SoftSymbols™ TechNotes

Field Template SoftSymbols™ are a series of Object Libraries designed within the VectorWorks® environment. All of the 2 dimensional portions of each symbol has been redrawn with the following parameters: All of the symbol perimeters are 12 mills line width. Any internal lines are 6 mills line width. The Lighting positions are all 21 mills line width. Any text included within symbols is Arial, which is a cross-platform font between the Macintosh and Windows operating systems. All symbols are drawn with white-filled bodies. Any special demarcations are in gray scale. There is no color used in any symbol. All symbols that are symmetrical polygons have been constructed as two mirrored halves, which can be seen in the Edit Symbol window. The two halves are ungrouped, keeping the overall size of the symbol, the resource, and the drawing to as small a file size as possible. All of the symbols are drawn in 1/2” scale (Imperial). The metric series of SpotLight Object Libraries exist specifically to show the unit difference in measuring each instrument’s weight and color frame size. In 1/2” scale, these data fields are shown in pounds and inches. The same information, in the metric series, is displayed in kilos and centimeters. The same symbols exist in each set. Changing scale from 1/2” to 1:25 metric requires only two VectorWorks commands. (To change the scale, refer to the “Data Tab Notes” portion of the SoftGuide.) If weight calculations or cut color sheets are not required in metric scale, then the Imperial symbols can be used in metric drawings after changing the scale. For this reason, the symbols in this first version of SoftSymbols are provided only in 1/2” scale. SoftSymbols™ Nomenclature All of the resources contained in the SoftSymbols™ package are hybrid symbols. These resources have an asterisk (*) at the end of their name to distinguish them as a HYBRID (2 and 3 dimensional) FIELD TEMPLATE SOFTSYMBOL™, and not a SpotLight symbol. The resources that have an asterisk and a number sign (*#) are hybrid symbols that contain either numerals or text in the “nose” of the instrument to specify beam spread. The ETC symbols that represent HID instruments end with the letter “H” (H*). All of the 2D symbols are constructed by Template Enterprises. In many cases, with VectorWorks’ permission, the SoftSymbols 3D components are duplicates of SpotLight 3D components.