Issues with Foxit PDF Editor

[ColinPearson]

Hi Folks:

I have some strange plotting issues recently, mainly since getting a new laptop at work that came with new versions of CAD and pdf software.  ACAD Mechanical 2023 and Foxit PDF Editor Pro v11.2.2.53575 specifically.  When I plot using the same settings I have used for years over numerous versions of Acrobat, Bluebeam and Foxit I get... a totally normal looking pdf.  HOWEVER, when I  print that to paper, there are many lines that are so faint you almost cannot see them and some Wipeouts that a) don't plot the same shape as teh actual Wipeouts from CAD or b) somehow wipe out some extra/adjacent area so the effect is something odd.  See the attached pics... not all of them do it, but some do.  I think you'll be able to tell the one that looks weird without having context for the drawing.

 

Thanks y'all!

[BIGAL]

Is the linework a color and your pdf is using monchrome ctb ? This faint effect can occur when that is the situation. There is a possible answer if so. Check old cad what ctb was being used.

[ColinPearson]

Hi Big Al.

The faint lines aren't in those photos, they were to show the weird Wipeouts that go haywire.

 

However, the offending linework all has color set to ByLayer with the layer color set to Red.  I've never used a Plot Style, always just set it to None and control all my colors and line weight through layers.  

 

Does that make you suspect any particular cause?

 

Thanks for the reply :) 

[BIGAL]

That is the way we worked, but again which ctb are you using ? You can set any color to be another color in a ctb, monochrome ctb is different also. Check pen 1 is black

[ColinPearson]

Maybe I'm  not understanding what you're asking.  I definitely appreciate taking the time to look into it.  As far as I know, using "None plot style table (pen assignments)" means that I don't have anysort of .ctb or .stb set up.   Here's my plot settings from CAD (image.png)

 

 

Then in the pdf, I see  what look like normal results to me, like the following (goodlines.jpg)

 

Then when I print I get this (EVIL_lines.jpg)

 

using the following print settings (foxit.jpg)

 

 

THANKS!!

[ColinPearson]

Incidentally, they guys I work with at my newer job literally do not  know how to create a new layer.  I don't know how they do anything without layers, I'm baffled LOL

[SLW210]

If the PDF looks fine on screen, I would believe it is a PDF and/or plotter issue.

 

How does it plot direct from AutoCAD? How does the PDF plot from another program besides Foxit?

[ColinPearson]

Hi SLW210 - I had recently switched from veerrryyy thin lines to 0.00mm lines in the Layer Manager.  Just a couple minutes ago, I changed to 0.09mm and they line work is looking better.  I like hte look of 0.00mm but if my one problem can be solved with barely thicker lines then I can live with that.  Even at 0.00mm, when I turn the image layer off in the Viewport, the line work looks good on pdf and on paper, so I think the 0.00mm lines are not playing nice with the image. 

 

I don't have another pdf software anymore that I could check.  IT recently went through and moved us all from Acrobat + Foxit to just Foxit, and I don't even have enough admin rights to  delete icons from damn desktop.  (FML)

 

The real rub to me is the Wipeouts printing crazy.  They seem to just take out other stuff willy-nilly, see on-screen pdf and paper versions below:

 

I actually have still been experimenting with the line weights.  Now in MS I have 0.00mm and I have it  set to 0.09mm in VP Lineweight, and I think this last printing I did about 30 seconds ago has everything resolved.  Without understanding the issue, I hate to just drop it though.  Does it makes sense to you that a 0.00mm Lineweight would make some (but not all) lines too faint to see and also do that weird Wipeout stuff above?

 

Thanks again!!

[CyberAngel]

I've always had trouble getting wipeouts to work properly. It seems to be a drawing order issue. They'll get out of order if they're inside a block or a viewport. Could that be part of your problem?

[ColinPearson]

CyberAngel, I'm not sure, but I have a feeling it's related.  The thing that I think is SO odd is that the 'kinda-wipeout' area in the printed version does not correspond to the shape of any actual Wipeout I have in my dwg file.  I never used them much before because I had an issue years ago where I had a wipeout behind text (before I knew about Background Masks) and they would be black text over a white Wipeout in CAD, on  my pdf, and on paper once I printed. but my general foreman printed the same file from his computer/printer and the wipeouts were solid black so you couldn't see the text.  That was a confusing conversation when he asked WTH I had a drawing with no dimensions for LOL. 

 

Anyway, I do have a feeling that Draw Order could be part of this.  Sometimes I have Viewports that will not refresh the Draw Order after I change items around Above/Behind others, but they will still plot with the correct Order, that's kinda odd to me.

 

 

[BIGAL]

Again pick a ctb and this time open it up and have a look, we had multiple CTB's depending on what was required, a red pen can be a different thickness in each ctb.

 

We had the 1st seven pens matching the old ISO colors 0.18, 0.25, 0.35, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 etc the color pens 8-252 were set to 0.25.

 

For images like jpg we used different pen thickness a different ctb, an A3 had thinner than the A1/A0 plotter. All different ctb's

 

[ColinPearson]

BigAl, I'm not sure what you mean... I opened the Plot Style Editor on a couple ctb's and the lineweights for all colors are set to Use Object Lineweight.  That said, I've never set up a ctb myself and only very rarely used anything other than None (never at my current employer which covers the last 2 versions of ACAD I've had access to), so I can't quite see what connection the ctb might have.  What am I missing here?  (Not snark, honest question)

[BIGAL]

Looking for an answer and sometimes suggestion like about ctb do nothing but they can be eliminated then. What do you get with plot using Dwg To Pdf the default pdf printer does it work ? This will allow a check against your pdf writer software.

[ColinPearson]

yeah, I'm not pushing back at ya Big Al, I just honestly didn't quite understand.  Appreciate your help for sure.  I'll check the Dwg to Pdf today and see what I get.