CTB and STB Files in Pen Tables

Pen tables let you remap any of the characteristics associated with design file elements to different values for printed output. By remapping element characteristics such as color, line style, and line weights, you can optimize the printed output. For example, if some of the elements in your design file are yellow, they will be difficult to see when printed on white paper. Using a pen table, you can map the yellow elements to blue elements so that they will be more visible when printed. Pen tables are used to control print resymbolization.

Pen tables are analogous to AutoCAD plot styles. AutoCAD uses two types of plot style tables to control the appearance of plotted objects: color-dependent plot style tables (CTB files) and named plot style tables (STB files). CTB files include plot styles that are based on object color, and STB files include named plot styles that are assigned to individual objects or layers in AutoCAD.

Importing a CTB File

You can open a DWG file, then import a CTB file. The printed output uses the settings defined for each color in the CTB file.

Importing an STB File

You can open a DWG file, then import the STB file that contains definitions of the plot styles used in the file. For each element that has a plot style defined, the printed output uses the settings defined in the STB file.

Saving a CTB/STB File to a Pen Table

You cannot save changes to a CTB or STB file. You can, however, save the file to a pen table (*.tbl), which can be edited.