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Colors on the "blue" prints
3

Colors on the "blue" prints

Colors on the "blue" prints

(OP)

I have an unusual question (as most of the people on the forum).

As someone who grew up in the times of pencils, paper and poor quality blueprints I am a firm believer into strictly black-and-white linework.

Nevertheless in today's world you can hardly find B&W printer or copier if you want to buy one.

So my question is: Does anyone see the advantage in using color in engineering (besides obvious applications for Maps and Architecture), and did anyone ever encounter standard regulating use of color. (Once again, not just color to indicate AutoCAD layers, but "final product" print actually made in color.)

I will welcome both: references to actual standards and opinions based on experience.
 

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Eventually it will be faxed, or scanned in B&W and emailed, or copied on a B&W copier.

Then your color information will be lost for the receiver.

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

When I make a drawing, I make sure it is readable in black-and-white.  However, I will use shaded views on isometric and exploded views if it helps make things more clear to the reader (again, must be readable in greyscale).

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

(OP)

So far two guys who belive in "paperless" as much as I do.

But even myself I don't remenber when was the last time I faxed the drawing. E-mailing PDFs on the other hand...

More opinions please!

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

The only "color standards" I have ever seen were things like red for corrections, yellow for corrected, blue for comments, etc.  This was all back in the days of board drafting in architecture.

Wikipedia- " In AutoCAD usually parts to be printed in black are drawn in 1 to 7 basic colors. Color layer: Green-Center, Magenta-Measure of length and Blue-Hidden."

I have had to produce drawings in color to help production in assembly drawings, like full color PCB assemblies, or red for "important notes", but to all vendors I have only provided black and white drawings.  I don't see an advantage with colors, as it makes everything else "unimportant" in the mind of whoever is looking at the drawing.

"I didn't read that because it wasn't printed in paisley."

 

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."


Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

There is apparently a "standard" for CAD files, which AutoCad (2D) adheres to, that puts dimension text (i.e. ANSI Y14 symbols) into a yellow color that makes it unreadable on white background.  Drives me nuts, as there is no way to change the color to black or any other dark color.  It still plots ok in black and white...usually...

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

(OP)

Very well.

I've seen colors used for relatively innocent things like company logo, or to draw attention to CAD-created "approval stamp", etc.

Also for separating "original" drawings created on plotter from "copies" created on copy machine. In this case mark or note was created saying something like "ORIGINAL WHEN RED".

But I also saw it used to indicate things like "Critical dimensions", which is getting too close to "Canned worms section" all by itself.

BTW, if anyone has actual copy of  ANSI/ASME Y14.2 Line Conventions and Lettering, does it say anything about  (NOT) using color?
 

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

CheckerHater,

   When my 2D drawings are sent out electronically, I assume the recipient has a crummy printer.  I figure most machine shops have black and white 11x17" printers.  Everyone else has 8.5x11" black and white ink jets.  I prepare my drawings accordingly.

   When I prepare my drawings for carpentry at home, I use colour.  I think it looks better.  

               JHG

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

CheckerHater,

   There are two levels of colour here.  

   First, you can define layers, and use these to control colour and line thickness.  At home, I like to make my object lines black, and my dimension lines and text, medium blue.  

   Secondly, you can set your SolidWorks views to shaded.  

   I have been using shaded views on preliminary drawings lately.  If I have defined my outline as a transparent blob, this is the only way to communicate what I am doing.  I have access to a colour printer.  I can save JPEGS and create online notes in HTML.  

   When I have completed the design, I can, and usually do, convert everything back to conventional line drawings.  If nothing else, current drafting standards are based on black and white line drawings.

   If you are going to do colour layers and lines, you must set the background screen of your CAD program to white, or some reasonable facsimile of white.  Yellow lines are very prominent on your black screen, and almost invisible on paper.  

               JHG

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

As others wrote, it will eventually end up black, or grey-tones.
I once worked with a department that insisted their drawings be color. Once other departments started faxing, copying, scanning, whatever, the details were lost.

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP5.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Point: One thing people forget is whether the light available out in the shop is enough to avoid confusion when you start playing with colors on a print.  Blue, black, red, yellow and green lines, representing different values and details can easily be confused when the lighting is dim.

