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Scaling lineweights in viewport

8 REPLIES 8
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Message 1 of 9
rspierenburg
10666 Views, 8 Replies

Scaling lineweights in viewport

We just recently upgraded to AutoCAD LT 2011 and I've been playing with the automatic annotation scaling, which is brilliant.  My next question is, is it possible to do a similar thing with lineweights?

 

The example would be like this.  If you have a layout page with a large plan at say 1/16"=1' and in the same layout you have a blow-up area in a different viewport at say 1"=1', in order to get the lineweights to read correctly in one viewport it wouldn't necessarily work in the other viewport.

 

And as perhaps a second question, doesn't having the lineweights in a plot style table make the lineweights in the layers themselves kind of redundant?  In the past we've always just used a .CTB for the sake of using a .CTB.  All our line properties (weight, type, colors) were setup in the drawing layers and the in the CTB everything was set to default to the layers.  With the new software, I am trying to start a new leaf with a proper template that 'hopefully' uses .STBs but thats another discussion all together.

 

Thanks in advance,

Rob

8 REPLIES 8
Message 2 of 9
pendean
in reply to: rspierenburg

Is the Explore setting viewport specific "colors" to layers using LAYER command (while inside each viewport) that are separate from modelspace layer colors, a feature of LT2011: since you are limiting yourself to using CTB, these would be different screen colors per viewport.

 

This assumes of course you draw everything BYLAYER and not by entity.

Message 3 of 9
rspierenburg
in reply to: pendean

I'm not 100% sure I follow you.  Are you saying you can set separate colors to layers in both model space an viewports?  If this is the case then sure that is an option, but I don't feel like editing layer colors for each different viewport if its a different scale.

 

I guess the long and short of it is this, I am trying to setup a drawing template with lineweights that work properly at various scales.  For example, Most of the time our drawings run 1/8" scale on a Arch D drawing, but the municipality requires that all Development Agreement application drawings be printed on 8.5x11 Letter sized paper.

 

I'm just trying to figure out the most effective and efficient solution because now is the time for me to implement it.  So any suggestions are welcome.

 

Rob

Message 4 of 9
pendean
in reply to: rspierenburg

Yes to your first paragraph. Just try it, the extra columns show up to the right once you are in a viewport.

 

For your second paragraph, that's what SCALE LINEWEIGHT check box is for on the PLOT pop-up, always has, still does.

Message 5 of 9
rspierenburg
in reply to: pendean

Thanks Pendean,

 

That helps out quite a bit.  I'm still confused as to why there is Line Weights in the Layer Dialogue box 'and' Line Weights in the .CTB/.STB.  But  I never noticed that layer category in viewport before.  Still kind of a pain in the neck to switch them all per viewport, but better than nothing I suppose.

 

As for your last comment, all of our Plot Scales have always be set to 1:1, in which case the Scale Lineweights doesn't affect anything.  So have we been wrong all this time with using 1:1 plot scales? Not that it would surprise me.

 

Rob

Message 6 of 9
Modman_4
in reply to: rspierenburg

I think what Dean may have been saying was, if you have your page setup to plot a certain size sheet, and then go and plot to a smaller sheet, normally it would start looking like mud -- if you are using a CTB file it will normally print a given color as a given line thickness no matter what size the output scale is (this is more for plotting a large sheet and then using the same setup to print out an 8 1/2 x 11 for example). If you select the "scale lineweights" option it will automatically compensate for that change in output scale in order to keep the linework clean...

 

You sound upset at the prospect of overriding a layer's color on a per-viewport basis, while many out there welcomed this change in 2008. Using it to adjust emphasis in details is just one possibility, and just think -- if you do it once for a particular scale of detail, as long as you are using some sort of layering standards you can "paint" the properties of that detail viewport to any similar detail you wish (the first time is the most involved, but after that it gets faster and easier). I like it because you can load a building XREF and use it full-color in one viewport, and yet override all to one color for a background drawing in another. The idea of adjusting certain layer colors for details is just gravy...

I hope my info was useful, but if by some odd chance it actually solved your issue, feel free to mark your post as "Accept as Solution". Thanks! 🙂
Message 7 of 9
pendean
in reply to: rspierenburg

Look up LWEIGHT command in HELP for your first question about LAYER command.

 

And unless you have dramatically varied lineweights you must accommodate, many users find they only need two: one for a plotter (large sheets) and one for a printer (small sheets).

Message 8 of 9
rspierenburg
in reply to: rspierenburg

I never meant to sound upset.  I guess I'm just overly enthusiastic over other features that I hoped autoscaling lineweights by drawing scale was possible as well.

 

Thanks everyone for all the information it did help out a lot.

 

Rob

Message 9 of 9
pendean
in reply to: rspierenburg

I did not detect anything unusual, your posts are fine 🙂

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