Plot style conversion

[Anonymous]

I have been struggling to change a drawing from a .ctb file to an .stb file. I go through the commands to convertctb where I save the current ctb file to an stb file. Then I use the command convertpstyles and select the new stb file that I just made. Even after I use these commands, I still cannot change the individual plot styles (they are greyed out) for the different layers although I can select all of them and change them to normal, and in the properties panel, Plot Style Table is also greyed out. I have never really worked with a ctb file and find it confusing that different colors have different lineweights, rather I like the way stb files allow me to change lineweights based on the layer that they are on. If anyone can help me out here that would be greatly appreciated, and if screenshots would help, I will gladly send any.

Thanks!

[GrantsPirate · Accepted solution]

You need an .STB with R14 Color Mapping Tables.

You get an STB with R14 Color Mapping Tables by using the CONVERTCTB command, this can be done in any drawing file.
You will want to keep this STB file (for future converstions) so name it something like Convert.STB. (File names are examples only.)

Saveas the file to another name.stb and edit that accordingly.

[Anonymous]

I  used the convertctb command before but i saved it as the same file name, just as an stb and it wasn't working, so I'm not sure how saving it to convert.stb helped, but it did! Now that I have convert.stb saved, for future drawings do I still have to use both the command convertctb and convertpstyles?

[GrantsPirate]

akuether   wrote -

for future drawings do I still have to use both the command convertctb and convertpstyles?

You won't need the convertctb after this unless you need to convert another CTB file.

You will use convertpstyles for any drawing that needs converted to an STB format currently using CTB.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I think that all makes sense to me now. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Okay, I am back. So I can get this method to work for some drawings, but on others, it still does not work and the plot styles are greyed out.

So step by step, I use command convertctb, choose the plot style in use and save as a convert.stb file. Then I convertpstyles and choose that file I just created, and I save-as the file. Is there something I am missing here?

[GrantsPirate]

Use CONVERTCTB one time only, name the new file CONVERT.STB.  Edit that file and pick delete R14 color mapping and save that file to MY_STB.stb. 

So you now have two stb files, CONVERT.STB and MY_STB.stb.

Now you can edit MY_STB.stb to add new styles, edit existing ones, etc.

Now when you use CONVERTPSTYLES you will first point to CONVERT.STB.  When the command is finished you will immediately change the style being used in that drawing file to MY_STB.stb.

[Anonymous]

I've tried all these steps, and no matter whether my plot style for the drawing is an .stb or .ctb the plot style on the layer properties is greyed out, and I cannot change it. My company has an .stb plot style that I really like to use, but when I get drawings from other companies to work on, they come as a .ctb, and I am really struggling to get it to plot correctly in the style we use. The drawing will say it is using the plot style convert.stb (or the new my_stb.stb file I just made), and either way the option to change plot style is greyed out. I would hate to have to create new drawings every time I have to work on someone else's drawing because it feels like a waste of time, but I have also wasted a lot of time trying to figure out this conversion.

[pendean]

CTBs are based on screen object colors: in LAYER command they mean nothing so that column is grayed out always.

That LAYER command column also remains greyed out if you did not change your DWG file from a CTB to an STB to start with: once your DWG file is STB capable, that column is un-grayed.

Why not post your DWG file, lets see your settings for ourselves, pretty pictures only show symptoms and not the cause.

[cadffm · Accepted solution]

Open the file,

save the file,

close the file,

re-open the file,

Still an issue?

In the past i saw this after converting,

some informatuons in the database are not updated fully (after convert and saving).

HTH (open the converted and saved file again, save them again, close, open, solved?)

[Anonymous]

Ugh, the classic have you tried unplugging it and plugging it back in maneuver. It worked! Hopefully I can make this work every time in the future too. Thank you! Very much appreciate everyone's help here