Purpose of Colored Line Styles


skoz44
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I'm curious as to why colored line styles are used, when the drawings are printed in black and white?  For example, all of the CAD detail blocks that come with Chief are in multiple colors?  I also seem to see it a lot in users of AutoCad.  The drawing contains many different line colors and they the finished  .pdf file is all in black and white?

 

Any thoughts to this?

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33 minutes ago, skoz44 said:

I'm curious as to why colored line styles are used, when the drawings are printed in black and white?  For example, all of the CAD detail blocks that come with Chief are in multiple colors?  I also seem to see it a lot in users of AutoCad.  The drawing contains many different line colors and they the finished  .pdf file is all in black and white?

 

Any thoughts to this?

 

Yes it is very confusing to me that AutoCad uses so many colors to keep things all organize and clear for the designer but then everything is printed in Black and White.

 

Chief Architect allows not only the designer but the end user of the drawings to benefit from that when the drawings are printed in color.

 

If you combine colors and line weights it can be quite effective and make the drawings much easier and faster to read while reducing interpretation errors.

 

Color prints are more expensive but as we move to a more paperless age that becomes more and more irrelevant.

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Line sizing is something I have not done well at. I like color but when you print black or grey you really need to have good line sizing.

 

I could you some help with that myself. Some ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Working in color definitely helps keep things organized. Assigning different colors to line weights while working with line weight turned off (typical) is also quite helpful. Color prints are expensive but one or two of especially beautifully drawn plans make a nice keepsake for a client. They can be printed on 11X17 quite inexpensively and though not to scale (unless 22X34 reduced to half scale) they make a great quick reference. I am seeing more and more clients, builders, contractors, and suppliers moving to digital and having plans, specs, web sites, reference photos and more for complete construction docs on Ipads, laptops etc. Color and hyperlinks make a world of difference in a contemporary digital set. I value this even more than the extraordinary 3D and rendering capabilities of Chief. Though  I do still enjoy a beautifully drawn printed set. To me not a lost art.....yet

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  • 1 month later...

I like the idea of creating different colors for different line weights; however, the way CA has it organized by default doesn't make sense to me.  There are so many colors and they don't seem to represent anything specific.

 

I've turned everything to black or grey so I know what is being printed.  I will change colors to differentiate different items (ex. water lines, vs gas lines); however, change them back to black before printing.

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This guy uses ACAD but has some interesting stuff on his YouTube channel that applies to any software, as regards what we call layout for print.

 

He makes a good case for varying line weights and using red for all anno.  See this vid here.  

Note also his walls seem to be drawn as main layer only filled solid, which when you think about it makes good sense.

 

Plan views guide the framers plus inform all users viewing them how spaces relate, flow progresses, and with anno, gives specs for all the elements like fixtures.

 

It is in the details where features like wall makeup, framing, wall layer makeup and specs, insulation, trim, exterior finishes and weatherproofing all go. Thus those walls maybe are best shown as he does in his example.

 

Of course, his method means you should be printing in color.  Not really a big expense when you look at overall project cost.

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On 12/3/2022 at 2:11 AM, skoz44 said:

I'm curious as to why colored line styles are used, when the drawings are printed in black and white?

 

I always print in color, but I don't use the out of box colors, I think they look amateurish. I use a lot of color in my plans.

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On 12/3/2022 at 12:08 PM, builtright3 said:

Line sizing is something I have not done well at. I like color but when you print black or grey you really need to have good line sizing.

 

I could you some help with that myself. Some ideas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Line spacing too.  lol  ;-)

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