Creating and
Using Symbols instead of Grouping | Back to User Tips
Many people are used to using the Group
command in other programs, to take many lines or other items, and treat them as
one. MapScenes Pro. does have this same command but we have a better solution
for you that gives more options and is just as easy to use.
Instead of using the Group command, try the
following:
1) Creating the Symbol
Under the Symbols menu, pick on the command
Define Symbol. Or at the command prompt type in PARTDEF (you can also
set this up on a button on your desktop if desired).
You will see the following dialog come up
on screen:
Part Name: This is the name of the new symbol you are about to create. Names of Symbols
can contain up to 31 characters. In addition to letters and numbers the special
characters $, - , and _ are allowed. The box is not case-sensitive. If there
are Symbols of the same name already in the selection box, a message will
appear, so stating. The message will give you the option of choosing a new
name, or of re-defining the existing Symbol.
Existing Parts: If this drawing has parts already contained in it you will see a
list of their names.
Preview: If
you pick on an existing part you will see what it looks like, if a preview is
available for that symbol.
Delete Defining Objects: The original linework selected to create the symbol with, will be
erased from the drawing. The symbol will remain in memory.
Maintain Objects: The original linework selected to create the symbol with, will
remain in the drawing, unchanged. The symbol will remain in memory as well.
Replace by Instance: The original linework selected to create the symbol with, will be
removed and replaced by a copy of the symbol. The symbol will remain in memory
as well.
In most cases we recommend that you pick on
the Replace by Instance option to make the symbol (linework), move or
rotate as one, after the command has been completed.
At the command prompt you will see:
> PARTDEF
Insertion base point:
Pick in an appropriate location so when you
insert the symbol at a later date it will follow the crosshair correctly and
insert into the drawing as desired. In this example I picked the bottom left
corner of my vehicle.
Next on the command prompt you will be
asked:
Select objects:
Window all of the linework that constitutes
your symbol. It should temporarily turn a magenta color when selected, and
revert back to normal when the command has been completed.
Press enter again to indicate you have
completed selecting objects.
Your symbol is now complete. The crushed
car, in this example, is now 1 symbol and can be moved and rotated as one.
2) Inserting a second copy of the symbol
The symbol is saved in this drawing only
and can be inserted into this drawing, as many times as required.
Under the Symbols menu -> Quick Insert
brings up the following on the command prompt:
> QINSERT
Part name <POLICE UNIT #4 - BLACK
AND WHITE>: ?
At the same time you will see the following
dialog box:
Once you have selected the symbol and
picked on OK, you will be asked to pick the insertions point.
Insertion point:
The symbol will sit on your crosshairs as a
ghosted object until you pick the location on screen to insert it. Then you
will be asked:
X Factor <1>:
Y Factor <=X>:
Rotation angle <0>:
Simply press enter on the X and Y Factors
to keep the symbol the same size as the original. You can enter in a numeric value for the rotation, or pick it on screen with your mouse.
The symbol is now on the drawing in the
second location you have now chosen, in addition to the original location from
which you created the symbol.
3) Saving the Symbol to the Hard Drive
Now that we have the symbol in the current
drawing, how do I get it to the hard drive so I can use it in other scenes in
the future?
Under the Symbols menu -> Write Symbol
File. This command allows you to take your symbol and make a drawing file on
the hard drive, that can be inserted into other scenes, as desired. This
dialog comes up:
The Save in: location should be
changed so the symbol is going to the folder you choose. The File name: needs to be set to ensure the drawing file is named so you can find it later.
To make this as easy as possible, double
click on the yellow folder called Symbols. The dialog will update, as
shown below:
Lets make a new folder and call it Crushed
Cars. Pick on the button, shown above in a red circle.
When it comes up with the New Folder
option, type in Crushed Cars and press enter. Then double click on the Crushed
Cars folder, and give it a File name to save the symbol to.
Pick on Save and the following dialog comes
up:
This dialog lists any and all symbols
contained in this scene. Pick on the symbol name of choice.
Part: This
allows you to write the symbol name selected, to the drawing file on the hard
drive.
All: This
allows you to write all of the symbols in this drawing out to a new drawing
file on the hard drive.
Select: This
allows you to create a symbol, in a similar way that we did in Step one above,
assuming that the symbol had not already been created in this drawing.
In this case you will use the PART button.
Your new symbol has now been written out to
the hard drive and can be inserted into any other drawing, as desired.
4) Inserting the symbol into a new
Scene.
In any scene - go under the Symbols menu
-> Insert Symbol.
You should see your Crushed Cars folder on the left side. Pick on it once to open the folder. You should now
see your Crushed Police Car on the right side.
Pick on the Crushed Police Car symbol and
then pick on the Insert button.
The symbol will be placed onto your
crosshair and you can then pick the location to insert it to.
Pick the rotation desired for the symbol.
Now the symbol is in your scene.
Potential Problem
The scale factor is applied automatically,
and your symbol may not look to be the correct size in this scene.
Explanation
The Symbol Librarian dialog that you used
to insert the symbol into this new scene, assumes that all original symbols
were drawn so that full size was measured in INCHES. So any original symbol
should be drawn the full length using INCHES in the original drawing, so the
inserted symbol is correct in all new scenes.
The problem is that if you insert a symbol
from our library, into the original drawing, make some changes to it, then you
follow the above steps to save it to a new symbol, then the symbol is no longer
at the correct size in INCHES, it is, however, the correct size in FEET
(assuming that you are working in feet and not meters)!
Your symbol is now inserted directly onto
the scene but is 12 times too small (if you are working in feet because the
symbol was saved in inches). If inserting the same symbol into a Metric scene,
then the symbol is (12 x 3.280839895) times too small (As the original symbol
was still saved in inches).
Solution
To correct for this, you have two options.
1) Simply run the SCALE command to change
the size of the symbol after it has been inserted, each time, in the new scene.
To do this, either type in the command or
go to the Modify menu -> Scale, then follow the prompts:
> SCALE
Select objects:
1 selected.
Select objects:
*** 1 selected. ***
Basepoint:
Scale factor: 12 (or 39.370078
if inserting into a metric drawing)
2) You can adjust the symbol BEFORE doing
the above steps, to save it to the hard drive, so the Symbol Librarian will
insert it at the correct size without you having to remember to scale it
manually later in every drawing.
To do this you would need to run the SCALE
command before running Step 1) at the top of this note, and scale the linework
by a factor of 12. This means that the symbol, when saved to the hard drive,
will then be the correct size in INCHES and the Symbol Librarian will
automatically adjust it to the correct size in all scenes that you insert it
in.
This only needs to be done if you are going
to save the symbol to the hard drive (Step 3 above). If you are going to do
Step 3 above, then you must start at Step 1 with the symbol already scaled 12
times bigger.
Glen W. Cameron, C.E.T.
Technical Support Manager |
