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Turn off the lights in Civil 3D - Night Mode Customization

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Benefits of using night mode:

 

  • Eye comfort

Night mode reduces the strain on your eyes by providing a dark background with light text, which is easier on the traditional white background with dark text. This is particularly beneficial for users who work long hours in front of the computer and experience eye fatigue.

 

  • Improved visibility

The dark background in night mode allows the text and lines to stand out, improving visibility and making it easier to see details in your designs. This is especially helpful when working with complex drawings or in low-light conditions.

 

  • Enhanced focus

The dark background in night mode also helps to reduce distractions and minimize clutter, making it easier to focus on your work. This can lead to increased productivity and efficiency.

 

  • Energy-saving

Night mode can also help to conserve energy, as the darker background requires less power to display than a white one. This can result in lower energy bills and an eco-friendlier work environment.

 

How do you do this?!

By default, the color theme is already set to “Dark”, but this only applies to elements such as the status bar, title bar, ribbon bar, and the application menu frame. With a few adjustments, we can apply a “dark mode” in other areas as well, such as the model space and layout space backgrounds.

 

  • Type “OPTIONS” and hit enter.

 

  • On the Display tab, click on the ‘Colors…’ button in the Window Elements section.

 

gothitis_2-1675953404715.png

 

  • Click on ‘2D model space’ in the context column and ‘uniform background’ in the interface element column, and change the color from ‘33,40,48’ to ‘Black’.

 

gothitis_3-1675953404721.png

 

  • Click on ‘sheet/layout’ in the context column and ‘uniform background’ in the interface element column, and change the color from ‘White’ to ‘Black’.

 

gothitis_4-1675953404725.png

 

  • Click Apply & Close.

 

Results (Before & After)

 

gothitis_5-1675953404745.png    gothitis_6-1675953404764.png

I know the change from dark gray is subtle, but trust me, it makes a huge difference. 

 

gothitis_7-1675953404779.png    gothitis_8-1675953404792.png

 

Bonus Tip!

Since we explored changing some colors, another thing I like to change the color of is my cursor. Back in the Drawing Window Colors menu, click on 2D model space in the context column and this time select the crosshair in the interface element column, and chose the color you like. Make sure to change the crosshair color under the sheet/layout context as well. I also like to increase my crosshair size to 100.

 

gothitis_9-1675953404793.png

 

Want more?

Now that we customized some options, we can create a profile (.arg file) and export it for others to access. We can even take it one step further and create a custom shortcut icon that will automatically launch the profile on startup. I’ll share more information on this in a future blog post!

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