Dimensioning

[road runner]

Can someone please till me, when dimensioning a drawing how can you make the dimensioning line not so imposiing on the screen? Thanks in advanced.

[ReMark]

Imposing how? We need a better description of the problem or a screenshot to better understand the problem you are facing?

[RobDraw]

Line on screen... so that probably means the color is too bright? Color is usually assigned by layer.

[road runner]

Thanks for the in-put... On screen the Constrouction Line is the same thickness as the Dimension Line can this D/L's be set so it looks transparen or a lot thiner so it is not so imposing when you have a lot of them on screen together?

[RobDraw]

On screen, that is usually the case. All lines display with the same width unless you have the "Display Lineweights" toggle turned on. A picture of what you have would help a lot in solving your problem. Please post a screen shot.

[Dana W]

The way it is done is to have your dimension lineweight property assigned to By Layer, and have a layer solely for dimensions. The Layer lineweight will be assigned to the desired line weight for the dimensions.

 

Normally, one should have extension lines a bit heavier than the dimension lines. Within the dimension style editor, you can assign a specific weight, type, and color to each line type, by layer for the dimension line, and a numeric width for the extension lines.

 

You should be differentiating all your drawing lines with layers, defining the layers by weight, color, and purpose.

[RobDraw]

Dana, he's talking about on screen. Not quite sure what he means though, unless he is displaying lineweights.

[Dana W]

Dana, he's talking about on screen. Not quite sure what he means though, unless he is displaying lineweights.

Yeah, that is what I thought too, until the second post where he said the construction lines and dimension lines are the same thickness, and doesn't want them that way. The only way to fix that is to make them different.

[RobDraw]

It is confusing. Hopefully a picture will clear things up.

[rkent]

 

Normally, one should have extension lines a bit heavier than the dimension lines.

 

All of my drafting books call for dimension and extension lines to have the same line weight. "..fine, dark, solid line.."

[Dana W]

All of my drafting books call for dimension and extension lines to have the same line weight. "..fine, dark, solid line.."

OK, then. My way is an architectural sorta kinda standard. Probably shoulda not said that.

[RobDraw]

Do you use that heavy architectural tic mark, too? That's like three different lineweights for a dimension if you are.

[SuperCAD]

I use a thicker line for the dimension line (0.25-0.30mm) than I do for the extension line (0.18mm). The use of lineweights is, in my opinion, largely overrated. You really only need 4 of them. Light (0.18mm), normal (0.25-0.30mm), thick (0.50mm) and bold (0.70mm) are all I use. Anything lighter than 0.18mm is hard to read unless it's for a really dense hatch pattern, and the differences between the rest are barely noticeable unless you're looking at them close up.

[RobDraw]

Seems contradictory. Lineweights are overrated but you use two for a single dimension. Just my two cents. Otherwise, I agree with you.

[SuperCAD]

Not contradictory when you understand why. The lighter extension lines are there so they don't draw attention away from the geometry they are attaching to. 0.18mm is the lightest I can go before they don't show up well on a plotted sheet. Usually the dimension lines are 0.30mm (sometimes 0.25mm depending on whose drawing I'm working on) and the 0.12mm difference is enough to make them stand out. Any thicker, and they just look ugly.

 

Besides, I'm still only using 4 lineweights and not the standard 24 that come with the program.

[RobDraw]

I understand that people do things differently for a variety of reasons.

 

I have always thought that practice was overkill. For my purposes, one lineweight for a single dimension is enough. Even if I'm using tic marks, I don't use the thick one.

[Dana W]

Do you use that heavy architectural tic mark, too? That's like three different lineweights for a dimension if you are.

Yeah, I use the tick, but I make it as thin as possible. It's been so long since I built my dimstyle, I don't even remember how to make it thick or thin. It either takes on the line weight of the extension line or the dim line. And unless the client bootches about it, I use the Graphite Light architectural font, so one cannot possibly read a diagonal stacked fraction. Fractions are over-rated. Saw blades are thicker than most of 'em anyway.

 

Remember, I work in the residential architectural nebula, where art is what its all about. One of my clients insists on publishing his hand drawn concept drawings in pdf form, which of course are fogged all over with hand smeared grahite. Cheeez, I thought all those guys were dead.

 

Most of my clients insist on their template anyway.

[Dana W]

I use a thicker line for the dimension line (0.25-0.30mm) than I do for the extension line (0.18mm). The use of lineweights is, in my opinion, largely overrated. You really only need 4 of them. Light (0.18mm), normal (0.25-0.30mm), thick (0.50mm) and bold (0.70mm) are all I use. Anything lighter than 0.18mm is hard to read unless it's for a really dense hatch pattern, and the differences between the rest are barely noticeable unless you're looking at them close up.

On house plans, there are so many parallel dimension lines that they take on the appearance of object lines when they are thicker than the extension line. My personal preference is the opposite.

[Dana W]

Do you use that heavy architectural tic mark, too? That's like three different lineweights for a dimension if you are.

That reminds me of a Brad Paisley song.

[SuperCAD]

On house plans, there are so many parallel dimension lines that they take on the appearance of object lines when they are thicker than the extension line. My personal preference is the opposite.

 

On my house plans, I'll draw a rectangle around the outermost limits of the plans and offset that by 3/4". This is the closest my dimensions will get to the actual house object lines. I try to minimize the number of dimensions that have to cross over geometry and if I find that I need a lot of them, I'll do a detail on another sheet. I try as hard as I can to make sure that the builders know what they are looking at, but some of them can't be helped. I could be on site with them directing the construction and they'd still screw it up.