Inventor 2014 PDF printing issues

[MatthiasGr]

Hi,

I have a big problem with printing an AutoCAD DWG opened with Inventor and then printing to PDF.

Attached you will find a sample drawing. Open this drawing in Inventor 2014 and save as PDF or export to PDF.

The resulting PDF file is a joke.

Any ideas how I can configure the internal PDF printer in Inventor.

When I print to PDF with FreePDF or PDF Creator everthing is fine.

Only when i use the internal PDF printer i get this unusual result.

Checked with RTM, with SP1 (all Updates) and SP2 (with Hotfix INV18202)

Matthias

[rhasell]

Hi

I ran a few tests of my own, and it definately linked to the font type (True type fonts etc). So I guess with the unusual font being used, an external PDF printer is better.

I am sure the Masters on the forum will be able to shed some light on it, but I have never even heard of the font being used. I did change the font style to standard, and it printed from Inventor to PDF perfectly.  (Note, my AutoCAD skills are limited)

[MatthiasGr]

Hi Reg,

Thanks for testing. The drawing is an standard Mechanical drawing without any customization. Based on the standard template. Border and title block are also standard delivered by Autodesk. The fonts were used are standard Autodesk fonts available for Mechanical and also for Inventor. This means, the fonts are exactly the same. We run into this issue only with AutoCAD drawings.

The background is very simple. The customer starts with Inventor and Vault. They have ~60.000 Mechanical drawings which must be archived as PDF. So someone create a small App which simlpy load the drawings in Inventor and save them as PDF to archive this PDFs in Vault.

It seems, this was the simplest way to do this.

1. Inventor has the build in functionality.

2. No AutoCAD Mecanical is needed.

3. No additional, external PDF printer is need.

But as everybody can see, this PDFs are useless.

So maybe someone can shed a light on me.

Especially the Autodesk gurus are welcome

[blair]

Check your system fonts if the font exists: Start>Control Panel>Fonts: This font doesn't show up on my system either. Haven't worked with AutoCAD for a number of years now but I suspect that it might be a "packaged font" within AutoCAD and not a true Windows True-Type Font. As soon as you use the Export to PDF within Inventor it is looking for a Windows True-Type Font and thus it hick-ups on the font. PDF printers such at PDF Writer, use a Raster Based system and are able to export (almost like a screen capture). Remember that AutoCAD for a number of their fonts still harken base to DOS days.

[MatthiasGr]

Hi Blair,

Thanks, I checked the fonts, they are available and the were used.

Also check the mapping (FontMapper.xml) in Inventor, it is correct.

In the meantime I do some more investigation.

It seems, that when the text is stretched or placed between two points in AutoCAD, the text gets corrupted while saving to PDF with the internal PDF printer. Extenal PDF printers have no problems.

There are some text which used the same style and font.

The result is correct when the text stretch factor is 1.0

But when the text stretch factor is smaller, like 0,85 or placed between 2 points the text is corrupted.

[blair]

Do you get the same problem when printing to a Windows based printer when the text is stretched?

[bob_holland]

et al,

I am replicating your results.

I am bringing this internal and will be sending it to our development staff.

Have a great holiday weekend.

FYI

[MatthiasGr]

Hi Bob,

in the meantime I open a support request (09760492)

Thanks for attention.

@Blair

Hi Blair,

All other printers works fine, no problems

Thanks to all