R2000i plotting bug

Our firm has been battling with a bug in R2000i (service pack 2) for a while
now. I'm hoping that someone knows of a fix, even if it means replacing
R2000i files with R2002 files. Let me explain.

Start AutoCAD 2000i. Create two CTB files, one called FullSize, the other
HalfSize. In the FullSize.ctb file set colour 1 to print black with a
lineweight of 0.9mm. In the halfSize.ctb file set colour 1 to print black
with a lineweight of 0.3mm.

You will need plotter definitions for two types of plotters. One capable of
large format plotting (say, the AutoCAD CALS driver), and one capapble of A3
laser (say, AutoCAD's HP LaserJet 4V driver)

Start a new drawing. Create a new layer, set it's colour to red, then make
the layer current. On this layer draw some lines and some text.

Go to Layout 1. When the page setup window comes up select a large format
plotter, something capable of ploting A0 size, set the pen table to
FullSize.ctb and set the page size to A0. Let AutoCAD automatically generate
a viewport into model space.

Go to Layout 2. When the page setup window comes up select a laser printer
that is capable of A3 format plotting, set the pen table to HalfSize.ctb and
set the page size to A2. Let AutoCAD automatically generate a viewport into
model space.

Plot Layout 2. In this little experiment, these will be the lineweights we
want our ALL of our plots to have.

Go to layout 1 and select plot. Change the plotter from the large format to
the laser format printer. Change the pen table from FullSize.ctb to
HalfSize.ctb. Change the paper size to A3 and then set the scale factor to
1:3. Make sure that "Save changes to layout" is NOT checked. Plot.

What should happen, and does if you repeat the above steps using AutoCAD
2002, is that the lineweights of the resulting plot are exactly the same as
those from the plot of Layout 2. In AutoCAD 2000i what happens is that, even
though you've specified that the HalfSize.ctb file is to be used, what gets
sent to the plotter are the values specified in FullSize.ctb. Visually, the
lineweights are 0.9mm in thickness as opposed to the 0.3mm that they should
be.

Changing the pen table has no effect because the plot always uses the pen
table specified when the page setup command was last invoked.

Now, this bug was fixed in R2002. Anyone know how to fix it in R2000i (NOT
2000). Yes, we could simply create multiple layouts, both full and half size
variations. But this would then require that, any changes made in "paper"
space to one layout be repeated in the other layout. With the pace of work
around here, it's very likely that that wil not always happen. Fixing R2000i
so that it behaves like R2002 by updating files would be a preferable
solution.

I look forward to your responses.

 

This sounds like the bug where when you change .ctb file in the Plot
function they don't take, whereas if you change them in Page Setup they
work. I don't know if they ever fixed this - I can only tell my users to
change plotsytles in Page Setup and not Plot if they want reliable changes.

John

 

Why not just use ONE layout with FullSize.ctb attached and when you want to
plot halfsize change the plotter and sheet size and check the "Scale
lineweights" box. Admitted, this can get tedious. But I have used
aclyutil.arx (search autodesk.com for aclyutilarx.zip) to setup scripts to
make the operation "pushbutton." Want that 30X42 plotted half size? Push a
button... Want it plotted to 11X17 .pdf? Push a button. Works very well if
you take the time to set it up.

 

Your SCRIPT can set the appropriate PS table by doing "Detailed plot setup."