Vectorworks to PDF file low quality

[Jonathan Cludts]

Since a couple of weeks I’m using Vectorworks 2019 on a brand new Macbook Pro. Everything went well until I had to print my files. PDF quality is very low. It doesn’t matter if I print or export, neither does it for design or presentation layer. I checked the settings, dpi is 300 (tried 600 and even more than 1000) but the PDF looks like it’s made in Paint.. I’m really helpless! I know it's a vectorworks educational version but it always just worked fine. Look at the difference in this example: 

e.pdf

[Pat Stanford]

Sheet Layers (presentation layers) have a separate setting for resolution that is set to 72 by default. Try changing that (Organization dialog box, Sheet Layers, Edit, Raster DPI Setting).

[Jonathan Cludts]

unfortunately it's already on 300 DPI. 

[rDesign]

Perhaps try changing the Fill Attributes of the walls and floor objects to either a different fill pattern -OR- to a hatch pattern; To me that’s the main thing that looks pixelated. The rest of the line-work seems pretty crisp.

[Jonathan Cludts]

Good point. The problem is indeed only visible when I use patterns in my drawings. But these are the standard patterns from vectorworks itself. Shouldn’t they be high quality? 

[rDesign]

I think it’s just that the fill patterns are comprised of only black-and-white pixels so they are always going to appear pixelated.

 

EDIT: There is a ‘Print Patterns at On-Screen Resolution’ setting on the Print dialogue box that may resolve this, try deselecting this option to get the higher printer resolution:

Quote

Prints fill patterns at approximately the same size as they appear on the screen at a 100% zoom.
Deselect this option to use the printer resolution, which is usually much higher, making the patterns print much smaller. This prints patterns much faster on Windows, if GDI+ imaging is disabled and you have a non-PostScript printer.

Printing A File

 

Edited December 16, 2018 by rDesign

[Pat Stanford]

The patterns are a holdover from the original Macintosh days. They are fixed 72 dpi resolution.

 

If you need something better you will need to move to hatches or tile fills instead of the built in patterns.

 

[Jonathan Cludts]

@rDesign thank you for the information, I will give it a try tonight! Hope this will resolve the problem. 

 

[Jonathan Cludts]

@Pat Stanford Ok! So actually the build in patterns are useless on a Mac? 

[mike m oz]

You can use the dot patterns 1 to 8.  

 

There is a PDF export option to Export patters at on-screen resolution.  If my memory serves me correctly the results are okay with the dot patterns if you have that option switched off.  Try it both ways and see what the better result is when you print from the PDF.