Can you scale pen weights?

[Anonymous]

As the subject asks, we have a project with a small scaled drawing (1':100') and in that drawing we have large scaled detail (1":1/4"). And we were wondering if you can scale pen weights like you can scale text; otherwise we have extremely thick lines.

Also can you scale dimension lines, and dimension text?

[Anonymous]

i believe you can set line types to adjust depending to drawing scale (scale with plan vs. scale independent selection in linetype dialog box) however in terms of line weight, i think the only way to do this would be to set up seperate pen sets for the various scales you are working in, adjusting the thickness/colour of the individual pen numbers you want to use and setting the drawings you are placing on the layout with the appropriate pen set depending on scale. Might seem a bit fiddly, but once the pen sets are set up (and you probably only need about three - say for example for 1:500 or 1:200, 1:100 or 1:50 and 1:20 and larger, then it would be a simple option to select the appropriate on when saving your view sets.

[Thomas Holm]

kurbkilla wrote:
As the subject asks, we have a project with a small scaled drawing (1':100') and in that drawing we have large scaled detail (1":1/4"). And we were wondering if you can scale pen weights like you can scale text; otherwise we have extremely thick lines.

Also can you scale dimension lines, and dimension text?

If you save a view with its scale set at 1:100, place it on a layout, then save a view of the large detail with that view's scale set at 1":1/4", and then place that view on the same layout as the first, both will display fine, if they looked good when created.

If you have extremely thick lines, you have not set the view scale correctly - you are viewing something small scale on screen, but zoomed in to a large scale.

Pen weights (or widths) are set in real world units, and archicad will scale the views correctly to get output with those widths at final printout. No excess thickness. This process is automatic and works fine if you have saved your views correctly. Also dimension settings is saved with views.

Only if you need different line widths, such as if you want to print half-scale and also get the line thickness halved, will you need to change pen sets. In that case, you can override the view's pen set with a different one on the layout should you wish to.

But the process kombibob describes is normally not needed, only when you for some reason want to re-scale a saved view on the layout instead of creating a clone with another scale setting.

[vfrontiers]

Footnote:
For me, printing HALF SIZE sets is more easily accomplished using PDF... Print to PDF at full scale, then open and print at half scale from Reader or Preview. It will scale the lineweights down based on the print scale.

[Laura Yanoviak]

vfrontiers wrote:
Footnote:
For me, printing HALF SIZE sets is more easily accomplished using PDF... Print to PDF at full scale, then open and print at half scale from Reader or Preview. It will scale the lineweights down based on the print scale.

This is what we do.

[Thomas Holm]

vfrontiers wrote:
Footnote:
For me, printing HALF SIZE sets is more easily accomplished using PDF... Print to PDF at full scale, then open and print at half scale from Reader or Preview. It will scale the lineweights down based on the print scale.

Agreed. But it happens that I want a complete pre-set half-size set, with custom headers 'n all, just for one-click publishing. It's so easy to make mistakes when there's an extra step (not just one - you have to set page setup, page scaling, paper size, save PDF etc correctly) involved.

[Gary Lawes]

As previously mentioned if the views are saved at the correct scale, and subsequently placed in the layout at the same scale pen weights should all be as required. The problem arrised if you want different pen weights in different views in the same layout which can often be the case. For example the external shell of a building would normally be drawn with a fairly weighty line in plan but would probably need a lighter treatment in an elevation, and would probably need to be heavier still in a detail drawing. For that reason I use pen sets for each drawing type. One for plans, one for block plans, one for general sections, one for details and one for elevations. Set it up in your template file.

[Chris Grantham]

vfrontiers wrote:
Footnote:
For me, printing HALF SIZE sets is more easily accomplished using PDF... Print to PDF at full scale, then open and print at half scale from Reader or Preview. It will scale the lineweights down based on the print scale.


This is what we do.

I just tried this and compared it to the output from the publisher printing at 50% directly from AC, and I can see absolutely no difference. Unless I am missing something, which is entirely possible... That sort of sucks that you have to change every layout's pen set to be a half size equivalent in order to get nice looking half size set.