Plotting Line Weights

[timc6CCUA]

I cannot get my drawing to plot line weights. Everything is the same. They appear correctly in both paper space and model space. Will not plot to either pdf or platter.

[rkmcswain · Accepted solution]

Are you using Color Dependent or Named Plot Styles?

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/3PP-A...


Perhaps you are assigning lineweights to objects but you have a .CTB file assigned to the page setup that you are printing, which ultimately determines lineweight.

There are many different ways to set up drawings for printing, and a lot of different variables involved.

What does the print PREVIEW look like?

[timc6CCUA]

The preview does not show line weights either.
I used "Monochrome" and it appears to work right.
We have a plot style "ANVIL.ctb" set up. It must have something to do with this set up.
[cid:image001.png@01D37A41.EAC183D0]

[rkmcswain]

Yes, your last sentence is probably the cause.

If you are using a CTB file, the colors in your drawing map to a color in the CTB, with a defined line weight, the CTB file setting wins.

It looks like you tried to include an image, but it failed.

[timc6CCUA]

I am trying to send the screenshot.

My designer is on vacation and I am trying my best to not call him!

[rkmcswain]

Your screenshot shows the setting for Color 1

You'd have to verify each color in the CTB to see what the lineweight is set to, and then compare that to the colors used in your drawing.

[timc6CCUA]

I am a novice AutoCAD user. So this seems way to complicate to me. It seems like there should be a way to just print it the way it looks.
I will just have to wait for my designer to get back from Vacation.
Thanks for your help.

[rkmcswain · Accepted solution]

Unfortunately, by allowing users many options, comes complexity.

In summary: The LW setting in the CTB will override any LW setting applied to an entity in the drawing.

If you want to print it just like it looks on the screen, remove all CTB files (set it to None) - but you're not going to get any color mapping either. That means Red will print Red, Yellow will print Yellow, etc.

When a designer sits down to prepare a drawing (using the CTB method) he/she knows that by using RED, he/she will get a printed entity that is BLACK and 0.7mm wide, and YELLOW on the screen will be BLACK and 0.95mm wide, and so on and so on.

It all depends on how the CTB is set up.

And that is why nobody here can tell you exactly what to do since we don't know anything about your CTB files and we don't have the DWG file.

Good luck!

[timc6CCUA]

After some tinkering, I see what it is doing. I am just not sure what the advantage is to doing that.

But I will have my designer explain it when he is back.

I see in the layer definitions, the layer has a line weight and plot color. If in the .ctb file, I change all of the "line weights" to "use object line weight",  will it use the layer definition line weight for the plot LW?

[cadffm]

Sure,
if an Object have the lineweight "bylayer", but lw 2.11, 0.7 ... are possible too for objects.