Point 2: If another designer has a different background color to improve contrast on his system, because the light on his station is different than yours, or if he is a little more blue/green colorblind then you are...

Point 3: Keeping three cartridges functional in your printer has just tripled your printing costs.  Paperless is a nice concept.  How many have made it work?

Point 4 (And this is selfish.):  Ever try to get the military to shift gears or standards just because it improves engineering practice?  There is some O-1 in an office at TACOM who is too dim to adjust away from the Book.  Last month, I had to explain, (AGAIN) that a split lock washer depends on applying longitudinal loading, not digging in to the surfaces, to lock.  They are still demanding hard copy files for storage in various contracts.

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Alonzohawk,

   Given the complete lack of compatibility between different 3D CAD packages, or even versions of the same package, hard copies stored somewhere are a good idea.

   When you select colours, you should select ones that contrast with the background.  Hence, my remarks about having a white screen background, rather than a black one.

   Some people are colour blind.  Another case for drawings being readable in black and white.

               JHG

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

One "golden rule" to follow:

  - NEVER send dwg.s to any state or federal agent for permit that have been plotted in color!

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

(OP)

Thank you very much everybody!

Looks like I didn't miss the memo and the colors didn't make it to the mainstream yet.

11echo, thanks for very interesting note. I understand government requires black or blue ink when filling the forms. You made me realize that ALL the documents you submit are expected to be easy to scan / copy / fax, etc., so colors are probably out of the question when it comes to "official business".
 

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Bit of a late tag on but we have a batch pdf printer with our CAD software, unfortunately it saves them as PDF's in color.  When someone (internally or vendor) then plots them out in black and white but 'gray scaled' they are illegible in many situations.

So I always use a separate pdf printer/generator and the 'print all colors as black' option in CAD.

I've actually had vendors that got the colored version ask me for black & white.

The colors in the CAD actually make sense and help with use when creating the drawing, but when they go to using the drawing B&W still seems superior.

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

  I know there are people against it, but color in documents is here to stay, with gray scale being the alternative.  As it becomes more common, people will get used to it and it will become part of the norm.  At my last job, we had to make sure drawings printed good in gray scale.  Baby steps.

Matt Lorono, CSWP
Product Definition Specialist, DS SolidWorks Corp
Personal sites:
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Drown that baby quick, before it grows up into the monster that eats drafters for lunch.

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

The more Marketing gets involved, the more colors you will see.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."


Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

I fear the day marketing dictates practices for engineering drawings (unless it's the color of the logo in the title block).  

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

"I fear the day marketing dictates practices for engineering drawings"
Been there, it's not good...a nightmare!

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP5.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

As a sub contract design office we do what the customer asks for, however if nothing is specified we show iso views as shaded in colour if it helps with clarity.

When you think about how much colour helps in real life it is hard to see why more people don't use colour on prints. Take a wiring loom in a car as an obvious example following the blue and red wires is not that difficult, following the light grey and the slightly darker grey would be near impossible.

As far as I am aware there is no standard yet and different people would take this to different levels and it is not hard to imagine you would end up with some truly awful drawings, but it is also hard to see there are not advantages as well.

I guess like most things in life it is not black and white but more shades of grey.
 

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

When working in 3D solids, it's sometimes advantageous to have a color print/copy, especially if you're showing interferences and you have taken a section through an assembly.

In NX, depending on how preferences are set, a section taken through an assembly of parts will show any interferences in "red".

ted kralovic

VisVSA, NX-6, Macbook, iPhone 3GS, among others

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

In response to the question regarding 'color' in ASME Y14.2, the word "color" doesn't show up even once in the standard.

ted kralovic

VisVSA, NX-6, Macbook, iPhone 3GS, among others

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

This exact same issue is being battered around our office today, with most of the drafters being dead-set against using color in print-out.  We send drawings electronically to clients, and we believe we lose the control over what the final prints may look like, since color is dependent on the printer.  My old-fashioned opinion is that it's best to present the design as clearly as possible in black and white, with line weights, cross hatching and carefully placed text, dimensions and leaders.  It's much more professional.  Once color enters into the presentation, it becomes graphic art, not engineering.  A good example of simplicity is the readability of solid text in a text book.  It's rarely improved by printing in various colors.  Simple black and white makes the most readable presentation there is.  "Keep It Simple".   

