Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Black background vs. White background

rob2218
Enthusiast
I suppose you could say, "well...it's just a matter of getting used to it" but....the bottom line truth of the matter is that colors (unless your are color blind like me) on a black background can be seen much easier than colors on a white background.

For example, if you by mistake leave a small piece of a line, say 2" long and the line was drawn in pen yellow, guaranteed that the yellow is easier seen in "black" than in "white" background.

Again I understand, we all get used to drawing a certain way but there is a logic behind using a "black" background and it's not just because...."oh I like the way it looks better"....NO..it's because IT WORKS BETTER.
...Bobby Hollywood live from...
i>u
Edgewater, FL!
SOFTWARE VERSION:
Archicad 22, Archicad 23
Windows7 -OS, MAC Maverick OS
32 REPLIES 32
Anonymous
Not applicable
rob2218 wrote:
For example, if you by mistake leave a small piece of a line, say 2" long and the line was drawn in pen yellow, guaranteed that the yellow is easier seen in "black" than in "white" background.
I got your point Rob... But what if the line would be dark grey?
owen
Newcomer
of course using Pen Sets it is possible to cater for both - even within the same file. You can just swap back and forth depending on personal preference (of course changing the Grid & Background colors is still manual)
cheers,

Owen Sharp

Design Technology Manager
fjmt | francis-jones morehen thorp

iMac 27" i7 2.93Ghz | 32GB RAM | OS 10.10 | Since AC5
Anonymous
Not applicable
Being colourblind also, rather than black or white, I find a neutral colour like beige works well for me. It's comfortable on the eyes for long viewing periods, all colours stand out clearly against it (except beige of course!), and objects with a white background are clearly visible.

Random example image below!
symbolic_windows_walls.jpg
Srinivas
Booster
how about this piece of info from Krippahl

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=151635
ArchiCAD Services
ArchiCAD since v9 to latest
iMac, Windows 10
vistasp
Advisor
I used to use a light greenish grey background during my AutoCAD days and it gave a lot of relief to my eyes. Maybe I should try that again but for AC. Will have to look at the pen-set carefully of course.

Off-topic: Peter, your random image shows the FPCP in the section. Is this manually drawn or is there some setting I've missed?
= v i s t a s p =
bT Square Peg
https://archicadstuff.blogspot.com
https://www.btsquarepeg.com
| AC 9-27 INT | Win11 | Ryzen 5700 | 32 GB | RTX 3050 |
Stephen Dolbee
Booster
Back in the hand-drafting days I always used white paper. White background just seems natural.
AC19(9001), 27" iMac i7, 12 gb ram, ATI Radeon HD 4850 512mb, OS 10.12.6
Anonymous
Not applicable
i loved black background in autocad days cos it was all colours.
now im on AC i use a white back ground and everything (all my pens) is set to black (no colors).. for that reason i use white back ground.. my plans are printed in black and white so i see no need to draft plans in anything but
Anonymous
Not applicable
vistasp wrote:
Off-topic: Peter, your random image shows the FPCP in the section. Is this manually drawn or is there some setting I've missed?
I manually drew it in. No secret setting I'm afraid!
Stephen wrote:
Back in the hand-drafting days I always used white paper. White background just seems natural.
GeNOS wrote:
my plans are printed in black and white so i see no need to draft plans in anything but
How do you guys deal with white cover fills? If you turn on Automatic Pen Color Visibility Adjustment to make these display in grey against a white background, does it not get confusing if you also have other elements deliberately shaded in grey?
owen
Newcomer
Peter wrote:
How do you guys deal with white cover fills? If you turn on Automatic Pen Color Visibility Adjustment to make these display in grey against a white background, does it not get confusing if you also have other elements deliberately shaded in grey?
I generally have my background set to something like 95% rather than pure white so these can be seen. The only pen this can cause problems for is one of our greyscale pens at 90%, but this very rarely gets used anyway.
cheers,

Owen Sharp

Design Technology Manager
fjmt | francis-jones morehen thorp

iMac 27" i7 2.93Ghz | 32GB RAM | OS 10.10 | Since AC5