All,
At present, I have a Microstation plotting issue I am trying to resolve. Currently our organization is using v8i but in order for them to plot B&W plots, their screen display elements are all white and/or grey scale.
This is the basic plot routine we go through. WYSIWYG with a few color elements in the title block.
What I’m wanting to do is incorporate a .plt file so I can control colors 1-245 as black output colors, 246-253 as shades of gray scale, 254 as white on color plots and leave 255 alone.
I think this code is “right on” but when I load the pen table, select True Color as shown, it plots in color. When I select Grayscale instead of True Color, I get too many grayscale elements. When I select Monochrome, I get B&W and the gray scaling in these strings won’t come out on forms of gray scale.
That’s why we’re presently resigned to black and white on the screen because we are not able to override it any other way.
You’re welcome to look at my .plt file:
# N:\Norsworthy\RDEfullsize.tbl
BEGIN_GLOBAL
VERSION = 890
PLOTTING
VIEWS = 1-8
SYMBOLOGY = AsStored
EXPLODE_SHARED_CELLS = 0
EXPLODE_DIMENSIONS = 0
EXPLODE_MULTILINES = 0
EXPLODE_TAGS = 1
MATCH_MULTIPLE_SECTIONS = 0
PST_COMPATIBLE_MODE = 0
SORT_EXPORTED_GRAPHICS = 0
END_GLOBAL
BEGIN NEW
;Pen Definition for Black
pen(1)=(0-245)/rgb=(0,0,0)
;Pen Definition for 10% screened lightest
pen(2)=(246)/rgb=(220,220,220)
;Pen Definition for 20% screened
pen(3)=(247)/rgb=(196,194,195)
;Pen Definition for 30% screened
pen(4)=(248)/rgb=(180,180,180)
;Pen Definition for 40% screened
pen(5)=(249)/rgb=(160,160,160)
;Pen Definition for 50% screened
pen(6)=(250)/rgb=(140,140,140)
;Pen Definition for 60% screened
pen(7)=(251)/rgb=(120,120,120)
;Pen Definition for 70% screened
pen(8)=(252)/rgb=(100,100,100)
;Pen Definition for 80% screened darkest
pen(9)=(253)/rgb=(80,80,80)
;Pen Definition for white on color plots black on mono plots
pen(10)=(254)/rgb=(255,255,255)
END
BEGIN_STRINGS
"$FILEL$" = "_FILEL_"
"$DATE$" = "_DATE_"
"$TIME$" = "_TIME_"
END_STRINGS
BEGIN_WEIGHTMAP
0 = 4 0.169
1 = 4 0.375
2 = 4 0.5
3 = 4 0.625
4 = 4 0.75
5 = 4 0.875
6 = 4 1
7 = 4 1.125
8 = 4 1.25
9 = 4 1.375
10 = 4 1.5
11 = 4 1.625
12 = 4 1.75
13 = 4 1.875
14 = 4 2
15 = 4 2.125
16 = 4 2.25
17 = 4 2.375
18 = 4 2.5
19 = 4 2.625
20 = 4 2.75
21 = 4 2.875
22 = 4 3
23 = 4 3.125
24 = 4 3.25
25 = 4 3.375
26 = 4 3.5
27 = 4 3.625
28 = 4 3.75
29 = 4 3.875
30 = 4 4
31 = 4 4.125
END_WEIGHTMAP
The weightmaps come out fine. File name, date and time come out fine. But the pen definitions appear to be controlled by the driver’s selection of True Color, Grayscale or Monochrome. Can you recommend a work around solution.
Regards,
David
The Color, Grayscale and Monochrome are just that. Color is generally WYSIWYG for Plot Preview to Paper Output. Allowing for color variations between on screen colors vs paper colors. Grayscale is a reasonable approximation of what you would get if you plotted a color document to a printer that cannot print color. Monochrome takes all non-white and non-background colors and forces them to Black.
If you want to force certain colorts to always plot black while others push through as gray or specific colors, editing the plot driver files is a better approach than a pentable.
Download the MD SHA CAD Standards workspace zip file and test out their plot drivers. They are based upon an IPLOT color table that has a row and a half of colors at the bottom of the color table plot unchanged - some are specific colors and others are various shades of gray.
It is still necessary to use plot preview to see a WYSIWYG screen display.
Charles (Chuck) Rheault CADD Manager
MDOT State Highway Administration
Yeah, there's a handful of ways to do this. I like the idea of editing the Plot Configuration .pltcfg file.
- Go into your ...Workspace/System/pltcfg folder, and Make a copy of printer.pltcfg and rename it to <whatever>.
- Open up the print dialog in Microstation, and from there, go to File > Edit Printer Driver Configuration.
- From that dialog, select File > Open, and open the .pltcfg you just copied.
- On the Base Properties tab, select True Color for Default Color Mode, if it isn't already set to that.
- Click the Color Maps tab, and enable the checkbox next to Define maps from design color to print symbology.
- Highlight colors 1-245 using the Shift key, and click Edit at the bottom.
- In that dialog, enable the checkbox next to Define print color. Click the color bar next to Print color, and choose your desired color. Click OK, and OK again. :)
- Do that with the rest of the color numbers, then File > Save in the pltcfg dialog.
If this is your primary/default printing preference, you can set this as the default pltcfg file using:
MS_DEFAULT_PLTCFG_FILE = C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries)\WorkSpace\System\pltcfg\NAME.pltcfg
That's just the default file path for the Bentley workspace, you may keep yours in a different place. I have this set in our UCF files. I also use Print Styles. Like I said, there's a few ways to do this, this is just one.