Printing Permit Documents In Color


jtcapa1
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Color Permit Documents  

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  1. 1. Do you create final permit documents in full color



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I notice Ben Palmer comment about the check box for printing in color, and his lament concerning this as a new default in X7.  I'm wondering if I'm alone in taking advantage of the lower cost to print in color, and if anyone else creates permit/construction documents in full color?  I've been doing it ever since my print house brought a large scale color printer about 5 years ago.  

 

I know it is not AIA or CSI standards to print in color, but I don't really care.  I like the way it makes the drawings easier to read rather than just depending upon line weights and grey scale screening.  CA does such a fine job of rendering color, it just makes sense to create final documents in color too.

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Whatever works best to easily and accurately convey the information contained on that particular sheet. So some sheets will be in color, some in B&W or grayscale.

 

I feel this to be an important aspect of my job as a designer. So even if the amount of color is negligible, if it helps to make things clearer for the reader (and that includes the building official), I will use it.

 

On the other hand, too much color may be distracting, so you have to be careful too.

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It depends upon the project for me. If the project can be properly portrayed on letter sized paper then I format for color for obvious reasons, letter sized printers almost everyone has. When doing larger projects that require Arch C or larger then I stick to b & w since my clients will be paying for the print services (the only size documents I print myself on paper is letter sized, larger ones I    print to PDF).

 

DJP

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I generally print 24x36 size prints.  These prints cost me (or my client) less   than a dollar per sheet.  I think if I printed in color,  these same sheets might cost me a about 6.00/sheet.  That is 6 times as much.

 

Would anybody be willing to share how much it cost them  per sheet for 24x36 paper in black and white vs color.

 

I do not print in house,  everything is printed through my print shop.

 

I am thinking about doing a workshop on printing.  Would anybody else be interested in sharing their printing methods?

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I used to go through a print shop...and always get black and white.  When I checked on a color print it was similar to being astronomically more than typical B&W.  I now have a printer that I do my own printing on as I found out with the volume I was doing with the main contractor I work with, it was cheaper to lease one then go to the print shop each time.  I would be game for a workshop....as I always am.  I could show how I go about things...but it is more specific to my area and would take about 2 minutes max to explain and may not be worth it to those in other areas.

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...... I could show how I go about things...but it is more specific to my area and would take about 2 minutes max to explain and may not be worth it to those in other areas.

Yea,  I would hope the workshop would be less than one hour.  I have always wondered how some of the folks use the colored wall fills.  And now with the TRANSPARENCY option for fills,  I am  wondering if some brainiac out there has come up with some neat ideas.  I saw  one of Perry's vids and he seemed to be using more color...  for a swimming pool in particular.  I think in the near  future,  we  will be using color more and more,  it's just a bit cost prohibited at this time for me.

 

I will set up a workshop,  and with any luck,  it will be a short one.

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........ I had to adjust my colors for grayscale.

ahhhh,  so you have consciously chosen colors that print good in grey scale....  not too light and not too dark........  so the next question is does a red with 10% transparencey print the same as a red with 95% transparency?

 

I am setting up a workshop for next Saturday,  maybe you have time to join us Perry.

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I generally print 24x36 size prints.  These prints cost me (or my client) less   than a dollar per sheet.  I think if I printed in color,  these same sheets might cost me a about 6.00/sheet.  That is 6 times as much.

 

Would anybody be willing to share how much it cost them  per sheet for 24x36 paper in black and white vs color.

 

I do not print in house,  everything is printed through my print shop.

 

I am thinking about doing a workshop on printing.  Would anybody else be interested in sharing their printing methods?

 

I used to do almost the same thing. Sometimes I would print the cover page of my con docs in color (it was the only one with renderings), and the rest of the set in b&w to keep the cost reasonable. Now that I bought my own printer, I use more color throughout. Not tons of color, but instead of trying to find different hatch patterns (for a plan with several different wall types for example), now I mix and match with color fills. I use color to highlight certain elements too. 

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  • 5 months later...

The cost is minor by comparison to the effect. I absorb the extra cost, as I rarely spend over $100 for 4 color copies of a complete set, edge bound and delivered to my front door.  It only gets expensive if I have to do it several times.  I'm using colored transparent fills more and more for some hatching area's as it communicates much better than a busy hatch pattern.

 

Some sheets are still B/W with Grey scale, like elevations, but one CA changes their export to layout to include scaled color images, I'll stop using B/w there too.

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I print my PDF's in color so I get good gray scale, then send those to the print house to be printed in B&W, no one will pay for color output from the print house.

 

Smaller jobs I print here on my HP 110, in color, almost always. A print head died the other day so I printed in B&W on my 110. Never found a client contractor who cared much about color ConDocs.

 

Presentation stuff - always color - done in house.

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The cost is minor by comparison to the effect. I absorb the extra cost, as I rarely spend over $100 for 4 color copies of a complete set, edge bound and delivered to my front door.  It only gets expensive if I have to do it several times.  I'm using colored transparent fills more and more for some hatching area's as it communicates much better than a busy hatch pattern.

 

Some sheets are still B/W with Grey scale, like elevations, but one CA changes their export to layout to include scaled color images, I'll stop using B/w there too.

Not when you have 25 page sets.

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I do almost all of my projects (mostly additions and even whole house renovations) on 11x17 and sometimes Super B (13x19) in color. Carpenter's can read them easier, the sheets are easier to handle and 11x17 folds in half & fits in a standard file folder. I miss my HP 1120 CSE (still works but no decent driver support for Windows 7) and am currently making due with a cheap ($99 on sale at Staples several yrs ago) HP Officejet 7000 Wide Format and inexpensive paper from DataPrint. If I have to go to 24x36, I send color pdfs to the print house and have them printed grey scale.

 

I send pdfs to clients and only print color renderings on our laser printer on 8.5x11.-BB

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I would love to do that but around here we have to draw the whole house on every project, even if the addition is 100 s.f. or just a kitchen remodel.

Yep,  been doing this for years now.  Working on a two story right now,  24x36 paper,  I will have a minimum of 24 sheets.  11x17?  Are you kidding me,  I can't fit the boiler plate electrical notes on that size paper....... and now I have to use 1-hour eaves for my projects,  I am sure that will add another 17 sheets of plans.....  

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