Autocad to PDF 3

[jartgo]

Does anyone have a converter that:
1) Doesn't mess with the scale of the drawing
2) Doesn't mess up the text masking.

I have Adobe 8 Pro, after I convert an acad dwg to pdf, it looks great on the screen, but prints black boxes on all the wipeout frames used in text masking, when printing the pdf.

Hoping there might be an aftermarket pdf converter that works better with AutoCad.

 

[kelowna]

I thought that Autocad had an option to print into PDF files already built in it.

 

[Ussuri]

Autocad has an 'equivalent' to pdf called dwf.

 

[BelspringKen]

You might want to try Cutepdf.... not sure how it deals with textmask.

 

[crossframe]

A recent message from one of our CAD techs about the text masking issue:

"Some of you have had trouble printing and plotting pdf’s (including our clients that receive them) where the textmask is solid black on the paper print.
When plotting from Adobe Reader or Writer just click Print > advanced > (check the box that say’s plot as image)."

Regarding the scale, we've found that selecting the "edge to edge print" feature on the "Print Quality" tab of the printer properties allows us to print true half-size 11x17's (from a 22' x 34" full size).

 

[DMcGrath]

CutePDF does a good job with text mask boxes. As a separate problem, however, it sometimes has trouble with an underlying image (such as an overlay over a USGS map).

 

[rday]

I do PDFs straight from AutoCAD with no problems.

I believe the plotter manager add-a-plotter gives the option.

 

[EnvEng99]

Black boxes where text should be is usually an issue with printer drivers. Update to the latest and print through the Post Script function. IT guys know about this stuff.

 

[chicopee]

Jthompson, every civil drawing should have a barscale that way if the scale is off in .pdf, you still have a reference to rely on.

 

[MickeyD30]

We use Bluebeam. One nice feature is that you can batch plot a set of drawings with it. I have had problems in the past with the wipeout, but not lately. As others have said, this may be a a problem with the driver rather that the software. As a side note, Bluebeam also allows basic editing of other pdf files, much like the full version of Acrobat.

 

[jartgo]

chicopee, thanks for your help. Do you think every sheet should have a page number also? I was thinking that in case the sheets got out of order, folks would know how to rearrange them.

 

[warpig33us]

http://www.fineprint.com/products/pdffactory/

Check out this website!!!

 

[DTGT2002]

The most consistent and successful I have made full size pdf files out of AutoCAD has been to output using my typical linetype setttings with a Post Script printer setup (encapsulated post script works best for me) and then use Adobe Distiller to convert to pdf.

Using an Adobe direct print to pdf setup, I usually get 95% of what I want right and that 5% wrong annoys me and makes some drawings useless.

Good luck!

Daniel

 

[civilman72]

We previously had problems with black boxes over our wipeout frames in .pdf. and found a solution about a year ago.

1. Click on the masked text and go to the properties tab. Go to the pulldown at the top and go to "raster image."
2. Change the color of this raster image to a color that is basically solid and shaded way back - we use color '255.' 3. You have to do this to all your masked text, but we found that it makes the black boxes go away when converting to a .pdf.

Hope this helps; if it's confusing, let me know and I can try to further clarify.

 

[crossframe]

I haven't verified this yet, but here's more investigation from our star CAD tech:

"If you use AutoCAD with wipeouts or textmask and plot to PDF’s you may have seen big black boxes or lines where the textmask and wipeouts are, on you plotted your pdf’s. Here is the solution with AutoCAD 2008:

Toolbar: Draw
Menu: Draw > Text > Multiline Text
Command prompt: Mtext

In the text entry or text editor dialogue screen right click for the task related pop-up and select “Background Mask.” Check the box for “use background mask” and check the box for “use background drawing color.”

Note: when looking at the model from a white sheet’s viewport, the background mask’s color stays the same as the model (black usually). Fix: if it bugs you, change your sheet background color to be the same as your model background color.

More information:

Use Background Mask: Puts an opaque background behind the text. Note that when you apply a background mask to Mtext multiple columns only the column areas will be masked. The space between the columns commonly referred to as gutters will be unmasked.

Border Offset Factor: Specifies the margin around the text for the opaque background. The value is based on the text height. A factor of 1.0 exactly fits the multiline text object. A factor of 1.5 extends the background by 0.5 times the text height.

Fill Color: Specifies the color for the background. Use Background Drawing Color. Provides a background that is the same color as the background of the drawing.

Color: Specifies a color for the opaque background. You can select one of the colors in the list or click "Select Color" to open the Select Color dialog box."


As I said, I havent't vverified any of this, but it will hopefully lead to your own solutions.

 

[TerryScan]

Usually, folks are looking for a free solution. Unfortunately, we often spend lots of time ($$$) making the "free" solutions work.

After spending too much time wrestling with PDF creation with Adobe and Autocad, we purchased AcroPlot Pro. It does the best PDF creation I have found. It handles WIPEOUTS correctly. (I have also found the stand-alone it handy for creating PDFs from other applications such as multiple Excel worksheets.)

 

[Pinwards]

Checking the "Print as image" box in the "Advanced" button on the Print dialog screen will also sometimes fix these PDF printing problems with wipeouts/textmasks.