Trouble with fonts, colors, and artifacts when generating PDFs from shaded drawings?

[DadoNoah]

I’ve had this issue for years now and have yet to find a solution: When working with shaded drawing views, I can’t find a reliable way to generate a PDF that will simultaneously include any bolded text, include any colored text and sketch hatches, and NOT introduce image artifacts (usually in the form of white lines or streaks). I generated a bunch of test PDFs to show what I mean-- I’ve included screenshots of them here, as well as screenshots of the source SLDDRWs as a reference for what the PDFs ought to look like.

For these examples, I attempted to make PDFs with 2 different versions of the drawing: A) one with a shaded view and B) one unshaded (hidden lines removed). And for each of the 2 versions, I attempted to make PDFs 4 different ways: 1) Save As > PDF (embed fonts unchecked), 2) Save As > PDF (embed fonts checked), 3) Microsoft Print to PDF (drawing color mode: Automatic), and 4) Microsoft Print to PDF (drawing color mode: Color / Gray scale). Here are the results:

Shaded View (A)Unshaded View (B)SLDDRW Screenshot (pre-PDF)
Solidworks PDF Test AX [SHADED SCREENSHOT].PNG
Solidworks PDF Test BX [UNSHADED SCREENSHOT].PNG
1 - SAVE AS PDF + NO EMBED FONTS
Solidworks PDF Test A1 [SHADED + SAVE AS PDF + NO EMBED FONTS].PNG

2 - SAVE AS PDF + EMBED FONTS
Solidworks PDF Test A2 [SHADED + SAVE AS PDF + EMBED FONTS].PNG

3 - MS PRINT TO PDF + MODE: AUTOMATIC
Solidworks PDF Test A3 [SHADED + MS PRINT TO PDF + AUTO COLOR].PNG

4 - MS PRINT TO PDF + MODE: COLOR / GRAY SCALE
Solidworks PDF Test A4 [SHADED + MS PRINT TO PDF + COLOR].PNG

Hopefully the above screenshots properly convey the patterns I’ve seen throughout all my SolidWorks PDF struggles:

• Save As > PDF will always include text and sketch hatch colors (regardless of whether a shaded view is present), but will never include bold fonts (regardless of whether ‘embed fonts’ is checked) (see: A1, A2, B1, B2)
• Drawings with shaded views will always have streaks (see: A1, A2, A3, A4)
• MS Print to PDF in Automatic color mode will minimize (not eliminate) the streaks, but will not include text and sketch hatch colors if a shaded view is present (see: A3)
• MS Print to PDF in Color / Gray Scale color mode will render the proper colors, but will maximize the streaks if a shaded view is present (see: A4)
• The only way to simultaneously include bold text, include text and sketch hatch colors, and avoid white streaks is to have no shaded views present (see: B3, B4)

So basically, since the above patterns consistently hold true in my workflow, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced any (or all) of the above issues? Does this sound like something particular to my install, or are these issues built into SolidWorks? Has anyone found any good workarounds? Any help is much appreciated! And please do let me know if there’s any other info I can provide to help identify the issue.

[zwei]

I think this is machine or graphic card related?
The font might also have some effect…

I had just do a quick try on my end and it seem like there is no issue?

SOLIDWORK Drawing View
image.png
PDF (Save as PDF), embedded font
image.png

[DadoNoah]

Hey, Zhen-Wei, thanks for doing that! That’s interesting that it doesn’t seem to be happening on your machine-- It looks like you and I are both using Arial, so unless we somehow have different files for the same font, I think you must be right about it being the machine or the graphics card. I’m working on a Dell Precision Tower 3620 with an NVIDIA Quadro P4000, and the graphics driver is the exact one specified by Solidworks for this particular card. Maybe someone else with this card has seen similar glitches?

[zwei]

Hey, Zhen-Wei, thanks for doing that! That’s interesting that it doesn’t seem to be happening on your machine-- It looks like you and I are both using Arial, so unless we somehow have different files for the same font, I think you must be right about it being the machine or the graphics card. I’m working on a Dell Precision Tower 3620 with an NVIDIA Quadro P4000, and the graphics driver is the exact one specified by Solidworks for this particular card. Maybe someone else with this card has seen similar glitches?

I am using Trebuchet if not mistaken (this is the default font for my template), but it suppose to be the same for arial…
For the bold fold turning normal, when you bold the font it is display as Bold style? Have you try switching to other font?
image.png
Not really sure about the white streaks thought, it seem rather unusual…
Maybe try changing the paper background to white before saving as pdf?

