About Styles and Types

A style is a named, predefined set of information, properties and behaviours that can be applied to multiple graphic objects or architectural elements in a project. Styles can be used for classification and organisation purposes. Think of styles as templates that describe certain properties that are common to all the instance objects that have the same style. The specifications defined by a style are applied to all the occurrences of that class in the project and modifying a style will also modify all the objects in the project that use that style. In brief:

  • Style = a template of properties and attributes.
  • Instance object = an individual item in the project that can have a style and use the set of properties defined in it.

In relation to styles, an instance object can have:

  • No style: this is a custom item and is unique in the project.
  • Style: the properties of this object are governed by its style. Changing the style will also update all the objects that use it.
  • Modified style: the object uses a style, but one of its properties is different from that defined in the style. Objects with a modified style can be reverted to match their style.

Styles can be created directly in the project, for example using an existing object as prototype, or can be added to the project from a library. When a style is added to the project from a library, it is actually copied into the project so that any modifications to its properties are only applied to that particular project and do not affect other projects.

Though you can create a project without using styles and add only unstyled elements, it is nonetheless a recommended practice to reduce the number of custom elements to the minimum in order to increase the efficiency and scalability of the project.

Styles in HighDesign can be of two classes:

  • Graphic Styles, that are applied to 2D drafting objects and define their graphic attributes.
  • Building Element Types, applied to architectural elements. Types always include properties and information specific to the class of architectural elements they were created for.