Colors for plot styles missing in Plot Style Table Editor - AutoCAD 2015 MAC

[eisofia]

Hi,

I've just started using AutoCAD and would need to print out my first piece of work. I'd like to create a new plot styles so that my layer colors don't print as displayed (i.e. I want my blue, red and white layers to print as black and my green layer to print as yellow).

 

According to all tutorials/instructions I should get a long list of colors (color 1, color 2, color 3 etc) under "plot styles" in the plot styles table editor. However, there are no colors there. Just one that says "normal". How can I choose which layer color to print as what color if I have nothing to choose from?

 

I have attached a screen shot of my plot style table editor.

 

Please could anyone help? I'm using a student version of AutoCAD 2015 (version J.51.M.256)

 

Thanks,

Sofia

[Dana W]

The solution below is straight out of AutoCad Help (F1 key) for Windows. It should be the same for Mac. This is a pretty basic legacy function in AutoCad, so I can't imagine them changing it just for the Mac. If it does not work, or does not have the same command(s), hit F1 and search for stb. Something there will be helpful.

 

I noticed your plot style is unnamed.stb. Plot styles ending in the .stb extension are not color dependent plot styles. You probably will have to convert the drawing you are using, to work with color dependent plot styles, those that end in .ctb extension. Color dependent plot styles can react to the incoming object color, and plot different colors and line weights instead of the incoming properties. Once you convert the drawing you will see the .ctb extension on the available plot style list.

 

Then you can edit one of the plot styles to plot the output color and/or line weight based on the incoming (existing) object color. Do not permanently change the plot styles that come with AutoCad, Save As... a new plotstyle.

 

I suggest starting with acad.ctb, the default color plotstyle. It will currently plot all existing colors without changing anything, and prints every lineweight as the default lineweight. It is up to you to customize it and save it as a new plotstyle table (New.ctb file).

 

Solution to use color dependent plot styles:

The drawing has been associated with STB styles. To resolve this, enter CONVERTPSTYLES in command line. A dialog box will show up notifying you that your named plot styles will be removed and that the drawing will be converted from named plot style to Color Dependent mode.

[RobDraw]

That is unless you would like more functionality out of your plotting. CTBs are easy to use but there are advantages to using STBs. Educate yourself on the differences and make an informed decision as to which on you want to use.

[rkent]

If you want to stay with the STB simply add two styles for your current problem, one for black and one for color, assign the black one to the layers you want to plot black and the color for the other. Edit each to plot the color you are wanting.

[neilmpenny]

On 4/15/2015 at 7:49 AM, Dana W said:

The solution below is straight out of AutoCad Help (F1 key) for Windows. It should be the same for Mac. This is a pretty basic legacy function in AutoCad, so I can't imagine them changing it just for the Mac. If it does not work, or does not have the same command(s), hit F1 and search for stb. Something there will be helpful.

 

I noticed your plot style is unnamed.stb. Plot styles ending in the .stb extension are not color dependent plot styles. You probably will have to convert the drawing you are using, to work with color dependent plot styles, those that end in .ctb extension. Color dependent plot styles can react to the incoming object color, and plot different colors and line weights instead of the incoming properties. Once you convert the drawing you will see the .ctb extension on the available plot style list.

 

Then you can edit one of the plot styles to plot the output color and/or line weight based on the incoming (existing) object color. Do not permanently change the plot styles that come with AutoCad, Save As... a new plotstyle.

 

I suggest starting with acad.ctb, the default color plotstyle. It will currently plot all existing colors without changing anything, and prints every lineweight as the default lineweight. It is up to you to customize it and save it as a new plotstyle table (New.ctb file).

 

Solution to use color dependent plot styles:

The drawing has been associated with STB styles. To resolve this, enter CONVERTPSTYLES in command line. A dialog box will show up notifying you that your named plot styles will be removed and that the drawing will be converted from named plot style to Color Dependent mode.

 

[neilmpenny]

Thank you very much. I was totally confused as to why I was trying to edit my .stb plot style and not getting the 255 colour range. However, after entering the command CONVERTPSTYLES as you suggested, I was able to edit my .ctb plot styles. You have no idea how many hours I spent trying to change the colour settings in the .stb files. Thank you.

[BIGAL]

We had multiple CTB very easy to change had mono, color, thick or thin lines, image just select correct one to suit. You can use shift and click select to change items to 1 value.

Edited September 21, 2021 by BIGAL