Pen Width of HairLines in Display Options

[Anonymous]

Hi,
What is the Pen Width in mm of Hairlines in Display Options, and is there a way of controlling it?
I am trying to create a floor plan view set of very thin lines so I can import it to PM as a faded back ground plan, then aligning it with structural plans which will show in contrast the beams and joist darker.
Thanks,
Joseph Harouni

[Link]

It is zero, and there's no way of changing it. Zero mm is the smallest you can go. I'd recommend just importing it with the pens you usually use, and change the view attributes once inside PlotMaker. Just override the pen settings for that particular 'background plan' and make all the pens zero mm!

Easy as pie!

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Link wrote:
Just override the pen settings for that particular 'background plan' and make all the pens zero mm! .

Do I understand correctly that Display Options in PM are not global and are View Set applicable?
How about a way of controlling the line types in PM?
Thanks,
Joseph

[Link]

Do I understand correctly that Display Options in PM are not global and are View Set applicable?
How about a way of controlling the line types in PM?

Nope. Display Options are global, what I am suggesting is to change all the pen colors and weights to zero in your 'Background Plan' view only.

Do this by selecting the view in PM and going to Edit>Drawing Settings. Under the 'Attribute Update Rules' tab, uncheck 'Pens and Colors'. Then under the 'Attributes' tab, hit the 'Edit Pens' button and have at it. I'm assuming you know how to select all the pens you need and change the colors/weights in one hit.

If you want to do multiple views at once, select them in the Navigator first. Oh and while I'm on the topic, I also suggest grouping the background plan with the overlayed plan, (after setting the correct display order), so that if you need to move one, the other will move with it!

Good luck.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Link wrote:
Nope. Display Options are global, what I am suggesting is to change all the pen colors and weights to zero in your 'Background Plan' view only.

Why not in ArchiCad set a ViewSet for a back ground plan with Display Option of "hairlines" set, bring it in to PM and overlay it with the main drawing and then grouping them?
Thanks,
joseph

[Aussie John]

The way i understand it, hairline is 1 pixel. Hence a printer with high resolution will print a thinner line than one with courser resolution

[Anonymous]

Aussie wrote:
The way i understand it, hairline is 1 pixel. Hence a printer with high resolution will print a thinner line than one with courser resolution

I'm not sure that pixel is the right word, but you are correct that a zero thickness line will print at the minimum thickness of the printer. This will be one dot in HPGL but may be a bit thicker in Postscript or PDF.

[Aussie John]

Matthew wrote:

I'm not sure that pixel is the right word,

Nor was I

[Link]

Why not in ArchiCad set a ViewSet for a back ground plan with Display Option of "hairlines" set, bring it in to PM and overlay it with the main drawing and then grouping them?

Because setting the Display Options to Hairlines/True Weight in ArchiCAD has no effect in PlotMaker. Even though it falls under the category for Display & Output - this refers to printing, exporting etc. Views will import into PlotMaker with True Weight, regardless. And PlotMaker's Display Options are for Display only (take a look!) - that is to say that changing them will have no effect on the output.

Basically - if you want to have your views appear as hairlines, you will have to do what I suggested originally. Trust me - I don't just like the look of my own typing - I know all of this from experience!

Cheers,
Link.