Managing Styles, Formats, and Colors - SmartSketch - Help

SmartSketch Help

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English
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Smart Engineering Manager Version
11
SmartSketch Version
11.1

You can use color and style formats to make your drawing a more powerful communication tool, or simply to make it more aesthetically appealing. The software provides several different methods for formatting one or more geometric elements, such as lines, arcs, and circles. You can also format dimensions, annotations, and.

Styles

To make elements that are the same type look alike, you can use styles to apply several formats at once. Styles are a collection of formats that are saved under a name. Styles allow you to save several formats so you can use them repeatedly. Using styles guarantees consistency in a drawing.

To make an element look unique, you can select it and then format it directly. Formatting a few elements at a time takes more time than applying styles, but gives you greater flexibility.

The software provides fills that you can apply to closed boundaries. A fill floods a closed boundary with a solid color or pattern.

Besides fills, the software provides line types such as continuous, dash, chain, continuous chain, double chain, dot, and end gap. New line types can be created through Visual Basic Automation.

The software provides several other tools for consistent drawings. You can save styles and background sheets in a template so that you can use them in other drawings.

Properties and Parameters

You can edit the properties of an element, symbol, or object by selecting it and then changing properties on the ribbon. You can also Select the Element, right click, and select Properties on the shortcut menu.

A property is a unique characteristic of an element, object, symbol, or document. You can display document properties in the Windows Explorer or by clicking Properties on the File menu or Edit menu. Properties for elements or objects can be classified by three different types, as defined on the Properties dialog box:

  • Size properties, as specified on the Info tab affect physical characteristics of the element, such as the length.

  • Style properties, as specified on the Format tab, affect the format of the element.

  • User-defined properties, as created on the User tab. User-defined properties are usually in the form of a text notation, such as cost, manufacturer, and so forth. You can change user-defined properties, but these changes have no effect on the appearance of the element or object.

For example, a valve symbol's style properties can include color, line style, and width. Other user-defined properties stored with the symbol can include the manufacturer, cost, or material. User-defined properties are displayed in the Attribute Viewer when you select the valve symbol. User-defined properties are displayed in the Attribute Viewer when you select the valve symbol. The Attribute Viewer is not available in all software installations.

See Also

Applying Unique Formats
Applying Colors and Patterns to Closed Boundaries
Applying Formats with Styles
Format a Geometric Element
Format a Dimension or Annotation
Format a Text Box