Linetypes

[Anonymous]

Is anyone else driven mad by line types? I had hoped they would be different in release 10, but NO!

My current problem is: I'm drawing a detail at 1:20 and need a broken line to indicate a fixing bolt. The drawing has 65 different line types in it. (I didn't originate the drawing BTW) When I scroll through them, most of them show on the screen as continuous, even though they're broken. The only way to read the names is to pause the cursor over each one. This takes a significant amount of time. Finally I find one which is close to what I want, the scale of most of them is too large. When I select this one (called SMALL DASH 1:50) I find the gap irritatingly large relative to the line, so go into Element Attributes Linetypes to fix the gap size (and to make sure the line doesn't start with a gap). Now I've got to find the line type again - they're not displayed alphabetically - and to make matters worse, in this dialoge, my linetype is only called 'SMALL DASH' and there are other versions at other scales. After I make one small change, and review it, I've got to round the whole loop again in order to adjust it.

There must be an easier way!!

[James Murray]

It sounds like the linetype is 'Scale with Plan' when you would prefer it to be 'Scale Independent'. (In the Linetype's settings.)

You could set a favorite for the line once you get it set up, to save having to select it every time in the list.

Linetypes are listed in attribute ID order. There are attribute manager tricks to get an attribute nearer the top, but that's more involved and you have to be careful.

[Anonymous]

Hi James,
No, I think 'Scale with Plan' is fine. The problem is literally finding a pre-defined linetype which gives me the right pitch at the right scale.

I guess what I really want is to be able to change the linetype scales of lines independently, the same way as is now possible with a fill pattern.

My impression was that 'favorites' would give me a single default linetype (i.e the one I want to use most). But I suspect that there's more to it than that.

[James Murray]

Keith wrote:
The problem is literally finding a pre-defined linetype which gives me the right pitch at the right scale.

Make a new one?

If it were me I would at least consider using attribute manager to try to cull the redundant and unused types. But if the job is well along (lots of SEs and details), that isn't really practical. (You would have to use Find & Select to standardize the linetypes before any clearing. (A real Attribute Manager would allow you to merge attributes. ))

I guess what I really want is to be able to change the linetype scales of lines independently, the same way as is now possible with a fill pattern.

Aha, on a by-element basis like the distorted fills in 10? Nope.

My impression was that 'favorites' would give me a single default linetype (i.e the one I want to use most). But I suspect that there's more to it than that.

You can have as many as you want. A great improvement in 10 is the ability to limit the faves list to the active tool. You can get a nice set of tool defaults in a small space. I think this will help you, it basically allows you to ignore most of the linetypes, and make sure you always have the right one.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, James. I'll follow up your suggestions.