Changing pipe line weight or color in Standalone or when integrated with AutoCAD


Product(s):WaterGEMS, SewerGEMS, CivilStorm, StormCAD, PondPack, SewerCAD, HAMMER, WaterCAD
Version(s):08.11.XX.XX and higher
Area: Output and Reporting

Problem

How can I change the line-weight/thickness of pipes or conduits?

Or

When using AutoCAD platform, should I use layers to change pipe color / thickness? 

Solution

In AutoCAD platform

The preferred method would be to use the element symbology manager. For example, go to the WaterCAD/WaterGEMS menu, select "View" and then "element symbology..". You can use this tool to establish color coding for each individual element type and even for certain selection sets of elements. You can also change the pipe thickness in the properties window after double clicking the "Pipe" entry at the top of the Element Symbology manager. Since element symbology is so robust, there should be no need to use AutoCAD layers to handle your symbology.

If you are using color coding, in the Element Symbology, edit the color coding properties. You can access the color coding properties by right clicking on the color coding (in the example below, Diameter), which is highlighted by the red outline in the screen shot below, and choosing Edit...

  For the options on the top right, select "Color and Size".  In the color maps table you will see the size in the third column of the table on the right. The larger the number, the thicker the line.

Note:

If the WaterCAD element symbology is set to use a slightly different custom color, say (0,254,254), then AutoCAD will set the pipe as color as Cyan (0,255,255) instead of the custom color entered.
What AutoCAD appears to be doing is taking the WaterCAD custom symbology color and assigning the closest “Index Color” in AutoCAD, it does not use the true color entered in element symbology.

In Standalone platform

Double click on the pipe or conduit name in the Element Symbology manager window, which is outlined by the red box in the screen shot below.

The properties of the pipe or conduit will open in a new window and you will change the line width multiplier, which is outlined in the blue box in the screen shot above.