CTB. vs STB. plot styles

[Strix]

We'll see if it passes the rest of the team's criteria

[chulse]

L.O.L.

Does anyone know, aside of the possible confusion of STB's, is there any apparent benefit of it over CTB's at all?

 

I think STB gives the user a bit more freedom particularly within the dwg. I don't think STBs are limited to 255 styles. And since color doesn't matter to an STB (unless you tell it to) you can use colors that are easy to see on screen without thinking about how they will plot.

 

The alternate point is this: I think CTB is easier for an organization to implement as a standard and enforce. Less freedom in the dwg and more control from the pen table. Standard colors for the layers with a standard CTB= consistant results. The layers will always be "plot style by color" so there is 1 less thing to mess with.

 

My $.02 (for the half cent it's worth...)

[NBC]

I personally think ctb give more freedom.

But there are go; always going to be differences of opinion.

 

I guess it really does boil down to how much experience you have had with either; and follow that through.

[chulse]

I guess it really does boil down to how much experience you have had with either; and follow that through.

 

I couldn't agree more. (I still prefer CTB anyway...)

[Cadfused]

I think STB gives the user a bit more freedom particularly within the dwg. I don't think STBs are limited to 255 styles. And since color doesn't matter to an STB (unless you tell it to) you can use colors that are easy to see on screen without thinking about how they will plot.

 

The alternate point is this: I think CTB is easier for an organization to implement as a standard and enforce. Less freedom in the dwg and more control from the pen table. Standard colors for the layers with a standard CTB= consistant results. The layers will always be "plot style by color" so there is 1 less thing to mess with.

 

My $.02 (for the half cent it's worth...)

 

Just remember one thing, the cost to make a penny, with copper, now adays is more than the penny is worth. It may only be your $.02 worth but the info is greatly appreciated so i can get a visual of the big picture for CTB and STB preferences and why. thank you for your input.

[ammobake]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to get a general input from our AutoCad community on your preference and why for CTB plot styles and STB plot styles. In short, I am in the Architectural field and where I work, once there was a standardised pen table list for our drawings. The big mishap was that the pen styles were saved to each computer hard drive instead of on the network and what once was a list of, maybe 7 or so CTB styles has now become many differening from work station to work station. I'm spearheading getting back to a standard so our drawings plot the same line weights from studio to studio in our facility. I asked a couple others to aid me in this. One is leaning heavy to using STB styles, though we currently use CTB. An issue, i do believe our facility would face by changing to STB would be, as i understand, the drawing has to be created and started using an STB file in order to print using it, as opposed to the originally created drawing using CTB. is this myth or fact? What do you prefer? I appreciate any input to aid in my decision of how to lead our Cad personnel.

 

Thank you,

Cadfused

 

Ps. if i should not reply back to you right away, our beloved filter tends to catch replies from this web site and i see it a day later when i get my junk mail report.

 

I prefer CTB because it's the easiest to work with IMO. I noticed that you can only have one applied at a time also and when I started out with ADT2007 I had problems because it is set to plot with STB's applied (by default) and not CTB's. I had a heck of a time figuring out why it wouldn't let me apply a CTB because I didn't know what an STB was lol. There is a command you have to type in to toggle between the two that I eventually found in the help menu.

 

When I worked in R&D a couple years ago our company would use a CTB that would always be in the same place on the network. We also made page printouts of the colors and the lineweights to be applied for all the folks on the design team so that we could could change the CTB and/or make one manually if need be so that everything was standardized.

 

If I'm not mistaken STB's weren't even around until a couple years ago or so. If you plot using a standardized STB and someone later wants to plot the file using an older version of CAD it might not work. When I went to school for CAD we only had CTB's (on autocad 2005). That's one reason I stick with CTB's. That way any version of autocad someone is using they can always use the standardized CTB for plotting without having to find a workaround/addon/plug-in that will allow them to plot using the STB.

