Printing Drawings without "Fat" Lines or Text 4

[SBinagia]

I am using Microstation for the first time to view drawings that exist now. I want to print these files onto 11x17" paper and have the "fat" or thick weight lines and text revert to a lower weight so that I can read it when printed. Is there a procedure that you know of to accomplish this without modifying the original drawing?

Thanks in advance,

 

[DaveVikingPE]

Uncheck "level symbology" under Settings>View Attributes. Play around with the various setting there until you get what you need.

 

[MIKED]

UNCHECK "LINE WEIGHTS" UNDER SETTINGS>VIEW ATTRIBUTES

 

[breaks]

There should be a plot driver that you can use with the letters "hs" after it. For instance, I plot my halfsizes using a QMS printer and use the plot driver "qmshs.plt". These types of plot drivers automatically reduce the line weights being plotted so that they can be seen clearly at the smaller scale.

Hope this helps.

 

[SBinagia]

Thanks for the help so far, the suggestions have worked almost as well as I wanted.

Breaks,
Do you know where I can download drivers for these "half-size" for HP Laserjet 5/5M or Tektronix Color Phaser 350 printers? The plotter drivers on my machine do not have half size (hs) drivers.

Thanks again

 

[breaks]

Scott,

I actually don't - the Microstation version loaded on my machine already had the drivers I needed (for an HP plotter, a QMS, and a Laserjet 4050 printer). I suspect the tech guy who loaded it might have added these. If you have plot drivers for other Laserjet models, they will usually work just fine for your 5050 or whatever you have. Try looking on the Bentley site (or calling them) or the printer manufacturer's site.

Good luck, I'll keep my eyes out for ya.

 

To manually create a half-scale plot driver, open up a driver file in a text editor such as wordpad or notepad. Look for a line that says "weight_strokes=(" and then a whole bunch of numbers. Those numbers define how thick each line plots. Start by cutting them all in half (or at least the first eight, since you probably aren't using more than eight different weights). Then tweak to your heart's content.

Rob