HOW PENS ARE ASSIGNED IN AUTOCAD (versions 10/11 & 12/13)
HOW PENS ARE ASSIGNED IN AUTOCAD (versions 10/11 & 12/13)
Models: 522xx/524xx, 53336/53436, 54424/54436, 5700/57000, 5800/58000,
67436, and 68000 Series
A. HOW THE DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF AUTOCAD HANDLE PEN ASSIGNMENTS:
AutoCAD versions 10, 11, 12, & 13 ALL assign pens (BY NUMBER) to
colors (BY NUMBER). AutoCAD supplies two sample drawings which
illustrate their color palette. These are called CHROMA.DWG and
COLORWH.DWG. Please refer to your AutoCAD program files or call
Autodesk to get one or both of these sample drawings.
CalComp also provides some sample drawings. These files are named
255PEN.DWG and 255FILL.DWG. They are available from CalComp's Web Site
under the compressed filename, 255ACAD.ZIP. CalComp's Web Site address is
BBS There is also an AutoCAD plot file on CalComp's Web Site
which allows you to output your plotter's internal palettes of 1024
pens and 1024 colors. The name of this plot file is ACADCLRP.ZIP.
1. AutoCAD versions 10/11
a. Supports up to 15 pens which may be assigned to any
color from the AutoCAD palette of 255 colors IF you are
using the CalComp Protected Mode ADI driver, version
2.3. (available from CalComp's Web Site under the filename,
CALPPROGS.ZIP. Web Site address is http://www.calcomp.com.
b. The default pen/color assignments in AutoCAD 10/11 are:
Color 1 = Pen 1
Color 2 = Pen 2 ............... and so on, up through
the number 15
c. You must use the Protected Mode ADI driver (version 2.3)
to be able to select from the full AutoCAD color palette
of 255 colors. However, the maximum number of pens which
can be used at any given time with AutoCAD 10/11 is 15.
In summary:
The Protected Mode ADI driver (version 2.3) would enable you
to assign both Color 1 and Color 255 to Pen #1. There would
then be 13 more pen assignments which could be made from any
of the 255 AutoCAD colors.
d. PEN SELECTION MODE DEFINED:
AutoCAD version 10/11 ADI drivers use PEN SELECT
commands ONLY. This means they use the plotter's pen
definitions.
How this works is that, in AutoCAD, colors are typically
assigned by layer. Color #1 = RED and is (by default)
assigned to Pen #1. All lines and figures created with
the Color Red in AutoCAD (the RED LAYER) would be
plotted by the CalComp plotter using it's Pen #1.
Whatever characteristics you want for Pen #1 would have
to be defined ON THE PLOTTER. For information on how
the CalComp pens are defined (or modified), please refer
to your DrawingMaster User's Guide, chapter 5, pages 4-9.
In summary:
The Pen Select command is very simple. It tells the plotter to
use a specific pen number to plot a specific layer with. The
Pen Select command is not concerned with what type of pen will
be used, only with telling the plotter which logical pen
number to plot with. The plotter operator may decide to use
the plotter's default pen definitions or change the pens as
may be required. The DrawingMaster series, Solus LED series,
5700/57000, 5800/58000, and 67/68000 plotters all use logical
pens whose characteristics can be defined by the operator. The
steps required to modify these plotter's 'logical' pens are
included in their User's Guides.
2. AutoCAD versions 12/13
a. AutoCAD versions 12/13 support up to 255 pens which may
be assigned to a color from the AutoCAD palette of 255
colors IF you are using the AutoCAD supplied ADI driver
for CalComp plotters. This ADI driver ships with all
releases of AutoCAD versions 12 and 13.
AutoCAD 12/13 (Windows and DOS) ships with an ADI driver
for CalComp that is at least version 2.8. While this is
a good driver, we recommend using ADI version 5.5 (or
later). The latest CalComp ADI driver is always
available from CalComp's Web site (http://www.calcomp.com)
b. Default pen assignments are the same as for earlier
versions of AutoCAD. The main difference is that there
are now up to 255 pen assignments available (one plotter
pen for each AutoCAD color). The default assignments are
as follows:
Color 1 = Pen 1
Color 2 = Pen 2 ............... and so on, up through
the number 255
c. AutoCAD 12/13 ADI drivers support both PEN SELECT and
PEN DEFINITION modes of operation. The ability to assign
pen definitions from the software is a new feature which
was first available with the release of AutoCAD 12.