 

-ChriS

[Cad64]

If I'm not mistaken STB's weren't even around until a couple years ago or so.

 

Just for the record, STB's have been around since Autocad 2000, which came out in 1999. :wink:

 

But I use CTB's also. Always have, probably always will.

[ammobake]

Just for the record, STB's have been around since Autocad 2000, which came out in 1999. :wink:

 

But I use CTB's also. Always have, probably always will.

 

Rgr. I went through college and got certified in drafting technology with autocad 2005 and they never taught us about STB's, only CTB's. LOL!

 

[Cadfused]

I prefer CTB because it's the easiest to work with IMO. I noticed that you can only have one applied at a time also and when I started out with ADT2007 I had problems because it is set to plot with STB's applied (by default) and not CTB's. I had a heck of a time figuring out why it wouldn't let me apply a CTB because I didn't know what an STB was lol. There is a command you have to type in to toggle between the two that I eventually found in the help menu.

 

When I worked in R&D a couple years ago our company would use a CTB that would always be in the same place on the network. We also made page printouts of the colors and the lineweights to be applied for all the folks on the design team so that we could could change the CTB and/or make one manually if need be so that everything was standardized.

 

If I'm not mistaken STB's weren't even around until a couple years ago or so. If you plot using a standardized STB and someone later wants to plot the file using an older version of CAD it might not work. When I went to school for CAD we only had CTB's (on autocad 2005). That's one reason I stick with CTB's. That way any version of autocad someone is using they can always use the standardized CTB for plotting without having to find a workaround/addon/plug-in that will allow them to plot using the STB.

 

-ChriS

 

Hmmm, Thanks for the info. Ironically, within this year (at some point), we are actually moving up to ADT 2007 and may encounter that same issue with it defaulting to STB. I appreciate that heads-up. Do you recall the command you had to type to toggle it over to CTB?

[Dipali]

Use This System Variable

Pstylepolicy

Set It To 1

[NBC]

Do you recall the command you had to type to toggle it over to CTB?

 

Look at CONVERTCTB, PSTYLEPOLICY and CONVERTPSTYLES in the help menu

[Cadfused]

Use This System Variable

Pstylepolicy

Set It To 1

 

Thank you, Dipali, for the command. I think that will certainly save a lot of headache when we do our upgrade, here.

 

Also, thank you, NBC, for the search guidelines, too. 'Convertpstyles' would not work in the case for the "out-of-box" Autocad STB default setting, though, would it? that really is only to transfer from CTB to STB or vise versa. Am i correct in my thinking?

[ammobake]

Yeah since STB is set in ADT2007 by default you will need to use the command CONVERTPSTYLES . That will enable color dependant CTB's instead of STB's.

[Teeds]

Just for the record, STB's have been around since Autocad 2000, which came out in 1999. :wink:

 

But I use CTB's also. Always have, probably always will.

 

That is the real key to the discussion, in my book.

 

I have tens of thousands of hours invested in CAD files going back to the late 1980s that I have in my archives.

 

I can plot any one of them today using at CTB file that I created a LONG time ago based upon a table provided us by Circuit City when we did store development for them. The first 25 colors are a bit funky, but then it repeats every eight colors, just like the pen plotter it ws developed for.

 

Five of the pens are solid and three are screened. That may not sound like a lot, but with 40+ years on the boards going back to ruling pens and linen, I can assure you that that is enough to properly communicate the design intent.

 

Nothing drive me crazier than a drawing with a single line weight throughout ... except maybe someone that has discovered fonts.

 

My quote at the bottom of my posts applies!

[Cadfused]

I have tens of thousands of hours invested in CAD files going back to the late 1980s that I have in my archives.

 

I can plot any one of them today using at CTB file that I created a LONG time ago based upon a table provided us by Circuit City when we did store development for them. The first 25 colors are a bit funky, but then it repeats every eight colors, just like the pen plotter it ws developed for.

