Summary: Provide a layer setting that controls screen display as well as output display so that objects always plot in the order they appear on the screen.

Description: The Draw Order and Lines Merge/Lines Overwrite settings sometimes contradict one another, or are ineffective. This seems especially true when publishing a PDF document that uses xrefs, images, underlays, color or grayscale. These objects can mask entire areas of the drawing, obscuring text and other objects that should show through in print.

With the exception of a few, most PDF writers currently cannot translate the lines merge setting. While hard copy prints appear formatted correctly with "black" objects visible through the gray or color tones, the same print made to PDF can look completely different.

It would be ideal to be able to set the above/below preference by layer, and have that preference printed correctly in all output forms and coordinated with the screen display. This way, if one object is masking another, the user can see that interference and knows exactly how the output will appear. If this change could also do away with the need for "flattening" when printing PDF files, that would be even better.

Product and Feature: AutoCAD - Plot

Submitted By: Kevin LaCoe on 10/24/2013