A Better Way to Draw in AutoCAD (Change this Setting)

Want to set up your drafting workspace to display your line weights as if you were drawing on paper. Two simple steps and you're drawing in a WYSIWYG environment rather than colored lines on a black screen. Plus, an important bonus tip to get your line weights looking precise and on-point.

Timestamps
00:00 Setting 1
00:29 Setting 2
00:51 Line Weights Not Showing Correctly?
01:36 Bonus tip
02:33 Or, Inverted View (to Avoid Eye Strain)
02:59 Download my AutoCAD Template (links)

#autocad #drafting #autocadtemplate

[nickmcgarvey]

If you're drafting professionally, that dark bckground is a real eye saver.

[kiodour]

I admire how you always attempt to keep things simple without sacrificing looks.

[julianalejandro]

I used to hate drawing in CAD. It felt very unnatural compared to drawing on paper. The colored lines entangled everything and I couldn't visualize my projects when I was drawing. I felt like I was playing the role of more of a technical draftsman rather than an architect.

I discovered a few years ago an architect who also recommend the same as you. From the moment I changed to black and white, that hatred towards CAD disappeared. I was able to appreciate my projects more easily and even my drawing times were drastically reduced.

It is true that sometimes one gets confused with the thickness of the lines, but to fix them when the plans are ready, it will not take you more than an hour.

Perhaps it is not for everyone, many people do not like or complain about the white background.
Honestly it doesn't bother me, when it's night, I just use the night mode on the pc, which makes the colors warmer and doesn't bother me.

Anyway, I guess it's personal taste. Good video :)

[sedesdis]

I work in Cad since 1996 and I'd like to say it's very nicely presented tutorial with valuable tricks, thumbs up.

[jjjarod]

Anyone else feel like this is such lifechanging advice? Thank you so much Eric!

[nikouer]

there are two ways to control the weight of the lines. One is lightweight which in my opinion is more appropriate because it's automatically adjusted to the print scale. You use polyline weight which is a value in real unis, like a wall width. With that, you must compute manually the width depending on how you want to be your plot width.

[keremayan]

For me that was one of the most helpful video you've done. Thanks

[janseb]

Colors are used to distinguish items. We have to work in color but think in black and white. Since Autocad 2000, lineweights don't need to be hooked with colors. Lineweights can be specified at the layer level which gives much more flexibility. Layer states is another feature allowing to temporarily view our drawings in different ways.

[librairiealamal]

I admire how you always attempt to keep things simple

[DavidFerguson]

I use 254 as a model space background. I find gray is much easier on the eyes than white or black.

[sayedsohail]

I'm an Architectural draftsman and I addict to see your works and improve my drawings.👍👍👍

[viniciusbraga]

I changed my CAD to white and I’m really happy about it. It’s nice to see how exactly your dwgs will look like when it’s plotted

[lucaviglierchioarchitettur]

Thank you Eric, I really appreciate your videos and tips. The Lineweight visible in real time would simplify the drawing process and surely improves the quality but i can not be precise...

[TimeFrost]

I just got recommended this, thanks for the trick, I'm in school for architecture rn. Subscribed

[alexandradickson]

Watching the video, it occured to me that these settings would be very useful in remote meetings with the client or team during the design process. Sharing a screen with our typical setup can be very confusing/ overwhelming for anyone not familiar with the layer colors. Thanks!

[tokyotrashbby]

i've been doing this for years, the white background changed everything for me

[aguythatsrandom]

Curious, are you only using this setting for presentation drawings or for construction sets as well?
I would imagine the contractors don't need the poche and the render, but also more measurements
Or do you mix?

[garyspeed]

one downside to polylines is when the DWG is imported into 3d software such as Sketchup the import is a closed outline with no fill... so if importing suggest you select all polylines and set thickness to zero

[schemeinggeneral]

I'd just like to point out that for those who find pure white hard to look at, you can use an off white to take the brightness off it.
Also, if you use off-white, it'll show where you're using a 'white' colour to mask things. I typically use that in blocks to mask out lines behind the blocks, and it's nice to be able to see exactly which blocks have a mask at a glance.

[paulcatarino]

Early in my drafting career I found that a gray background mutes the other colours where as the black or white brightens (makes them look neon or fluorescent)...I don't use a yellow highlighter for he same reason.