×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

(OP)
Is there a way to add filled-in symbols, other than circles and arcs, to the Symbol library (i.e. Gtol.sym file)? I would like to add square and triangle symbols so I can use them in my notes. I've been using sketches but that presents problems when editing and moving notes.

RE: Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

(OP)
Thanks CorBlimeyLimey, but none of the custom symbols posted in that link had a filled solid box or triangle. I am wondering if it's even possible.

RE: Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

I don't think shading/fill is possible with that interface. The best you could do is probably to make a symbol with a lot of lines that fill up the space so that they look solid when printed. You could probably use Excel to quickly generate the incremented lines of text needed to define all those filling-in lines. I'm not sure if there's a limit to how many segments/elements can make up one of those custom symbols.

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

RE: Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

You may have luck with using the geometric shapes defined in the unicode fonts: Link. For instance, in your note, press and hold the left alt key, type 9632 on your number pad, and release the alt key to get a solid black square. There are also triangles (9650, 9654, 9660, 9664). Oddly I get a different symbol when I do alt 9650, but a single backspace changes it into the triangle.

Eric

RE: Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

(OP)
After looking at some of the existing code I found a way around it.

Using "POLY" creates a solid triangle using three lines. To create a square I used two right-angle triangles.

Here's the code for the three shapes I needed;

*BLKSQR,Black Square
A,POLY 0.175,0.825,0.825,0.825,0.825,0.175,0.175,0.825
A,POLY 0.175,0.175,0.175,0.825,0.825,0.175,0.175,0.175
*BLKTRI,Black Triangle
A,POLY 0.1,0.15,0.5,0.9,0.9,0.15,0.1,0.15
*BLKCRC,Black Circle
A,SARC 0.5,0.5,.375,0,360

RE: Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

(OP)
*BLKDIA,Black Diamond
A,POLY 0.1,0.5,0.5,0.9,0.9,0.5,0.1,0.5
A,POLY 0.1,0.5,0.9,0.5,0.5,0.1,0.1,0.5

RE: Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

Can you make a solid square with a single poly command using 4 lines?
A,POLY 0.175,0.825,0.825,0.825,0.825,0.175,0.175,0.175,0.175,0.825

I would also like to point out that if they work for you, the unicode characters should be more portable as they do not require everyone who is trying to view the file to have the custom Gtol.sym

Eric

RE: Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

(OP)
No, I tried the four-line solution earlier and again by copying/pasting your numbers. All I got was a triangle.

By the way, I also created the diamond shape by using two triangles; a pyramid and an inverted one.

I originally tried the unicode character solution when I first tackled this project, it was difficult to find the right proportion and size (not a big deal), but then when I printed the drawings the printer did not recognize some of the characters (big problem).

RE: Filled-in symbols in Symbol library

I wondered if there would be problems with some devices not supporting the full unicode set. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Eric

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources