Lineweight Issues Across Different Users and while Plotting

[Anonymous]

My apologies if this has been asked before.

My company has a custom plot style which provides a uniform system across all the users. However, despite having this plot style, a few users will produce drawings that will have incorrect lineweights regardless, despite the system appearing to detail otherwise. I have checked all the plotting issues for publishing/plotting a file from AutoCAD and none of the fixes work. I have even attempted to create a fresh file of a drawing that someone else has drawn by copying the lines into a new template I have created (and ensured the lineweights are correct), just in case the file had been corrupted or damaged in some respect. Regardless of this it still plots heavy and lines of the same weight/style in the exact same drawing (same page, even) will appear with very different thicknesses.

I initially believed that it was an issue because a few users are on different versions of AutoCAD (one who has a reoccurring issue is on 2018, while I am on 2016), but I do not think this is the case since other users who are on a similar version are having the same problem.

Any suggestions, or is there a fix that I'm just missing?

I appreciate any help.

-MB

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

Is this behavior evident even when printing PDF files using the built-in AutoCAD PDF driver(s)?

Please check that all the Windows printer drivers installed on each computer are identical.  Then, copy the one PC3 and PMP file from a workstation that is working properly to each of the other computers. Does the problem persist?

If you have different versions of AutoCAD, I would NOT try to migrate a pc3  file from system to system.  I always check my CTB for corruption, and build new PC3 and PMP files for each printer and for each version of AutoCAD.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi @john.vellek,

The behavior persists across any attempt at plotting, either to a physical copy, or to PDF, opened with three different readers (Bluebeam, Cute PDF, and Adobe).  It does not seem to matter what is done, this continues to happen.

The computers all have the correct printer settings and drivers because most of them are not newer systems, just newer users.  The only two which are the newer version of AutoCAD were set up by a person who is more in the know than I am about the network and the company-specific requirements for PC3/CTB.  

It is possible the CTB file is corrupted on one or more of them, I'll have to check that out.  But would that persist through a .dwg file?  I'll go into a drawing that my colleague did, which is printing out incorrectly, and replot it myself with my system (which I know to be plotting correctly), checking the printer specifications, and it will still be mucked up.

All I know is that we cannot release some of these files to our shop without addressing this issue more comprehensively than it has been in the past.  So here I am.

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

As a test you might consider using one of the built-in CTB files as a benchmark.  I would again suggest make sure that for each version of AutoCAD that each of those installs uses the exact same Windows Printer driver, CTB and PMP file.  I would tackle this with one version at a time.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.