Using .AVL file symbol for blocks on conversion

[EddieN]

Does ArcV2CAD allow you to incorporate symbols from .avl files for conversion into AutoCAD?

[GuthCAD Software Support]

Eddie,

The software unfortunately does not have any capablity to directly read symbols from .AVL files.

There are basically 3 types of symbols that are available to the software.

1. Predfined. Circle, dot, diamond,..etc
2. Symbols from a character font. E.g. besides standard characters, some fonts contain other types of symbols (e.g. Windows 'WinDings' and ESRI 'Oil_and_Gas")
3. User defined symbols (Blocks) from a template AutoCAD drawing.

(I hope that I have interpreted your meaning of 'symbol' correctly.)

best regards,
Software support

[EddieN]

Actually you have interpreted it correctly. What I'm trying to do exactly is to download shapfiles from the City of Houston GIMS website and convert the devices (ie manholes, inlets, and any other sanitary, storm, and water devices to its perspective symbol) into CAD dwg files. It displays properly in ArcView GIS when importing the proper .avl file but on CAD the symbols end up becoming dot points. City of Houston seems to use truetype text fonts in order to display their symbols on their GIMS system. Someone within my firm suggested your program as a way to incorporate those symbols into CAD, maybe you know a work around if I can't incorporate that .avl file into ArcV2CAD.

[GuthCAD Software Support]

Hi Eddie,

The workaround in this case is to create an AutoCAD blocks template drawing containing the symbols. The AutoCAD Block names should match the field names of the symbols.

As an example we have created an example DWG file called houstonstormwatersyms.dwg. It contains the Blocks named:

CO
DN
HN
HW
IA
IL
JB
LI
MH
OF
OV
PL
PS
RE
SP

The Block names correspond to the values contained in the field called CODE in the Houston data shapefile 'StormWaterDevices.shp'.

Each Block in the AutoCAD file contains a single TrueType character from the Houston TrueType font file (Houston.ttf is included in the attachment, which was originally included in the data download from the Houston GIMS web site.) Houston.ttf needs to be installed as a Windows font on the end-user system for the method to work (use Control Panel | Fonts | Install New Font.)

In the Arcv2CAD Markers dialog:

- select the marker type as 'Defined in Blocks DWG'
- set 'Blocks template dwg' to the path of houstonstormwatersyms.dwg
- choose 'Block Names are derived from a Block Names field'
- select the Block Names field to be 'CODE'

That's basically it. Make any other desired settings such as Attributes/Text Labels/Colors/Layers, and do the translation.

It needs a bit of time to be initially spent creating the dwg blocks template file. The 15 blocks in the attached dwg took about 1 1/2 hour to create. I guess only worth it if you have quite a few data files to convert or an ongoing requirement.

Good luck!

Best regards
Software Support

[EddieN]

Ok understanding what I have to do now, the only thing I don't know how to do is to create blocks with using the following Houston truetype text font. Is there any way I can edit some of the text so I can match the symbols accordingly?

Example going through the text I cannot find the symbol for lift station.

Edit: Ok nevermind I found my solution, thank you.

[GuthCAD Software Support]

Eddie,

We used a free software utility called BabelMap to visually match the symbols with normal text characters.

http://www.babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html

In the BabelMap software hover the mouse above the symbol, and it will display the Ascii text character.

In AutoCAD when creating each block we would suggest using:

text height = 1.0
text insertion point = 0,0
text alignment = Middle

Hope that it helps!

best regards,
Software Support