Building Objects with AutoCAD - Section 2

CHAPTER 7: PROPERTIES OF THE OBJECTS

Each object contains a series of properties that define it, from its geometric characteristics, such as its length or radius, to the position in the Cartesian plane of its key points, among others. Autocad offers three ways in which we can consult the properties of objects and even modify them. Although this is a topic that we will take up in more detail later.

There are four properties in particular that should be reviewed here as we have already studied how to create simple and compound objects. These properties are usually applied using the method of arranging the drawings by layers, which we will study in chapter 22, however, they can also be applied to individual objects, distinguishing them in particular. These properties are: color, line type, line thickness and transparency.
So, on the other hand, let's look at how to change the color, the type of line, the thickness and the transparency of the drawn objects.

7.1 Colors

When we select an object, it appears highlighted with small boxes called grips. These boxes help us, among other things, to edit the objects as will be studied in Chapter 19. It should be mentioned here because once we have selected one or more objects and, therefore, they have “grips”, it is possible to modify their properties, including color. The easiest way to change the color of a selected object is to choose it from the drop-down list in the "Properties" group of the "Start" tab. If, instead, we select a color from that list, before selecting any object, then that will be the default color for new objects.

The "Select color" dialog box also opens on the screen by typing the "COLOR" command in the command line window, the same happens in the English version. Try it.

7.2 Types of Lines

The line type of an object can also be modified by choosing it from the corresponding drop-down list in the Properties group on the Home tab, when the object is selected. However, the initial Autocad configuration for new drawings only includes one type of solid line. So, from the start, there is not much to choose from. Therefore, we must add to our drawings those definitions of type of line that we are going to use. To do this, the option Other from the drop-down list opens a dialog box that, as the name implies, allows us to manage the types of lines available in our drawings. As you can see immediately, the origin of the definitions of the different types of lines are in the Acadiso.lin and Acad.lin files of Autocad. The underlying idea is that only those types of lines that we really need in our drawings are loaded.

7.2.1 The alphabet of lines

Now, it is not about applying different line types to objects without any criteria. In fact, as you can see from the names and descriptions of the linetypes in the Linetype Manager window, many of the linetypes have very clear specific purposes in different areas of technical drawing. For example, in a civil engineering drawing, the line type can be very useful to show gas installations. In mechanical drawing, hidden or center lines are constantly used, etc. The following examples show some types of lines and their use in technical drawing. In fact, the Autocad user must know what the different types are used for depending on the area for which they draw, since they make up an entire alphabet of lines.

7.3 Line thickness

The line thickness is just that, the width of the line of an object. And as in the previous cases, we can modify the line thickness of an object with the drop-down list in the "Properties" group of the "Start" tab. We also have a dialog box to set the parameters of said thickness, its display and the default thickness, among other values.

7.4 Transparency

As in the previous cases, we use the same procedure to establish the transparency of an object: we select it and then set the corresponding value of the “Properties” group. However, it should be noted here that the transparency value can never be 100%, since it would make the object invisible. It is also important to say that the transparency property is only intended to assist the presentation of objects on the screen and, therefore, facilitate design work, so these transparencies do not apply at the time of drawing -printing- the drawing.

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