Initial line type scale is too big for drawings

[Anonymous]

Dear colleagues hi,

I am trying to make sense with the line type scale. I have LTSCALE to 1, MSLTSCALE to 0 and PSLTSCALE to 0 and units in meters (metric). I try to draw a dash line and this line need to be 47 meters in order to see the first dash. In order now to dash a 3 meters line in my drawing in need to set ltscale factor to 0.001 !!!. Is this normal? Is there any way to reduce the pattern repetition scale and be able to normaly draw for example a 3m dashed line at scl factor 1 without having to reduce the scl factor so much?? The same applies with the my hatch paterns. I am looking forward to your reply.

Regards, Stergios

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

by default the linetype scalefactor is only needed for plot ... and so in a layout within a viewport.

Use PSLTSCALE = 1 (instead of 0) and you can plot a 3m line well with linetype "DASHED" based on acadiso.lin ... for all viewport scales which show a 3m line on the layout with more than 5mm length on the paper.

If you want to stay at PSLTSCALE 0 you'll need to change LTSCALE for every plot.

If you want to stay at PSTLSCALE 0 and LTSCALE 1 ... then create your own linetype(s) with smaller distance values, it's not that difficult 😉

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Hi Alfred,

Unofortunately this doesn't seem to work either. I am attaching a pair of photos of a new dwg drawing where I put dimension lines as well to explain (please see below). Plot is 1:500 in scale. Settings are:

MSLTSCALE 1

PSLTSCALE 1

LTSCALE 1

UNITS meters

Still in the model space I need to draw a 100 meter line (ACAD_ISO03W100) in order to see the iso dash pattern. Further in the paper space I do not see the dash pattern even after I REGEN. Not to mention the dimension's text is always big by default. Is that normal? To your knowledge is there any system setting that I should click in order for my line to have proper metric appearance. My mind goes to somekind of incompatability between inches and meter at a basic system setting. What do you say.

Regards, Stergios

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

please upload a drawing (dwg-file) with that content so I can see your settings.

The first thing I would look into is the scale of the viewport, because as you are working in Meter, but AutoCAD by default has the scales defined for Millimeter and that makes a difference of factor 1000.

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Thanks,

Please find the test dwg attached. The layout viewport I set to custom and I put 1000milimeters to 1 unit. Do you have any idea?

Stergios

[beyoungjr]

Hello,

I've never been pleased with the ISO linetypes in ACAD so I have my own custom  lin files to manage those I need.

Have a look at this old bit of info about the ISO linetypes.  The download link still works.

http://www.cadforum.cz/cadforum_en/metric-linetypes-by-iso-and-complex-linetypes-for-utilities-tip11...

Cheers,

Blaine

[beyoungjr · Accepted solution]

BTW... I had a look at your dwg and there doesn't appear to any problem with your usage an application but moreover the choice of that linetype.  Many users get used to setting up templates with the default linetypes necessary for their work.

[Alfred.NESWADBA · Accepted solution]

Hi,

let the plot-dialog set to 1:1 ... so you  can define a layout for A4 and plot it to A4.

And the viewport then should hold the scale (instead of the layout).

Please find my drawing corrected from yours and that's how linetypes look like in that case (1:100)

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Thanks Alfred I appreciate it. I also used another line type as blyoung suggested during this post and everything is set.

Best, Stergios

[Anonymous]

Dear colleague thank you. I used a different dashed line type and it did work.

Best regards, Stergios

[hencoop]

I came here to find a solution to my "huge linetype" problem in Model Space.  My solution turned out to be "Set MSLTSCALE = 0"  I cannot remember ever using MSLTSCALE or even knowing it existed.  I can't figure why it showed up as a problem for me now.  The drawing is from my own template in which I've never seen the problem before.  I have no clue what would have set MSLTSCALE to 1 if it has always been zero for my entire career.  When did this System variable first appear in drawings?

[beyoungjr]

Here is the Autodesk info on the variable...

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Linetype...

Just so you understand, you are not setting an inch or magnitude for the value of MSLTSCALE.  You are turning it on or off with 1 or 0.

I can't imagine what might have turning this on/off abruptly.

Hope this helps,

Blaine

[hencoop]

Thank you.

That covers my questions about MSLTSCALE very well.