Rhino Red Prints Blog
Line Thickness in Various Drawings
Jun
Line thickness in any vector file can be pre-determined. Before the work starts, one can pick colors, thickness, basic tools of drawing, etc. That is only a small fraction of the flexible solutions offered by any modern software related to drawing vector files. It is not a miracle, it is computer science and software implementation. And nowadays is everywhere around us.
Some blueprints are very complex and feature several embedded drawings in themselves. In the past, that was done the following way: a basic outline of the object was drawn, featuring dimensions and a basic legend. Then, additional sheets of blueprints were created, focused on something within the drawing itself. Let’s say, you have a ship and its basic drawing resemble the whole ship with its cargo sections and its superstructure. Then, there is a separate drawing for its cargo bay area produced as a stand-alone blueprint. Then, there is a blueprint of the door with its specifics, being one of many within this cargo bay.
You get the idea.
Controlling line thickness within the vector drawing file allows for that to be created at once. It is rarely the practice, but the option is still there. If you draw with thin lines, you can basically start from the smallest item and exploit the file to infinity /theoretically/. You won’t loose information, just the size of the file will grow. But /most of the cases/ to acceptable proportions. If you draw with thick lines on the other hand, you can embed specifics made with thinner lines to emphasize on something. Whatever that might be. Usually, both ways are being used in one drawing, producing very interesting and easily understandable project for the viewer.
That was nearly impossible with the old school drawings such as blueprints or whiteprints. It was exploited to some extend with Xerox’ options to scale up or scale down the copy, but that was limited to a degree. Then with the digital products becoming available all that changed for good. Not that they draw a huge cargo ship and they allow you to zoom in up until you can find every rivet. Rarely a single file holds all the information. However in fractions this is done and in some areas is embedded deeply into any project’s blueprint.
Line thickness in vector drawings can be used for additional purposes too. In the case of Rhino Red Prints, we stick to the thinner side of things, because often, our drawings are not focused on the blueprint itself, but present basis for a camouflage or a schematic that can be fitted in a publication. In that case, the file allows for adjusting the line thickness, so the final result can satisfy the specific needs.
However in general, when drawing a product, one must pick the line thickness carefully. It is the same as when drawing with a pencil. Those artists that focus on pencil work know that there are numerous thicknesses as well as soft or hard solutions of the graphite, etc. It is just like having a toolbox with many instruments in it. Or, having a pack of various size wrenches. You never know which one you will be needing.