A print style table is a collection of print styles that allows you to change the appearance of your printed drawing without modifying the actual entities in your drawing. Each print style table is saved in a file that can be located on your computer, disk, or server.
A drawing can use one type of print style table at a time. There are two types of print style tables:
• Color-dependent print style tables (CTB) contain a collection of print styles based on each of the 255 index colors available in a drawing. True colors and color books are not applicable to color-dependent print style tables.
• Named print style tables (STB) contain a collection of print styles that you define. They can vary regardless of color.
With color-dependent print style tables, you cannot assign print styles to individual entities or layers. To use these print styles, you assign a specific color to an entity or layer. When you specify a color-dependent print style table at printing time, the entity colors and layer colors map to color-based print styles in the print style table that you specify.
With named print style tables, you can assign named print styles to individual entities and layers. Entities and layers assigned print styles are printed according to the print style table that you specify at printing time. If you specify a print style for a specific entity, that print style overrides any print style assigned to the layer on which the entity resides.
Sometimes a named print style assigned to an entity or layer is not located in the print style table that is assigned to a layout or drawing. This can happen if the print style has been deleted from the named print style table or if you assign a different named print style table to the drawing that does not contain the named print style. In this case, the entity is printed using its default properties, which is similar to assigning the Normal print style to an entity or layer. If you plan on interchanging named print style tables within the same drawing, it’s a good idea to coordinate the tables to use the same print style names.
If a new drawing is based on a template, the new drawing uses the same type of print style table as the template. If a new drawing is created without a template, the type of print style table is specified in the New Drawing Wizard; by default, the new drawing uses the print style table type specified in Tools > Options on the Printing tab. Every drawing is designed to use print style tables, but you decide whether to implement them.
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Comparison of print style table types
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Color-dependent print
style table (CTB)
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Named print style table (STB)
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Description
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Contains pre-defined print styles according to color; there is one print style for each of the 255 index colors available in the drawing. Entities with the same color are printed the same way.
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Contains unique print styles that you create. Entities with the same color can have different print settings.
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Example
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All blue entities print with a .5 millimeter lineweight.
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One entity prints with a .7 millimeter lineweight; a second blue prints with a .5 millimeter lineweight.
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Number of print styles
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255 (fixed).
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At least one (varies).
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Print style names
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Print style names range from “Color_1” to “Color_255”. You cannot rename print styles.
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You define new print style names. You can rename all print styles except the Normal print style.
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Add, delete, and modify print styles
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You can modify the existing print styles, but you cannot add or delete print styles.
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You can add and delete print styles. You can modify all print styles except the Normal print style, which uses the default characteristics of the entity.
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Create additional tables
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Yes.
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Yes.
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Assignment
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Current print style: New entities always assigned BYCOLOR.
Print styles: Assigned to colors in the print style table.
Print style tables: Assigned to a Layout tab or the Model tab.
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Current print style: Assigned to new entities.
Print styles: Assigned to entities and layers.
Print style tables: Assigned to a Layout tab or the Model tab.
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Legacy file support
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You can import existing printer configuration files (PCP) files into the print style table. CTB files are similar to PCP files primarily used in previous versions of CADdirect.
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Not applicable.
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