Printed Line Quality

[jpolding]

Has anyone here had complaints over the printed line quality?

One example of a complaint was that grey and thin lines are printing as dots. The comparison was made to a drawing printed from AutoCAD which had very solid, fine, grey lines.

If so, have you found it has to do with printers, drivers, or some other combination of settings in Revit?

[kyeric]

Great question. I have been wondering this for some time, but just assumed I didn't have my printer set up correctly. Hopefully someone will shed some light.

-e

[aaronrumple]

Are you printing everything as black, grey scale or color? Vector or raster?

[jpolding]

black, vector

[aaronrumple]

You should try printing grey scale. If you print black, then it is only black/white. So the grey tones must be dithered with black and white dots.

[kyeric]

You should try printing grey scale. If you print black, then it is only black/white. So the grey tones must be dithered with black and white dots.


You nailed it, Aaron. Thanks, man. I thought I was going to have to reconfigure my printer drivers or fix some other computer problem. You saved me a lot of time, I appreciate it!

Respect.

[jpolding]

Thanks, I appreciate your responses.

Thanks also for the lack of responses. It seems to me that this isn't a huge issue 'out there' which is good considering the 10+ years it took AutoCAD to gain printed line quality acceptance. This issue just seems to be one of the things naysayers can use with impunity because it's a little subjective; 'Yes, Revit is saving us time and improving coordination BUT the line quality is just not quite to my liking.' Have these people ever seen how closely contractors and builders examine the architect's art of linework? They usually get more worked up over little things like bubbles referring to wrong details or non-existant sheets.

Just to be clear, this was not meant to minimize the importance of good linework but to prove that Revit is meeting/exceeding standard drafting expectations.

[kyeric]

Jay,

After looking more closely at my new configuration I did see that the lighter hatch patterns (especially the lines, such as siding) were still coming out as small dots, even when I checked to see that I used the settings that Aaron had suggested. I then sent a plot to the DesignJet and found that the lines were actually connected...

So, it seems that the plots depend on if you are going to a laser printer or a inkjet. I guess the laser is much more precise and the inkjet must be a little more forgiving? Either way the minute that we get copies back from the reprographic shop, the dots go away in their copies.

I agree about what you have said that contractors and builders could give a hoot if they see dots or a single line as long as the entire drawing is coordinated throughout. I am still waaayy new at Revit, but it is just so exciting to know that I can concentrate on designing and detailing and not wondering if a wall section detail got caught when I moved it to a new sheet..etc. I believe it will be a little strange to look back someday and remember when builders and contractors didn't expect everything to be coordinated and scheduled properly.

-e