Colours (You cant take Autocad out of the boy)

[blairmack]

Is there an easy way you can work with colours in your views and then have all colurs set to black in plot sheets? I love working with colours (and a black background that's easy on the eyes). It just makes a hell of a lot of sense to me to know that walls are yellow or green doors/windows are dark magenta etc etc.. I know a lot of you will think I am stuck in the past but I tell you young whippersnappers it's a lot easier to differentiate items if they are coloured.
Looking for some useful help here thanks. View templates the way to drive it??

[patricks]

I used to think black w/ colored lines was easier on the eyes and all that (I used CAD some in college and MicroStation during a previous internship), but now I've pretty much gotten used to the white screen and black lines, since that what everyone sees on paper anyway. I like having a more true representation of what it will look like when printed.

[iru69]

I don't think it has anything to do with being a young whippersnapper (I'm a middle-aged whippersnapper myself) - IMHO, I do think it does have something to do with being stuck in an old way of thinking about drawings on the screen. However, I completely agree that being able to select a different screen color background other than the burn your retinas out white would be much appreciated as well as an option in the print dialog to just print colors as black. But none of that helps your cause.

On our plotter property settings, you can select for the printer to print all colors as "pure black". Maybe your plotter also has such a setting?

View templates that override the black with various colors seems like a rather nifty workaround.


Is there an easy way you can work with colours in your views and then have all colurs set to black in plot sheets?

[ron.sanpedro]

Is there an easy way you can work with colours in your views and then have all colurs set to black in plot sheets? I love working with colours (and a black background that's easy on the eyes). It just makes a hell of a lot of sense to me to know that walls are yellow or green doors/windows are dark magenta etc etc.. I know a lot of you will think I am stuck in the past but I tell you young whippersnappers it's a lot easier to differentiate items if they are coloured.
Looking for some useful help here thanks. View templates the way to drive it??

I do colors in WORKING views all the time. DOCUMENTATION views are left the way they need to be to print. And I vary the colors by need, so I might have a filter to make all Rated walls, doors, etc red. At another time I might have Control Joints in red and expansion Joints in blue and Scored Joints in green, to help coordinate all that. But the key is I set up dedicated Working views for the color stuff, so I can always print without worry, as compared to having a View template to set everything in the sheeted view back before I print. Makes life much easier.
As for screen color, I wouldn't mind a very slight off white, but I certainly want nothing to do with a black screen ever again. Yech! Made sense 20 years ago with low quality CRT monitors and slow graphics cards. Makes no sense now. And to keep the pain down, I just use a little less brightness on the monitor. Effectively gives an off white screen.

Gordon

[ejburrell67787]

Is there an easy way you can work with colours in your views and then have all colurs set to black in plot sheets? I love working with colours (and a black background that's easy on the eyes). It just makes a hell of a lot of sense to me to know that walls are yellow or green doors/windows are dark magenta etc etc.. I know a lot of you will think I am stuck in the past but I tell you young whippersnappers it's a lot easier to differentiate items if they are coloured.
Looking for some useful help here thanks. View templates the way to drive it??In your working view override the cut colours of the elements you want coloured... not sure about the background colour though...

[benmay]

Working views with different overrides is the way to go, even on a small job it is worth having a different set of working views then you final print views

Once you get used to the white background and black lines there is no going back

Also, I like to apply colours in 3D through materials, this is great for distinguishing between different materials

[twiceroadsfool]

I hate to say it, but i wouldnt mind being able to color override worksets. We use worksets to break up portions of the model so they can be selectively turned on to keep teams working efficiently with their hardware limitations, but its VERY easy (imho) to forget to check which workset youre working on.

I wouldnt mind being able to assign a color to each workset. We can gray inactive worksets, i just wish we could color them (even if view specific in VG)...

[Scott Womack]

I hate to say it, but i wouldnt mind being able to color override worksets. We use worksets to break up portions of the model so they can be selectively turned on to keep teams working efficiently with their hardware limitations, but its VERY easy (imho) to forget to check which workset youre working on.

I wouldnt mind being able to assign a color to each workset. We can gray inactive worksets, i just wish we could color them (even if view specific in VG)...

If you create a Filter, you can go into a working view, and apply a color to the objects on that workset, with a fliter that applies to all objects, filtered by workset.

[twiceroadsfool]

Yeah, its just a matter of making the filters, i guess. Not that its hard, but ill have to make one for each workset.

We have VG overrides for everythign else, and we already have Workset VG overrides to turn stuff on and off... Seems like its just one more step to put the override color box next to the checkbox for visibility. :)

[kingjosiah]

...As for screen color, I wouldn't mind a very slight off white...Gordon

It's funny watching new acad converts work in revit....they all invert background color saying that the white screen is too bright for their eyes. Takes awhile, but eventually they break down and go with the white. That said, having an option to adjust background color might not be all that bad. Perhaps a Borco green like the drafting boards of old, or a buff trace beige.....

The idea of colorwashing worksets has merit....i could see myself making use of this...

[ron.sanpedro]

It's funny watching new acad converts work in revit....they all invert background color saying that the white screen is too bright for their eyes. Takes awhile, but eventually they break down and go with the white. That said, having an option to adjust background color might not be all that bad. Perhaps a Borco green like the drafting boards of old, or a buff trace beige.....

The idea of colorwashing worksets has merit....i could see myself making use of this...

Former AutoCAD users say that, but I have never heard a former user of any other CAD package say that, and I think AutoCAD may be the only one that uses the black background. Makes me think it long ago stopped being about brightness, and started being about "This is how it has always been for me, and I don't want to change." Indeed, many a first time AutoCAD user wants a white screen so they can see what the OUTPUT will look like, since that is actually what is important. Eventually they become assimilated and have a hard time conceiving of anything but a black screen.

Oh how those habits fight death. ;)

Gordon

[patricks]

MicroStation has a black screen, as well. At least it did when I used it at the firm where I was an intern in 2001-2002.

[kingjosiah]

MicroStation has a black screen, as well. At least it did when I used it at the firm where I was an intern in 2001-2002.

if i'm not mistaken, i think it still does. triforma/bentley architecture too.

[twiceroadsfool]

I miss the dark screen, because i have serious eye trouble with bright screens. As it is, i keep my monitor brightness on 1 (FYI, it goes 1-40). So it doesnt get any darker.

Ive tried the invert background in Revit, and it could totally be my perception, but it doesnt seem to respond as fast in that mode. Could just be my eyes. But in any event, being able to change both the background color and the line colors (even if everything was still one color as it is currently) would be a huge help for me.

In MSWord i use the white on blue, and i particularly like the default Winamp Green on Black. Very easy on the eyes.

But its small potatoes...