By adjusting the raster graphic settings in AutoCAD, you can either decrease the quality of the OLE slightly or increase the raster percent and threshold variables thereby increasing the amount of system memory available for use by AutoCAD.
AutoCAD versions prior to 2007:
- On the File menu, click Plot.
- In the Plot dialog box, Plot Device tab, click Properties.
- In the Plotter configuration Editor, Devices and Document Settings tab, click the plus sign (+) next to the Graphics configuration item to expand it.
- Select Raster Graphics.
NOTE: The ability to change these settings depends on the device driver; not all drivers support this feature.
- Under Raster Images, move the OLE slider to the left.
AutoCAD versions 2007 and later:
Beginning with AutoCAD 2007, there are two possible methods to increase the system resources (memory) while printing a plot: 1) adjusting the OLE slider (as outlined above), and 2) adjusting the raster percent and threshold variables.
RASTERPERCENT: this variable controls what percentage of available system resources (virtual memory) can be used to calculate raster output. Previous to this variable, AutoCAD would use all available virtual memory and had the potential to affect the performance of other applications. The default setting is 20, which means that AutoCAD can only use 20% of available virtual memory. While this setting is fine for most drawings, this may not be enough memory for more complex drawings which can result in incomplete drawings, hangs, lock-ups, or crashes when plotting. The higher the setting, the slower other applications could run while plotting in AutoCAD.
RASTERTHRESHOLD: This variable limits the size that the "plot file" can be. By default it is set to 20 MB. This means that if the calculated "plot file" would exceed 20 MB the plot would be aborted. Before AutoCAD 2007, instead of the plot being aborted, crashes or incomplete plots could occur. A higher setting may be necessary for complex drawings or drawings with large or many raster images attached.
of these settings are accessed by typing in the command line:
NOTE: These are system variables and will apply to all drawings.
