Changing Linetype

[ReMark]

An image of a drawing (24x36) with two lines in it. The horizontal green line has a linetype of HIDDEN. The vertical cyan line has a linetype of HIDDEN2. The template file is imperial and the lines are drawn at full size.

 

Could you erase everything in your drawing with the exception of one of the lines you are having a problem with, save it under a different name, and attach that to a subsequent post? Remember to first save your present drawing before doing this.

[ReMark]

I know you said you did it but it never hurts to double check the properties bracketed in red as seen in the above image.

[Evelynn]

Yeah, I only checked the scale and the linetype in the properties. Everything else is foreign to me.

[Evelynn]

I also edited a previous recent post to attach what you asked me to do with that drawing. I don't know if you saw that or not.

[rkent]

Do not use the ACAD_ISO.... linetypes, load the ones that say HIDDEN, CENTER, etc.

[ReMark]

See where it says Linetype in your Properties? Why doesn't that say "ByLayer"?

 

Is it a company practice to use ACAD_ISO02W100 linetype for a dashed line? If so then your linetype scale shouldn't be "1"; it should be something like 0.1 or 0.05.

[ReMark]

The above lines use the ACAD_ISO02W100 linetype.

The top line is 13 inches long. The bottom line is 22 inches long.

For the line to appear dashed it would have to be a minimum of 15 inches long.

[Evelynn]

Yeah, the only reason I used the ACAD_ISO linetype, is because it's the dashed line that popped up first (I didn't realize there were more options, for some reason). It's not company policy. I just did it erroneously

So, knowing now that I should use "Hidden" linetypes, how do I change the existing ACAD_ISO lines over to "Hidden" lines?

I'd hate to have to redraw them all.

[ReMark]

Open your Layer Properties Manager and assign either the HIDDEN or HIDDEN2 linetype to the layer these types of lines will appear on. This assumes you have created a layer for your hidden lines.

 

The ACAD_ISO linetypes tend to be used more in drawings done to metric units.

[Evelynn]

Alright. So, no ACAD_ISO, and NEXT TIME, create my layers before anything else

In conclusion, I'm going to go try to find some good tutorials for "setting up a drawing" before I go any further with this dwg.

Thank you all very much.

[ReMark]

It was rkent that provided the solution. My contribution was just window dressing.

 

Does your company have a CAD Drafting Standards manual?

[Evelynn]

No. No one here knows anything about CAD. It sounds terrifying, but I'm the only one here with any experience (and we all know how that's going).

They have no standards, and no existing technical drawings I can use as templates for the way our new drawings should look.

I'm literally starting from scratch, with no help haha.

Needless to say, I'm very thankful for this forum.

[ReMark]

You might want to consider pausing for a moment, taking pen and paper in hand, and list some of the things you might like to have as a part of your standard drawing template so you do not have to recreate the wheel every time you start a new drawing. High on that list should be what standard layers every drawing should have along with the color of the layer and the linetype assigned to it. Consider adding text, dimension and multileader styles to the list and fonts for starters.

 

Does Canada have a national CAD standards organization?

[Evelynn]

Doing that now.

Then the tutorials.

 

P.S. Links for helpful tutorials? (preferably free)

[ReMark]

You can find tutorials here at CADTutor and more here: http://www.we-r-here.com/cad/index.htm

 

I know of one other website. If you PM me I'll provide you with a link.

[Dana W]

No. No one here knows anything about CAD. It sounds terrifying, but I'm the only one here with any experience (and we all know how that's going).

They have no standards, and no existing technical drawings I can use as templates for the way our new drawings should look.

I'm literally starting from scratch, with no help haha.

Needless to say, I'm very thankful for this forum.

Wow, you're certainly in the soup, aren't you.

 

What Remark is trying to guide you to, and what you will see in the tutorials, is to set up your layers through the layer properties manager to have the object line colors, line weights, line types and so forth assigned in there. Then, in the object properties you can use the default property of "By layer" in many places. Then, you make the desired layer "Current", and draw something, and automatically the object will have the properties specified by the "Current" layer.

 

If you draw a whole mess of stuff on the wrong layer, you can move them to the proper layer by selecting them, then clicking on the correct layer name in the dropdown layer list on your toolbar.

 

Setting the object properties to anything other than "By Layer" will override the properties specified in the layer properties manager. It' handy, at times though.

 

I have a feeling that what you were seeing by using that ISO line type was dashes that were much longer than the overall length of your lines.

[Evelynn]

You guys are excellent. I'm currently moving most of my lines to the proper layers, because I completely forgot about that before. I'm about ready to dig out my old drafting books from college. Yeesh!

[Tuns]

Do those drafting books only explain the functions r do they explain standards as well? I'm just curious because I learned how to use AutoCAD while on the job so I've never even seen a book about it before.

[Evelynn]

My CAD books from school explained functions, shortcuts, etc. There was some very basic stuff about industry standards, but since I went to school for woodworking, and I'm now in plastics, I'm not sure how much of that transfers over. Although I'm sure a Google search would be just as/if not more helpful than my books, in terms of industry standards.

[Tuns]

I would assume standards would be pretty much the same between the two. I wouldn't know for certain since I am in the architectural precast business at the moment. Anyways, thanks for letting me know.