Symbolizing CAD features

When you add CAD data to a map document, features are drawn to match the CAD drawing's original symbology as closely as possible. The default CAD renderer draws CAD features by unique values combining line type, color, and line weight properties. You can change the symbology in the Layer Properties dialog box using many of the same symbols and rendering methods available for geodatabase feature classes.

To open the dialog box, double-click the CAD feature layer in the table of contents, or right-click the layer and click Properties on the context menu.

The Symbology tab

The Symbology tab maintains the symbols for point and linear CAD features. You can change them using Symbol Selector.

Restore the original symbols

Restoring the original symbols can be useful when you need to quickly restore the dataset to its original appearance.

To restore the original symbols, click Categories > CAD unique entity values and click the Restore Original button.

Create your own line symbols

The default line symbols for CAD feature layers are defined with the (read-only) Esri-CAD style and rendered using color and thickness properties taken directly from the CAD file on the fly. You can copy the symbols and other style elements from this style into writable styles and use them as a starting point to create your own symbols.

To view the contents of the Esri-CAD style, click Customize > Style Manager.

Note:

Styles are installed at <installation drive>:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop <version>\Styles.

The Fonts tab

CAD annotation feature classes include a Fonts tab that enables you to customize text symbols. Editable properties include the font style; its color; and basic styling such as boldness, italics, and underlines. If you need to change the text size, you must first convert the text to a geodatabase annotation class.

To modify a text symbol, click the row in the style table, then modify it in the Text Symbol section. Your changes affect all CAD text that belongs to the selected CAD style.

The Style list box

The Style list box organizes CAD text by font, size, and color, with an entry for each unique combination in the source file. The following table describes the information displayed for each column heading:

Column	Description
ID	Unique ID for text styles
Style	The name of the text style
CAD Font	The name of the CAD font for the text style
Font#	ID number of the text style
Size	The point size of the text style
Color	The color of the text style