Planning Your Symbol - SmartSketch - Help

SmartSketch Help

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SmartSketch Version
7.1(2011R1)

After you have determined the need for a symbol, you need to decide how you want that symbol to behave. The goal is to create a symbol that acts the way a user expects it to.

When you create a symbol, it displays the following default behaviors:

  • 90 degree rotation angles

  • Handles for scaling, rotating, and mirroring

You can change these default behaviors with commands on the Symbol Authoring Tools toolbar.

Checklist for Consideration

When planning your symbol, the first item to consider is what happens when you add text to a symbol. Do you want to add text to the shape? If so, you should consider the position and appearance of labels, text boxes, or balloons. A SmartLabel can be associated with attributes that you define. You can also define symbols that resize as a user adds text to the symbol.

The second item you should consider is what template will you want to use with the symbol. The scale of the template affects how the symbol looks when it is dragged in from the Symbol Explorer. For example, the scale for the Architecture (metric) template is set to 1:100 mm on the Sheet Setup dialog box. Consequently, some symbols that you drag into documents based on that template may appear small.

The next item for you to decide is what happens when you manipulate the symbol. Do you want to size, mirror, flip, and rotate the symbol freely? Do you want the symbol to move with an element? You can set different options on the Symbol Properties dialog box. You can create SmartPoints on a symbol to determine how the symbol attaches to connectors, other symbols, or elements in a document.

How smart should you make the symbol? You can create symbols that have text and parametric attributes. You can create text attributes using SmartText by clicking the Edit SmartText button on the Symbol Authoring Tools toolbar. You can create parametric attributes by adding driving dimensions to the symbol and then adding the dimensions to the Parameters tab on the Symbol Properties dialog box.

Controlling Display Properties

You can control display properties for symbols in various ways. You can change the properties of various elements in the shape by applying styles or setting options such as line weight and color on the ribbon bar. You can also determine what handles appear on the symbol by setting options on the Symbol Properties dialog box.

On this dialog box, you can also set options for how the symbol displays when a user drags it into the document. For example, if you want the symbol to display as separate elements, and not a unified symbol, you can click the Discrete Objects option on the Behaviors tab of the Symbol Properties dialog box.

Creating Flexible Symbols with Handles

Your symbol might need more control than users can implement by simply selecting the symbol and dragging. You can add different types of handles to give the user more control over the symbol.

To use this functionality, you must install the Symbol Authoring option.

See Also

Create a Symbol
Create Symbol Command
Edit a Symbol