topic Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale in AutoCAD Forum

Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

EPCivil3d — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 20:09:19 GMT

I recently upgraded my plotter and I am no longer able to plot in colour. Other printer/plotters will print in colour, but my new plotter will only plot in grayscale. It seems like when I change the "shaded Viewport options" to xray or realistic it will plot in colour but otherwise it will not.

If I download the Autocad DWG trueview it will plot in colour as normal, but not in my Acad software.

Matt

Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

pendean — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:09:11 GMT

Are you using a PC3 file with old C3D 2014 or a plot style table that DTV is not using by chance?
Your "fixes" would override a plot style table for sure.

Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

EPCivil3d — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:24:06 GMT

Hi, and thank you for your help.

We have not changed our plotter config files since upgrading plotters, but it would not be an issue for us if we overrode the plot style table.

Do you know of possible fixes?

Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

pendean — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:40:29 GMT

So this happen to ALL of your files, or just one?
And this used to work just fine but stopped today?

Dumb question, but do you need to restart your computer?

Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

EPCivil3d — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:49:59 GMT

The problem only began when I installed a new large format printer to replace an older one. The new printer was installed with its drivers and now when trying to print any drawing from C3D it will not plot in colour, only grayscale or BW. If I use a different plotter it will again output in colour. Seems to be a specific problem to this new plotter.

If I use DTV, the plotter is able to plot in colour. Therefore I don't think it is a printer issue or a .dwg file problem but possibly something to do with C3D 2014 and the newer printer. Is it possible the software is too old to work with the newer plotter? Is there a way to use the DTV config files with seem to work with C3D 2014?

Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

pendean — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 19:55:51 GMT

I still suspect you are using a driver set to MONCHROME when aiming for the new plotter. Nothing more, DTV kind of strongly hints at it.

The C3D forum is over here, perhaps your peers might recall if it was a problem with the 2014 version somehow?
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/civil-3d/ct-p/4003

Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

EPCivil3d — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 20:08:59 GMT

Thank you.

If I leave all setting the same, save for changing the plotter to a different plotter I can get it to print in colour. The exact same settings will print grayscale on new plotter but colour in an other plotter.

The printer specific driver 100% shows it in color mode except for in the Acad plotter configuration editor where the graphics setting is set to monochrome. I do not know how to change this. Please see attached screenshot.

Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

pendean — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 20:18:34 GMT

But then again, we're not running any Autodesk software older than 2023 here.

Re: Autocad Civil 3d 2014 plotting only in Grayscale

EPCivil3d — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 12:31:38 GMT

Thank you for your help. I installed a different HPGL2 driver from HP and looks like the issue is solved.