Get Text to appear on top of Solid Hatch using Black & White printer

[timothyjturner]

Hello,

I'm trying to hatch an area with text and i'd like the text to show up as darker than the solid hatch. This seems impossible using a black and white printer. Anybody have any good solutions? I tried putting the hatch in a light layer and the text in a darker layer but that will not work since the hatch is solid. Any way to get around this? Any patterns out there that will resemble this?

Thanks

[Opie]

Which version of AutoCAD are you using? Have you tried using a True Color?

[timothyjturner]

I'm using AutoCAD 2005. No I haven't tried using true color. Is that found in the plot menu somewhere? I don't see it.

[Opie]

No. You can adjust the layer's color through the Layer Manager or the object's color via the Properties Palette.

[timothyjturner]

I just tried true color, same result. Maybe i should mess with the pen settings, .ctb file. We have a custom .ctb file here that plots different line weights according to color, but i dont think we have anything set up in there regarding true color.

[Opie]

I don't think True Color is affected by the CTB settings. Have you tried a lighter grey?

[timothyjturner]

the gray i tried was pretty light, but it seemed to print out at the same darkness.

[Opie]

I can't think of any other solution at this moment. Does your printer allow for this type of printing from other applications?

[stusic]

Maybe use a shaded color for the hatching? 1 sec and I'll post an example...

[stusic]

We have certain colors that are 50% screened. This means they don't show up super dark (used for existing equipment). Take a look at the screenshot and give the pdf a test print. I used color 15 (screened) for the hatching and plain white (solid) for the text.

[timothyjturner]

I think i'm just going to wave the white flag and blame the printer. Everything seems to print out solid black... I think it might be in my best interest to stop printing out sheets of black ink. :) Thanks for the help though!

[jaberwok]

You could try the REVERSE.SHX font from here (http://www.cadresource.com/library/fonts.html) (amongst other places). It attempts to print white on black. You'll have to hatch around it.

[david-k]

Set the screening for the color you are using for the hatch, and the hatch only, to a low number around 15. This should make it light enough to still be seen, but still have the text dark enough to be seen.

[Mike.Perry]

I think i'm just going to wave the white flag and blame the printer. Everything seems to print out solid black... I think it might be in my best interest to stop printing out sheets of black ink.Hi

Phillip's, John's and David's methods should work for your requirements...

Plus, the following may help...

RE: Bring to front Text over a Solid Hatch

ID: TS45373 - Set up plot screening (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=2876104&linkID=2475323)

Have a good one, Mike

[jaberwok]

Plus - I seem to remember that we had the same discussion a year or so ago and came to the conclusion that, using a black and white printer, the only way is to use hollow text i.e. the text is not printed whilst everything else is printed around it.
So, one method would be to create the text in a Truetype font and the use the Epress Tool Exptext to convert it to polylines and then hatch around it.

[stusic]

I've printed the pdf I attached earlier on a b&w laserjet at the office. I works fine. If it's still too dark, set the screening even lower (try 35%). By reducing the screening down from 100 to 50, you can see the text and the hatch. No huge workarounds, no extra software - just pick a color you never use and add the 50% screening to that color in your ctb file.

Easy.

[chuck_cantieny]

set up a CTB file with some colors screened. They will plot shades of grey based on percent of screening (assuming all colors are set to plot black). 50% uses half the ink as a solid black line, 20% etc. This works for all colors not just black. You can set up pen widths also. You could also use a grey gradient hatch (set the shade/tint slider to make the hatch look non-gradient if you want). Gradient hatches plot in independently of the ctb file. Don't forget to move the hatch to the back. Also, I think you might have to set lines to merge in the PC3 file.

Chuck

[ccowgill]

check to see whether the printer is set to merge colors, or overwrite. try what ever the opposite setting is that you have now and see if that fixes it.

[elmoleaf]

This is a few years late, but I agree with the last post.
In your plot dialog box, click on "printer properties". This will bring up the plotter configuration edition. Click on the "graphics" line to expand the subheadings. Click on "merge control" and if it's set to "lines merge", you need to change it to "lines overwrite". That way, the last plotted line will obscure whatever is drawn underneath it. For instance, if you have white colored text over a solid hatch, the white text will now appear correctly in your print. Just make sure your draw order is correct. Bring all such white text to the front above any solid hatched fills.