Knowledge detail

Use STB files for printing with ZWCAD

Q: How do I use STB files when printing with ZWCAD?

A: Plot tables come in two flavors. One is the traditional color-based plot table (CTB), the other is the newer style-based plot table (STB). A drawing file can use only one type of plot table, color-based or style-based.  At present, ZWCAD supports CTB files but not STB files.

Plot styles are property that can be assigned to objects and layers in STB-flavored drawing files. When set to ByLayer, objects inherit the plot style property from layers, just as they do with colors, linetypes, and lineweight.

(In AutoCAD, the PStylePolicy system variable specifies the plot style (STB or CTB) to be assigned to new drawings. The PStyleMode system variable reports the current drawing’s plot style: 1 indicates CTB, while 0 indicates STB. The ConvertPStyle command changes the type of plot style.) Since ZWCAD does not support STB, the commands mentioned in the above paragraph are not available for now. If you come across drawings that require STB files, you might be able to use the ConvertCTB command to change STB files to CTB files, and then open them in ZWCAD.