Formatting the Drawing

Formatting means associating properties with drawing entities and using styles for different categories of entities.

Entity Properties

All drawing entities, such as Lines or Circles, have several properties. Some of the properties like Layer, LineColor, LineStyle, and LineWeight are common to all entities.

Entity Properties introduces the basics of properties. Organizing the Drawing with Layers explains the concepts of working with Layers.

General properties of drawing entities include:

• Layer
• LineColor
• LineStyle
• LineScale
• LineWeight
• ZPlane and Thickness

You can change these properties in the Properties palette. Not everything can be changed (for example, you cannot change the entity type).

Another way to change an entity's properties is to use the Layers and the Properties toolbars. You can change the Layer, LineColor, LineStyle, and LineWeight.

Layer Tools describes tools to change Layer modes or to delete entities on Layers.

Entity Styles

You can also change the styles of certain types of entities:

• TextStyle
• DimensionStyle
• TableStyle
• PointStyle
• RichLineStyle

The Styles toolbar contains commands to create, modify, and manage styles.

Other Formatting Commands

The remainder of this chapter provides information about:

• Unit system: Controls coordinate and angle display formats and precision.
• Drawing boundaries: Sets and controls the bounds of the grid display and checks drawing bounds.
• Renaming: Changes user-defined object names such as Layers, views, Blocks, or styles.