Custom Linestyles for 2D Drafting

Custom Linestyles for 2D Drafting

Custom linestyles can make fast work of 2D details. They can also be used to represent systems in Mechanical drafting and Fire Ratings in Architectural Drafting.  In the AECOsim Building Designer v8i Select Series 3 Dataset, we are delivering more than 130 custom linestyles.  65 for Mechanical, Plumbing and Fire Protection single line representation for different systems and 68 for Architectural sections and fire ratings.  Here are a few tips for creating your own custom linestyles:

Start with the right file.

Make sure that the file you create your linestyles from is the same working units as the file that you want to use them in.  Linestyle definitions are stored in Master Units, but the definition of those units are not stored.  This means that a component drawn as 1 foot in an imperial file could be 1 meter in a metric file.  

Linestyles with Symbols or Text

For linestyles that contain symbols or text (like fire rating linestyles, you typically do not want the symbols or text to show incompletely or break at corners.  This is easy to do with a couple of settings.

For complete instructions on creating this type of linestyle, check out this MicroStation Wiki page:  Creating Custom Linestyles

When defining the Stroke pattern, set the Stroke Pattern Attributes like this:

• Shift should be set to Centered.  This will keep the symbols/text in the center of each segment of the placed line.
• Repetitions should be Unlimited.  This will insure that your symbols/text repeat if the line segment is long enough.
• Single Segment should be checked.  This will force each segment of a line string to be evaluated for length separately.  If the line string is shorter than your Stroke pattern (and clip partial is off on the point component) then the pattern will not display.  When this is off, then the pattern can span multiple segments of the line string and can then break at corners.

When defining the Point Component, set the following:

• Setting Color and Weight to Element allows the user to control the color and weight of the point symbol as part of the placed line.
• Clip Partial should be un-checked.  When this is on then the point symbol can displayed partially.  This can be misleading in this type of linestyle.
• Allow Stretch should be un-checked.  You don't want the symbols/text to be able to be stretched.

Be careful with text in symbols:

If your symbol contains text, drop it to geometry before creating the symbol.  If you don't and the user placing the linestyle does not have font, they could get strange results.

Text Rotation:

With linestyles that contain text, the text can become difficult to read if it rotates upside, like the image on the left below.  Most would prefer the linestyle to display like the image on the right:

To get the symbol/text to always rotate properly, you need to set the Rotation type to Adjusted and the Angle to 0.000000.

Linestyles that represent materials

For linestyles that represent building materials, you may want the symbol to partially break to represent a partial placement of a material.

For items in vertical section, when defining the Stroke pattern, set the Stroke Pattern Attributes like this:

• Shift should be set to Distance and the value set to 0.0000.  This will keep the symbol fixed at the start of each line.
• Repetitions should be Unlimited.  This will insure that your symbols repeat if the line segment is long enough.
• Single Segment should be checked.  This will force each segment of a line string to be evaluated for length separately. 

Be prepared when exporting to DWG:

Set this variable in your configuration: MS_DWG_DROP_UNSUPPORTED_LS - This will drop line styles that are not supported by the DWG file format. The custom line styles that the DWG format allows are those with characters in them. Any other types are incompatible. Valid values for this variable are ON (or no value) or OFF.  Your export DWG files will then look the same as the DGN's that your are exporting.

Applies to v8, xm, v8i & AECOsim Building Designer