Opaque Object Printing as Transparent with Vector Processing

[RevitRx]

I have a headscratcher going on....

Currently, there's a situation where items are printing differently than what's being displayed on screen. Specifically, opaque objects are printing transparent. I now have three distinct (but probably related) situations where this has been noticed.

1. Nested text or labels - a Generic Annotation family with text and labels that gets nested into a Generic Model and then the Generic Model gets loaded into a project. The text type and label type are both unique and are set to have opaque backgrounds. In the project on screen, they show correctly, but when printed the text has as a transparent background. 
2. Nested masking regions and opaque filled regions - Similar as #1, GenAnno family nested into GenModel and loaded into a project. As above, both filled and masking regions show properly on screen in the project, but during printing they lose their opacity. 
3. Stair Path Text - Similar situation where opaque text (opaque text type set in the stair path type properties) that says UP or DN shows in the model as opaque, but prints transparent. I was going to write this one off as being a bug like the other two, but having an element based in the project not printing as it is shown on screen is an issue worth bringing up. After digging a little, I noticed that the opaque background does still mask out the dot at the beginning of the stair path (see attached PDF print and JPG screen grab) which hopefully can point the dev team to the right rabbit hole of code.

Basically I'm asking if anyone else has seen this issue before and may have found a solution. I also understand that "tagging" elements would work, as well as printing using raster but raster drawings are not a solution. All elements have been printed to both PDF and an actual printer from both a sheet and a view, same result. The print preview shows how the view will be printed, so this has to be a Revit printing issue somewhere under the hood. 

Revit 2015 Update Release 14 [Build: 20160512_1515(x64)]

Revit 2017.2.3  [Build: 20171027_0315(x64)]

Revit 2018.3.1  [Build: 20180423_1000(x64)]

Windows 10.0.17134

If anyone needs projects, families, journals, logs or slogs lemme know (although the test project is not worksharing enabled, it still happens in central files).

Thanks for all the help!

[barthbradley]

HEY! This looks like SPAM!  

...just kidding 

[Anonymous]

I have the same problem.

Generic Model families printing transparent when I use vector processing in my printing settings. Even when it's opaque in the screen, visual style is Hidden Lines, and they have a material applied.

Anyone knows why?

Regards

[ToanDN]

Is the viewport crop region a custom shape?

[Anonymous]

No. it's just a simple rectangle.

But I've tried deactivating the crop region and have the same result.

I read and seems to be a problem with the "Hidden Lines" display and vector printing. But I still don't understand why it happens.

[RevitRx]

Good call on the custom crop sketch, I've noticed that has caused printing/graphic issues. After some research, it seems that this all started around 2012-2014. Ironically, if you nest a Generic Annotation family (with the parameters properly associated) into a Detail Item, it shows AND prints correctly from a project environment. 

Unfortunately, Detail Items can't be loaded into modeled components like Generic Annotations can be, so it becomes a dead end. I'm no coder by any means, but this seems like a vector printing bug that has been overlooked.

[ramcdowell]

I think I was having the same issue with the background of my elevation and pipe tags (they were showing to be opaque on screen but printing transparent). I found this little trick worked for me: (I am using Bluebeam PDF printing so yours may be different) Under "General Settings," and Plot Quality, I selected "Advanced" Next to the Line Merge check-box. Then I simply changed "Blend Mode" from Darken (the default) to Normal (none). Somehow, this worked and my tags now print with opaque backgrounds! 

Hope this helps!

[roy_ignacio]

I cheat and get around the problem by using the 'Print Screen' and pasting into 'PAINT'