Configuring settings for DWF creation by the job processor

[mark.cloyed]

I have been struggling with a client to get all his users' workstations configured correctly to generate consistent DWFs in vault for AutoCAD files.  For reference, he wants monochrome DWFs using their company CTB for consistent line weighting.  We have been referring to the article below:

http://crackingthevault.typepad.com/crackingthevault/2009/11/dwf-creation-fine-tuning.html

The issue we see that a user can use the Update button in vault and generate the desired DWF, but if they start the job processor on the same machine and queue an update, the resulting DWF is color without line weighting.  Can anyone clarify how these two methods of DWF creation vary with regard to configuation settings?  This client is the 2014 version of AutoCAD and Vault Pro.

Thanks,
Mark

[mark.cloyed]

A quick update: I am in a sample vault with a sample AutoCAD file. It initially was generating a DWF that was a blank white canvas, using the setting to generate by the drawing's plot settings. I configured vault to use the default settings, and set them to use a monochrome CTB. I recreated the DWF and got a color DWF. I then modified the Setup.dwg, and tested, modified the ACM_Setup.dwg and tested, and finally modified the TrueViewSetup.dwg and tested. In all these cases, I set the page setup manager for the *Model* to use the monochrome CTB. I ran an IISreset between tests, and I closed and reopened the client between tests. In each test, I tried generating the DWF locally, then deleted it and generated it via the job processor. In all cases, I still get a color DWF. Why?
Thanks,
Mark

[ryan]

Configuring the vault's DWF publishing settings can be quite annoying but you should be able to get what you want for your AutoCAD drawings via the procedure below (this was from an email I sent to a customer last year so version numbers and paths may be different). 

NOTE: These steps would need to be done on any machine that is a Job Processor;

1.       Start AutoCAD
   2.       Create a new CTB pen table (Application menu > Print > Manage Plot Styles > Add-A-Plot Sytle Table Wizard) and modify it to your requirements; in particular, setting the object lineweight thickness
   3.       Open the file C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Vault Professional 2013\Explorer\TrueViewSetup.dwg (backup this file before modifying)
   4.       In the Page Setup Manager, set the pen table you created in Step 2 as active (you should do this for all the page setups in both model and layouts)
   5.       Save the drawing
   6.       Move (or copy) the CTB file from the AutoCAD path where it was created to the DWG TrueView path (this is because DWG TrueView is used for publishing the DWF and must be able to find the CTB).  In my case this meant moving the file from C:\Users\rsmall\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD Mechanical 2013 - English\R19.0\enu\Plotters\Plot Styles to C:\Users\rsmall\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\DWG TrueView 2013\R10\enu\Plotters\Plot Styles.

[mark.cloyed]

Ryan,

Thank you for the reply.  I have tried parts of your process before.  I followed your steps but did not find that it provided the desired results.  In my trials, and the client's needs, we simply want to apply the monochrome.CTB to their otherwise color DWF output.  Further testing did reveal that if I open the drawing and change the actual drawing's page setup to use the monochrome.CTB, then the update and job processor do generate a mono DWF.  I rechecked the visualization options and the box to use the drawing's plot settings is not checked.  I even tried a reset on the options, but that did not help.  The real problem here is that the client has some 125,000 files that need to have a monochrome DWF generated, and it is not reasonable to modify each drawing.  We need to find a way to use the vault defaults.  Anyone, please advise as to how we can resolve this.

Thanks,
Mark