Printing Shadow Studies

[MTristram]

Has anyone encountered the problem of incomplete shadows printing out on drawings?

We have a project which has various shadow study plans, placed on sheets. When we print preview them, the shadows display nicely - when we actually print them, either to PDF or our printers, only partial shadows print. Now to add more complexity/confusion to it, this doesn't happen for all sheets just the majority. We have checked the view ranges on all of the views and they all match - is this a printer issue?

[dhurtubise]

Yes, you are probably running out of memory. Even PDF doest it ?
Did you tried DWF ?

[MTristram]

Yes it does it when we PDF - haven't tried DWF....will get the team to try that

[MTristram]

Just tried exporting DWF - similar problem only part shadows print.

Attached is a screen shot of the actual model with shadows and also the latest DWF file.

[dhurtubise]

Where are you missing shadows ?

[MTristram]

If you check out the shadows on the DWF - top left corner they are partially missing compared to the screenshot.

[dhurtubise]

Can you share the file ? If not send it to support.

[Neil Osher]

We had the same problems. We ended using the File -> Export -> Image option. That worked fine. The unfortunate part was we wasted about an hour going through the DWF, PDF, and hard copy print options.

Someone mentioned running out of memory. I guess that's possible. Although we are using new Dell Precision 390's with 4 GB RAM.

[dhurtubise]

Are those machine on a 64bits OS ?

[Neil Osher]

No. XP Pro. I know they are technically using about 3.25GB. Regardless, they are maxed out.

[ITABWODI]

Are you batch printing, or sending one sheet at a time? We've had memory issues with shadows just doing one sheet, so I can only imagine what multiple sheets would do.

[Neil Osher]

With us, it was just one sheet.

[MTristram]

We aren't getting any memory warnings. We are operating Windows XP on 32bit. Printing one sheet at a time, not batch printing.

Would having multiple linked files affect it?

Checked View Range, Worksets, Options etc all are set correct. Will try the export image option. The file is workset enabled and all users are able to access it no problem, just the printing of approx 1/2 the output drawings of shadows don't print correctly.

[Neil Osher]

We never got memory warnings either.

We had multiple linked files as well. 10 different unit types arranged in Brownstone clusters. 3-5 types per cluster. 13 clusters total.

[Simon.Whitbread]

Have a look at the attached, I believe the additional topo you have copied vertically for building control height may well be the issue here.
If you want to cast shadows, maybe look at massing the building control rather than this method

[dpollard909366]

did you try printing as raster instead of vector in the print settings?

[Neil Osher]

In our situation we tried both raster and vector.

[angus.110169]

Has anyone got an answer to this?

My fear is that there are a whole lot of people who don't check their printed output against what is on screen!

We have the same problem.

The effect is worse on an older PC but still occurs on a brand new one!
The great thing (sarcasm) is that it is totally inconsistant.

This is a VERY dangerous problem especially as the shadow are generally used for planning.

[Chad Smith]

Just on the whole printing topic, I find printing as 'Vector' a hit 'n miss affair. I have found that if model/detail lines are drawn over the edge of a 3D object, the lines may be printed under the object thus hiding part of the line's thickness, or on top of the object in which case it prints the line's thickness perfectly.
I have found printing as Raster has given a 100% accurate print so far, it's just that it takes longer.

As for the DWF printing problem, well....lets just say it's not the most accurate of formats from Revit just yet.