Stroke & linetype
Control line weight, dash style, dash spacing, and arrowheads.
The Stroke section in the Properties panel governs how an entity's outline is drawn.
- Color — click the swatch to open the palette or custom color editor.
- Opacity — scrub slider from 0–100% for translucent strokes.
- Width — line weight in world units; scrub or type. Callouts, dimensions, and areas use a finer 0–10 range.
- Linetype — pick a dash style from the searchable dropdown; see the full list below.
- Spacing — Auto or Fixed; controls whether dash length follows line width. Shown for dashed linetypes.
- Dash scale — stretches or compresses the dash pattern (0.05×–5×) without changing line width.
- Arrowheads — start and end caps on polylines (not on closed polygons).
- Elbow radius — callouts only; controls how sharp the leader bend is (0 for a square corner).
Linetypes
Vellum ships drafting linetypes that match the shapes in Revit's default line pattern set. The dropdown search also understands Revit vocabulary — typing "phantom", "grid line", "overhead", or "dot 1/32" finds the matching entry even where Vellum's label differs.
| Linetype | Pattern | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Solid | Continuous | General linework |
| Dashed | Medium dashes | Hidden or demolished work |
| Short Dash | 1/16" dashes | Overhead lines, close hatching boundaries |
| Long Dash | Long dashes | Property or boundary lines |
| Double Dash | Paired dashes with a wider gap | Layered or secondary boundaries |
| Triple Dash | Grouped triple dashes | Distinct utility or zone boundaries |
| Dotted | Round dots | Alignment or projection lines |
| Dense Dot | Tightly spaced dots (1/32") | Fine reference lines |
| Dash–Dot | Dash, dot | Chain lines |
| Dash–Dot–Dot | Dash, two dots | Secondary chain lines |
| Long Dash Dot | Long dash, dot | Centerlines and grid lines (Revit "Long dash dot") |
| Center | Long dash, short dash | Centerlines drawn to the Revit/ASME "Center" convention |
| Phantom | Long dash, two dots | Alternate positions, existing-to-move items (Revit "Long dash dot dot") |
| Gas Line, Rail Line, Fence | Symbolic | Utility and site linework |
| Custom Text Line | Repeating label along the path | Labeled utilities, e.g. PROPERTY LINE |
Long Dash Dot and Center look similar but are different shapes: Long Dash Dot alternates a long dash with a *dot* (what Revit uses for centerlines and grids), while Center alternates a long dash with a *short dash* (the ASME centerline convention).
Dash spacing: Auto vs Fixed
The Spacing row controls how dash length relates to line width. Auto (the default) scales dashes with the stroke: make a line heavier and its dashes grow proportionally, so the pattern always reads clearly at any weight. Fixed keeps the plotted dash size constant regardless of line width — the behavior Revit users expect, where a 1/8" dash prints at 1/8" no matter how heavy the line is.
- Auto — dash length follows line width. Best when you vary lineweights for emphasis and want every line's pattern legible.
- Fixed — dash length locked to the printed size. Best for matching office standards or drawings that mix Vellum and Revit output.
- At the default line width the two modes look identical — differences appear only once you thicken or thin the stroke.
- The toggle is per entity, so a single drawing can mix both behaviors.
Dash scale
Dash scale multiplies the dash and gap lengths of the selected linetype — 2× doubles them, 0.5× halves them — while the line width stays put. It stacks with either spacing mode, so you can keep Auto's proportional behavior but nudge a pattern denser or sparser, or fine-tune a Fixed pattern to a specific standard. It appears whenever the selected linetype has a dash pattern (not for solid or symbolic linetypes).
Set stroke in Defaults before drawing, or select existing entities and change Stroke to restyle them in place. Spacing and dash scale support multi-select too — mixed values show a "Mixed" tag until you set one. Highlights and region fills may hide linetype controls by design.