Line Width Does Not Show

I have made a sample file with LibreCAD 2.0.7 on a Mac and the lines are all displayed very thin.  This is not caused by being in Draft mode.  I saw that on the forum, and while it changes many things, the lines stay super thin.  Print Preview causes the lines to be rendered the proper width.  Changing the layer's default causes new lines to be made the right width, but all lines are displayed super thin on the non-draft editing view.

I'm a new user, is there some other global setting that I need to change to render line width while editing?

Test_Line.dxf

Version 2.0.8 compiled Aug 24, 2015.

I'm having a similar issue, but a bit different.

1. create new drawing
2. create one thin, black line
3. select the line
4. change attributes: color->red, width->0.90mm, Line type->dash

The line changes to red dashed, but the width remains unchanged.
My problem is a bit different because the lines are also very thin in Print Preview.

This is my second project with LibreCAD. I did not have this issue with the first drawing. Line widths changed without problem.

I have verified that I am not in Draft mode.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

Wondering why we missed this bug report in 2.0.7.

Hope it's an easy one to fix.

My test shows:

2mm 1mm line widths are okay, as drawn in PDF.

0.5mm 0.25mm, 0.13mm all drawn to the same thin line width, seems to be much less than 1/2 of the 1mm line width.

JimOfCR wrote

Version 2.0.8 compiled Aug 24, 2015.

I'm having a similar issue, but a bit different.

1. create new drawing
2. create one thin, black line
3. select the line
4. change attributes: color->red, width->0.90mm, Line type->dash

The line changes to red dashed, but the width remains unchanged.
My problem is a bit different because the lines are also very thin in Print Preview.

This is my second project with LibreCAD. I did not have this issue with the first drawing. Line widths changed without problem.

I have verified that I am not in Draft mode.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

... [show rest of quote]

Ah, so it's a defect, then. I'm so new to LibreCAD that I assumed I was unaware of some setting that overrode my adjustments to the line width. Thanks for checking into this, dxli. Version 2.0.8 is the only version I have used. But something is different between your experience and mine. I just tried setting a line to 2.0mm and it remained a very thin line.

what's your paper settings?

Edit -> Current Drawing Preferences -> Paper

The line width is defined in paper space, i.e., 1mm should mean 1mm when printed out on paper, or exported to PDF.

For example, if you are using paper size 1mx1m, 1mm looks still very thin in printpreview.

JimOfCR wrote

Ah, so it's a defect, then. I'm so new to LibreCAD that I assumed I was unaware of some setting that overrode my adjustments to the line width. Thanks for checking into this, dxli. Version 2.0.8 is the only version I have used. But something is different between your experience and mine. I just tried setting a line to 2.0mm and it remained a very thin line.

So that you understand how to speak to me: I have extensive experience in software development, but none in architectural drawing. I am building a new house here in Costa Rica, where I live. I am using LibreCAD to communicate my design ideas to the various people helping me to build my house. I have done exactly one drawing so far using LibreCAD ... my only experience. I do seem to recall adjusting the values in Current Drawing Preference in order to get something to work based on a post I read on this forum.

Here is the preferences tab that you referred to:

Hi JimOfCR,

Sorry, I wrote it wrong. It should be:

Edit -> Current Drawing Preferences -> Paper

You may want to check the "Unit" table as well.

JimOfCR wrote

So that you understand how to speak to me: I have extensive experience in software development, but none in architectural drawing. I am building a new house here in Costa Rica, where I live. I am using LibreCAD to communicate my design ideas to the various people helping me to build my house. I have done exactly one drawing so far using LibreCAD ... my only experience. I do seem to recall adjusting the values in Current Drawing Preference in order to get something to work based on a post I read on this forum.

Here is the preferences tab that you referred to:

From the dxf you uploaded

The PDF generated:

linewidth.pdf

I'm confused. I don't recall uploading a dxf file.

sorry again.

The dxf file is by RSaunders

Please keep me updated on your testing.

JimOfCR wrote

I'm confused. I don't recall uploading a dxf file.

In my tests the print preview (paper space) seems to show the line weight properly. Not so in the drawing view (model space). To show the line weight (thickness) right in relation to the length the program has to suppose a certain scale the drawing will be printed. This seems not to be implemented in librecad yet. Does it use the scale momentarily set in the print preview? Or always 1:1? I do not understand it. In advanced cad programs you can set a scale in model space, this does not change the size of the objects but shows how some properties like lineweight or textsize will look in the intended scale.
As we don't have this yet in librecad it's best to ignore lineweight appearance in model space and look into the print preview to check.

Greetings dellus

Since I had no problem with setting the line width on my first project with the same version of LibreCAD, I have to assume I changed some setting somewhere. I cannot find an option to reset all default values, so I am interested in re-installing it. Does anyone know if all of the settings will be removed from the Windows Registry on un-install?

Uninstalling won't affect the registry. I added an option to clear settings in application preferences,
but it is only available in the most recent master branch Nightly Builds for Windows.

Thanks for your reply, ravas.

Here is my experience so far:

I uninstalled LibreCAD.
I ran a registry cleaner in the hopes that it would remove anything that might have been left over.
I installed LibreCAD 2.0.8 again
I found that changing the line width still did not affect its display size.

I uninstalled LibreCAD again.
I ran the registry cleaner again. This time it found only 1 item that was labeled "Obsolete software" - I deleted it.
I then looked for a LibreCAD folder in Program Files(x86) and didn't find one.
I then did a global search for LibreCAD using Locate.
I found numerous references including a folder that I hadn't seen in Program Files(x86) and several LibreCAD App crash folder and dump files.
I deleted everything that Locate found except for the 3 crash dump folders.
I reinstalled LibreCAD
I drew a two-point line and set its color to red and its width to 2.0mm.
It still shows up as a thin red line.
It does now show up thicker in the Print Preview pane, but that doesn't help me.
Sigh.

needs some investigation.

printing and on screen are treated differently in code for line widths;

I actually found it weird to draw linewidth on screen, for example:

1, start LC with an empty drawing;
2, set paper to "letter";
3, set line width to 2mm;
4, draw rectangle: 0,0 5,5
5, auto zooming

RSaunders wrote

The PDF is of a drawing I sent as an example of the problem.  I have never
had problems with the "Print Preview" or in the printed drawings.  I'm
using a Mac, so the registry issue isn't the same for me.  As dellus
mentioned, the problem is with the model view.  I understand CAD isn't
WYSIWYG, and my original question was "Is this a bug or a feature?".  Since
others, like JimOfCR, have encountered this with the same reaction, if it's
a feature then the feature needs to be documented.  If it's a bug, then
that's something to put on the list.

Paper size should not have an effect on line width appearance. It is scale and units that are decisive. I am experienced in the architecture cad program Nemetschek Allplan, so i am used to how they do it, but i do not know the Autocad way, to which librecad is similar. Maybe Rallaz as professional Autocad - user can give us a hint.

dellus

from the code:

when it's printing: 1mm line width is 1mm when printed.

for 150 dpi, one pixel is 0.17mm, so, we should be able to see the line widths are all different for: 0.13mm 0.5mm

for 72 dpi, one pixel is 0.35mm,  then, 0.13mm, 0.25mm, and 0.35mm are probably printed the same 1 pixel i.e., 0.35mm

dellus wrote

Paper size should not have an effect on line width appearance. It is scale and units that are decisive. I am experienced in the architecture cad program Nemetschek Allplan, so i am used to how they do it, but i do not know the Autocad way, to which librecad is similar. Maybe Rallaz as professional Autocad - user can give us a hint.

dellus