Colors plotting as colors, despite ctb set to black.

[Big Mike]

I'm working on Autocad Electrical (recently updated to 2015).

I was previously using Electrical 2014 & 2013, and didn't have this problem. I normally use Mechanical and Inventor, so I'm not all that familiar with Electrical.

 

The problem is that when I go to plot, the print comes out in color, even though my pen settings are all set to black. I've been using the same ctb pen settings file for probably 15 years...and I triple checked that all colors were set to plot as black. But still, the plot comes out in color.

 

I did some searching and it looks like Autodesk added something about 'Truecolor'....where objects will plot as their true color, even if the pen settings are black.

 

Good grief, Autodesk....coming up with answers to questions that nobody has ever asked.

 

Anyway, the problem is that I can't figure out how to turn this 'Truecolor' off (if that is indeed the problem).

 

Any help?

[rkent]

Go into the layer manager and make sure the layer colors are not set to Truecolors and are only set to index colors.

[Big Mike]

Could you be more specific on that?

 

In the layer manager, the layer colors are all set to their usual index number. If I click on the color, it takes me to a window where I can choose/set the color. There is a tab for Index Color, a tab for True Color and a tab for Color Books. I don't see anywhere to set it to use the index color and not the true color.

 

Also, in the layer manager there is a column called 'Plot Style'....and each layer is set to 'Color_##' (## being the index number).

I would guess that this is where I could set the layers to plot by the pen settings style, rather than color...but this whole column is greyed out and not editable.

[rkent]

In the layer manager it sounds like the Color column is showing color numbers like 2,3,10,42,254, etc. Those are index colors and should plot black according you what you have said.

 

Unless the colors have been overridden in a viewport or the viewport is set to a shademode other than 2D I don't have any other guesses for you.

 

Post the drawing or a small portion of the drawing. With the only difference being that you went to 2015 I don't know what else to suggest, but others will no doubt be along with some suggestions.

[nestly]

Make sure "Plot with plot styles" is checked in the Plot dialog box, and also verify that the objects don't have color properties overrides applied as I believe object level properties superceed plot style settings.

 

... and yeah, a sample drawing is usually the fastest way to get a solution.

[Big Mike]

I've spent a bit of time exploring the issue of color dependant plot styles vs named plot styles. I'm not sure if this is new to 2015 but it's something I've never run into in 20 years of doing this.

 

I used a few obscure commands to convert my ctb file into an stb file. I was trying to access the 'plot style editor' but every time I did....it just gave me a confusing error message.

 

Every setting I checked, should have meant that it would plot as black. All the objects are set to color by layer. All the layers were set to an index color. All the index colors in the plot style were set to plot as black.

 

Just to check, I tried choosing the 'monochrome' plot style....still came out in color.

 

After googling for a while, I came on a post somewhere that sounded similar. They guys issue was that it would work fine if the file was created in 2015, but not on older files that had been created in previous versions.

 

So I copied my drawing and pasted it into a new drawing....and bingo, that worked. As far as I can tell, all the settings are the same but it plotted as expected from the new file. I hope I don't have to do this every time.

 

What a waste of a morning.

[nestly]

Assuming this is the related topic, did you read through the whole topic? The OP's issue was due to a corrupt CTB file (or at least a CTB that needed to be edited in order for 2015 to read it properly). Another user resolved the problem by changing LAYOUTREGENCTL variable

[gilsoto13]

That happent a couple days ago. The problem was caused by the Viewport or viewports configuration. For some reason, it probably could have been changed to Shade or Realistic. What you can do is use the command Mview , then select shadeplot, then select Wireframe or Hidden, and then select the viewports in your drawing that are being plotted in color, and finish with Enter. Plot again and probably the problem is solved.

[Mkm]

I am having this same issue where it will mistakenly print to color, but it's not limited to the viewport.  If I switch to a different plot style file, it works just fine. 

 

The plot style in question previews in black and white, yet plots (to PDF) in color.  All of the variables are set to black and match, from what I can tell, the other plot style file which DOES work.  I've made sure they're all index colors, and have additionally played with stb vs ctb files.

 

Any other feedback would be appreciated.  I've tried forum after forum to no avail!

[SLW210]

Can you post a sample drawing and the ctb that causes this

[bjunf]

this happens to me sometimes, my CTB is all set to print black, at plot preview it shows colored. what i do is change into another CTB, apply to layout, the change back to my desired CTB the re-apply to layout. it is only a workaround and I still dont know the permanent solution.

[Designer Nige]

I have this issue when using a topographical survey as a base drawing.

A setting within the base drawing over rides my normal settings making certain layesrs not plot as my personal ctb.

My workaround is to export the topo into one of my own Cad files which usually resolves the problem

[jjtalmeida@gmail.com]

Hi people,  I needed your help ,, I'm using the HP Envy5000 home printer on PC / win7 and I print well in color. (office)
With the configuration in HP Envy 5000 series of the "windows system driver" in the plot in Autocad,  in Model space plot configuration - even having the configuration options (from Envy properties ) and the - Autocad properties, windows system driver,  acad.ctb (plot style table - pen assignments - use object color -All). I cannot see the color (all the lines show in grayscale ) in preview (visualization to plot)  - nor print in color, only print in black or grayscale,  But if i print in the Autocad options DWG to PDF file , I already see the colors in Previous  and the PDF keeps the lines and prints in color. (deduction that it,  has to do with,  the chosen drive of the HP Envy 5000 in autocad - by "Windows system driver" have some issue.

I set up the same configurations in the Layout viewport -Page Setup Manager - acad.ctb (plot style table - pen assignments - use object color - All but the previous is the same -all in grayscale.

Is there any place configurations  that prevents the color printing on the paper, and in the preview view of the previous plot we see the colors?
Should I install a "New" printer in the autocad through "" Add a plot Wizard "and looking to install a" Non windows system drive "through another drive that makes me appear in the HP list, the model of this Envy 5000 series printer, for see if this way recognizes PC3 - acad.ctb all in color ... ???

Joaquim

[ammobake]

In the future I would create a new thread for your specific issue.

Your specific CTB is set up correctly if you are intending to print to color.

 

What I would recommend is print using "DWG to PDF" using the same sheet size and scaling.  It should print to color with your CTB.

If it does, print the PDF in color to your HP printer and see if that works.

 

I also would recommend going into settings, devices, printers, find your HP envy printer.

Check your default settings for your HP printer.  Update default to color if it is set to grayscale.

Perhaps even print a test page to see if the colors are printing as intended.

 

-ChriS