ltscale and psltscale

[robarch]

When drawing in architectural units (ACAD 2006), plotting from paperspace I set the ltscale in the viewport to .5 or 1 and then set the psltscale in paperspace to 1. The various linetypes come out fine. However, when drawing in decimal units and plotting from paperspace, setting the ltscale in the viewport to .5 or 1 and then setting the psltscale to 1 in paperspace does not work. That is, the linetypes, such as hidden, center, dashed do not come out looking as they should. It seems that if I set the ltscale in the viewport to about half of the plotted scale for the drawing (ex. the plotted scale is to be 1:50, so I set the ltscale in the viewport to 25), the linetypes seem to look OK.

 

Is there a specific way to setting these lt scales to plot from paperspace when working in decimal units, or is trial and error? Thanks

[wannabe]

When drawing in architectural units (ACAD 2006), plotting from paperspace I set the ltscale in the viewport to .5 or 1 and then set the psltscale in paperspace to 1. The various linetypes come out fine. However, when drawing in decimal units and plotting from paperspace, setting the ltscale in the viewport to .5 or 1 and then setting the psltscale to 1 in paperspace does not work. That is, the linetypes, such as hidden, center, dashed do not come out looking as they should. It seems that if I set the ltscale in the viewport to about half of the plotted scale for the drawing (ex. the plotted scale is to be 1:50, so I set the ltscale in the viewport to 25), the linetypes seem to look OK.

 

Is there a specific way to setting these lt scales to plot from paperspace when working in decimal units, or is trial and error? Thanks

 

Are they just polylines? Maybe its the option in the properties called linetype generation. Make sure its enabled.

 

It probably is an issue with scales, which right now I can't get my head into tinkinng about, sorry.

[soleary]

When drawing in architectural units (ACAD 2006), plotting from paperspace I set the ltscale in the viewport to .5 or 1 and then set the psltscale in paperspace to 1. The various linetypes come out fine. However, when drawing in decimal units and plotting from paperspace, setting the ltscale in the viewport to .5 or 1 and then setting the psltscale to 1 in paperspace does not work. That is, the linetypes, such as hidden, center, dashed do not come out looking as they should. It seems that if I set the ltscale in the viewport to about half of the plotted scale for the drawing (ex. the plotted scale is to be 1:50, so I set the ltscale in the viewport to 25), the linetypes seem to look OK.

 

Is there a specific way to setting these lt scales to plot from paperspace when working in decimal units, or is trial and error? Thanks

Is this 2 different drawings? It is probably down to the MEASUREMENT system variable. There are 2 different default linetype files that AutoCAD uses - ACAD.LIN and ACADISO.LIN. If MEASUREMENT is set to 1 (metric) the linetypes are taken from the ACADISO.LIN file and if MEASUREMENT is set to 0 (imperial) they are taken from the ACAD.LIN file. The fact that you have to change the LTSCALE to 25 seems to suggest that this is happening as 1" = 25.4mm.

 

So if you are drawing in metric, make sure that MEASUREMENT is set to 1 when inserting linetypes (and hatches) and if drawing is imperial MEASUREMENT should be set to 0.

 

MEASUREMENT is drawing specific. To set it for new drawings you need to set MEASUREINIT

[robarch]

Yes, they are 2 different drawings. Here in Canada, we use both imperial and metric systems. So, we are constantly preparing drawings in both systems, depending on the type of building project (architecture). I'm also a college professor (architectural technology) and am teaching a second year level ACAD course which is where this issue has come up. Rather than just telling the students to trial and error it in the metric system, I'd prefer to give them an answer as to how to get their linetypes to plot properly. Thanks...so far.

[A1DWG]

I have experienced similar, especially when receiving drawings from other companies. If I understand your dilema, I think the answer is that AutoCAD has two Basic forms of templates for new drawings - Imperial and Metric. Whilst both seem identical initially, AutoCAD utilises two different files for the Linetype definitions (and also hatch patterns). Each file has the same line names - dashed, hidden etc! - Confused?

 

Ideally use the -ISO template or soleary's measurement option (didn't know that one myself - Thanks soleary), for metric, and the non ISO for imperial. If you have already started the drawing, reload all the linetypes for the drawing, using the appropriate file - acad.lin or acadiso.lin in the linetype control box. Not all linetypes work too well, but an ltscale of 1 should be about there.

