DWG trueview to view DWG files on my laptop when out of the office and used to be able to use it to export files to PDF but for some reason this feature is now not working.

• I select the dropdown menu in the top left hand corner
• Then select Export to and finally PDF
• This then opens the Save as PDF popout box for me to select the file destination and input the file name
• I click save, the popout box closes and Export to PDF is displayed above the command bar at the bottom of the screen
• Then nothing, no warning etc and no file in the specified location

Whats really driving me mad is that i have used this function before although it may have been on a previous version of trueview but I'm not sure.

Any suggestions?

[pendean · Accepted solution]

"Export" uses preset plot settings in your file: if hat is set to a
blank spot in your file you get nothing.

"Plot" to pdf instead, and actively select what you want to plot and final output sIze.

[neil.hammacott]

Dean,

Many thanks I've got this working

Kind Regards Neil

[david.g.peters]

Sorry to chime in here, and sorry for sounding mad.

Please, how *censored* can I simply plot a few CAD drawings to PDF pages without having to click through an impenetrable thicket of print settings dialogs encapsulated in even more layers of print settings dialogs -- which also never seem to be saved in order to be re-used for the next drawing?

Help

[pendean]

Click on the Big Green D icon in the top left corner of the program windows, select EXPORT then PDF.

That's as fast s it gets in the free viewer: if you need something even faster you will need to purchase a software solution like www.autodwg.com/‎ or a free online service that you hope will catch everything every time like this https://www.zamzar.com/convert/dwg-to-pdf/

[david.g.peters]

Thank you Dean, that worked!

Only one more question with respect to the export feature: is it possible to adjust the line widths that the exported PDF will receive, before export?

[pendean]

You can if you have access to a plot style table developed with that particular dwg file that you can edit manually.

[david.g.peters]

Thank you Dean, I will look into that.

[david.g.peters]

Okay so I now have this 3D-DWG file opened in DWG TrueView:

If I use "Big Green D icon -> EXPORT -> PDF", I get this terrible result:

If I use "Big Green D icon -> PRINT -> Plot (to PDF)", I get this (even more yukky, and totally unusable):

So is there any chance to simply have whatever is shown in the main DWG TrueView window converted to high-quality PDF, preferably vector based? (eDrawings viewer could do that already more than 10 years ago.)

Thanks for help
David

[pendean]

post your dwg file.

[david.g.peters]

I can't send you the actual model for confidentiality reasons.

However I attach a publicly available model which behaves similarly.

I'd like to export the current view (only outlines, see screenshot below) to a 2D vector format, either to PDF or to SVG, for example.

How can I do that? If I plot this model to PDF, I get a wireframe drawing with hundreds of excess lines, where however I only wanted the outlines:

Thank you

David

[pendean]

You need full AutoCAD, not the viewer, and the full expanded offerings under the SHADE PLOT puldown menu on the PLOT command pop-up.

But then you'll still have some fuzzy edges to the linework.

[david.g.peters]

Thanks 😞

Is there any free or Open Source CAD program that can do this?

[pendean]

There are many free autoad-like software out there, you can give them a try, look for draftsight, nanocad and bentley-view among others that may or may not have what is needed.

[david.g.peters]

Thank you Dean, will try these.

[david.g.peters]

I just was going to to say that I bit the bullet and got SketchUp Pro. For non-engineers (although amusingly I once was an engineer ), nothing beats SketchUp's total package, i.a. with it's simple high-quality 2D vector export of 3D CAD models

[mmuhlbaier]

I like TrueView (2018 & previous versions) because it loads faster than the mechanical just to get a schematic printed in monochrome. I realize this is a long standing issue but this is what I found after significant frustration and even a few (dozen) expletives along the way.

I tried both the plot and export function to get a pdf (my default printer) and TrueView just seemed to stall, the plot/publish icon acted like it was working but it never produced anything so I opened AutoCAD Mechanical and printed from there with no issues (same print settings). After viewing this post I did notice that I always printed in the backround by default as older PCs were just not comparable to the multitasking abilities of today.  All that said, I unchecked the "Plot in background" plot option and it now prints.