Plot styles provide a way to override object properties with alternative plot properties. (See Chapter 4 for information about object properties.) The properties include plotted lineweight, plotted color, and screening (plotting shades of gray). Figure 12-7 shows the full range of options. They come in two exciting flavors:
? Color-dependent plot styles
? Named plot styles
Figure 12-7: Editing a color-dependent plot style table.
Color-dependent plot styles are based on the standard way of plotting in earlier versions of AutoCAD (before AutoCAD 2000), whereas named plot styles provide a newer way.
It’s remotely possible that you won’t need to bother with plot styles. If the drawings you want to plot have layer and object properties (especially lineweight) that reflect how you want objects to plot, you can dispense with plot styles. But most people and most drawings use plot styles, so you should at least be familiar with them.
A couple of common reasons for using plot styles are to:
? Map screen colors to plotted lineweights. If this idea seems completely loony to you, try to suspend judgment until you’ve read the “Plotting through thick and thin” section, a bit later in this chapter.
? Create
If you want objects in your drawing to plot with properties that differ from their display properties, you need plot styles. For example, you can plot with different lineweights or colors from the ones you’re using for display purposes. Or, as I mention in the preceding section, you may need to map display colors to plotted lineweights. AutoCAD groups plot styles into plot style tables, each of which is stored in a separate file.
Color-dependent plot style tables live in Color TaBle (CTB) files and they map the 255 AutoCAD display colors to 255 plot styles. AutoCAD automatically attaches the color-dependent plot styles to every object, based on — you guessed it — the object’s color. (Are those AutoCAD programmers brilliant, or what?) Color-dependent plot style tables are especially handy for mimicking the old color-mapped-to-lineweight plotting approach of AutoCAD R14 and earlier releases; this remains the most common method in most companies.
Named plot style tables live in Style TaBle (STB) files. After you’ve created a named plot style table, you create one or more plot styles and give them any names you like. Then you can assign the named plot styles to layers or to individual objects. (See Chapter 4 for more information about object and layer properties.)
“Named” refers to the plot styles, not to the tables. Both color-dependent plot style
To use a plot style table, and its included plot styles (whether they’re color-dependent or named), you must attach it to model space or a paper space layout. The plot style table then affects plotting only for that tab. This approach lets you plot the same drawing in different ways by attaching different plot styles to different tabs.
You can attach a plot style to model space or a paper space layout by selecting its tab at the bottom of the drawing area, opening the Plot dialog box or Page Setup dialog box, and choosing the plot style table name in the Plot Style Table (Pen Assignments) area of the expanded Plot dialog box. See “Controlling plotted lineweights with screen colors,” later in this chapter, for an example.
When you start a new drawing in the usual way — that is, by using a template drawing (see Chapter 3), the template drawing’s plot style behavior determines whether you can choose CTB or STB files. (That’s why most of AutoCAD’s stock template drawings come in Color Dependent Plot Styles and Named Plot Styles versions.) If you want to change from color-dependent plot styles to named plot styles (or vice versa) in a particular drawing, use the CONVERTPSTYLES command.
The Plotting tab on the Options dialog box contains a setting called Default Plot Style Behavior For New Drawings, but it’s practically useless. It doesn’t change the current drawing and, despite its name, doesn’t even affect new drawings that you start from a template drawing.
If you’re really lucky, you won’t need to use plot styles. If you’re somewhat lucky, you’ll need to use plot styles, but someone will provide the plot style table files for you. If that’s the case, you must put the CTB or STB files in your Plot Styles folder in order for AutoCAD to recognize them. (To find the location of your Plot Styles folder, open the Options dialog box, choose the Files tab, and look for the Printer Support File Path>Plot Style Table Search Path setting.)
If you’re not lucky at all, then you’ll need to be smart — that is, you’ll want to know how to create your own plot style table files. Here’s how:
1. Choose File>Plot Style Manager.
The Plot Styles folder opens in a separate window.
2. Double-click the Add-A-Plot Style Table Wizard program shortcut.
3. Read the opening screen and then click Next.
4. Choose the Start From Scratch option, or one of the other three options if you want to start with settings from another file. Then click Next.
The remaining steps in this procedure assume that you chose Start From Scratch. If you chose another option, simply follow the wizard’s prompts.
If the creator of a drawing provides you with an AutoCAD R14/AutoCAD LT 98 PC2 (version 2) or AutoCAD R12/AutoCAD LT 95 PCP (version 1) file, choose the Use A PCP Or PC2 File option. With this option, the wizard imports color-to-plotted-lineweight settings automatically.
5. Choose whether you want to create a color-dependent plot style table (CTB file) or a named plot style table (STB file). Then click Next.
Choose Color-Dependent Plot Style Table in order to map screen colors to plotted lineweights. Choose Named Plot Style Table in order to leave screen colors alone (so that the colors plot as you see them on-screen) and to create named plot styles that you can apply to layers or objects.
6. Type a name for the new CTB or STB file and then click Next.
7. Click the Plot Style Table Editor button.
The Plot Style Table Editor dialog box opens (refer to Figure 12-7).
8. If you created a color-dependent plot style table, assign Lineweight, Screening, or other plot properties to each color that’s used in the drawing. If you created a named plot style table, click the Add Style button and then assign plot properties to each of the named styles that you create.
To determine which colors are used in a drawing, switch to the AutoCAD window and open the Layer Properties Manager dialog box by clicking the Layers button located on the Object Properties toolbar.
To change a setting for all colors or named styles, select all of them first by clicking the first color or named style, holding down the Shift key, scrolling to the end of the list, and then clicking the last color or named style. Any subsequent changes you make get applied to all the selected colors or named styles.
9. Click the Save Close button to close the Plot Style Table Editor dialog box. Then click Finish to complete the steps for the wizard.
The Plot Styles folder now displays your new CTB or STB file.
10. Close the Plot Styles folder by clicking on the X in its title bar.
Creating your first plot style table can be a harrowing experience, because you have so many options. Just remember that your most likely reason for creating one is to map screen colors to plotted lineweights (as I describe in greater detail in the next section). Also remember that you may be able to minimize your effort by getting a CTB file from the person who created the drawing that you want to plot.
In Chapter 4, I recommend that you limit yourself to the first 9 Standard AutoCAD Colors when defining
