Sheets plot in black and white but publish in color

[dan.laccetti]

Hello,

My problem is pretty much just the title. The new user is running AutoCAD MEP 2023 - using profile/template/plot style that other users have gotten started up on and publish with no issue. We are publishing to Adobe Acrobat whatever the latest edition is. 

I have tried setting PSLTSCALE to (0) (it was set to (1) to no avail. Restarted AutoCAD MEP, reloaded the plot styles etc.. has all failed. 

Thanks!

[dmfrazier]

[Note: PSLTScale has nothing to do with it.]

It would be helpful to show us, for comparison, images of the Plot dialog and the Publish dialog.

Something is different between them.

[dan.laccetti]

See attached.

[dan.laccetti]

Didn't reply to you by mistake. 

See attached.

[dmfrazier]

"Didn't reply to you by mistake."

Not a problem. The "system" notifies me anyway.

When you plot, you're specifying a plot style (CTB file).

When you Publish, since the plotted sheets have no page setups, the PDF driver plots based on object colors, by default.

If you want to use Publish and have the output in black, then you have to either draw everything in white or apply a page setup with a "monochrome" plot style that converts colors to black.

[dan.laccetti]

Hello,

We had tried creating a publish page set up already. Typically we wouldn't (thus the <none> you see). We would dedicate the plot we want individually as we set up drawings (or save as an existing drawing with the correct plot set up). This then translates to being able to publish with <none> as the page set up, as it is already dictated. This method has not been an issue for any other users that are running 2023 MEP (or any other version of AutoCAD).

I supervised the creation of a page set up 'PDF 1' that plots in black and white but publishes in color. See attached. 

Thank you!

[dan.laccetti]

Color with Publish.

[user181 · Accepted solution]

Hi @dan.laccetti  you say the user is using AutoCAD MEP 2023.  If you haven't already, open basic autocad and set the paths to the ctb plot styles in autocad as well, then close it and then restart the MEP and see if it works. I've had this problem with civil 3d. 

[dmfrazier]

Let's clarify what it is you want to happen.

Do you want a black plot from both, or do you want a color plot from both? (I assumed you want black from both.)

Your Plot dialog image indicates that your unnamed page setup ("None") specifies a CTB file (PRES PENS.ctb) and has "Plot with plot styles" enabled. Is this CTB for plotting in color or in black?

(Note: I also see that "Publish in background" is enabled. This is known to be problematic. You might try turning that off as a test.)

[dan.laccetti]

You're right! I should make that clear. I want to plot and publish in black and white. The Pres Pens CTB is for plotting in black and white. 

[pendean]

@dan.laccetti What are the pagesetup settings for these 5-sheets please

Next step would be for you to share your DWG(s) and your non-color plotstyle table here for others to test.

[dan.laccetti]

This did the trick!

We opened up Vanilla AutoCAD 2023 on the users computer, hovered over the our friend the Giant A in the upper left hand corner, hovered over the print icon and clicked 'Manage Plot Styles'. We then imported the PRES PENS CTB file to vanilla AutoCAD. We did a dummy PDF and set the profile to current for good measure. When going back to AutoCAD MEP 2023, publish (even with the page setup set to <none> 😮 ) gave us the black and white print we were looking for (aka was executing the CTB file we wanted).

Thank you user181!