Topic Title

Is there a way to convert Datacad v11 pentable to a plotstyle so a ACAD user can use my pentable?

I gues I need to convert, but how?

Thanks in advenced.

Well mate, I think we have a mystery here, and you have led to a surprising can of worms. And the outcome may depend on the version of Datacad you are using

I believe you are alluding to the colour translation. It is easy enough to send a pen table list with a DWG but it presupposes the colours are properly translated, which is not likely.

The cognoscenti have known about this for years. There is/was a file called default.tbl which is used to translate the colours. It has always been faulty and, for reasons unknown, not only has it never been fixed but it has hardly ever been a matter of complaint. All this was well documented for the first time to my knowledge in Smith/Morse. An improved version was included in the accompanying CD. The file was OK for the most part but was faulty in dealing with yellow and brown and some other areas. Also, ACad has more shades of grey than DCad, and I don't think this was addressed.

I went into this in great depth when setting up a client who worked in an AutoCad environment, and it all worked fine.

Now there is a problem.

On export of DWG from V11 there is a at the bottom of the export dialogue box which says

Translate colours using DEFAULT.TBL

and it is already ticked. This leads one to suppose the file is around somewhere. I can't find it. There is also a reference to this in the DWG section of the programme preferences.

If you can find this file, it is likely to be your key and you can adjust it so that you ensure the colours match the Acad plotter. I believe their penweight to colour code is rigidly standardised, but don't bet on it.

If I recall correctly we set up Duffy's tbl file so that she used her normal DCad colours which were then translated so that their colours would give her weights on the ACad plotter. This sounds like what you want but I am stumped about the TBL file....

I have just found that DEFAULT.TBL is referred to on page 39/618 of the PDF manual but it also also alludes to the \SUP folder so I assume this is some carry over from V10 or even earlier. The plot thickens....

This was recently discussed under other topic.
If you don't have a DEFAULT.TBL, go to Tools/DXFDWG Color Map.
Make the color translations that you want and say ok, save file.
this is on v12.

The plot thickens....

It needn't.

Various palettes exist in a most arcane location.

Tools/Color Palettes, select the down arrow just left of "Save as" all of the palettes located in your Support Files folder should appear including Default. Unless you have changed your default colors as suggested above, it should be the original. Or just copy the original from a previous version of DataCAD.

.rgb files must exist in the Support Files folder in DataCAD 11 & 12. In DataCAD 10 and previous, one could load from any folder. An .rgb file is a text file that can be examined in Notepad.

in furtherance: from the DataCAD Revision History:
05. The Tools, Generate TBL File menu has been renamed to DXF/DWG Color Map. When selected, a color mapping table (.TBL) corresponding to the active color palette (.RGB) is either generated on-the-fly if one doesn't already exist, or is automatically loaded if one already exists.

The Update, Create, and Close options have been replaced with two options, OK and Cancel. OK saves any changes that have been made and closes the dialog, and Cancel discards any changes that have been made. If the Translate colors using color mapping table option is active during DXF/DWG export and a corresponding .TBL file does not exist, DataCAD will automatically map DataCAD's colors to the nearest color in the DXF/DWG palette.

It seems the default (dxf/dwg) table is built-in, to use a different table, copy your older file.

[Mark F. Madura]

Is there a way to convert a DataCAD v11 pentable to a Plot Style so a ACAD user can use my pentable?

Unfortunately, we have not found a way to convert between Pen Tables and Plot Styles.

For reference:

Plot Tool: CTB to PCP Converter
Applies to AutoCAD 2000i, 2002
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=2372199&linkID=9240617

Exporting Plot Style Tables
Applies to AutoCAD 2007
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=8221132&linkID=9240617

These are the plot-related file types that AutoCAD users can create.

PCP, PC2
Plot configuration (AutoCAD Release 14 and earlier versions only).

PC3
Plot configuration (AutoCAD 2000 and later versions only)

STB
Named plot style table

Import pen settings stored in PCP, PC2, and CFG files
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=2895630&linkID=9240617

The PC2 format is INI-based and may serve as a transitional format.

FWIW,

MFM
[/b]

Hidden Spam links are still Spam...