Lineweights plot thicker or lighter than expected in AutoCAD product

Autodesk Support

Nov 15, 2024


Products and versions covered


Issue:

Users reported that when plotting to PDF, printing to a physical printer, or publishing from AutoCAD, object lineweights display thicker, thinner, darker, or lighter than displayed in the drawing. 
 Previewing the plot shows the same issue.

Causes:

  • Optical illusion
  • Plot lineweights are enabled.
  • Scale lineweights are enabled.
  • Lineweights in the drawing are set to a thick width.
  • A lineweight override is set for specific objects.
  • Drawing is set to plot by color.
  • Quality of the PDF being plotted.
  • Lineweights or transparency settings in the plot style table (CTB or STB).
  • Current value of Default lineweight (LWDEFAULT).

Solution:

Troubleshooting Guide "Lineweights plot thicker or lighter than expected in AutoCAD"

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Alternatively try one or more of the following to resolve the issue:

Optical Illusion

Lines that are either parallel or close together, will display as one thick line. This depends on the overall scale of the printed content and if the distance between the lines exceeds that of their overall lineweight.

  • The larger the scale of a printed drawing the greater the distance between such lines.
  • The smaller the scale of the printed drawing the closer those lines are in the output.

This means the smaller the scale of a printed drawing the higher the chance that individual lines will display as one thick line in a PDF or physical output.

Prove it by zooming in closely to the affected line(s).

Lineweight display looks different in AutoCAD from the hard copy or plot

This might be due to lineweight display being deactivated: 

  1. Type LWDISPLAY in the AutoCAD command line to toggle the lineweight display.
  2. Type ON to switch on the variable.

Turn off lineweight options in plot or page setup.

In the Plot or Page Set up dialogue window, turn off the following two settings:

  • Plot object lineweights.
  • Scale lineweights.

On Windows: 

Print page Setup dialog in Windows OS
 

On macOS:

Plot layouts on macOS

Change lineweight to the desired thickness

  1. Check the used layer for the component in Property Palette.
  2. Enter LAYER on the command line.
    • Alternatively, on the ribbon in AutoCAD, click the Home tab  Layers Panel  Layer Properties. 
  3. In the Layer Properties Manager, under the Lineweight column, click the lineweight to change.
  4. In the Lineweight dialog box, choose the lineweight to use as the default for objects on that layer.

Check the viewport lineweight override

  1. In the layout of the drawing double-click into the specific viewport.
  2. Enter LAYER into the command line.
  3. In the Layer Manager check the value for "VP Lineweight" for that layer. It might be different to the normal lineweight value of the layer.

Set the object lineweight to be controlled by the layer

  1. Select the objects.
  2. Enter PROPERTIES on the command line.
  3. Under the Lineweight drop-down, select ByLayer.
properties window

Note: Blocks and Xrefs will need to be opened to change the lineweight for objects within them. 

Change the lineweight for dimension lines

  1. Check which dimstyle is used for the dimension which has thick lines.
  2. Enter DIMSTYLE in the AutoCAD command line.
  3. Select the corresponding dimstyle.
  4. Change the lineweight to a thinner style.
  5. Press OK.
  6. Some dimensions might need to be created new.

Select a PDF plotter or settings with higher plot quality

Plot using the AutoCAD PDF (High Quality) plotter or adjust the setting of the selected driver for highest quality plot. 

Lineweights or transparency in the plot style table

Follow one or more of these procedures:
Note: It might also be possible to set a common path for the CTB file, for example using a network folder.
  • Set the plotted lineweight and transparency in the desired plot style table (CTB). Also see: To Set the Plotted Lineweights.
    1. Type PLOT on the command line.
    2. Press the button next to the Plot Style Table to edit the CTB file. This example edits the Grayscale.ctb file. 
    3. In the Form View Tab, edit the Lineweight for color 1 as desired. For example: set it to 0.7000 mm.
    4. Click Save As to make a new Plot Style Table.
    5. Name the new Plot Style Table file. For example, Grayscale_edited.ctb.
    6. Press Save and Close.
    7. Press ESC to exit the plot layout window. 
    8. Type PLOT again and change the Plot Style Table to Grayscale_edited.ctb
    9. Click OK.
Plot style table editor for a CTB file
 

Line thickness settings in the PDF viewer

Follow any of these solutions:
  • Make sure that everyone is using the same PDF reader software (Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, etc.).
  • Select a PDF plotter or settings with higher plot quality.
  • Try deactivating or activating both these settings, according to the used PDF viewer:
    • Smooth line art.
    • Enhance thin lines.

Preference dialog window

Check the settings of the Default lineweight value for the drawing

Object set to use Default lineweight will be influenced by the LWDEFAULT variable. To change it:
  1. Enter LWDEFAULT on the command line (Default value is 25).
  2. Change the value to a different value, such as 0.
Notes: 
  • Objects with a lineweight of 0.25 or less display as hairline in the drawing, but will plot and preview with the correct thickness.
  • The lineweight of an object may be set ByObject, ByBlock, or ByLayer. Check the Object Properties to verify the applicable scenario.
 
 

Products:

AutoCAD for Mac; AutoCAD LT for Mac; AutoCAD Products;


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