How to Use Shade Plot in BricsCAD

Quick answer: Shade Plot chooses the printing style for shaded 3D entities, wireframe with hidden lines removed, or fully rendered. Visual Styles control how entities display on screen; Shade Plot controls how they print, a distinct setting.

Setting the Shade Plot for a Viewport

1. Select the layout you want to change.
2. Select the viewport and open the Properties panel.
3. In the Misc area, set the Shade plot you want.

This confirms the paper space viewport’s own Shade Plot property mentioned on this hub’s general printing procedure page.

Setting the Shade Plot in Model Space

1. Go to Model Space and make sure nothing is selected.
2. Open the Print dialog and select the page setup you want to modify.
3. Under Shaded viewport options, select the Shade plot you want.
4. Click Apply.

This confirms the model-space-only Shade Plot setting mentioned on the general printing procedure page.

Vector vs Bitmap PDF Output

A plotted PDF displays as vector graphics, scalable without any loss of quality, when Shade plot is set to Legacy wireframe or Legacy hidden, or when the Visual Style is 2DWireframe and Shade plot is set to As displayed.

It displays as a bitmap instead when Shade plot is set to Conceptual, Hidden, Modeling, Realistic, Shaded, Shaded with edges, Shades of gray, Sketchy, Wireframe, X-Ray, BIM, Maquette, Render, See-through, or Mechanical. Which Shade plots are actually available depends on your drawing template, the same template-dependency noted for Visual Styles elsewhere in this hub.

For bitmap output, control the resolution via the Image DPI setting: open the Plotter Configuration Editor, go to the Settings tab, click Custom Properties…, and adjust Image DPI under Output quality.

Every new Visual Style you create automatically generates a corresponding new Shade Plot.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the actual difference between a Visual Style and a Shade Plot? Visual Styles control on-screen display. Shade Plot controls what actually prints, a separate setting entirely.

How do I get a PDF that scales without quality loss? Set Shade plot to Legacy wireframe or Legacy hidden, or use the 2DWireframe Visual Style with Shade plot set to As displayed.

How do I control the resolution of a bitmap-based PDF plot? Adjust the Image DPI setting under Output quality in the Plotter Configuration Editor’s Custom Properties.

Does creating a new Visual Style also create a matching Shade Plot? Yes, a corresponding Shade Plot generates automatically for every new Visual Style.