Activity Feed › Discussion Forums › Software, CAD & Mapping › Whats the use of CTB
I am not sure why you don’t understand what ctb files are for given they are explained fairly well by the posters above.
I would ask the question are all your line colours in the model space black and white or do you have full colour printed drawings? If it’s the latter well that’s a debate for another day.
I did not fully understand or use ctb a few years ago but I do now. I would suggest you spend the time fully understanding what they are for as they are quite useful.
I can remember when installing AcadR13 and then installing AdCadd that there was and option for the drawing detail information to be recorded in their own file folder or to embedded with the drawing.
Don’t remember that when I installed Carlson.
I would think that there is an option somewhere in the many settings that would embed the CTBs in the drawing.
PDFs are how I get larger than ledger sized drawings printed.
One important thing about having other people print your pdfs is that they print them to scale and not fit the paper, otherwise the scale of the drawing is changed most of the time from 0% to 10% depending upon the size of the paper to the size of your border settings.
@a-harris I just did a bit of Googling and found out that it is not possible to embed the ctb or stb files in the drawing. Autodesk recommends using the Pack-n-go or E-transmit routines depending on your version of AutoCAD. Both are a bit of a pain compared to just attaching the drawing to an email and hitting send, but they do a good job of collecting all of the files that the drawing is dependent on.
I do know that in Carlson all the different routines like GoGo and others will create a file that records keystrokes and commands to achieve results and they all have a link to the mother file for retrieval in the future. Even the point files and raw data files are stored outside of the program and it starts out with close to 300 different layers. At least it can be customized to user’s preferences and store those settings as a template to begin new drawings from.
I miss AdCadd for that capability, it was great for everything to save with the drawing. Mine was a DOS program because the installer did not believe my system could handle the Windows version. It would have.
I do know that in Carlson all the different routines like CoGo and others will create a file that records keystrokes and commands to achieve results and they all have a link to the mother file for retrieval in the future. Even the point files and raw data files are stored outside of the program and it starts out with close to 300 different layers. At least it can be customized to user’s preferences and store those settings as a template to begin new drawings from.
I miss AdCadd for that capability, it was great for everything to save with the drawing. Mine was a DOS program because the installer did not believe my system could handle the Windows version. It would have.
- Posted by: therock003
I do pdfs as well when i want someone else to print my drawing. This saves me the hassle of having the include images fonts xrefa and whatevsr else. But sometimes they just dont go for it
So anyway i am still not sure what ctbs are. So in the old days if you wanted a line to have specific width or color ir linetype you needed to include it on a separete layer and give information on hiw that layer is printed? My god what a hassle if i understand it correctly.
So if you just wanted a red line you had to create a layer draw that line there and unstruct via ctb that they layer should print as red?
Most people need most of there lines to print black on white paper, regardless of what color they have it on the computer screen. Without a ctb, you would have to have almost every layer in your drawing white (on a dark background, or black on a white background) on the monitor to get that. Then what’s the point of having a color monitor? Because the colors on the screen are mostly there to help you differentiate between what is on what layer. You would have to have drafted on a monochrome monitor to appreciate how much fun that is.
Bottom line, the ctb (and most CAD Standards in use today) is mostly a throwback to the days of plotters with pens in them and monitors with much less resolution than we have today.
If you’re using autodesk products, you’re using either ctb or stb files to control plotting (or ‘none’ but that would probably give you unacceptably strange output if you take advantage of layers and/or colors to draft). You can see what you’re using in the upper right of the plot or page setup dialog box. ctb’s are part of autodesks original plot control methods and so many people and agencies still use it as their standard (as opposed to the enlightened stb users). Probably the only thing it controls other than the plotted lineweight (of the particular color) is its “grayness”. Any color may be given a “plot black with a screening value”, which is used effectively in most professional plan sets. If you use the OOB monochrome.ctb, every color is plotted the same lineweight and black with the screened or grayish colors reserved for the last colors 250-255. This can work fine and if this is how you cad you can just tell the civil you’re using (unmodified) monochrome to plot.
You can also do an ETRANSMIT when preparing dwg file for clients and it will include the ctb and other support files in the package.
ddWhen I have finished all my computations and have a working drawing of where everything is, I will turn off all the layers to the point that all is left is what will be on the printed drawing and will copy all that and move it to one side or above or below all the working points and paste in place.
I will then create a layer called final drawing and change all the properties of my drawing to be all black and in the final drawing layer.
This is what I print to PDF for archiving and to print copies.
When I make changes, edits, additions or add topo or other features I copy the final drawing and paste it to the side and make those changes and save it and print to PDF as an archive.
This way I have a copy of each and every stage the drawing has gone thru plus over there is all my working drawing with point numbers and attributes in place under the appropriate layer and color still intact and unaltered.
copy all that and move it to one side or above or below all the working points and paste in place
If that works for you, well…it’s hard to argue with success. For me, the idea of copying model space elements that represent real-world features and pasting them somewhere else in model space is antithetical to prudent practice. This is what paper space was designed to address.
What you describe would likely be disastrous outside of a 1-man shop; it presents too many opportunities for expensive confusion. But in a 1-person operation it can be very workable, as it appears to be for you.
Carry on!
- Posted by: Jim Frame
copy all that and move it to one side or above or below all the working points and paste in place
If that works for you, well…it’s hard to argue with success. For me, the idea of copying model space elements that represent real-world features and pasting them somewhere else in model space is antithetical to prudent practice. This is what paper space was designed to address.
What you describe would likely be disastrous outside of a 1-man shop; it presents too many opportunities for expensive confusion. But in a 1-person operation it can be very workable, as it appears to be for you.
Carry on!
Also not sure about other software but in Carlson if you start copying and pasting points with symbols and attributes it creates problems (or is that just me).
Log in to reply.