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Having come from a company that did use color on drawings, and later moving to companies that did not, I have found color to be extremely useful.  The one caveat is that colors should only be used for improving the clarity of drawings, and should not be used for conveying information.

We left all part geometry in black, but used a dark green color (which still printed black on a B&W printer) for all of our dimensions and dimension lines.  All notes, centerlines, etc were in dark blue (which still printed in black on a B&W printer).  The clarity of the print when looking at it in color vs black and white is night and day.  

In that case, the argument that 'My suppliers or customers or shop floor can't print in color, so color is bad' doesn't really carry any weight.  If they print the document, they're no worse off than they are looking at any other drawing in their shop.  However, if they look at the PDF we send them, they get the added clarity, which is substantial.

Color can also help hilight revisions on a drawing.  If you have revisions in red, the eye is immediately drawn to what has changed since the last rev.  Once again, the color is not a replacement for rev bubbles or rev blocks, but it adds another level of clarity to the drawing if the person looking at it is lucky enough to be able to look at the print in color.  If they can't look at it in color, they're no worse off than they were with any other drawing.

I can't really see any reason against using color other than a bit of a stodgy old-guard attitude of 'I've created and looked at drawings for 30 years, and they've always been in black and white, so they should always be in black and white'.

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

EngineerShorty,

   A basic problem with sending computer files around is lowest common denominator.  If you send something the other guy cannot read, either time is wasted finding something he can read, or he does not read it.

   As noted above, I assume people have 8.5x11" black and white ink jet printers.  I actually do not know if such a thing exists, but lots of people have cheap black and white laser printers.  You cannot assume larger than 8.5x11".  You cannot assume colour.  You cannot assume laser.

   Most fabrication shops seem to have 11x17" printers, now.  As far as I can tell, they are black and white.

   If you send drawings to me at home, I can handle your colour.  I cannot handle the tiny fonts on your E sized drawings.

   I remember back when you could not send spreadsheets around.  Lowest common denominator will always be a problem when you share computer files.   The technology will improve, and the lowest common denominator will get more capable, but by then, you will have new bells and whistles to try out.  

   The other issue with colour is that lots of people out there do not understand contrast.  If you are printing in colour, set your CAD backgrounds to white.  People with black backgrounds keep selecting yellow as a bold colour.

   If you search around the following two websites, you will see discussions about colour...

   Web Pages That Suck

   Tips on Designing Cost Effective Machined Parts

               JHG

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Ok, so we've seen that people have a trained-in bias for black & white prints.  Makes sense, after all that's historically what we had.  With the exception of blue prints which were white lines on a bluish background.  Still, two-colours only.  For the designers on this thread, do you model & detail (annotate) in only one color?  Most of you will answer "No".  And why is that?  Because colours make it easier to separate geometries from notes from dimensions from gd&t annotations.  So, it's good for engineering but not for people downstream?  The real issue is that our baseline printing infrastructure has not changed to keep pace with CAD.  Colour ups the price a bit, which throws management into a tizzy right away.  Large-format colour printers are still ridiculously expensive.  On the other hand, I've seen enough cases where something was obvious on a colour display but "disappeared" into the background on a b&w printout; this was caught only in fire-fighter mode when an issue arose.

For those in doubt as to the value of colour, you need only go as far as training material and text books.  Which do you prefer from a learner's perspective, black & white text & drawings, or colour 3-D graphics?

BTW, I experienced similar grumblings from "board draftsmen" when they had to shift from using a pencil to using a mouse ... no way this would make them faster ... no way it's as accurate ... no way it can keep up ...

Why are people in technology so afraid of taking the next steps forward?  Dunno.

Jim Sykes, P.Eng, GDTP-S
Profile Services  www.profileservices.ca
TecEase, Inc.  www.tec-ease.com

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

MechNorth,

   I really like SolidWorks' executable Edrawings.  I save the thing.  You load it and look at my 3D model.  Since the file is executable, you don't need the edwg software.

