Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> Change Line Color

WYS1WYG

Joined: Sun, Jan 4, 2009
356 Posts

RAC 2010 sp1

okay okay- i know this is just something nobody knows anything about..

but what the heck- i thought i would just throw it out there anyhow..

for example when you drag the end of a wall and it aligns with the

end of another wall you will see an alignment line of a dim color..

also when you drag a wall the wall itself will be a dim color until you release it..

even the temp dimension lines will be a dim color until you let them go..

notice with my screenshot how hard it is to see those lines.. no matter

if i turn my brightness all the way up.. anybody know how to get at those lines?

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WWHub

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WYS1WYG

Joined: Sun, Jan 4, 2009
356 Posts

thanks Hub-

i'm not familiar with "most of us accept" this- or

"most of us accept" that about revit.. i accept everything

about revit .. i love revit..

as for white being the "default"- i think that just means revit doesn't

ship with black selected.. because if it was shipped with black selected then that

would only mean it dosn't ship with white selected- and i don't think that would

mean black or white was more acceptable- it would probably just mean that it has

to start with black or white- one or the other..

but i certainly would like to hear your reasons why

you think black is better- opps- i mean why you

think white is better..

the reason I'M thinking black is better is because of documented

evidence- (and self-experience)- regarding exposure to very bright

LCD type light penetrating directly into the human eyes for long

periods of time- and the conscequenses of that..

but yes i would be very interested in your reasons for accepting

the bright LCD white light into your eyes for long periods..

please list them and post them here- thanks

as for "CAD"- i never used CAD- and i believe CAD did more

damage to architecture than if hand drafting would have

continued until BIM came into being..

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tim123

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The reason for using the white screen is, well, WYSIWYG.  The screen represents what is going to show on paper when printed, from my experience, generally white.  Black screen works well for CAD as you need different colours to try and show what you're doing with layers and pen thicknesses.  Typically, CAD users change the Revit screen to black when they first start, but from my experience change to the white eventually.

I must say that I don't experience the sensation of 'very bright' lights penetrating into my eyes.  There may be studies to show this, but I am not familiar with these, even after doing a search.  Certainly the screen can be too bright, but that can be adjusted.  If this really was an issue would the default in other software such as word, outlook, excel not be black.  I'm trying to think of any software, other than CAD that uses a black screen, but they're not jumping into my mind.  Just thinking about it, black web pages with light coloured writing seem like more of an effort to read.

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WYS1WYG

Joined: Sun, Jan 4, 2009
356 Posts

thanks tim123-

if you google the words lcd- monitors- bright and eyes you find there

are plenty of issues with the light..

but that was not the purpose of my post..

and also i don't know of anything this matter has to do with CAD..

also i accept that many people don't always know what lines we have control

over with their color and which ones we don't in revit.. i hope to learn what control

i have over EVERY line in revit.. and if anyone reading this knows about color line

control- please let me know..

but back to these reason we have so far FOR a white background- we have:

1. it reminds us of pre-BIM days when paper was most popular..

2. lots of other program windows have a white background..

my response to #1 is: soon the building department won't want

your paper and that is why autodesk plants DWF on your desktop

without you even asking for it..

my response to #2 is: with most windows you don't look at them

for hours and they are not the full size of your screen..

okay great we have two reasons given so far for white- all additional

reasons welcomed.. thank you thank you..

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itsmyalterego

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Joined: Thu, May 28, 2009
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Anyway, although I'm in the "white screen, black lines" camp now, I started out trying to emulate my offices ACAD standards. 

You could do this by typing VG, for visibility/graphics,  going to object styles, and changing the line color for all of the types of objects that might be in your model.  I actually found this extremely pleasant on the eyes, but, in the end, prettiness cannot compete with utilitarianism, and SEEING exactly what will print before it prints is invaluable.  

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WYS1WYG

Joined: Sun, Jan 4, 2009
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okay great- we now have TWO users who don't want to forget

what paper looks like when it gets printed- since it will be going

out soon..

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itsmyalterego

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WYS1WYG

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thanks its-

i'm not talking about construction workers- but they rarely touch the paper

anymore either- i'm talking about the building department and the fact that

they no longer want paper from you- they want DWF and IFC..

if anybody wants paper the building department prints it for them..

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itsmyalterego

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WWHub

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WYS1WWG,

Researching on the web about eyes and monitors, I basically found this: "Several studies have been conducted on the potential for long-term eye damage caused by excessive computer use. The good news is that no connection between the two has ever been discovered. Most of the eye problems experienced by avid computer users are related to eye strain and not eye damage."

I believe the light colors on the black screen caused me more eye strain then I have using Revit with all black lines on a white screen.

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WYS1WYG

Joined: Sun, Jan 4, 2009
356 Posts

thanks Hub- that's valuable imput on this very important issue..

this part i have understood for a long time:  "related to eye strain and not eye damage"

and because i believed it was not damaging my eyes- i continued to suffer the

discomfort of eye strain..

even my cat with its head next to my monitor is happy when the intense

white light changes to a darker light at night..

all i'm trying to do is find some reason why i should tolerate this discomfort..

i have asked others if they knew of any reason for the white background- but no one knows of any..

do you know of any?

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itsmyalterego

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Computers, in general, are bad for your eyes.  If this is your chief concern, then perhaps, drafting in general is not the profession for you.  Frankly, it's not that healthy at all to sit in a chair all day either.  I mean, compared to working on a ranch, lifting hay bales and milking cows, these desk jobs are an abomination, and an affront to mother nature and disrespectful of what the human body requires to thrive.  

The cold hard truth is that "the machine" needs people to conform to the standards of the industry.  Competitive and effective use of these architectural programs does not always jive with comfort, and design teams, consultants, and employers will ostracize... incompatible work.  

I'm sorry.  I wish it weren't true.  But avoiding the industry standards in Revit and building models with eye-comfort-whilst-displayed-on-LCDs holding ultimate importance, then, well, it'll lead to a healthier lifestyle than most architects or drafters.  That is, if being non-competitive allows for buying food, and toothpaste and such.    

Gosh.. I didn't notice that get a little harsh, I didn't mean it to.  But I've written it, and I believe it, so hey!  

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WYS1WYG

Joined: Sun, Jan 4, 2009
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its-

i agree with everything you said..

i enjoyed reading what you said too..

actually i have no eye problem at all.. it's just

that if i stay up too late at the computer it

feels good to tone down the light..

but there are just too many strange things about

working in revit with a black background..

i've tried it a half dozen times in four years and

always come up with no solid reasons why it just

doesn't fly properly..

i was probably just being a nuisance to start with..

but they seem to tolerate me so that's a nice thing..

thanks..

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itsmyalterego

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