topic Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING in AutoCAD for Mac Forum

CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:04:23 GMT

HI,

I'm using Autocad for a while, I'm understing a lot of thing about that program, but I can't get rid of an issue, it's gonna make me crazy: every time I draw something, when I plot to PDF I always find problems about which lines are in the front and which ones are in the back, so every time I have to go back to change them. But there is another big problem: the ends of lines are always above other lines (see the image, where the grey line is above the black one), so I try to change the end type (because as you can see it end as an arc). I change plot style and end line type as I read in 3/4 post around this forum but nothing changed. (as you can see there is also another problem with the little twisted column made of copied splines, but one of them, in the photo, is triggered!).

am I doing something wrong? please help me.

Off topic: I tried a lot of times to put the plot "greyscale" but every time the pdf turn out colored, so not b&w, i don't use "true color" colors so this is not the problem. I can't solve this problem so every time, when I see that the greyscale style is not functioning I change every layer color to black and grey.

Thanks for the replies.

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

pendean — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 01:31:34 GMT

Are you using CTB or STB plot style tables? In addition to those being the place where you control line ends, CTB plot style tables do not work on Truecolors so they always print as their set color.

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

maxim_k — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 04:13:39 GMT

Hi Piergiorgio,

Please specify AutoCAD version you are using along with macOS version on your Mac.
Can you share one of your drawings with plot style table (if any)?

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 07:48:52 GMT

I'm using the last version of autocad for Mac and the last Mac update.

I'm using STB.

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 08:17:52 GMT

I'm using these settings trying to make the line's end square and not rounded. Nothing change, I tried a lot of times and I don't know what's wrong.

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

maxim_k — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 09:00:14 GMT

I think something is wrong with plot style table file you are using.

On the screenshot you provided I don't see Normal plot style, and this is strange, because in this Help topic one can read: "You cannot delete or edit the NORMAL plot style."

Looks like there is a bug in AutoCAD for Mac Plot Style table editor, which allows to delete Normal plot style from CTB file....

I tried to recreate your workflow on my side using newly created plot style table and was able to "print" to PDF with line ends defined in plot style table file.

So I recommend you to recreate CTB plot style table file from default one - you need to find "correct" version, because I see you edited default acad.ctb file and it was damaged with AC for Mac Plot Style table editor.

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 09:53:52 GMT

I reset the acad.ctb file and now I see the correct lines end. So I have to use always ctb? why doesn't it work in stb?

But, as you can see in the image I'm going to attach, end lines continue to be above other lines and now the angles are weak. How can I stop this???

Thanks.

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

maxim_k — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 10:15:19 GMT

>>> now the angles are weak.

Can you attach your drawing here? I want to look at it. Don't forget about customized cab file - use menu File -> Package drawing to create an archive for e-transmit.

>>>end lines continue to be above other lines

everything that you can customize with respect to line merging can be customized here:

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 10:35:29 GMT

Yes, here we are.

Thank you!

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

maxim_k — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 12:00:40 GMT

Sorry, about my mistake about plot style table file in this post:
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-for-mac-forum/can-t-change-line-ends-and-greyscale-not-functioning/m-p/9324654#M37175
Of course, I meant STB file, and I tested on my side with STB plot style table file as you see on my screenshots.
Plus I cannot find the part in your drawing you showed on last screenshot. You have not saved page setup for it.
Can you try to recreate STB plot style table and test it? And please, reattach your drawing with saved page setup (use "Apply to Layout" button in Print dialog to save page setup).

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 13:35:42 GMT

Ok, I attach the new drawing.

In STB I can't make the ends "square".

Please watch the zone near the building that I have highlighted in the pdf attached.

thanks

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

maxim_k — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 11:25:15 GMT

Hi Piergiorgio,

Look at the attached PDFs.

Are you satisfied with the results?

Venice STB 1-100 A2.pdf - was created with "AutoCAD PDF (High Quality Print).pc3" plotter. I selected A2 paper size as you did and set "Merge control" to "Lines Merge" in plotter configuration window.

Venice STB 1-100 A0-A2.pdf - was created with "AutoCAD PDF (High Quality Print).pc3" plotter. I selected A0 paper size at first and set "Merge control" to "Lines Merge" in plotter configuration window. Then, after PDF was created, I opened it in Preview app and saved as PDF again, bit now I selected borderless A2 (custom paper size with zero margins) + "Fit to page" option. This trick allows to get better quality.

Re: CAN'T CHANGE LINE ENDS AND GREYSCALE NOT FUNCTIONING

maxim_k — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 11:31:22 GMT

>>>>>In STB I can't make the ends "square".
In acad.stb you attached line ends are square for plot style "Style 1", so you need to assign "Style 1" plot style to all layers in your drawing in layers palette or set plot style for all objects in the drawing to "Style 1" using Properties palette.