Line Styles

Assign cut, crease, perforation, bleed, glue, mask and flexible packaging line types (seal, window, zipper, valve, tear notch) in Print CAD.

Every line in a packaging dieline has a structural purpose — it defines where the material is cut, where it folds, where perforations go, or where bleed and glue areas are. Print CAD uses line styles to assign these purposes to sketch geometry. Each style has a distinct visual appearance in the editor and maps to specific spot colors in print-ready PDF output.

Assigning Line Styles

Select one or more line segments, arcs, or curves in the graphics window.
In the property browser, choose a Style from the dropdown, or right-click and select the style from the context menu.
The selected geometry updates to display the style's visual appearance (color, dash pattern, line weight).

You can also toggle style visibility in the property browser's style list to show or hide specific line types for easier editing.

Standard Line Types

Print CAD includes six standard line types used in folding carton production:

Line Type	Purpose	Description
Cut	Die-cut line	Defines where the flat sheet is physically cut by the die. Cut lines form the outer boundary and internal cutouts of the packaging.
Crease	Fold line	Defines where the material is scored and folded. Crease lines separate panels (front, back, top, bottom, flaps) and determine the 3D structure of the finished package.
Perf	Perforation	Defines tear-away lines — perforated sections that customers or end users can remove (tear strips, opening tabs, display windows).
Bleed	Bleed boundary	Defines the bleed area extending beyond the cut line. Print artwork should extend to the bleed line to prevent white edges after cutting. Print CAD renders bleed as a tight-dotted line pattern.
Glue	Adhesive area	Defines areas where adhesive is applied during assembly. Glue flaps and tabs are marked with this style so production knows where to apply glue.
Mask	Masked area	Defines areas excluded from printing — unprinted regions that may be hidden in the assembled product or reserved for special finishing.

Flexible Packaging Line Types

Five more built-in styles are for flexible packaging (pouches and bags). They tell PrintNow what each line is, which drives both the 3D shape and the print plates.

Line Type	Use it for	Default look
Seal	Heat-seal bands where the film is bonded (side, bottom and top fin seals)	Purple, solid
Window	The outline of a clear or frosted window	Cyan, solid
Zipper	Where the reclosable zipper sits	Pink, solid
Valve	A one-way degassing valve position	Teal-green, solid
Tear Notch	Tear notch marks	Amber, dashed

To assign one, right-click the selected geometry, choose Assign to Style, and pick the style. See Flexible Packaging for how to draw a pouch.

Custom Styles

You can also create your own named styles, for example "Spot UV" or "Braille". Each custom style has its own color, width, stipple width and stipple type (solid, dashed and so on), plus contour fill and text settings.

To create a custom style:

Choose Edit > Line Styles... and click create a new custom style. Or select some lines, right-click, and choose Assign to Style > Newly Created Custom Style... to create the style and assign the lines in one step.
The new style appears as (unnamed). Open it, click rename, type the name and press Enter.
To assign more lines, right-click them on the drawing and choose Assign to Style.

Custom styles carry through to the dieline and the PDF. But a custom style stays hidden in the Print Editor and is left out of the PDF until a store admin maps it by name in Dieline Colors. Tell your admin the exact style name you used.

Spot Color Mapping

When you export a PDF from Print CAD or generate dieline images through the Custom Libraries admin, each line type maps to a named spot color channel. Production equipment (die-cutters, scoring machines, laser cutters) reads these spot color separations to identify which lines to process.

The spot color names, CMYK values, and RGB fallbacks are configured per-storefront in the Dieline Colors admin page. Each line type prints on its own spot plate in the print-ready PDF (see Dieline Spot Plates). Print CAD uses the style assignment to tag geometry — the admin's color configuration determines the actual color values in the output files.

Dieline Colors — Set the spot color names and CMYK values each line type maps to in PDF output
Constraints — Define the geometric relationships that shape styled line segments
Quick Start — Walk through creating your first dieline with line style assignments
Panels — Map styled line regions to named 3D surfaces for editor design