Adobe PDF printer in Acrobat 6.0

Acad2K, Win2Kpro, Acrobat6.0 new install.
Problem 1: Getting "Test Failed" error when trying to create PC3 file. Adobe put the driver in "My Documents". Is that why?

Problem 2: Cannot achieve proper orientation, even when preview is correct. Have tried every combination of settings in Acad and PDF driver that I can think of. Tried inverting height and width in driver. Tried long and short edges first. Tried Auto and OnlyOne in Tray Selection.

Thanks. Also, looking for comprehensive tips to printing from cad to Adobe 6.0. Latest document on Adobe's site written in 2001.

 

Adobe Toolbar
Where is it?

The plots are being clipped. The final PDF is 30x42 as I want, but what I
want printed is rotated 90 degrees, and 12" is cut off.

 

Problem 2: Orientation

Found two fixes FYI at http://www.caddigest.com/subjects/pdf/tutorials/select/teselle_autocad_printing.htm

Still trying to solve Problem 1, cannot create PC3.... Note my Acrobat 6.0 is Standard. Anyone? Thanks

 

Can you create other pc3 files for other printers. It sounds like wither
Adobe isn't installed properly or AutoCAD isn't. I've seen lot's of pc3
creation errors but never a "Test Failed". I would first try uninstalling
and reinstallin Adobe because the driver should not be located in the My
Documents folder, that's for sure.

You might also want to check out our software or one of our competitors that
specialize in AutoCAD to PDF conversion. We've done all of the work for you
to get around all of the bugs in the conversion process and at least 2 of us
support lines merge in the PDF files also. We have a free download
available at www.cadzation.com if you want to give it a try.

--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
-------------------------

-------------------------
518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.

is Standard. Anyone? Thanks

 

Yes, I can create other PC3s.
After the "Test Failed", an AutCAD Warning pops up that reads:
"File.pc3: This plotter configuration cannot be used. Either the driver cannot be found, the device cannot be found, or the driver has a problem. The None plot device has been substituted."
I was wrong on the driver location. In the Printers folder, there is a column labeled "Location", and for the Adobe PDF printer, it is "My Documents". That is a user field to locate the physical printer in the office. Sorry.

 

Sounds like you need to uninstall and reinstall Acrobat. It's likely that
AutoCAD cannot find the driver files for the Adobe driver. Also make sure
that the AutoCAD heidi driver for system printers is in your AutoCAD driver
search path.

It's going to be.
gdiplot8.hdi -> AutoCAD 2004 and 2005
gdiplot7.hdi -> AutoCAD 2002
gdiplot7.hdi -> AutoCAD 2000i (I think this is the one for it)
gdi6.hdi -> AutoCAD 2000


--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
-------------------------

-------------------------
518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.

cannot be found, the device cannot be found, or the driver has a problem.
The None plot device has been substituted."

column labeled "Location", and for the Adobe PDF printer, it is "My
Documents". That is a user field to locate the physical printer in the
office. Sorry.

 

Thanks!
To fix the inability to create a PC3 file for the Adobe PDF printer:
Win2Kpro, Add/Remove Programs, Adobe 6.0 Standard, Change...Repair....

To fix the orientation/clipping problem, 30x42 sheet:
Plot Dialog, Plot Device Tab, Properties, Custom Properties...

Layout Tab, Orientation=PORTRAIT (This is the Kicker), Advanced, Paper Size, Postscript custom Page Size, W=42, H=30 (See Note), Inches

Adobe PDF Settings Tab, Adobe PDF Conversion Settings, Edit Default Settings, Auto Rotate Pages=Indivudually, Default Page Size W=42 H=30 (See Note), Inches, SaveAs "whatever".joboptions

Save changes to your.PC3 file

Plot Dialog, Plot Settings Tab, Paper Size=Postscript Custom Page Size, Drawing Orientation=LANDSCAPE.

Note: Setting W=30, H=42 , and all other settings the same, plotted accurately but the PDF page was rotated to view in portrait.

The main things here, it seems, are to always set the Adobe printer to PORTRAIT no matter the plot orientation, and to Auto Rotate Pages Individually.

Before coming to these conclusions, as a workaround, plotting to a Postscript driver (EPS file) then converting the EPS to PDF worked very well. You can set up a Postscript driver using the Add a Plotter Wizard, Select a Level 2 and plot to File.

Plotting directly to the PDF driver yielded a 9.4% smaller file. At 600 dpi, EPS to PDF 1046KB, Plot to PDF 980KB. Some screws can be tweaked to get it lower.

 

Great. If you want to etransmit the test file over to me I'll run it
through ours and see how much smaller we can make it. One of the main
things that can reduce the size is if you use True Type text instead of shx
text. But in doing so you have to make sure that you use a width factor of
1.0 and an oblique angle of 0.0 and not use the fit option for
justification. But in doing so software like our AcroPlot can convert the
text as text in the PDF and hence the file size can be considerably smaller.
Cadalyst did independant testing on the AutoCAD Willhome.dwg sample in 2004
and ours was 125 kb in size when Adobe's and Bluebeam's was 1.7 MB because
they treat the text as graphics. This is one of the main reasons that the
DWF format can be so much smaller because they can treat shx text as text in
the DWF format.

--
Rodney McManamy
President
CADzation
-------------------------

-------------------------
518 South Route 31 Suite 200
McHenry, IL 60050
www.cadzation.com
Providing Industrial Strength
PDF & DWF Solutions to the
Global CAD Marketplace.

Size, Postscript custom Page Size, W=42, H=30 (See Note), Inches

Settings, Auto Rotate Pages=Indivudually, Default Page Size W=42 H=30 (See
Note), Inches, SaveAs "whatever".joboptions

accurately but the PDF page was rotated to view in portrait.

PORTRAIT no matter the plot orientation, and to Auto Rotate Pages
Individually.

Postscript driver (EPS file) then converting the EPS to PDF worked very
well. You can set up a Postscript driver using the Add a Plotter Wizard,
Select a Level 2 and plot to File.

dpi, EPS to PDF 1046KB, Plot to PDF 980KB. Some screws can be tweaked to get
it lower.