Problems:
  1. Some people where I work have amazingly old computers, lacking speed and RAM.  The Edwgs are barely executable.
  2. Everyone is fighting desperately to stop virii.  Executable attachments to email do not make it past corporate firewalls.
   System administrators are not knocking themselves out to enable my favourite toys.  

   A lot of people use their computers for email, word processing and some web surfing.  They do not need high powered, bleeding edge machines, and they are not assigned them.  Back when I was a kid, office machinery was expected to last twenty years.  I think we are headed back there.  It is easy for us CAD types to create files no one else can read.  

               JHG

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

RE: @Jim Sykes

Here is a technology story.
I started "on the board" in the very early '70's at a large power-generation equipment manufacturer. Even on the Apprentice Program, I was forced (!) to become a member of the union.

The company planned on installing a Gerber Plotter for the express use of plotting points. At that, the union shouted "STOP! WE'LL LOSE JOBS!" (Heh-heh)

We all know where that went. Plot/print on!

ted kralovic

VisVSA, NX-6, Macbook, iPhone 3GS, Garmin 765T, Garmin Forerunner 405, Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx, among others

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Quote:

no way this would make them faster ... no way it's as accurate ... no way it can keep up ...

Unfortunately, this became a self-fulfilling prophesy at some companies.  It can be much quicker updating board drawings and associated documentation than it is for some CAD drawings/models I've seen.

"Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively."
-Dalai Lama XIV

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

(OP)

Quote:

It can be much quicker updating board drawings and associated documentation than it is for some CAD drawings/models I've seen...
Back in the time of paper and pencil people who did original design would stay with the company long enough to see the first revision.
Now with the original team long gone, and revision being outsourced to clueless CAD-monkeys... Well, it may take some time sad
 

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

It is much easier now, even more so than just 8mos ago, to deal with color in some circumstances.  Change board, design reviews or department meetings, we plug a laptop into the HDMI cable and get full color presentations on a 50-inch flatscreen, or browse our network for the file we need.  I can also save my work to color PDFs and attach them to my emails to vendors.  It works well 80% of the time.  It's that 20% that causes all the troubles.  That and ineptitude.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."


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RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

This is such total BS.  And off topic.  

I can revise 1 to 100 parts and every assembly drawing will instantly update as well.  Let's see your gray haired pencil pusher do that.  Back in the day when we had draughting tables (and were owned by a proper British company, the Prince of Darkness, a moment of silence please) most assembly drawings were NEVER brought up to date to show component revisions.  You were just supposed to imagine what the assembly would look like with all the new parts in there.  Never mind interference studies and the like.  Say what you want but CAD has improved productivity and reduced mistakes tremendously and our documentation on the floor is up to date.  

I still have no use for color drawings.  That's for the marketing guys with the not so sharp crayons.

----------------------------------------

The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.
 

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

What a funny post DG!   You rail on the folks stuck in the mud of pre-CAD days, and hail the technological advances of today, but then finish by sounding like an old fogey:  "I still have no use for color drawings."   

I'm just ribbing you in a good-natured way, but those last two sentences sound strange juxtaposed to the rest of your comments!   Some day people may be poking fun at the "old" B&W drawings.

John-Paul Belanger
Certified Sr. GD&T Professional
Geometric Learning Systems
http://www.gdtseminars.com

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

tk369

Follow up to this   "Here is a technology story.
I started "on the board" in the very early '70's at a large power-generation equipment manufacturer. Even on the Apprentice Program, I was forced (!) to become a member of the union.

The company planned on installing a Gerber Plotter for the express use of plotting points. At that, the union shouted "STOP! WE'LL LOSE JOBS!" (Heh-heh)

We all know where that went. Plot/print on! "" then.

Now,
 I retired 2 years ago. Later I was asked to come back to work for a 60 day period, to help out with a job breaking down component assemblies into detail drawings, and CNC files to be sent to CAM. This was to be a non union job in the office.
   The trade union pitched a fit because journeymen had been trained to take drawings and write CAM files for the machines, and this would impact their jobs. How things have changed, or not.
B.E.

The good engineer does not need to memorize every formula; he just needs to know where he can find them when he needs them.  Old professor

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Belanger

Drawings are a finely tuned highly developed precise language to communicate design requirements.  There are many ways to show what is important and what is new or changed without resorting to color.  The problem with color (as pointed out else where) is when the inevitable conversion to black and white occurs (and it will when the boss runs it through the copier or fax machine) the color is gone and some lines and text will be fainter and harder to read because it WAS IN COLOR.

