how can I get the best of both worlds with linetype scales in modelspace/paperspace?

[Disco Dan]

I have a slight dilemma here at work. It's a choice between company standards, and what works for the drawing. I'm using AutoCAD Mechanical 2007, though I'm mainly just using it for 2D drawing.

 

I'm drawing a building expansion, whose proportions are fairly massive at about 600 ft. x 600 ft. (Sorry, I'm in the US. We haven't evolved to metric, yet.) yet when printed, it will fit on an 11"x17" piece of paper. So I have two options.

 

The solution I had come up with originally, was to set LTSCALE and CELTSCALE to 5 and 12 respectively, then turn off PSLTSCALE so that the way the drawing appeared in modelspace was the same as it appeared in paperspace.

 

The company standard, however, is to set LTSCALE to .315 and CELTSCALE stays at 1.0. PSLTSCALE then needs to be turned on, so that when layouts are created in paperspace, the .315/1.0 ratio fits well, and the line types are scaled to the paper space.

 

However, this presents a difficulty in modelspace, as my non-continuous linetypes become nearly impossible to see (i.e. everything looks continuous). At the large scale in which I'm working, a linetype scale of .315 is much too tiny to be visible if I'm zoomed out on the entire structure.

 

So then I attempt to increase the linetype scale of the objects in modelspace so I can see it better while I'm working on them, using the logic that since PSLTSCALE is ON, it should override any linetype scales that I apply in modelspace. However, when I switch back to my paperspace layouts, the linetype scales have increased there as well.

 

So I'm at a loss. For now, while I'm working on the drawings, using modelspace, I'm going to stick to my method, but at some point I'm going to have to adhere to the company's drafting standards so if there's a way to have my cake and eat it too, that would be great. If not, I suppose I'll just settle for not being able to see the linetypes in modelspace.

 

Any info would be great. Thanks!

[rkent]

Until 2008 I used a fairly simple toggle to set ltscale to what I needed as I was going to MS, and toggle it back to 0.5 when going back to Layouts. So what I am suggesting is that it is fairly easy to change ltscale, work in MS, then change back to ltscale 0.315 for PS. I never mess with CEltscale except in 0.1% of cases where I feel the need.

 

Forgot to mention, many people now stay in Layout and use the VPMAX to work through the viewport. That will give you the best of both worlds, until you can move to 2008 where MSLTSCALE makes all this moot.

[alisonn]

I have come to the conclusion that Rkent's reply is the best yet on how to deal with the descrepancey in line types model space and paper space and plotting.

 

A simple toggle in ltspace is the easiest solution or simply work in VPMAX

 

I have spent hours trying to sort the lines out. I m using Autocad 2007 by the way and not buying new yet as I had this for ages and not solved all its problems