Using Polyline Width Parameter In Drawings

[All AutoCAD verisons. Level: Intermediate]



Dear readers,

Most of us preferr to use LINE objects rather than POLYLINE obects in our drawings. However, using POLYLINE can have various advantages like the availability of the "width" parameter. Let's see how it works with two examples:

Example.1 Drawing a resistor using POLYLINE width.



Command: PLINE
Specify start point:
Current line-width is 0.0000 (width is "0")
Specify next point or [Arc/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: 300 units to the right
Specify next point or [Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: w (set the width)
Specify starting width <0.0000>: 50 (set the starting width 50)
Specify ending width <50.0000>: (set the ending width set to 50 too)
Specify next point or [Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: (300 units to the right)
Specify next point or [Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: w (set the width once more)
Specify starting width <50.0000>: 0 (reset the width)
Specify ending width <0.0000>:
Specify next point or [Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: (300 units to the right)
Specify next point or [Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: [ENTER] and exit.

Example.2



Now let's draw a POLYLINE consisting of a line and arc with varying widths.

Command: PLINE
Specify start point: (start)
Current line-width is 0.0000
Specify next point or [Arc/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: w (Kalınlık ayarı)
Specify starting width <0.0000>: 60 (starting width"60")
Specify ending width <60.0000>: (ending width "60")
Specify next point or [Arc/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: (300 units to the right)
Specify next point or [Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: w (tekrar kalınlık ayarı)
Specify starting width <60.0000>: (starting width "60")
Specify ending width <60.0000>: 0 (ending width "0")
Specify next point or [Arc/Close/Halfwidth/Length/Undo/Width]: a (start drawing an arc)
Specify endpoint of arc or
[Angle/CEnter/CLose/Direction/Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second pt/Undo/Width]: (250 upwards)
Specify endpoint of arc or
[Angle/CEnter/CLose/Direction/Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second pt/Undo/Width]: (125 downwards)
Specify endpoint of arc or
[Angle/CEnter/CLose/Direction/Halfwidth/Line/Radius/Second pt/Undo/Width]: [ENTER].

Notice that in this example, the arc's width started with "60" units and diminished to "0". Sometimes after creating a POLYLINE with some width you may forget to set it back to "0". The command prompt will display the current settings once you activate the POLYLINE command.