Saturday, April 2, 2011

Plot preview is blank

Issue

When you tried to plot a drawing using a PC3 file, the plot preview was blank or had objects missing.
Solution

This issue occurs if the Lines Merge option is enabled in the PC3 file and the plot preview background color has been set to black.

You can use one of the following methods to work around this issue:

Set Merge Control to Lines Overwrite

   1. In the Plotter Configuration Editor, click the Device and Documents Settings tab.
   2. On the Device and Documents Settings tab, expand the Graphics tree and select Merge Control.
   3. Select the Lines Overwrite option.

Set the Plot Preview Background color to white

   1. On the AutoCAD command line, enter options
   2. In the Options dialog box, click the Display tab.
   3. On the Display tab, click Colors and
          * In AutoCAD 2007, LT 2007, and later versions, select Plot Preview from the Context list and set the color to White.
          * In AutoCAD 2006 and LT 2006, select Plot Preview Background from the Windows Element list and set the color to White.

Note: Selecting any color other than black will also prevent this issue.

Plot the drawing directly using a windows system driver without using a PC3 file

This option will prevent lines from merging when the drawing is plotted.

Plot sizes are larger than with earlier releases

Issue

When plotting to a file, the plot file created is much larger than those created in earlier releases or the plot file size in the print queue.
Solution

Several issues with solid hatches have been resolved in AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, resulting in improved reliability of files. However, as a result of those improvements, drawings that contain solid hatches may produce larger plot files.