Rule Number Zero: Do not do it the way Holy Cow does it. No one else does, so it must be wrong.
There is a reason that Technical pen sets and Leroy guides came in certain sizes.
And a reason why the software developers set it up such that the text scalars can easily replicate the Leroy set.
In the olden days, technical drafting courses would cover the line thicknesses and text sizes very well. The initial change over to CAD seemed to keep those concepts in place pretty well. I'm not sure if those same basic principles are still covered in CAD courses or even used in professional practice by anyone besides older folks who grew up with the idea that an 80 template was the preferred size for most text and larger sizes were reserved for and varied by the need to stand out.
@jon-payne Maybe i need to dig into storage and get my manual drafting books out from college. Since i have not used it its just a rough memory now.
In Autodesk speak, %%c is a diameter symbol Ø, %%d is a degree symbol °, %%p is ± and I sometimes use <alt>188 = 1/4, <alt>189 = 1/2 and <alt>190 = 3/4
Further to the ALT code, <alt> 241 is ± as long as the font you're using has that character defined. See https://www.rapidtables.com/code/text/alt-codes.html for more ALT code combinations.
@jacob-wall I never thought to try alt windows codes. I will have to see if TBC recognizes those. Thanks for posting.
degree symbol alt248 ( ° )
It's interesting to me that people still hold on to the same pen sizes that were available when the industry moved from manual drafting to computer drafting. The same 0.25, 0.35, 0.5, 0.7 mm pens. I'm not knocking it. I experience it all the time. It's a comfort zone for people.
I prefer to branch out beyond those pens. I like to use any and everything between 0.13 mm and 2.0 mm. If it's up to me, I don't give a polyline a width, I give it a fatter pen. We used to be limited in our pen choices, but now we can have up to 255 different pens if we so desire.
As far as boundaries go, when I started out as a manual draftsman, we used a #3 pen, which corresponds to 0.8 mm. I never liked the 0.7 for a boundary. I used it for a long time, but never liked it.
Just a draftsman's opinion.
@blitzkriegbob As a rookie. I am learning that some things have a minimum for requirements and others are the PLS preference from whenever. I did a rough draft and all my text my layers the boss just changed. At the end of the day it was not even a noticeable difference to me but to his eyes it was. He sais do it the way i want and to so i learn. But he does change it. Thats ok as i see things from others plats maps i like or dont like. Its like i love green the color. Thanks for the knowledge. I will find my look over time for sure. And this is how trying asking looking and experimenting.
There is a reason that Technical pen sets and Leroy guides came in certain sizes.
Your age is showing!
When I think about Leroy sets and hand drafting, my back hurts. I used to spend long hours drafting with Leroy templates and rapidograph pens. Those were not the good old days.
Technical pens sets typically came in 0.13, 0.18, 0.25, 0.35, 0.50, 0.70,& 1.0mm sizes. Each successive size is a 1.4x multiple of the last. That's about what they need to be for their lineweights to be distinctive. It's not just random.
Some brands had slightly different sizes, but always a similar ratio.
