QCAD.org Forum

In Autocad the default Layer that is set up for you is Layer "0" this layer
is set to colour index 7 which is White, Qcads Layer "0" is also set to white
but it uses RGB colours and that white does not print from Autocad to white paper or pdfs...

Is there a workaround for this as I have drawn approximately 50 parts already
on layer "0" in Qcad and my customer says he can't print them out unless
he changes the colour to index 7 or another colour like blue..in Autocad

Any help would be great, Thanks in advance

John Hyslop

PS has the Qcad bug been adressed regaurding student version stamp on R32 [2018] [ Teigha ]
if you save as this version Autocad adds a student stamp to the drawing or dxf file..

There are a lot of topics about these on this forum and on others.
eg.
viewtopic.php?t=6477

Its not Layer 0 that is not printing.
Assuming it is set plottable, offcourse.

Colour index 7 is the ACAD fix to display black on white or white on black.
For ACAD white is white and black is black disregarding the background.
Qcad uses the App Preferences to prevent black on dark or white on light.
And it does that displaying on a black background and for printing on a white paper.
Different mindset.

Why not draw in black in Qcad (displayed as white on black),
and print black on a white paper?

In Menu/App Preferences/Layer/Add Layer we can set some preferences for Layer 0.

Need to switch later in the process:
-Change the Layer 0 colour.
or
-Select the Entities and change their colour.

With the stamp the same thing. ACAD adds it.
Because ACAD grants free/cheap educational licences but students do age.

Any ACAD forum is bursting of these issues.
Regards,
CVH

Hi CVH

1st of all thanks for getting back to me.... I'm new to forums and didn't realise this topic had come up before..
As for the Student stamp Bug I got a reply back from one of the developers see his reply below:-

Hello,
This seems to stem from an OpenDesign Teigha 4.3.1 bug when DWG 2018 is used. This can likely be fixed for the next release when we upgrade Teigha. For now you might want to use a different DXF/DWG file format version than DWG 2018.

Regards,
Andrew Mustun

As for the Layer 0 not printing I never had this problem with the free version of Qcad which saved only in R15 [2000LT2000] DXF Drawing [Teigha] (.dxf)

I wanted to save in this version by default but the professional version only allows you to set your default format to as far back as
R18 [2004/2004LT] DXF so what I did was edit Qcads config file and changed the following:-

Copy and paste this into SaveAs part of config file:
Filter=R15 [2000LT2000] DXF Drawing [Teigha] (.dxf)

Most of my customers use AutoCad and to have them call me and say they had to edit all my dxf files because they couldn't print them
was slightly embarrassing.. So now my files all save as R15 [2000LT2000] DXF Drawing [Teigha] (.dxf) by default

by the way the config file is in the %appdata%\Roaming\Qcad "Folder"
I set mine to read only after the edits as I have Qcad setup as I want it now..

I hope this helps someone out there who is having trouble with printing compatibility with AutoCad..

Best Regards
John Hyslop
PS I'm very happy with Qcad.. just a few things as mentioned above, that I have work arounds for now...

Hi,

John Hyslop wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 19, 2019 4:58 am

As for the Layer 0 not printing I never had this problem with the free version of Qcad which saved only in R15 [2000LT2000] DXF Drawing [Teigha] (.dxf)

I wanted to save in this version by default but the professional version only allows you to set your default format to as far back as
R18 [2004/2004LT] DXF so what I did was edit Qcads config file and changed the following:-

Properly there is a reason not to offer anymore a 20 year old version ....

Howsoever - you are still able to save a drawing in an old version (even R15) within the "Save As" dialog ...


... and for obvious reasons I do not recommend to edit the config file manually.

John Hyslop wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 19, 2019 4:58 am

Most of my customers use AutoCad and to have them call me and say they had to edit all my dxf files because they couldn't print them
was slightly embarrassing.. So now my files all save as R15 [2000LT2000] DXF Drawing [Teigha] (.dxf) by default

Embarrassing? No, no reason for that! That is called the "Blame game" and you have to be very good in this game to avoid a backfire.

Suggestion: Andrew told you not to use R18 - he doesn't told you to use R15, correct? What's about to use R27 (around 7 years old)? Most likly your AC customer are able to read R27. If not, just ask them which format works best for them except R18.
If possible don't go down to R15 - that isn't contemporary

Just my two cents.

Hi Husky
Thanks for the reply ...
Version 2000 DXF is the only version that prints from autocad layer 0 set to white as default..this is the only reason I've set it as default..I know you can save as ver 2000 but if I forget it doesn't print... don't get me wrong here I think qcad is a brilliant program.. I've used autocad for over 30 years and now switched over to qcad professional version...I only use for 2d for 3d I use Autodesk Inventor...As for the configuration file if for some reason you happen to make a mistake you can simply delete it and qcad will create a new one on next startup...all you need to do then is setup all your preferred settings again..

Best regards
John
PS I have a registered version of Autodesk product design suite 2020..this year I decided to come off subscription and continue on with my perpetual license......but I rarely go back to acad I prefer qcad
That's my 2 cents worth...have a good weekend..

John Hyslop wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 19, 2019 12:45 pm

...have a good weekend.

You too

John Hyslop,

You don't have to call this out.
I do read the topics too.
Yes it's might be a OpenDesign Teigha 4.3.1 bug when DWG 2018 is used.
And yes, If it can be fixed without bending the rules too much, Andrew would probably fix it.
And I really hope it will be fixed for you.

And then up to the next release.
Browsing some forums of other CAD's will reveal that these issues will pop up with later versions of dwg/dxf too.
And with some file versions it goes away after file save, revert.

But who is bending the rules?
ACAD wants you to buy their product, only theirs.
They will do anything to annoy you.
Browsing the net, you will quickly find that Autodesk stamps their files with a genuine Acad stamp.
Not available to others.

Isn't it odd that most CAD's forums will bulge with similar entries and a few CAD's have coped with it meanwhile.
Look for a solution on the Autodesk forum.
There aren't any. Usually these topics remain unanswered.
They don't have to solve anything.
From the moment on the larger players in CAD have coped with it Autodesk will issue a patch.

Regards,
CVH

There's a snapshot release available (3.23.0.5) with the latest Teigha version (hopefully fixing the student version stamp bug).

This snapshot also saves white layer colors as index 7.

Snapshots are packages with the current development version of QCAD. Snapshots should be considered unstable and are not intended for production use.

That's really good news Andrew
I'm sure this will make a lot of users
Happy...me for one..thanks it's a great
Program very stable and opens up files
Fast.. Autocad takes forever to load up and
open a file.
I have not yet found a reason to go back to
It apart from testing files I've created in Qcad
But now I feel quite confident that my customers
Will not notice any difference..
Very happy
Cheers
John

Hi Andrew
Just tested these DXF and DWG formats on Autocad 2020 .
Ver 2000
Ver 2004
Ver 2007
Ver 2010
Ver 2013
Ver 2018

The file contained arcs lines circles polylines and splines.
Layer 0 Colour imported as Index 7 white.
Also changed background to white and the entities appeared as black on white..
All versions printed correctly
The Student Stamp has gone too..
Great work thank you..

Cheers
John Hyslop

Excellent, thanks for your feedback.