Grayscale lines/fills and black lines

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if you can print/publish/plot a drawing that has black lines as well as grayscale lines and fills? I am a new user, from acad trying to set up my template and not able to make this happen. In acad you assign whatever pens you want to print black, and then various grayscale pens to print in color. I know I could create a pen set that utilizes only black colors and grays for grayscales, but it is important to me to be able to use colors as a cad operator for grouping things. Can Archicad do what I am trying to accomplish?

Thanks!

[Eduardo Rolon]

Yes, with basically the same logic. In AC can assign pen settings to the drawing so you can have the same drawing with different sets.

[Eduardo Rolon]

Pen set example

[Eduardo Rolon]

and the same pen set for B/W and Grey Printing

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply, I don't quite understand though. I do understand I can have different pen settings in one drawing, but I am trying to print one drawing with black lines and grayscale lines. So, are you suggesting I can apply two pen sets to the same print?

Or, are you saying to work in the drawing with the color pen set, then switch to a no color pen set when printing?

Thanks!

[Erich]

Pens are much more fluid in ArchiCAD than in Autocad. A pen set can be applied and/or changed as needed very quickly and any such change can change colors and/or line weights for the entire drawings. Typically you will find that you work in viewpoints with a penset applied to clarify the task at hand. For instance, if you are working on a floor plan view you may have a pen set that helps you identify and visually group particular elements. But if you change to an electrical plan view, there you may want a penset that makes everything grey except you electrical items. This penset can be applied automatically with the changing of the viewpoint. When you place views onto a layout, you can have yet another penset applied. So there, the viewpoint that you may have been working on in color is changed to a black and white and greyscale drawing.

Be sure to look up pensets in the manual (under the Help menu). It is fairly clear generally.

[Eduardo Rolon]

You will need to read up on the Help File about Pen Sets and Drawings:

First all elements/objects in AC have a Pen Number. That Pen Number has 2 parameters Color and Line Weight.

Basically you have three different Pen Sets while working in AC:

1. The Pen Set were you are working on the Model.
2. The Pen Set when you are working on Layouts
3. The Individual Pen Set for each drawing placed on a Layout which can vary according to scale or type of drawing.

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For Example:

In my model I work with colors and if I print from there I can get a color or grayscale based on the printer.
I can place that same drawing in a Layout and assign the Black, White, Gray pen set and if I print that is what I get or I can place the same Drawing 3 times in the layout and assign a different pen set to each.

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Fo this to work you need to assign different pens to your elements. It is impossible to have a Line with the assigned to Pen # 100 and in the same drawing have it print both Black and Gray. You need to define that all Black lines will be Pen 100 and all Gray lines will be Pen 200.

For bonus points, you can create a Pen Set for a Drawing were both Pens 100 and 200 print with the same color.