Using Layers to Organize Your Drawing - AutoCAD 2011 and AutoCAD LT 2011: No Experience Required - page 289

FiGuRE 6.43 The completed eaves lines after filleting
Setting a Linetype Scale Factor
Currently it's hard to see that the lines drawn on the A-ROOF layer are indeed
dashed as specified in the Layer Properties Manager. Unless you zoom into a line
on the A-ROOF layer, the lines look continuous like the objects on the other lay-
ers in your drawing. This is because the dashes inside the DASHED linetype are
set up to be ½ ″ (13mm) long with ¼ ″ (6mm) spaces. Using the linetype scale, or
LTSCALE as many call it, you will tell AutoCAD how to scale your linetypes.
Interestingly enough, a drawing's linetype scale is actually controlled by three
separate LTSCALE variables: LTSCALE (Linetype Scale), PSLTSCALE (Paper Space
Linetype Scale), and MSLTSCALE (Model Space Linetype Scale). With three variables
to choose from, it's probably easy to see how one of the most debated topics among
AutoCAD users is what setting should be used for these variables. I'll show you two
of the more popular ways people choose to set these variables. The first is more of a
manual approach, and the second is what I like to call LTSCALE Auto Pilot.
In comparison to the LTSCALE variable itself, both PSLTSCALE and MSLTSCALE
are relative newcomers. Consequently many users still prefer to calculate their
LTSCALE value manually. A common architectural scale is 1/2 ″ = 1 ′ -0 ″ . To make
the dashes plot (print) ½ ″ long (as desired) divide 12 ″ (1 foot) into ½ ″ (12 ″ ÷ ½ ″
= 24).