Dots appear around inline wire numbers on printed pdf when using Consolas font

[Anonymous]

I am currently using AutoCAD Electrical 2016. When I set the font used in my schematics to Consolas, batch plot to pdf, then print the pdf dots appear around all inline wire number text. Doing some digging, it seems these dots are coming from the wire number's X?_TINY_DOT_DONT_REMOVE attribute. I see that I cannot blank this attribute to get rid of the dots, but can I replace the "." character with some other character such as a space? If not, is there some other fix for this issue to remove the dots from the printed pdf?

[jseefdrumr]

It looks to me like the X?_TINY_DOT attribute is always a period from the font of your current Text Style. When I played around with this before, I learned that about all you can do is try different fonts to maybe find one that puts the period right over the wire. (I was doing this for twisted pairs, which also use the TINY_DOT.)

AFAIK the only work around for this is to place the TINY_DOT symbol on a non-plotting layer. This doesn't appear to affect their functionality; they work just fine, they just don't print. They're separate from the wires. The catch is, you have to do them all individually.

When I tried to edit the source block for twisted pairs, I placed the tiny dots on a non-plotting layer. I left the rest of the block on layer 0. But, when you go to insert it later, the software automatically reassigns everything to different layers. For example, the block as a whole goes on SYMS but its attributes all go on MISC. This overriding of the assigned layer prevented my workaround from doing any good. Eventually I just learned to deal with it; there appears to be no way to change how the commands behave, at that level.

Wish I had better news...

[Icemanau]

Check the blocks used for the wire numbers and make sure the TINY_DOT attributes are actually set to be invisible.

I just realised that mine weren't after the last update whereas previously they were.

Regards Brad

[Anonymous]

Thanks.

I tried setting the TINY_DOT attribute to invisible. I also tried replacing the "." with a space. Both methods remove the dots from the printed pdf, but modifying the block source to change the TINY_DOT attribute has no effect as AutoCAD overrides my changes.

I also tried placing the TINY_DOT attribute on another, non-plotted, layer. This also works, but is time consuming as it has to be done for each drawing. It would have been nice to simply hide the MISC layer it defaults to, but other attributed such as fuse sizes also automatically go to this layer.

[Icemanau · Accepted solution]

When you tried setting the attribute to invisible, did you do this on the block dwg itself or an inserted version of the block.

My solution is to do it on the block dwg, and then update the block in the affected dwgs. You will then have to re-run the wire numbering tool or use the tool to adjust the inline wire gap. This fixes the problem for good.

Also, double check the blocks used for the wire number copy if you use those.

Regards Brad

[Anonymous]

I tried both the block drawing and the inserted version. It's possible I edited the wrong source as I found multiple sources.

The solution I found that works for me is I created a drawing template and drew some wires to name, edited the inserted version of the inline wire number, then deleted the lines so the template held the wire number blocks. I then edited the inserted blocks and now every time I create a new drawing from the template the TINY_DOTs are invisible.

[SeedyNotions]

I also noticed this on twisted pair inserts and inline wire colors. Seemingly anything you add in a wire that needs a geometric variance to cut the wire.

Upon some research I found this from the knowledgebase:

X?_TINY_DOT_DONT_REMOVE_01P, X?_TINY_DOT_DONT_REMOVE_01J

Attribute with a small, single character value ".", that must remain visible and must be placed at the exact insertion location of the XnTERM01P and XnTERM01J attributes. Maintains wire connection integrity if a connector pin is moved beyond the end of the connector shell. The "?" digit is the wire connection direction digit; 1, 2, 4, or 8.

Note: The "01" is incremented when the parametric connector is generated and is used to keep multiple wire connection point attribute names unique.

Everything from CAD looks good all the way to PDF. The PDF shows nothing of the sort, until printing. I figured out that printing as image gets rid of them, at least in my own testing. To do this, go to Print > Advanced (Next to Properties) > Print as Image ( Near the top). Then the print should come out as it is depicted in the PDF viewer.

Let me know if this works for you as well.

J.

[Anonymous]

I tried printing PDF as image. It works, but it makes the drawing look funky. Setting the tiny dots to invisible caused the wire name to disappear where the wire name is inserted and the continuing wire to the right. Trying to put the dot on its own, non-plotted layer did not work. My final solution was to replace the dot with a space character.

[SeedyNotions]

I didn't even think of putting a space in the block. Good idea. I was able to get it to work by just making the dot attributes to invisible, but that might be a better work around. I've never had this issue until starting at my new company.

Good thinking!