AutoSketch problem

[Rocker]

Can an AutoSketch guru please advise? If I draw a polygon in AutoSketch using the thinnest line thickness, and then fill the polygon with a colour, the outline of the polygon is obscured by the colour fill. How can I ensure that the outline remains above the colour fill and therefore visible? I can work around the problem by entering the outline again. But the colour fill jumps in front of the second outline if I click on the fill inadvertently. There must be an easy way to stop this; but I can't find it in the manual.

[jow104]

Hi rocker its John

I don't know this particular piece of software but perhaps it has layers?

If not why not copy, paste to an imaging program and copy back again!

woody u;k.

[ubeaut]

It may be that your line is too thin to be seen on the screen but not on paper. Try printing it out to see if the line is there, after all, doesn't it all really boil down to getting the drawing onto the printed page.

CAD programs can draw a pretty thin line, in fact almost too thin for some printers to print. Have you tried it with a heavier line?

Cheers - Neil :)

[Rocker]

John,

Your suggestion seems like a variant of the work-around that I am already doing. Yes; AutoSketch does have layers; but an entity and its colour fill are, as far as AutoSketch is concerned, on the same layer. What I need to find, is a way to select an entity (the colour fill) and then send it to the back of an entity that it is currently hiding. It is of course impossible to select the hidden lines without also selecting the entity (the colour fill) that is hiding them.

Neil,
If I use the thinnest line thickness, the lines are hidden by the colour fill both on the screen and on the printed output. If I use the next to thinnest line thickness, the lines look excessively thick on the screen, although quite acceptable on the printed output. I suppose I may have to settle for that, if there really is no way of sending an entity to the back.

Rocker

[Eastie]

Just a wild guess, but you could try selecting the outline and pressing "ctrl" + "Page Up" to bring it to the fore. It worked fine for my old version of CAD, which had a similar problem.

[Rocker]

Eastie,

I have finally discovered the answer to my problem. I was unable to find it before because the index of the AutoSketch manual is very incomplete. There is an 'Arrange entities' command which allows you to send a selected entity to the back. Having done this, you can use marquee selection to select the polygon and its fill, and then group them. This ensures that the polygon lines remain in front of the colour fill.

Thanks to all who have made suggestions without telling me to RTFM.

Rocker