convert dwg from ctb to stb

Hi all,

I have been using color dependant plot styles (ctb) exclusively and I've
finally decided to investigate named plot styles (stb). I changed the
setting in "options" to use stb for new drawings but instead of starting a
drawing from scratch, I opted to convert my master drawing. This is the
sequence of procedures that I used:

1) Command CONVERTCTB; I choose the active ctb file from the dialog, hit ok,
and then choose the new stb file to convert to. (The new stb file has the
same name as the ctb file)
2)Command CONVERTPSTYLES; select the newly created stb file from the dialog.
3)Command PLOTSTYLE; select the new stb to make it active.

Problem(s): When I open the new stb in Plot Style Manager, I am unable to
add new styles (the button is dimmed). I can only modify the existing one;
Style 1. So, I create an stb from scratch, enter the plotstyle command and
select that one. I can't skip step 1 because the ctb table has to be mapped
to an stb. Likewise, in step 2, I can't select another stb because I will
get the error that the stb does not contain a color mapping table (hence, I
can't skip step 1). After step 3, in layer manager, I see that all plot
styles have been mapped to Style 1. Now, when changing a style for a layer
or object, I get a selection dropdown of styles that I created in my stb but
also listed is "Style 1, missing".

So what I've done when prompted to select an stb to convert (map) to in the
COVERTCTB command, is enter the name mappedctb.stb rather than accept the
default. I close the drawing and change the name of "Style 1" in Style
Manger to a new name that I will be using in my stb created from scratch. I
reopen the drawing, run the CONVERTPSTYLES command, and select
mappedctb.stb. But I get an error, "invalid style name".

Why am I restricted from adding styles to the mapped stb created in the
CONVERTCTB command and, is there a better procedure than the above? Sorry
for the long (confusing?) post.

Regards,
Pete

 

Pete -

The easiest way I have found to do this is to use Edit/Copy to copy
everything in the CTB drawing into a blank STB drawing. (Do this once
for model space entities and once for each layout in the CTB drawing.)
Then just attach the appropriate stb file and assign each layer to the
plot style you want.

The STB approach is so much easier to manage, that where I teach, we
erase all the CTB templates after installing AutoCAD so students will
not get stuck in just the situation you describe.

-Bill