You might want to start contacting your VAR for help

[Glenn_Schroeder]

I wrote up a blog post on the old forum that had a number of things to try. I would send people to it when they had questions similar to yours. It had been edited a number of times, adding new things to try to fix the problem as I ran into them or they were suggested by others. Unfortunately, while I was assured that those blog posts would be migrated to the new “platform”, that doesn’t seem to have happened.

1. Now that I have that off my chest, the most common issue when having problems for a number of years was to try printing to pdf instead of saving as pdf. That issue seems to have gotten better in recent years, but it might be worth trying.
2. One more thing to check would be your settings when saving to pdf. You may need to bump the resolution up.

[zwei]

I wrote up a blog post on the old forum that had a number of things to try. I would send people to it when they had questions similar to yours. It had been edited a number of times, adding new things to try to fix the problem as I ran into them or they were suggested by others. Unfortunately, while I was assured that those blog posts would be migrated to the new “platform”, that doesn’t seem to have happened.

This!
In fact i was trying to search for your FAQ on the old forum before answering but cant find it as they dint migrate them
Who say your data is secure on DS hand eh?

[JimSculley]

Can you upload your test files?

[DadoNoah]

@matt

I am using Trebuchet if not mistaken (this is the default font for my template), but it suppose to be the same for arial…
For the bold fold turning normal, when you bold the font it is display as Bold style? Have you try switching to other font?

Firstly, yeah, it did display as Bold style, HOWEVER, my template isn’t regular Arial, but rather Arial Narrow-- I just did a quick test with both Trebuchet Bold and regular non-narrow Arial Bold, and both worked when saving as a PDF! Unfortunately I still have to figure out a way to get Arial Narrow Bold to work because the company I work for needs it across all drawings, but this is interesting that it’s just the one font that isn’t working. I’ll have to see if I can find a way to update my font library or something to fix the Arial Narrow Bold issue. Thank you for the suggestions!

[DadoNoah]

@FEAnalyst

I wrote up a blog post on the old forum that had a number of things to try. I would send people to it when they had questions similar to yours. It had been edited a number of times, adding new things to try to fix the problem as I ran into them or they were suggested by others. Unfortunately, while I was assured that those blog posts would be migrated to the new “platform”, that doesn’t seem to have happened.

1. Now that I have that off my chest, the most common issue when having problems for a number of years was to try printing to pdf instead of saving as pdf. That issue seems to have gotten better in recent years, but it might be worth trying.
2. One more thing to check would be your settings when saving to pdf. You may need to bump the resolution up.

Hey Glenn, I sure wish I’d asked this question before DS had to go and sabotage their own platform! Unfortunately, if you check out my table above, saving as PDF and printing to PDF each bring their own set of issues. And I don’t believe the resolution could be the issue, since I already have it at the maximum Solidworks allows (600 DPI). I’d love to hear any other thoughts if you can remember anything else from the old thread!

[zwei]

Firstly, yeah, it did display as Bold style, HOWEVER, my template isn’t regular Arial, but rather Arial Narrow-- I just did a quick test with both Trebuchet Bold and regular non-narrow Arial Bold, and both worked when saving as a PDF! Unfortunately I still have to figure out a way to get Arial Narrow Bold to work because the company I work for needs it across all drawings, but this is interesting that it’s just the one font that isn’t working. I’ll have to see if I can find a way to update my font library or something to fix the Arial Narrow Bold issue. Thank you for the suggestions!

Interesting…
I too will have the same issue if Arial Narrow Bold is used
image.png

I am unable to suggest any fix beside using Print to PDF…
It might be easier to solve the white streak issue than the font issue…
Have you tried other print to pdf converter? Eg: CutePDF
image.png

[JimSculley]

Arial Narrow is fraught with problems in SOLIDWORKS:

SPR 799254 – Arial Narrow Bold does not show as bold when exporting to PDF
SPR 653119 – Annotations set to bold with specific font does not appear bold when saving as PDF
SPR 115618 – Making Arial Narrow note / dimension font bold shrinks the text

[zwei]

Arial Narrow is fraught with problems in SOLIDWORKS:

SPR 799254 – Arial Narrow Bold does not show as bold when exporting to PDF
SPR 653119 – Annotations set to bold with specific font does not appear bold when saving as PDF
SPR 115618 – Making Arial Narrow note / dimension font bold shrinks the text

Use this to convince your boss to change font
Sometimes it is good to have “TWO” standard font (1 is the main font, the other is the font use if the main font failed)
It is not i cant get it to work, it is not working by default