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Posted on 2013-09-16 09:15:33
Some other benefits: 1) One that may not mean as much today as it did in
the early days when memory was expensive: Polylines (beyond a very small
number of segments) use LESS MEMORY than the equivalent separate Lines and
Arcs would. AutoCAD needs to keep information about Layer, Color and/or
Linetype and/or Linetype Scale and/or Lineweight overrides if any,
Elevation, Thickness, etc., only ONCE for the entire Polyline entity,
rather than individually for every separate Line and/or Arc entity. Also,
for Lightweight Polylines, since the Elevation controls the Z coordinates
of all vertices, it stores only two coordinates (X & Y) for all vertices.
2) The option for linetype generation to flow across vertices (around
corners, etc.), means that a non-continuous linetype can be apparent even
within segments that, on their own, would show as continuous because
they're too short for the non-continuous linetype's pattern cycle.
Posted on 2013-09-16 13:25:18
Polylines have their place but too many times I've seen them
inappropriately used and often get in the way of good drafting practices
when it comes to making changes.
Posted on 2013-09-16 13:25:43
Polylines have their place but too many times I've seen them
inappropriately used and often get in the way of good drafting practices
when it comes to making changes.
Posted on 2013-09-17 10:13:20
And this is new because? I have been using polylines since the first
became an AutoCAD entity. The benefits are numerous - the initial benefit
for me was 2-fold: 1) the ability to add line width, and 2) the ability to
offset aa parallel polyline. Never mind the attributes include with them
(area, overall length, the ability to Divide a complex line into equal
lineal distances).
My only grip using 2012 is that when editing vertices the scroll wheel
functionality is lost if the Pedit menu is visible on the screen.
I would agree with the comment that Plines can be over-used at time.
Straight one-segment Plines offer no advantage over a simple Line (unless
line width is needed).
Posted on 2013-09-17 10:20:39
Some of the benefits of lines over plines:
If plines are drawn with widths in a drawing then you can't control
the width in other drawings when Xrefing them.
Lines can be easily checked with LIST or PROPERTIES for the angle they
are drawn at, plines can't.
Length of lines can be modified with the change command, plines
cannot. Multiple lines can be brought to one point quickly
with change, plines cannot. Lines can be straightened to align
with Ortho quickly with Change command, plines cannot. All options of the
LENGTHEN command will work on lines, the options of DElta, Percent and
Total will work on a pline, the DYnamic option will not work on
plines.
Hover over the end grip on a line you will get a choice of lengthen or
stretch. Lengthen will extend the length dynamically and keep the line
at the same angle.
JOIN command won't work on plines unless the ends are exactly
touching, lines don't need to be touching for join to work.
A line inherits the elevation of the object that it is snapped to at each
endpoint, handy when working in 3D.
Start the line command, then type tan, pick an arc, notice how the
line start point will move dynamically as you move the cursor, a pline
will not do that.
Parallel lines can be filleted, plines cannot.
Use plines or lines depending on the need, they both have their benefits
over the other. Using one exclusively limits you.
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