Hidden lines and STB file in MEP 2014

[nickl]

I'm tryng to bring our CAD department up to snuff and have made the switch from CTB files to STB files. I've been hitting a snag on the duct work's hidden lines. Since I've switched to the STB file the hidden lines print in full saturation. I obviously don't want that. 

I've also noticed that the Layer Key (M-SY-DUCT-EXHAUST in this example) seems to have more sway in how the duct is drawn than the display properties. I've looked in the DWG that controls the Layer Key (AECbstandard) but can't find anything that controls the hidden lines specifically. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jcampbell924]

The layer key does nothing more than tell AMEP what layer to use for the objects.  The Display Settings then allow us to control those layer attributes a little deeper than what we can by just using the layer manager.  So the layer is going to control your plotting and the Display settings are going to control more of your visibility aspects on screen (think of it as adjusting multiple layers and object display at once).  You can provide overrides in the Display manager and turn off other settings for the AMEP objects with the display settings also.  Connectors is a good example of this one as well as if you get into the display by elevation aspects of the system.

In AMEP 2014 the hidden lines for the duct or pipe objects are controlled differently depending on the Layer Key Standard you are using.  For example I make our own standard for our company and all of our hidden lines are controlled by the layer Key G-Anno-STD-Hidden_Lines that points them to a hidden line layer that we make called G-Anno-Duct_Hidd.  The settings for that layer should control your color, lw, etc.

I probably didnt explain that the best but its a combination of your layer key (and those layer settings), systems (and any overrides you may have), and the display manager that are going to affect the color and output of your objects.

[nickl]

So, basically you have to adjust them all in conjunction in order to get the kind of plot and display settings you want? 

[jcampbell924 · Accepted solution]

I wouldn't say you have to adjust them all just that you have to be aware of what they are doing.  I tend to only add overides at my system level and not to the display manager so the only two places I really have to worry about are the Layer Key style and the System itself.  We do make custom display reps but those are as needed.  This make it easy when I need to adapt to a different client standard since I can update the layers assigned to the layer key.  I still plot with a CTB but it is running more like an STB so the only thing it is really doing is turning everything black and controlling my screen values.  Everything else for the plot is style driven so it is reflecting what is being shown in the layer. 

I hope that helps more than it just muddies the water.  I can send you a screen shot of how I have my layer key and systems set if it helps explain what I am talking about. 

[nickl]

If you could send a scrennshot that would be fantastic. I think I may have it worked out but like anything AutoCAD there are 1000 ways to get the same end result it seems.