Fixing Wipeouts Plotting Black in Civil 3D 2021

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In Civil 3D, wipeouts are commonly used within many Civil 3D Objects such as Points, Pipe Structures, and Labels. Unfortunately, when plotting to an AutoCAD plotter such as the DWG to PDF.pc3 device inside Civil 3D 2021, the wipeouts within these Civil 3D Objects plot black.

This is a known issue documented by Autodesk Support in the Autodesk Knowledge Network article Wipeout objects print black in Civil 3D 2021. In that article, the Autodesk Support team offers several workarounds as possible solutions. Principally, the two easiest solutions offered in the article are to plot using Civil 3D 2019 or Civil 3D 2022, or plot using a third-party PDF driver.

While each of these workarounds is a viable option, is there a way to simply fix Civil 3D 2021 so it plots in the same way as other versions of Civil 3D? In a word - yes. 

If you've ever looked at the About dialog box (ABOUT command) of Civil 3D, you may have noticed the Built On section. Given we have access to both AutoCAD and AutoCAD Map 3D commands within Civil 3D, it probably comes as no surprise that AutoCAD and AutoCAD Map 3D are listed within this Built On section. However, what may strike you as odd is the inclusion of AutoCAD Architecture in that list.

Although we don't have access to AutoCAD Architecture commands within Civil 3D, a lesser-known fact of Civil 3D is that it is built atop much of the technology that makes AutoCAD Architecture work. It's for that reason we see AutoCAD Architecture listed within the Built On section of the About dialog box within Civil 3D.

Great, but why is that important?

In this case, the issue of Wipeouts plotting black within Civil 3D 2021 isn't so much a Civil 3D issue as it is an AutoCAD Architecture issue. More importantly, although Autodesk has not yet issued an update to resolve the Wipeout issue in Civil 3D 2021, they have released one for AutoCAD Architecture 2021.

Specifically, if we look at the changelog for AutoCAD Architecture 2021.0.1, you'll notice an entry for Wipeout that reads "Wipeout objects no longer appear as black when published to PDF."

Unfortunately, while the Civil 3D 2021 Wipeout issue is addressed with the AutoCAD Architecture 2021.0.1 update, we cannot install AutoCAD Architecture updates atop Civil 3D. At least not directly.

So how do we apply the AutoCAD Architecture 2021.0.1 Update to Civil 3D 2021?

Until Autodesk releases a Civil 3D 2021 update including the fixes within AutoCAD Architecture 2021.0.1, the solution is to install AutoCAD Architecture 2021 with the AutoCAD Architecture 2021.0.1 Update. While a little heavy-handed, the good news is, like Civil 3D, AutoCAD Architecture will share the existing AutoCAD installation on your machine. Likewise, unless you plan to use it, there's no need to configure AutoCAD Architecture 2021. You can install AutoCAD Architecture 2021 and the AutoCAD Architecture 2021.0.1 update with its default settings, and that will fix Civil 3D 2021.