topic Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype in AutoCAD Forum

Earthworks Batter Linetype

chrispooley0 — Tue, 05 May 2026 23:22:06 GMT

Hi All,

I'm a newbie to Autocad from Revit & Archicad.

I am trying to create a linetype that represents cut and fill batters, for civil engineering works, this is commonly done with a 'Y' shape pointing downhill in the area I work in.

I have managed to create the linetype and the shape file, but it is not behaving as I would like it to. There are 2 main issues:-

there is a gap from the start and end of the line, and
I can not have the Y shape on the outer side of the arc

I have also uploaded my .dwg file with the linetype loaded into it.

Any ideas how I can fix these?

Thank you,

Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype

Kent1Cooper — Wed, 06 May 2026 01:00:13 GMT

Show us the linetype definition. Exactly how it's defined could affect the gap issue. And post the Shape file. But in the case of the three-arc-segment Polyline, change its Linetype Generatioin in Properties to Enabled.

No matter by what method you draw it, an Arc's ultimate "drawn direction" is always counterclockwise. So if you want an Arc to be "drawn" in the clockwise direction for the sake of the "aim" of the Shape inclusions, it must be done as a Polyline arc segment.

Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype

chrispooley0 — Wed, 06 May 2026 02:22:26 GMT

Hi Kent,

How do I access the definition? According to google I open the linetype manager, however this doesn't tell me anything about a definition.

For drawing the arc. Changing the generation to enabled worked perfectly.

Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype

Kent1Cooper — Wed, 06 May 2026 03:30:40 GMT

@chrispooley0 wrote:

....How do I access the definition? ....

Somewhere there is a file with a .lin filetype ending that contains the definition. The basic ones that come with AutoCAD are acad.lin and acadiso.lin. Yours may have been added into one of those, or it might be in a different file; it could be in a file by itself [maybe even with the same name], or in one containing multiple definitions. If you used the MKLTYPE Express Tool to create it, hopefully you remember where you asked for it to go. If you load it into drawings other than the one in which you used MKLTYPE to make it, you must know where you're getting it from.

Open that file in a plain-text editor such as Notepad. Its definition will look like this:
*BATTER,Optional description, optional visual approximation like maybe YYYYYY
A,the Definition.....

Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype

chrispooley0 — Wed, 06 May 2026 04:18:55 GMT

Hi Kent, thank you for helping me with this.

Thats it there

*BATTER,Earthworks Batter
A,0,[Y,C:\Drafting on PC\AutoCAD\AutoCAD Templates\AutoCAD Lines\Y,s=.75],.55

Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype

chrispooley0 — Wed, 06 May 2026 04:38:48 GMT

Sorry, I just noticed this

@Kent1Cooper wrote:
And post the Shape file.

Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype

Kent1Cooper — Wed, 06 May 2026 11:42:45 GMT

For the gap issue, try starting the definition with a very small but non-zero pen-down bit:

A,.001,[Y,C:\Drafting...

The ends still won't have the Shapes right up to the end except when the length of the object is right in relation to a multiple of the definition cycle length. There should be continuous-line ends filling out the object length, but not gaps.

[Untested -- I didn't revise the definition for a different filepath, load everything up, etc. If my suggestion doesn't work, I can do that for further trial.]

Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype

charleswilson0090 — Wed, 06 May 2026 12:24:40 GMT

You’re probably very close. This usually comes down to the .lin pattern setup and the shape insertion point in the .shx file.

Re: Earthworks Batter Linetype

chrispooley0 — Wed, 06 May 2026 22:17:21 GMT

Wonderful,

Thank you Kent, worked perfectly.