Expert: Bill DeShawn - 7/11/2011

Question
Way back when, I used pinbar methods for drawings sets. I would have the print shop screen the base plan (existing topo and features)so it showed up as greyed out, and in very fine dots that were easily seen by the eye.
When I try to screen lines in Autocad, all I get is solid greys. Is there a way to get the dotted look? I have seen it before on other prints.

Thanks.

Answer
John:
You can use an mline with end caps and then dot-hatch the inside, or you can use a dotted linetype.  You can even use a dotted linetype on the mline itself.  If it's narrow, that might be a good idea to have a double dotted mline in some cases, to give your contours some width.  Otherwise, just a single dotted linetype with a fairly bold color or width property (depending on whether your using color-dependent ctb plotting or named stb style plotting).  Some plotters do not have the capability of hi-res screening (like the KIPP plotter that a company near us uses).  So, in that case, the fill ends up dotted.

I hope that helps.  Keep in touch

Bill DeShawn
http://my.sterling.net/~bdeshawn