Best Practice Fonts

[YZ]

I'm wondering which fonts you guys prefer and/or recommend. Not fancy, just clear and professional looking. Are there industry standards?

 

If we adopt new fonts, are there likely to be any issues with clients using our files when we email them drawings? What is the best way to implement fonts?

 

Cheers.

[CADMASTER1128]

I always try and use CityBlueprint.

[Tiger]

If it's autocad standard fonts, then it shouldn't be a problem when sending dwg's. To make sure that the client has the font though, either use e-transmit to get all necessary fonts/styles included. Or simply send over a package of fonts that they can put in their library. I know one place where I order maps from, they have downloadable fonts on their websites to make sure the maps look correct.

 

As to what font to use, I use ISOCP for just about everything. But as long as it's clear and easy to read, I really have no preferences.

[AJSmith]

as a company we use RomanS not a 100% sure why but it dose the job its a standard windows font so just about everyone has it

 

one thing i would say is if you are going to use a font for all your work set up your own style i found that just changing the font in the standard style can cause problems as peopel with have this set different so will end up with a different font you what you set

[Connect Project Tech]

 

We use century gothic to match our company logo.

 

I've noticed with some of the styles, especially Arial, when they are copied from snap points to snap points, decided to display as bold and to be honest, scruffy looking.

They print out just fine though?!....

 

Seeing as were on the topic, sort of, is there a way to avoid this?

Or has anyone else come across it?

[ReMark]

CPT: You use Century Gothic for all text and dimensions?

 

No need to answer. For some reason all I saw was the word "Gothic" and the brain immediately flashed to the gothice.shx font. Shades of German class all over agin. Yikes!

 

We use RomanS, in our title block, for simplicity and because it is an AutoCAD standard font. We also use two custom fonts. The first, Helvo, is used for our company logo only. The second, Ufroman4, is used for all text within the drawing and for dimensions. This particular font makes a clear distinction between the letter "O" and the numeral "0" (with a slash through the "0") and between the letter "l" (el) and the numeral "1". This is vitally important for equipment numbering and computer controlled instruments.

[dbroada]

We use simplex for everything on the drawing, again because everybody should have it and I prefer san serif fonts. We then use a colour to bold up any text when required.

 

We use "Swiss" for matrix panels as it is close enough to helvetica (without paying the copyright fee) to allow our matrix printers to use either.

[YZ]

We use Arial for almost everything. Occasionally it has a hiccup an sends single words in DTEXT to bold.

 

There is pressure from the bosses to use different text styles to differentiate different label types (eg street names in one font, dimensions in another), but us drafties all think it looks terrible!

 

Dave, I also prefer San Serif fonts, however I can no longer use it because it spits up degrees symbols as big squares. Does anyone know how to rectify that?

[Connect Project Tech]

Isaac, you have the same problem then!

 

The Bold DTEXT thing -is there a way round it?

[stevsmith]

Tahoma for dimensions

 

txt.shx for notes

 

ariel for title block

[tzframpton]

Arial.ttf for our Titleblocks using different variations of bold, italics, and size. We do this for multiple reasons: it is a Sans Serif font that is clean and very common and not too "fancy", and it is a font that all computers have installed so our Titleblock fonts will never look funky due to defaulting to another font for lack of the font file just in case someone receives our file without us sending the fonts along with it. Plus the font never changes with a plot style.

 

Arcquick.shx for our dimensions, sizes, and leader notes. (This is an "handwritten architectural" style font)

 

TIM.shx for our equipment tagging. (This is almost identical to a bold Times New Roman)

 

Simplex.shx for all sheet related notes, such as General Notes, Notes by Symbol, and Schedules / Details page. (standard font that comes in AutoCAD)

 

We are a HVAC Mechanical contracting and engineering company just to give you an idea. And we use SHX fonts in our drawing model because the "bold" or "thickness" can be set via CTB plot styles. TTF fonts do not adjust the lineweight via plot styles.

[SuperCAD]

Arial for everything other than our company logo. When I was hired by my current employer they were using about five different "Swiss" type fonts and I couldn't understand why. They looked funny and were too wide to fit some of the notes on the sheets. I switched us over to Arial and haven't looked back.