----------------------------------------

The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.
 

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Loud and clear, man.  But it's still funny.    

John-Paul Belanger
Certified Sr. GD&T Professional
Geometric Learning Systems
http://www.gdtseminars.com

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

I like employing colors to help the design process, but slow down when using them on finished documents. If color is significant, it would be wise (if not imperative) to note that the colors have significance and reproductions must include an adherence to the colors used on the document. This, of course, is obvious for artwork (especially caution and safety related) but also if improperly recognized shades could result in bad parts. So far, colors also cost money in hard copy reproductions, as others have noted. Sometimes color helps significantly. Annotating photographs can be a fast way to document wiring harnesses and color is likely to be a big advantage.

Peter Truitt
Minnesota

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

I used to use a note on the drawing which went something along the lines of "Issued for manufacture". This was printed in red. There was another note stating if it was not red it was not to be used.

Only the engineering department had access to the originals, everyone else could print a black and white PDF or photocopy on a black and white copier. It was not entirely waterproof because people sometimes just ignored it. It did provide some control however.

Dimensions and hatches were also in colour but that had no significance other than being easier to distinguish from the part geometry.

Designer of machine tools - user of modified screws

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

OK, another problem with 'significant' coloring.

Some people are color blind.  One of our top electrical guys is colorblind and sometimes has trouble with schematics etc. that are color coded.

Until we can be sure that people will only ever get color 'copies' of the drawing and can see those colors then I think sticking to black and white for final prints makes a lot of sense.

Sure having annotation a different color from geometry in the native CAD is handy, but it should be secondary to the other formatting that works for monochrome.

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

I was thinking about color blind people too Kenat.  My thoughts though, as somebody who deals with invisible disabilities and limitations (mine and others) daily, are that it is largely up to the person with the disability to self-identify and find reasonable accommodation.  A colleague with colour blindness couldn't see details in some of my presentation materials; they identified the issue, and I shifted colours to accommodate.  

By no means am I saying that everyone should be required to use colour prints, but they are a useful tool in many situations, and are growing in popularity and value.  To automatically write-off a technology because of a potential issue with a small percentage of the constituency seems inappropriate.

Jim Sykes, P.Eng, GDTP-S
Profile Services  www.profileservices.ca
TecEase, Inc.  www.tec-ease.com

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Well, as well as drawings we use our CAD to generate 'work instructions' - typically detailed step by step assy procedures.

When we first started doing this we got shop floors input, they could have illustrations as either colored 'model views' or monochrome 'line drawings' and we prepared examples of each.  They opted for the monochrome version.

Now we do use color in these documents in text for different call outs (preemptive quality measures, assembly steps, post assy inspections/checks) but they are accompanied by different symbols so that if printed out black and white it's clear what is what.

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

I do find colour blindness an odd reason not to use colour. The most common (I believe) form is to struggle to tell the difference between red and green, so to someone they might look the same, if you print in black and white they are the same.

I am not sure how many people who suffer from this crash at every set of traffic lights they use, not many I would guess, but to the rest of us the colours make it easier for the mind to quickly take in the data, the same goes for green start buttons and red stop buttons, or wiring looms or any number of other example. We simple take in data better in colour, so why not use it?

If you don't print in colour because someone might be colour blind then why not print all word documents in Braille as the person may be totally blind?
 

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

ajack, the color blind thing is a very secondary concern it just occured to me because my colleague does sometimes have trouble.  However, it goes along with ensuring that if you do use color in the electronic version that if printed out on black and white printer it is still legible.

As I mentioned before, drawings from our CAD printed 'gray scale' can be barely legible since some of the default CAD colors convert to a fairly pale gray.  However, if you use the 'print all colors as black' option they come out as true black in the appropriate line weight.

However, when people save a drawing from our CAD down as color pdf and then someone prints it they don't seem to have the option of 'print all colors as black' on most viewers and it gray scales and becomes difficult to read.

