Entity Attributes (Color, Linetype, Lineweight)

Tips and tricks you want to share with other users. Tutorials, user submitted documentation, etc.

Moderator: andrew

Post Reply
User avatar
andrew
Site Admin
Posts: 9019
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:07 am

Entity Attributes (Color, Linetype, Lineweight)

Post by andrew » Mon Jan 05, 2015 11:22 am

Attributes 'By Layer'

In CAD, the attributes of an entity (its color, linetype or "line pattern" and lineweight or "linewidth") are usually controlled by the layer the entity is drawn on. A layer called "walls" might define that all walls are shown in blue with a thick, continuous line. A layer called "center lines" might define that center lines in a mechanical drawing are shown with a thin, red, dash-dotted line, etc.

To make sure you know what layer you are working on, make sure you have the layer list enabled:
View > Layer List
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.08.25.png
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.08.25.png (12.59 KiB) Viewed 18472 times
For new, empty drawings there is only one layer present: layer '0'. This layer can never be deleted.

To draw a red, dash-dotted line to indicate a center line, create a new layer:
Layer > Add Layer
Give that layer a logical name, for example 'center lines':
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.11.15.png
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.11.15.png (35.1 KiB) Viewed 18472 times
Whenever you draw a center line, make sure that layer 'center lines' is active in the layer list:
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.12.27.png
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.12.27.png (14.72 KiB) Viewed 18472 times
The line you draw will automatically have the desired attributes.
If you decide later that all center lines should be hidden, simply hide that layer (click on the eye icon). To change the color, linetype or lineweight of all center lines, simply edit that layer (Layer > Edit Layer).

Fixed Attributes

It is also possible to draw a green line on layer 'center lines'. One way to do this is to set the current drawing color to 'green'. Make sure that the pen tool bar is visible:
View > Toolbars > Pen

Set the current color in the pen tool bar to 'green':
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.17.23.png
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.17.23.png (11.35 KiB) Viewed 18472 times
Everything you draw now will be drawn with the fixed color green, regardless of the layer you draw on.
While this might be tempting for a beginner to draw all entities with fixed attributes, this is almost never recommendable. You should almost always define all attributes of your entities 'By Layer'.

Changing Attributes

Attributes of existing entities can be adjusted using the property editor of QCAD:
View > Property Editor
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.21.42.png
Screen Shot 2015-01-05 at 11.21.42.png (24.82 KiB) Viewed 18472 times
Select one or multiple entities and change the color, linetype, lineweight to the desired value.

Post Reply

Return to “QCAD Tips and Tutorials”