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LERsince1991

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 24, 2008
1,245
37
UK
Hi,

I'm having trouble printing to PDF from my autocad on OS X.
I need to print to PDF to place into my indesign layouts etc...
I have 2 options to get a PDF when I print
1 - Print via Adobe PDF 9 Printer which I believe uses distiller
2 - once the print dialogue is open, click the PDF button (bottom left) and save as PDF

Both have problems.
1 - No file is created - it doesn't ask for a destination or file name but says complete
2 - The saved PDF is very poor quality

I have tried the file on my friends mac and it still has the exact problems, but then on the CAD studio's PC's which as default have a plotter installed named DWG to PDF which works flawlessly.

My guess is that for option 2 the default quality is set very low - I have checked a lot of places but got no improvement.

My guess for option 1 would be that the printer isn't installed correctly but I have reinstalled acrobat pro and still nothing saves. I previously had acrobat pro 9.4 which google says disables the pdf printer and when I printed to it it said it wasn't installed. So I uninstalled & reinstalled to go back to 9.0 which creates the problem where it doesn't save a file.

I have attached 2 PDF outputs for your consideration.
zoom to 100% to see it properly. I tried printing both and they both print as displayed on screen.

Please let me know if any of you have any advice on to how I can fix these problems or create a new workflow to output pdfs from AutoCAD mac 2010.

Thanks,
Luke
 

Attachments

  • Plans-FLOORS-1-200.pdf
    154 KB · Views: 1,968
  • Plans-FLOORS-A3-1-200.pdf
    130.2 KB · Views: 824

robmicacchi

macrumors newbie
Nov 18, 2010
1
0
Toronto, Canada
Same Problem

Luke,
Are you getting this message when you're starting AutoCAD for Mac: ?

AutoCAD Warning
Adobe PDF: This plotter configuration cannot be used for one of these reasons: the driver cannot be found, the device cannot be found, or the driver has a problem. The default plot device has been substituted.

I just started using AutoCAD for Mac, and I love it, but the "print>save as .pdf" drawings are terrible. I suspect it has something to do with Mac OS 10.6's removal of adobe printer. It's documented here:

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/509/cpsid_50981.html

I'm going to install Acrobat Pro 9.1 and see if the "print> save as adobe .pdf" works any better.

cheers,
Rob
 

Patricia H

macrumors newbie
Nov 27, 2010
1
0
YES,the same

hi

l have the same problem as you guys,and l have tried pro 9.1.No use!
l pray for solution.....

cheers,
 

galstaph

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2002
812
2
The Great White North Eh
try acrobat x then? I usually print out my pdf's via windows as the autodesk dwg to pdf printer prints quite nicely; haven't tried in osx yet, good to know it is iffy. I'll have to try with the new acrobat one of these days....
 

sunlight77

macrumors newbie
Feb 15, 2012
1
0
Autocad for Mac Adobe printer

Hi everybody,

I have the same problem for few months now. I simply cannot print a good quality drawing. Why such Adobe printer does not work correctly. What is wrong with Autocad for Mac version? Could you please suggest me what to do in this case? Any good experience with?

p.s. message: DWG To PDF.pc3: This plotter configuration cannot be used for one of these reasons: the driver cannot be found, the device cannot be found, or the driver has a problem. The default plot device has been substituted.
 

wilsonlaidlaw

macrumors 6502
Oct 29, 2008
443
74
Prints OK in Acrobat X on OS 10.7.3

The plans seem to print out OK at good rez when I open them in Acrobat X Pro, running in Lion 7.3. My A3+ printer is out of ink at the moment (it's a Canon Pixma Pro 9500 - it is always running out of ink!), so I can't try a big scale print. On our HP Officejet Pro 8100, it looks just fine.

Wilson
 

Apple Key

macrumors 6502a
Jan 4, 2012
561
0
The quality should be perfect for this file: (Plans-FLOORS-1-200.pdf). The pdf is completely vector graphics. It looks good on my end.

The other pdf file seems to be somehow compressed though. The vector lines are simplified (less points), and that is probably why it is not coming out well.
 

debergerac

macrumors newbie
Mar 12, 2012
1
0
File>Export solved the problem

I selected Export from the File Menu and it printed to PDF perfetto, just like in Windows. And perfectly vectorial.
 
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