[spittle]

I wrote this - it's still a draft - not got round to finishing it yet but let me know what you think/info that perhaps could be added. Certain parts are applicable to my current job but it may help with your situation. (Also PSLTSCALE should be 1 - don't know if it's in this document).

Not managed to get any feedback from it yet where I work.

 

Linetypes & Scales

 

The guide describes a tried and tested method of producing CAD drawings so that all Linetypes are scaled correctly and in proportion to each other and also ways to ensure you will be able to use Viewport Overrides to get your entities to display how you desire. It also includes the use of External References (XREFs) and also a description of how to fix drawings that have already Linetype Scale issues.

 

If you follow this guide you will not have Linetype Scale issues.

 

1 - Getting Started:

 

Things to ensure when producing a drawing:

 

- All Linetype Scales should be set to 1 and not manually overridden.

- The Linetype you wish to use should be chosen via the Layer Properties Manager and not manually overridden.

- A Linetype’s Colour should be chosen in the Layers Property Manager and not manually overridden.

 

It may be quicker to just override the settings in your drawing as you go rather than creating new layers for different entities but the entities within a drawing that have overridden settings will not be affected by Viewport Overrides (selected in the Layers Property Manager), so this makes customising the look of individual viewports very difficult and sometimes impossible without redoing the layering of the drawing. The same applies to XREFs and for the creation of Blocks.

 

2 - Linetype Selection

 

All Linetypes need to look in the correct proportion to each other, to do this we need to make sure the right linetypes are chosen to start with. We should be using the ones designed to be used together.

 

For example this set of linetypes:

 

CENTER2

HIDDEN2

DASHED2

DASHDOT2

BORDER2

Etc…

 

We shouldn’t use this set of linetypes:

 

CENTER

HIDDEN

DASHED

DASHDOT

BORDER

Etc…

 

because the these will look far too big in proportion to our Linetypes that contain text, eg the GAS_LINE linetype etc.

 

Important information regarding Pipe Fittings Toolbar used by .

When these pipe fittings were created, a mixture of the CENTER Linetype Set as well as some from the ‘CENTER2’ Linetype set were used. For this reason, if you use these in your drawing, you won’t get all the Linetypes to look in proportion to each other unless you fix this within the Layers Property Manager.

 

 

 

- Now with all the linetypes in proportion to each other, if needed, their scales can be adjusted ‘globally’ to achieve the desired result within the drawing. You can adjust this by going:

 

Format>Linetype and then change the Global Scale Factor.

 

Note: For drawings that will be used as XREFs, the Global Scale Factor selected in the XREF won’t effect the linetype scales in the main drawing.

 

 

 

 

Fixing Older Drawings

 

-Select All (Ctrl+A)

-Open Properties, Change all Linetype Scales to 1

-Change all Linetypes to be ‘By Layer’

-Change Colour to be ‘By Layer’

-Then go in Layer Properties Manager, and check the appropriate linetypes are being used together as described above.

-Next, go Format/Linetype… and reload all linetypes.

-Then adjust the Global scale factor if needed.

-You can now purge out the unnecessary Linetypes.

 

One important thing to bear in mind – if you’re working on a drawing that contains a Linetype that isn’t in your standard Linetype File then sometimes it won’t display correctly even though all of the other Linetypes look fine. It will either appear too big, too small, or even as a continuous line. Don’t be tempted to manually override this Linetype’s scale in Properties. Instead, load all of either your Metric, or Imperial Linetypes from ‘acadiso.lin’ or ‘acad.lin’ (load which ever one you haven’t been using). Now all of your Linetype Scales should change. They should in proportion to each other and you can just change the Global Scale Factor so they appear correct on your drawing. You can now run PURGE to get rid of unused Linetypes.

 

Information regarding layers brought into a drawing from an XREF.

 

If the Linetype file used in an XREF (either acadiso.lin or acad.lin) is different to the one used in your main drawing then the XREF’s Linetypes will be brought into your main drawing. If this is the case then in the Layers Property Manager, you will see that the XREFs Linetypes begin with the XREFs name. Eg:

xref12345CENTER2 instead of CENTER2

 

The easiest solution is to make sure you’re consistent with the Linetypes you use. Or go into your main drawing’s Layer Properties Manager and change all of your XREFs Linetypes to the correct ones eg: change xref12345CENTER2” to “CENTER2 etc.

[spittle]

If you still have problems let me know - there are still a few situations where you'll still have problems i.e, if an imperial, and a metric linetype has been used on your drawing that is not in any of your .lin files.