A linetype is a repeating pattern of dashes, dots, and blank spaces displayed in a line or a curve. You assign linetypes to objects either by layer or by specifying the linetype explicitly, independent of layers.
In addition to choosing a linetype, you can set its scale to control the size of the dashes and spaces, and you can create your own custom linetypes.
Load Linetypes
At the start of a project, you load the linetypes that are required for the project so that they are available when you need them. If you want to know what linetypes are already available, you can display a list of linetypes that are loaded in the drawing or stored in an LIN (linetype definition) file.
This program includes the linetype definition files acad.lin and acadiso.lin. Which linetype file is appropriate depends on whether you use imperial or metric measurements.
- For imperial units, use the acad.lin file.
- For metric measurements, use the acadiso.lin file.
Both linetype definition files contain several complex linetypes. If you select a linetype whose name begins with ACAD_ISO, you can use the ISO pen-width option when you plot. You can remove unreferenced linetype information with PURGE or by deleting the linetype from the Linetype Manager. BYBLOCK, BYLAYER, and CONTINUOUS linetypes cannot be removed.
Set the Current Linetype
All objects are created using the current linetype, which is displayed in the Linetype control on the Properties toolbar. You can also set the current linetype with the Linetype control. If the current linetype is set to BYLAYER, objects are created with the linetype assigned to the current layer.
If the current linetype is set to BYBLOCK, objects are created using the CONTINUOUS linetype until the objects are grouped into a block. When the block is inserted into the drawing, those objects acquire the current linetype setting.
If you do not want the current linetype to be the linetype assigned to the current layer, you can specify a different linetype explicitly. The program does not display the linetype of certain objects: text, points, viewports, hatches, and blocks.
Change the Linetype of an Object
You can change the linetype of an object by reassigning it to another layer, by changing the linetype of the layer the object is on, or by specifying a linetype for the object explicitly. You have three choices for changing the linetype of an object:
Reassign the object to another layer with a different linetype. If an object’s linetype is set to BYLAYER, and you reassign the object to a different layer, it acquires its linetype from the new layer.
Change the linetype assigned to the layer that the object is on. If an object’s linetype is set to BYLAYER, it acquires the linetype of its layer. When you change the linetype assigned to a layer, all objects on that layer assigned the BYLAYER linetype are updated automatically.
Specify a linetype for an object to override the layer’s linetype. You can specify the linetype of each object explicitly. If you want to override the layer-determined linetype of an object with a different one, change an existing object’s linetype from BYLAYER to a specific linetype, such as DASHED.
Control Linetype Scale
You can use the same linetype at different scales by changing the linetype scale factor either globally or individually for each object.
By default, both global and individual linetype scales are set to 1.0. The smaller the scale, the more repetitions of the pattern are generated per drawing unit. For example, with a setting of 0.5, two repetitions of the pattern in the linetype definition are displayed for each drawing unit. Short line segments that cannot display one full linetype pattern are displayed as continuous. You can use a smaller linetype scale for lines that are too short to display even one dash sequence. The Linetype Manager displays the Global Scale Factor and Current Object Scale.
- The Global Scale Factor value controls the LTSCALE system variable, which changes the linetype scale globally for both new and existing objects.
- The Current Object Scale value controls the CELTSCALE system variable, which sets the linetype scale for new objects.