 

Five of the pens are solid and three are screened. That may not sound like a lot, but with 40+ years on the boards going back to ruling pens and linen, I can assure you that that is enough to properly communicate the design intent."

 

 

Very good point and a point I was conveying to the others I had helping me that wanted to utilize STB's. It would get confusing to have to remember which drawings utilized stb's and which used ctb's if we did a switch. You don't want to mess with a masterpiece, whether that masterpiece originated as stb's or as ctb's.

That is a cool way to set up the ctb files with having 8 as solid and then others as screened back. that gets my brain churning ideas on how we might utilize something like that.

 

As for the 'Convertpstyles', is that the toggle that will default ADT2007 to use ctb's upon each opening of a CAD session or will that command have to be typed in each and every time? A place i worked prior to where i am now, we would have to type that command in to switch over to use STB's but, as i recall, it wasn't a command setting that stayed saved after closing out a session and reopening.

[ammobake]

You could create a new sheet set template that would then have what you want applied. Then when you start a new project you just use that template. There are a few ways of doing what you want. You could also simply save a file with your profiles, plot settings, and everything else applied that way when you start a new project in the future you simly open that same file and it has everything applied. Later on you can save the file as a different name so that the original always remains intact.

 

Under format> Option> AEC Project Defaults you will find the create button for making a new template. You will also see other defaults you can tweak. The good thing about creating a custom template is that you can use the settings in older drawings you might have.

 

In the autocad help menu under "customize startup" you will find how defaults generally work and all the commands necessary to tweak your default startup of autocad.

 

-ChriS

[Cadfused]

You could create a new sheet set template that would then have what you want applied. Then when you start a new project you just use that template. There are a few ways of doing what you want. You could also simply save a file with your profiles, plot settings, and everything else applied that way when you start a new project in the future you simly open that same file and it has everything applied. Later on you can save the file as a different name so that the original always remains intact.

 

Under format> Option> AEC Project Defaults you will find the create button for making a new template. You will also see other defaults you can tweak. The good thing about creating a custom template is that you can use the settings in older drawings you might have.

 

In the autocad help menu under "customize startup" you will find how defaults generally work and all the commands necessary to tweak your default startup of autocad.

 

-ChriS

 

 

You know, I forgot all about that capability and that would go a long way in getting our CAD operators on the same page and certainly in simplifying things. Thank you for the mini tutorial. You must have known what I would be asking next. Thank you for that insight and option. I will bring that up with the group i'm working with at my work place. Great idea! Thanks.

[ML0940]

Man!

That is an easy one for me

STB all the way

 

This allows the users to select any color they like per layer; then the lineweight is controlled by the plotstlye

 

I never like the idea of having use a specific color just to get a specific lineeweight.

 

Where I last worked, we did a lot of converting from CTB to STB

 

Yes, convertplotsyles is the correct command

 

I can not remember off the top of my head but there is an intermediate process that is involved when converting from CTB to STB.

 

ML

[NBC]

I use CTB's all the time; and it is not entirely true that you HAVE to use a specific colour to get it to print out a specific lineweight.

I have always used CTB's to print out the lineweight as specified in the Layer Manager Dialogue Box; irrespective of colour.

[Cadfused]

Man!

That is an easy one for me

STB all the way

 

This allows the users to select any color they like per layer; then the lineweight is controlled by the plotstlye

 

I never like the idea of having use a specific color just to get a specific lineeweight.

 

Where I last worked, we did a lot of converting from CTB to STB

 

Yes, convertplotsyles is the correct command

 

I can not remember off the top of my head but there is an intermediate process that is involved when converting from CTB to STB.

 

ML

 

Since you work with STB's in your work place, you would be a good candidate for me to ask.

What are the difficulties your business faces when sending a CAD drawing to another discipline that uses CTB? Do you convert it to CTB before exporting, do you send your STB plot settings with the drawing you send out, or what hurdles do you have to jump, if any, to have another discipline use your drawing and have it print with the correct line weights?