UG_ENGLISH.DEF Woes 1

[JS1975]

All,

I am embroiled in modifying my definitions file (the UG_English.def anyways) and I believe I have been sucessful at only confusing myself.

It all started with the print function......

I have the adobe acrobat distiller as one of my printing options (not PLOT). I have been successfully making PDF's with this (more or less), but I need the line weights to all be kicked down a notch. So, I thought the reasonable thig to do was to modify where the pen weights are defined. After some brief poking around I found a section in the UG_English.def file that had to do with setting the Thick, normal and thin weights and their respective english and metric sizes. Well, I just halved all the values - shut down and restarted unigraphics (NX2) and when I reprinted - Viola! - the PDF is even THICKER and totally illegable. I went back and pasted in the original values (I pasted them to a .txt on a notepad on my desktop) and it had no effect - still thick and terrible. I couldn't get what I had back. Gone, all gone.


Well, at that point I thought it might be high time to join a UG forum and - here I am.

-Joe

 

[ewh]

The first rule in messing with the default files is to ALWAYS copy the original file to a backup in case something doesn't work.

 

[JS1975]

I did - when I pasted it back in - no bueno. I have the copy of the original still on my desktop.

-Joe

 

[Xwheelguy]

I would personally recommend setting up plot queue/s for postscript files, as you will have an easier time with the line weights from a new user's perspective. You can choose the plot to be output as a file, which should be a postscript if you set the queue up correctly. This way, you'll have control over line weights in the queue.

The printer uses a setting that is not defined in the metric/english .def files, but rather in ugii_env.dat & it makes all the line weights thin or thick. If you're intent on using the print method, I believe the setting to lighten your line weights is as follows:

UGII_WMF_LINE_WIDTH_SCALE_FACTOR=.25

So, if you decide to stick with the printer, put the plotter pen settings back to what they were before, then do the ugii_env.dat edit by adding the line above. This should do the trick.



Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

http://www.enkei.com

 

[Xwheelguy]

Forgot to add that if you choose the plotter queue method, you'll have to convert the postscript file to a pdf somehow. Not sure if Distiller does this for you or not.

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

http://www.enkei.com

 

[JS1975]

Tim,

Just read your thread - awesome advice. I will try to do it this afternoon.

If I modified the UGII_WMF_LINE_WIDTH_SCALE_FACTOR (in the ugii_env.dat, right?) will that also affect my plots to my HPDJ800ps - or will it only affect my ps plotter deal. It sounds like it would change both. Just wondering - I don't think I'll do it since I want to go the plot route.

Anyways, the whole problem was, before I messed with the .def in the first place, was that my PLOT to my DJ800 was too light and my PRINT to my distiller was too heavy. All the lines and text had the same weighting for both.

So, if I do the plot for both (plotting and PS plotting) it sounds like I can do my pens custom to suit (do I add/ modify pens here I was in .def in the first place - like if I wanted a new pen I type it in the def file - or is there a window in UG to create new pens?) and I will stop printing (evil button, that one is).

I'll let you know how it goes,

-Joe

 

[Xwheelguy]

The ugii_env.dat edit will only affect when you use File -> Print, not File -> Plot, as that is controlled by the plot queue switches. I've also found that in my case, choosing whether I plot by width or color will have an affect on line weights as well. I personally don't use custom pens in UG, but rather have them set at the plotter (if that makes sense to you) and plot by color. Basically when I plot by color, it doesn't matter what the widths of the lines are in UG, the color dictates their widths.

When I want a drawing to come from the printer, I still use File -> Plot, but then I switch to plot by width to get the standard 3 widths (thick, normal, thin).

When I want a PDF, line weights USUALLY don't come through very well, so I still use File -> Plot but send the drawings to a postscript queue & plot by width.

Try the ugii_env.dat edit first for your PDF problems. If that works, then experiment with the postscript queues & see if they give you a better output or if you even like using that method, as it can get tedious combining .ps files into PDFs at times if you do multi-page drawings.

As far as your plotter goes, it's hard to say what may be the problem (at least for me it is). I'd read thoroughly over the plotter switches tables in the documentation. Look for the SP=XX settings & try each one to see if that fixes your line weight problems. You'll want to change the SP=XX setting then plot once by color & once by width until you find the one that gives you what you desire.

I hope this isn't too confusing for you. It takes some experimenting to get the plots to come out right sometimes.



Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.

http://www.enkei.com

 

[UGperson]

Tim,

Acrobat Distiller will convert .ps files to pdf.

 

[JS1975]

Tim,

Sorry for the delayed response. I used your advice and I sorted out my plotting and PDF woes! Thanks for the great advice.

I found and cracked open my UGNX2 plotting tome and figured out what pen weights were what, stopped using the print function (altough the scaling thing helped) and set up a postscript queue.

Now, I plot by width (because I like to have the sheet white and the lines displayed black by width AND I don't like to worry about what is colored what when it all is displayed black) and:

1. For Plotting my DJ800PS looks good with a 2, 9, 4

2. For PostScript my 11x17 pdf's (.ps files when they are spit out from the spooler) look great with a 4, 2, 3.

I did not modify the pen weights (I don't know if you can) - nor did I go the custom palette route.

Thanks everyone for your help. If anyone wants my settings just ask and I'll check this thread in a few days.

-Joe