Custom Linestyles in CAD Software – Editing .LIN Files

Learn how to create Custom Linestyles in CAD Software ARES Commander easily.

Custom Linestyes can be created either directly from a drawing pattern with the command MAKELINESTYLE, or the traditional way, with a text file ending in a .lin extension, (as shown in the video).

Press LOAD, in the LINE STYLE dialog, and it will open a new dialog called LOAD LINESTYLES, which shows the contents of the .lin file.

You’ll notice that it has a name and a description. Wondering how they are created? Simple, click on BROWSE and it directs you to the folder containing the file.

You can see that the .LIN file has a simple structure when you open it using NOTEPAD (available in Windows). Be careful, any changes you make here will affect the .LIN file.

In the video above, the file is called ‘MM.LIN’. The double M is short for millimeter, as it groups the line styles. This scale is suitable for millimeters, while a different .LIN file would be used for drawings in inches.

All the line styles definitions in this video were created for drawings with a unit millimeters. So you may copy and edit them in another file, with other drawing units in mind.

Using GLOBAL SCALE Parameter

Alternatively, you can use the GLOBAL SCALE parameter, (you can find in another of our videos, to scale all the line styles of the same drawing).

To create the first line style called “CENTER”, click on the LOAD LINESTYLES box. Notice that you have a line, space, then a small line, and a new space. The same sequence is further repeated.

Now coding would be done in the following way, first write the letter “A” followed by a comma and a space to start writing a positive distance, that will be the long line.

Then a comma and a space to write a negative distance, that will be the space length.

Finally, before starting the sequence again, you may add another positive value to draw a short line, and we add a negative value to indicate the other space.

So the numbers represent the first part of the line style. Now pay attention to the line style called “DOTTED”, which is based on dots. It also starts with an “A” followed by a comma, and then represents each dot with a “zero comma zero”, then the space between them is represented by a negative value, which in this example is “-6.35”.

In this case, as it is only a sequence of dots, this formula will be repeated throughout the whole entity as we draw it.

Create Your Own Line Style

In order to create your own style. Position the pointer at the end of a number sequence and press ENTER to create a new line.

Following the same structure of separation, you must start with an * (asterisk), followed by the name of the line (that will later be displayed in the LINESTYLE list).

Later, add a comma and enter (without spaces) the description that includes a graphic representation of how the line will look like.

Press ENTER to move to the next line and start typing ‘A’ in capital letters followed by a comma. Our style begins with a dot, so we write 0.0 followed by a comma with a small space represented by a negative value of -1.0. To add a new dot, we write 0.0, followed by a comma and a new space, although this time something larger than the previous one, represented as -10.0 and SAVE the changes.

In ARES Commander you may close the dialogs, and open them again and refresh the content to see your new style.

Open LINESTYLE, go to LOAD and look for the new style “DOTPLUS” and press OK.

It is now loaded in the drawing and we can assign this style to any entity in the drawing.

Next, let’s assign a thickness and activate the line thickness display.

To learn more about the line styles, do not miss our extensive HELP offered in the program, as well as the other tutorial videos, that we have created on this topic or visit www.graebert.com

To learn more about ARES Commander, visit our Youtube Channel: GraebertTV