Hello, this is my first post in BE.
What I am having issues with is printing my documents to A1 greyscale PDF's. I have modified the pdf.plt file to use only two pens
pen (1)=(0,2,4,6,7,8-54,56-95,97-151,153-252,255)/RGB=(0,0,0) pen (2)=(1,3,5,54,96,152,254)/RGB=(180,180,180) ;medium grey
But when I print to PDF the file looks great on the computer but when I print it to our laser printer the grey lines print out with little dots. I have no problem printing from Solid Edge, or AutoCAD
Is there a way to fix this?
What method do you use to create PDF's
Thank you,
John Matthews
I realize this is an old thread, sorry for bringing it back up again. I am actually having the same problem John was having and am wondering if there was ever a resolution to this?
I can print a drawing w/ grey color right to a printer using 300 dpi, the color is defined in a pen table, this comes out the best.
Printing to PDF using the same printer.plt to a 3rd party PDF writer, using the same pen table, when the PDF is printer to the same printer, the grey lines come out lighter and more "dotted" looking. The same is when I use the pdf.plt file (which has the same resolution setting, line weight settings, and the same pen table.
The only way I have gotten a PDF to print out acceptable to the client is if I use the same printer.plt and use the Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro distiller to create the PDF.
All the above was done using V8 2004. I had also tried PDF out put out of XM, and was getting results a little better with the grey color, but not much.
I would think printing to paper and priting from a PDF would /should have the same output, but it seems there is something in the process adjusting the grey color somehow.
Any direction would be appreciated.
Thanks,
When I print to PDF - I can get almost identical results as when I print directly to a device. We use mm as our units for style and weight records. With that, you can use the same records in PDF.plt as in printer.plt.
using dots - the default is prone to DPI related issues.
Charles (Chuck) Rheault CADD Manager
MDOT State Highway Administration
Thank you all fro your replies!
Caddcop, I have always assumed and expected that PDF output should be identical to printer output. mm is what is being used in our .plt files to define lineweights, line styles are a combination of inches and mm. The lineweight and style defenitions come from our client.
Roy, we do use a pen table that has screening defined as a percentage on top of a RGB value.
Bear, thanks for your .plt, I will try it out and see if the results differ!
zride91: Roy, we do use a pen table that has screening defined as a percentage on top of a RGB value.
Dave,
I believe the screening is your problem. We had some of the same issues. I solution was to tune our output form the PDFs to represent what we wanted to see. Then we copied pdf.pltcfg and modified it to send the output directley to our plotter. Here is a thread, How to print using HPGL2 plotdriver?, which explains my process.
HTH - Roy