The AutoCAD 12/13 default selection is; PEN DEFINITION = Y.
This means that the default CalComp ADI driver configuration
choice in AutoCAD 12/13 is to use AutoCAD's pen definitions.
I. PEN DEFINITION MODE DEFINED:
When the PEN DEFINITION mode is turned on in
AutoCAD 12/13, the characteristics of the pens to
be used by the plotter WILL BE DEFINED BY AUTOCAD.
This means the basic pen characteristics will be
created in the plot data by AutoCAD and the ADI
driver.
When pen definitions are created in the plot data
it means that the plotter's internal pen table
settings are ignored.
ii. WHERE ARE THE PENS DEFINED IN AUTOCAD?
AutoCAD allows you to define the plotter pens from
the AutoCAD PEN ASSIGNMENT Dialog box, which is
located from within the AutoCAD PLOT Dialog box
(please refer to your AutoCAD documentation). To
call up the AutoCAD PEN ASSIGNMENTS, perform the
following steps from within AUTOCAD 12/13:
iia. Call up the AutoCAD PLOT CONFIGURATION Dialog
box by entering PLOT at the AutoCAD command
prompt.
iib From within the Plot Configuration box is a
heading called PEN PARAMETERS, under which
are two button choices. One is called PEN
ASSIGNMENTS and the other is called
OPTIMIZATION. Click once on the Pen
Assignments button.
iic. Within the Pen Assignment dialog box is a
display table which lists the current
assignments. This listing shows which color
number is assigned to which pen number and
the width for each pen.
iii. WHAT CAN BE DEFINED IN THE PEN ASSIGNMENT BOX?
Two things; (1) The Color-to-Pen assignments and,
(2) the Pen Width for each pen.
You can assign pen widths from the AutoCAD 12/13
Pen Assignment dialog box to any CalComp plotter
model which supports the 907/PCI pen definition
commands. The plotter models which support this are
listed as follows with each model's native
resolution in dots-per-inch (dpi) included:
- 52224/52236 (DrawingMaster, 200dpi)
- 52424/52436 (DrawingMaster Plus/Professional, 400dpi)
- 53336 (DrawingMaster DM600 = 300dpi,
- 53436 (DrawingMaster DM800 = 400dpi)
- 54424/54436 (Solus4 LED series, 400dpi)
- 5700/57000 (mono electrostatic series, 400dpi)
- 5800/58000 (color electrostatic series, 400dpi)
- 67436 (monochrome electrostatic plotter, 400dpi)
- 68436/68444 (color electrostatic series,400dpi)
- 5424/5436 (TechJet monochrome series, 360 dpi)
- 5324/5336 (TechJet color series, 360 dpi)
When the PEN ASSIGNMENT Dialog box is called up,
you will see a table listing of the color numbers
and their associated pen numbers (which, by
default, are assigned as color #1 to pen #1, color
#2 to pen #2, and so forth). Also in this table are
the pen width settings.
BY DEFAULT, THE PEN WIDTH FOR ALL 255 PENS IS .010
(of an inch). It is from within this table that
you can assign pen widths. The pen width range is
as follows (in inches):
MINIMUM PEN WIDTH = .0025 for 400 dpi plotters
MINIMUM PEN WIDTH = .003 for 360 dpi plotters
MINIMUM PEN WIDTH = .005 for 200 dpi plotters
MAXIMUM PEN WIDTH = .040 (all plotters)
The minimum pen width depends on the plotter's
native resolution. All of the plotters listed above
produce lines by dots-per-inch (dpi). The finest
line any of these plotter's can produce is one dot
per inch wide.
If, for example, the plotter's native resolution
(given in the model listing above) is 400 dpi, then
the minimum width is 1 divided by 400 (1/400) or
.0025 of an inch.
A complete pen width table listing for each model
is included in the documentation for CalComp's ADI
driver, available from CalComp's Web Site
(http://www.calcomp.com).