Setting Up Line Corner Styles

Setting Up Line Corner Styles
You may notice that the corners of the wall lines appear to be rounded, as shown in Figure 9.4,
instead of crisp and sharp.


You can adjust the way AutoCAD draws these corners at plot time through the Plot Style
Table Editor:
1.
Open the
Mystyle.ctb
plot style table, as you did in the previous exercise.
2.
Click the Form View tab, and then click Color 3 in the Plot Styles list box.
CHAPTER 9
UNDERSTANDING PLOT STYLES
3.
Click the Line End Style drop-down list, and
select Square.


4.
Click Save & Close; then, click OK to close the Page Setup dialog box.
5.
Choose View 
Regen All to view your changes. Now the corners meet in a sharp angle, as
shown in Figure 9.5.

NOTE
The Line Join Style setting can have an adverse affect on AutoCAD fonts. If text appears
distorted, check to see whether it’s on a layer that uses a line join style other than the default Use
Object End Style setting.
The Square option in the Line End Style drop-down list extends the endpoints of contiguous
lines so that their corners meet in a clean corner instead of a notch. The Line Join Style drop-down
list offers a similar set of settings for polylines. For example, you can round polyline corners by
using the Round option in the Line Join Style drop-down list.

NOTE
The Line Join Style setting can have an adverse affect on AutoCAD fonts. If text appears
distorted, check to see whether it’s on a layer that uses a line join style other than the default UseObject End Style setting.
The Square option in the Line End Style drop-down list extends the endpoints of contiguous
lines so that their corners meet in a clean corner instead of a notch. The Line Join Style drop-downlist offers a similar set of settings for polylines. For example, you can round polyline corners byusing the Round option in the Line Join Style drop-down list.

Setting Up Screen Values for Solid Areas
The last option you’ll look at is how to change a color into a screened area. Frequently, you’ll want
to add a gray or colored background to an area of your drawing to emphasize that area graphically,as in a focus area in a map, or to designate functions in a floor plan. The settings you’re about to use
enable you to create shaded backgrounds:
1. Open the Page Setup Manager, and click Modify to open the Page Setup dialog box again.
Then, open the Plot Style Table Editor.
2. Select Color 3 from the Plot Styles list box.
3. In the Screening list box, click the number 100 to select it.


4. Type 50↵.
5. Click Save & Close. Click OK in the Page Setup dialog box, and click Close in the Page Setup
Manager dialog box.
6. Choose View  Regen All. The walls are a shade of gray instead of solid black.
In this exercise, you turned a wide black line into a gray one. The Screening option lets you tone
down the chosen color from a solid color to a color that has 50 percent of its full intensity.
You can use the Screening option in combination with color to obtain a variety of tones. If you
need to cover large areas with color, you can use the Solid hatch pattern to fill those areas and then
use the Screening option in the Plot Style Table Editor to make fine adjustments to the area’s color.
Controlling the Visibility of Overlapping Objects
You should also know about the Draworder command in conjunction with solid filled areas. This
command lets you control how objects hide or overlap when displayed or plotted. If your solid
hatches are hiding text or other graphics, you need to learn about Draworder. See Chapter 14 for
more information. Some output devices offer a Merge Control option that determines how overlapping
graphics are plotted. For more information, see Appendix B.

Other Options in the Plot Style Table Editor
You’ve seen a lot of the plot style options so far, but there are many others that you may want to use
in the future. This section describes those options that weren’t covered in the previous exercises.
TIP The options in the Plot Style Table Editor are the same regardless of whether you’re editing a
color plot style table or a named plot style table.
The General Tab
You didn’t really look at the General tab of the Plot Style Table Editor in the exercise presented earlier.
The General tab offers information regarding the plot style you’re currently editing. You can
enter a description of the style in the Description box. This can be useful if you plan to include the
plot style with a drawing you’re sending to someone else for plotting.