Expert: Bob - 8/15/2007

Question
I am using Autocad Lt 2008.   I was using Autocad Lt 97.   The problem I am having is that when I plot (I send my PLT files to the printer) the screening appears solid.  For a short period of time the plots were working fine.  Can you give me any help?

Answer
HI -- well, congratulations on making a leap of about 18 years at once. I very highly urge you to find the time to learn 2008, for all the cool features: most people just open up the program and do things the old way, which is a big waste of time, to me.  I would buy the book, and go through it as if I were a neebie. At the VERY minimum, I would go through the New Features Workshop, under HELP, and look through the tutorials to see which I wanted to do.
As you may know, plotting changed a lot with 2004 or 2006, after the previous change, in 2000 -- so you were 2 stages back.
By sending to the printer, I assume you mean a reprographic shop, to use their plotter. The general rule is that a plt file stays as it is -- if it is right, it prints right, if wrong, it prints wrong.
The most obvious guess would be that you used a different plot style table for the good plots than for the bad ones.
If you have custom plot style tables, I cant fix them from here.  If you saved a change in the printer properties to the pc3 file, you wont be able to print to their plotter the old way until you change the property back and save again.
Sorry, I am imperfect at this, wish I knew for sure ---
but my 3 big clues are:
1-- Check carefully if there are similarly named plot styles and you have chosen the wrong one.
2-- Go through the Custom Properties tab of the plotter, from the Properties button on the plot dialog, and poke at everything to see what might be set wrong.
3-- If the repro shop has 2 plotters, or made some change, that would affect you. Be sure you are plotting to the plotter they are using for your job. Ask if they have made changes, since you are getting filled screening (you have probably already asked them)
Start with those, then post your question, with a small area of a problem drawing, to the AutoCAD printing and plotting Discussion. Please give them much more complete info than you wrote to me.
http://discussion.autodesk.com/forum.jspa?forumID=30
Good luck!

BOB