As to the traffic lights and stop buttons etc. most of them have some other function indicator than just the color.  For traffic lights it's the position, for emergency stop buttons it's usually a label...  (Yeah you could get silly and worry about color blind folk that are illiterate but I figure that goes beyond a 'good faith effort'.)

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

KENAT,

   The other issue here is that if colour is not reliable, we need some other way to communicate the information.  In drafting, we use line thickness and style.  

   One of my pet peeves where I work, is that people are loading CAD viewers and printing drawings.  They have not configured the CAD viewers to control line thickness.  It is hard to tell dimension lines apart from features.   

               JHG

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

I don't recall line thickness being a controlling issue in Mechanical Engineering drawings.  Architecture, yes, but not mechanical engineering.  Did I miss something in a standard somewhere (it does happen  ;~} )?

Jim Sykes, P.Eng, GDTP-S
Profile Services  www.profileservices.ca
TecEase, Inc.  www.tec-ease.com

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

With stop lights, the colors are carefully set - the green lights have a significant amount of blue, and the red light a significant amount of yellow, so that colorblind people can mostly still see them as different shades.  Similar selection of the colors used might help if your company decides to implement some type of color coding.

8% of the population (mostly males) suffer colorblindness (wikipedia).  Personally, I don't think of that as a small percentage, at least not if somebody was doing bomb disposal (cut the grey-ish wire!).  Seriously, adding the ability to still read/decode the drawing if printed in b&w, by use of secondary code or lineweight or whatever should be considered, or even a note that the original is printed in color with the colors labelled (yellow = THIS, etc.) should be considered to preserve the intent.

I still hate the default yellow color for dimension text in AutoCad.  The yellow just disappears when you view the drawing in paperspace or light-colored background, and if printed in color by mistake it just goes away entirely.

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

In the "old days" tool drswings used color in combination with line types to show the tool and the customer's part fixtured in a fixture drawing. The color showing lighter and the phantom line type made it very readable in B & W. Checker's used a lot of colors, particularly red on my drawings, as I recall.
Frank

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

I worked in one place that used color semi-pictorial diagrams to describe how to wire electrical control boxes, so that the wiring could be done by people who couldn't necessarily read a schematic.

I learned a lot about AutoCAD's multiline functions, the existence of which I had never before suspected.  With them, you can construct a polyline that actually comprises some number of parallel  individual lines, using contrasting colors to depict stripes and adjacent dashed lines to depict tracers.


 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

At one of my early jobs the company had a standard for different colour paper to be used for drawings depending on their status.  White paper, pink paper, blue paper.  I don't remember any more what the paper colour signified, but at the time I thought it was the weirdest thing ever in an engineering office and I still do.  20+ years later I still have some copies of pink paper blue prints that always make me smile.  It was the proverbial 'hot' or bubblegum pink too!

I notice most of the conversation is still concerning resolution issues of colour / grey scale reproduction on paper.  Probably a few industries will never move beyond that, but most are.  Colour will be ubiquitous as original design data in any form is accessed by more than the designer; the resolution of black & white - grey scale - colour on paper will become irrelevant.

On to the colour blindness issue....  It's truly misunderstood.  The fact is people with this issue have a lifetime of coping skills, much more developed and multi-variate than simplistic position of a light, a printed icon.

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

Coping skills or not, I wouldn't let a colorblind person diffuse a bomb where he has to cut the green (read: grey) wire and not the red (read: grey) one.

Color can be used as long as you don't NEED it. As certain examples have showed before. Dimensions could be put in another color to differentiate them from the rest of the drawing, but the color should be picked in a way that it is still readable when printed in greyscalse/B&W or when read by colorblind people.  

NX 7.5
Teamcenter 8

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

If you're letting anyone defuse a bomb (at least IED or terrorist ones etc.) that relies solely on the bomb maker having conveniently color coded the wires then your judgement is in serious error.  

(Or according to some RAF bomb squad sources you may just be in America.)

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Colors on the "blue" prints

I was using the existing example to make a point. As you may have noticed, the only thing I know from diffusing bombs comes from Arnie movies.

The point I was trying to make is that, even though color blind people have several coping skills, if your rely solely on a difference in color to give your information, there's no way to cope for that.  

NX 7.5
Teamcenter 8

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