prevent additive transparency

[jdfnnl]

The goal is to juxtapose new with existing by fading the existing elements. Is there a way to accomplish this without the additive effect of overlapping transparent lines?

 

[pendean]

Would one of those files be an XREF? or could be if you want to do what you want, and XREFs have a fade option in OPTIONS even in your AutoCAD2015 version I believe.

Or you could play with screen colors, select ones that look faded on your screen. and combine(or use) a PLOT STYLE TABLE settings for that as a plotted effect too.

[jdfnnl]

It does seem like using CTB file plot style with screening option would solve this, but I would need to redefine a number of new colors, one additional for each line weight I am using, then assign the desired screening, possibly 40 out of 100 to match the 60% transparency as seen in the screenshot.

@pendean I believe the fade on xrefs does not print

I think screening is the alternative to transparency that is not additive. It would be great to know other ways of applying the screening effect, as what I mentioned above would be a lot to manage. I have not worked with STB plot styles yet, but maybe this provides a way of creating pairs layers (one for new and one for existing) with matching colors, maybe also with transparency that displays but doesn't print?

[pendean]

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@jdfnnl wrote:

@pendean I believe the fade on xrefs does not print

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Indeed, that's why I presented two answers since your need seemed unclear to me: a display-only solution, and a print-solution (CTB or STB, which can also be a display solution if you turn on the display option in that pagesetup).