Where/what is the default pen lneweight settings when saving to a pdf without using a pentable?

[BriGuy]

I'm reconfiguring our practice of saving a drawing as a pdf.  I've set up a pentable which seems to be working ok.  I'd like to be able to see what the lineweight settings are for the pens when not using a pentable.  Is there a location or option for this in Creo 2.0?  I see that the config options for the pens (ex: pen1_line_weight) refers to an electrostatic plotter, which I take to be our ink plotter.  The only options I see and am using that refer to pdfs are pen_table_file and pdf_use_pentable.

[MartinHanak]

Hi,

pen_table_file and pdf_use_pentable are the only options I know.

See also http://support.ptc.com/help/creo/creo_pma/usascii/#page/data_exchange%2Finterface%2FDefault_Pro_ENGINEER_System_Colors.html, you can find there names of colors you can use in pentable file.

See http://support.ptc.com/help/creo/creo_pma/usascii/index.html#page/fundamentals/fundamentals/fund_two_sub/Example_table_pnt_File.html

[BriGuy]

Thanks Martin.  Yeah, I've looked at those already.  Just can't find what Creo has for a default value for the pens when not using a pen table.

[MartinHanak]

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@BriGuy wrote:

Thanks Martin.  Yeah, I've looked at those already.  Just can't find what Creo has for a default value for the pens when not using a pen table.

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Hi,

if you are interested in finding default pen widths then I suggest you following procedure:

• set DESIGNJET plotter as output device
• export drawing into plot file
• open plot file in Notepad
• look for PW commands (eg. PW.025 means 0.25 mm width)

[BriGuy]

Is the idea of this to create a .plt file? If so, we have printer options which can create a .plt file.  I can also create a .ps file.  Either way, neither type of files give me any information regarding PW commands.

[MartinHanak · Accepted solution]

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@BriGuy wrote:

Is the idea of this to create a .plt file? If so, we have printer options which can create a .plt file.  I can also create a .ps file.  Either way, neither type of files give me any information regarding PW commands.

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Hi,

yes when I create plt file, I can read line widths in it.

How to ...

1.] open drawing

2.] File > Print

3.] open plot file in Notepad++

original file

%0BBPINCR;NP;WU0;SP1;LA1,1,2,5;IP-680,-199,11200,8200SC;PA;LT;LT;PW0.508
PC1,0,0,0;LT;UL6,60.0,40.0LT6,1.8,1;PW0.254PC1,0,0,0;PUPA3320,4200PDPA
5320,4200LT;PW0.127PC1,0,0,0;PUPA3320,4600PDPA5320,4600PW0.508PC1,0,0,0;PUPA
3320,3800PDPA5320,3800RO;IW;SP0;PG;

modified file

%0BBPINCR;NP;WU0;SP1;LA1,1,2,5;IP-680,-199,11200,8200SC;PA;LT;LT;PW0.508
PC1,0,0,0;LT;UL6,60.0,40.0LT6,1.8,1;

PW0.254PC1,0,0,0;PUPA3320,4200PDPA5320,4200LT; ... hidden color ... 0.254 mm

PW0.127PC1,0,0,0;PUPA3320,4600PDPA5320,4600 ... letter color ... 0.127 mm

PW0.508PC1,0,0,0;PUPA3320,3800PDPA5320,3800 ... geometry color ... 0.508 mm

RO;IW;SP0;PG;

[BriGuy]

Thanks Martin.  This got it to work for me.

[TomU]

Probably not super precise, but measuring a PDF containing lines of each pen type shows three line widths in use:

• 0.125 mm (.005 in)
• 0.375 mm (.015 in)
• 0.500 mm (.020 in)

See attached PDF.

Note:

• This PDF was created with Creo Parametric 6.0
• Even though the PDF refers to 8 pens, the config option 'use_8_plotter_pens' was set to 'no' when this PDF was created.

[BriGuy]

A couple of questions.  How did you create this pdf?? Also, do you have a pen table assigned or is pdf_use_pentable set to No.

[TomU]

I have a format built with all this stuff on it for testing pen table settings.  When generating this PDF no pen table was used or present and 'pdf_use_pentable' was set to 'no'.

[TomU]

I did some more testing.  Here is what I'm seeing in Creo Parametric 6.0:

• If line width is set to zero (default), then pen table values will be used.
• If no pen table is present, Creo default values will be used.

Default Pen Table Values (inches)

Default Pen Assignments

Note:  The use of 4 or 8 pens is controlled by the config option use_8_plotter_pens.