Shading?

Just wondering what methods everyone uses to shaded an area. Do you use
closely space dot hatch pattern, solid, closely spaced line hatch pattern?

Interested in your methods plotting with only black (and shades of gray)
....not so much color plots


Example of a shaded area I would have (I am using AutoCAD 2000):

An area on a foundation plan which requires demolition. I use ANSI31 spaced
closely together using a layer defined with a thin lineweight, grayscale,
and a set screening percentage. This allows me to hatch an area but still
able to see all text dimensions and geometry on the screen within the shaded
area.

I tried using solid but can't get it to plot right and can not see geometry
within the shaded area unless I send the shade to the back. Problem is the
plotting ...always comes out as dark blotch area. 90% of our client do not
want color plots. We use HP DesignJet 1050c Plus plotter and a HP DesignJet
600 (C2848A).

I found the dot hatch gives mixed results with the dot size itself coming
out different sizes sometimes even with the same settings (Using the HP
600).

Thanks for your methods

 

I prefer to use a screened solid hatch, but this causes problems for
reproducing drawings. Dots tend to be better for reproducing.

 

I like to use the dot pattern unless it is a large area - the dots seem to
take up more resources than a shaded solid or a closely spaced hatch.
Matt

 

Dot patterns will inflate both the drawing size and the plot file size
faster than anything else. I don't use them except for very limited areas.

Look at it this way ... if you explode it, each "dot" is actually a
zero-length line. Every dot contains the same amount of information as a
line 100 miles long. Two endpoints, color, layer, etc.

A closely spaced line pattern will shade an area at a small fraction of the
overhead required by a dot pattern.

 

We use grey lines to indicate existing conditions (about a 60% screen) with
black lines for new work, and hidden2 black lines for demo. We use solid
hatches for poche, such as walls in presentations (where we usually show
existing work as black also, the screened existing work being for CDs). The
main area where we get tricky is in elevations. Materials are sometimes
regular line hatches in black, nometimes in grey (usually grey in small
scale views where the black would dominate), and sometimes materials are
just a poche (solid hatch) in a color or grey, and sometimes we combine the
two (grey lines over a color solid hatch for bricks, for example. We then do
shadows as closely spaced verticle dark grey lines, so you see the linework
& poches "below" the shadows.
Truth is we might be overdoing it, but the drawings look really great, and
sometimes we need that to help the client understand. If it wasn't for all
the extra work doing the shadows I would argue for them in CDs as well, as
they do help the contractor understand the building. I guess that has to
wait for ADT 3D rendered elevations in CDs.

Best,
Gordon