Quirky - that is what I am talking about

[Doug Park]

Two observations that I'm taking away from this thread.

1) The ability to specify a different end cap style for certain lines.

2) The ability to create profile lines that show at a different weight.

A comment on 1). In general it is very difficult to get lines to look right when they join at odd angles using a square end cap. That is why rounded ends are used. For 90 degree corners they look good, everything else becomes a problem. We could easily switch to a different end cap style but we can't use that in all cases or the drawings will really look bad.

Pen plotters produce rounded end caps just because that is the way they worked. To a large degree CAD has been influenced by pen plotters.

It is probably time for us to think about places where we can use different end cap styles to improve the drawing precision.

[johnnyprc]

Thanks Doug for taking the time to read this. I think your observations are a great start. The only thing I would add is to look at some 2D tools that might help product quick little drawings without the need for 3D model creation.

That might not be Chief's focus, but currently I feel I need 2 CAD systems, since CA does 3D so well, but VectorWorks does 2D so well.

...but yes, profiles and how lines are finished would help a lot.