Thanks for the info Pixero, really well written. Gave me all the info i needed.

there use to be a plugin to create scenes from end points of a line. that way you could draw a line for you animation and create scenes from this line. Does anyone remember this and/or know where I can get it from?

just downloaded it, thanks for the suggestion.

looking for a FREE rendering program to complete some plan renderings,something similar to photoshop, something that i can add color to a linework drawing.... any suggestions?

I have already split it into a block by block grouping. That did help for drapping but it still takes well over a hour for my file to save. Im almost possative the problem lies int he topo and the amount of linework it requires.

I have this master planning project im working on that covers roughly 4 square blocks. We have a survey for this area that includes a fair amount of detail for grading. However there is a detention pond that is detailed and needs to be detailed for this project. Because of the amount of detail int he detention pond it seams to be slowing down my model and making the amount of time it takes to save or drape anything on to the surface take a long time. How can i keep the same amount of detail but speed up my model and reduce the amount of time it takes to save and drape linework?

I guess what i am looking for is quick way to change all the lines on a specific layer (not only color but style). It is not efficient for me to go threw and select each line i want, especially if i am trying to change 10 differnt line types.

Line Styles manager in the layers box.

TIG's tools are great but they change the linework to a group of planes. I was thinking something more like an option in the layers menu, where you could choose thickness, color, and style while still retaining the phisical capabilites of a line, similar to CAD. Maybe this isn't possible.
It seams like the layers menu is close with the coloring box but this option only changs the planes not the linework.

I am talking about having multiple line weights and color options available for just the linework of a model. This is mostly for plan view.. lets say I want the edge of the building to be a thick black line, the sidewalk edge to be dark thin line, and the score joints to be a faided back gray line. Is there any options for having that kind of flexiablity with lineweights. This would help my drawings read alot better.
thanks