Perhaps technically this is double posted, but... Apparently this new background mask depends on "lines merge" NOT being turned on! Expecting the answer to my question in the print-plot group ("Anyone know of a way to make *both* work?") to be no, this becomes a customization issue. Here's the deal: In our standard setup to date, we use a few colors with screening percentages and one of those with 0% screening for things we put in the files for our purposes but don't ever want to plot. It looks really weird when a screened line (or hatch, worse yet) obscures solid linework behind it. Still worse is if one of our 0% objects obscures things that are supposed to plot. The "lines merge" property in the HP plotter configuration made all of this work wonderfully. This new background mask property for mtext is wonderful, but I didn't realize until I plotted this morning that "lines merge" being turned on defeats the background mask! One major use I have for this background mask is putting inline text (piping for example) without having to break the line. So what do others do? I REALLY want to be able to use the background mask. I realize there is the no-plot property on layers, which would help for utility layers but not for individual objects that we want to be plot-invisible. That also doesn't take care of any intermediate screening percentages. Some automation of draworder (Similar to various "hatchback" routines, but for *anything* screened. Like et:cdorder command.) could help here, but this would get complicated if not impossible to fully control when blocks and xrefs are thrown in the mix (see post by David Kozina: Jun/20/03 "Will DRAWORDER do this?" for a good description of this and IMO excellent suggestion to Autodesk by Gordon Price.). Right now I'm leaning toward use the new background mask, change plotter configs to "lines overwrite", work up some automated form of cdorder, and hope the block/xref thing doesn't become a thorn in my side. But I hope someone has a better solution, please. Better yet I wish these two features would just play nice, Autodesk? But then I've never understood why solid fills and hide plot (hidden, hide, whatever) can't get along. Maybe just me.
