Jim wrote:
Anyone able to offer help with this?
We are Mac based A9 users. We constantly have to export layout via Plotmaker in DWG format, usually to AutoCAD users.
When you now publish in DWG format, you are required to locate an .SHX font (always asking for the directory to 'simplex.shx')
We have a full library of AutoCAD fonts that we have save on a server. We have tried to give this as the directory for font types, but they or the directory appears to be unrecognised. We do not even know if this is the correct action to take. When we then re-open the DWG or any other DWG we are prompted for a similar action, to locate font files used with the drawing. Even when we do give the directories of the fonts, the drawing opens and either defaults all the font styles to a font type that resembles 'courier' or replaces the font characters with question marks (?????). The text is also randomly formatted and displaced from original positioning on the drawing.
We have tried numerous translator settings, but are now desperate to try and resolve this. We need to have some guarantee that recipients who are opening our saved DWG's are reading exactly what we see on the drawing.
If anyone has solutions, we will sing your praises indefinately!!!
(copied into wishlist)
1. I'm not familiar with the export from pLotmaker issue. When I export to consultant engineers, what they need is usually a 1:1 model file, not a drawing layout, thus I export from Archicad which works when I point to the folder in which I store all .shx fonts. I'd suggest storing it locally on each workstation, along with Archicad's standard library, as a beginning instead of on the server. Since it seldom needs attention, that wouldn't be too much extra work. As a precaution, in your Archicad/Plotmaker documents, use only standard Windows fonts (such as Arial) or those fonts you are certain they are installed on each reciever's machine. They will work with Autocad just as well as any .shx font.
2. For the import, I discovered a year or two ago that there are Windows TrueType equivalents to all of the old shx fonts. Autocad uses them for display in Windows, and for printing (not plotting). These are published by Autodesk and automatically installed in the Windows font folder at each standard installation of Autocad, Autocad LT etc. They are called simplex_.ttf, txt_____.ttf etc. (NB the underscores that make all filenames comply to the old 8.3 DOS naming convention!)
And: MacOSX (and thus Archicad and PM) can read and use TrueType fonts in any format, be it intended for Windows or Mac! What you need to do is convince any Autocad-using friend to copy and mail you these font files, and then put them in your Mac's ~/Library/Fonts folder. (I won't post them due to the copyright issues).
Next time you import a DWG into Archicad, it will have all text looking like it did on the Windows 'can'! No font substitution need. Should you want that later, just do it. There's a chance you might want it because Archicad has one issue with these fonts:
- Archicad treats text differently from autocad - it doesn't apply line weights (thickness) to text. Most of the Autocad TT fonts are like the plot fonts extremely simple, just consisting of a one-pixel wide line. That means on a high-resolution printer (like our 1200dpi laser) these fonts will look very thin.
The simplest (and most boring) solution is to use Arial and Arial Narrow in all documents that you need to export. Since we went OSX, i've haven't had one complaint concerning text in these files. And tell your Autocad friend to do the same! Not many people use pen plotters these days.
Best regards,
AC4.1-AC26SWE; MacOS13.5.1; MP5,1+MBP16,1
