Plotting puts a final touch on an AutoCAD drawing in preparation for on-screen display or hard copy printing. Scale, layout and the dimension, weight and color of its plot style are important considerations and largely determine the quality of the resulting plot. Scaling and page layout come first and set the stage for a finished drawing. Plot style selections then determine the final look-and-feel of your AutoCAD drawing. The Plot Style Manager provides a variety of built-in styling options that you can use or override and create a custom plot style of your own.
Properties
- Plot style is the combination of properties that bring your AutoCAD drawing to life and give it visual appeal. AutoCAD uses 11 standard plot style properties, including color, dither, gray scale, pen number, virtual pen, screening, line type, line weight, end and join style and fill style. Although the default setting for plot style properties applies your choices to layers -- groupings of objects AutoCAD treats as one -- you have the option to override the default and set properties for individual objects.
Categories
- Before AutoCAD 2000, all plot styles were “color dependent,” meaning the properties you set for a red object apply to all red objects on the drawing while those you set for a green object apply to all green objects on the drawing. Name dependent plot styles, introduced with the release of AutoCAD 2000, give you the option to set plot style properties for objects according to their name rather than color. However, you cannot include both categories in a single plot. While different objects or layers can have differing plot styles, all must be either color dependent or name dependent.
Plot Style Manager
- The Plot Style Manager is a central location for adding and managing both color and name dependent plot styles. A wizard guides you through making standard plot style selections and creating custom properties, or both, according to your needs. Color dependent plot styles have 256 colors to choose from. Alternatively, you can create your own plot styles using name dependent plot styles as a “custom style” category. Saving a plot style adds it to the list of available plot style tables for reusing later. Options for managing plot styles include renaming plot styles, changing their description and changing plot style properties.
Considerations
- Choose an appropriate plot style according to your skill level and how you plan to use the drawing. Color dependent plot styles have a shorter learning curve, which in turn reduces the time and associated costs of training. They are most useful for black-and-white drawings and drawings that will remain in-house rather than those you prepare for clients. In contrast, name dependent plot styles are easier to identify, manage and read, and are especially useful for drawings that contain a variety of objects, such as a building plan.
