Troubleshooting Plotting Issues at CAE

How to troubleshoot plotting issues with CAE Plotters.
Please note: CAE does not guarantee the print quality from our printers. You should expect "draft" quality, with the potential for lines and smudges. Refunds will not be given for low print quality, unless it is illegible.

Common Issues:

  1. Drawing elements missing (textboxes/images/etc do not appear when plotted)

    • It's possible the document you are trying to print is too large. To ensure it isn't being caused by the formatting of the document itself, try printing it to a letter size on a CAE duplex printer. If you still see missing elements, it's probable that it is a formatting issue in the document.
    • First, try resizing images. If you have full size images that you simply scaled down in the program you are printing from, try saving a smaller version of the image file in paint by scaling it down, and using that instead. The same applies to cropped images. If you have a massive image that you are only showing a small part of, it might be a good idea to crop it outside of the program you are using, then importing the smaller image instead.
    • If that doesn't work, try saving the document as a pdf, and plotting the PDF document.
    • If pdf document doesn't work, try printing the document as an image (bitmap). Note: if you print the document as a bitmap, there is a good change that the image resolution will not be high enough, leading to a blurry/pixelated plot.

  1. Scale/size issues (plot not the right aspect ratio, or only taking up a small section of the paper

    • Make sure you are selecting the right paper size for the plot you want (ANSI A/B/C/D/E)