Plant Symbols

 

Plant Symbol Line Weights

 

Open the drawing Plant Symbols.dwg in the LandFX/Administration folder. This is a 24x36 sheet size drawing with examples of the plant symbols provided by Land F/X.

 

After configuring and changing the line colors within Land F/X with BatchMan, as described in Configuration and Preferences, use the newly created plot style to plot this drawing as a test plot page. It is recommended that you plot this page with and without the shadows.

§	If you are accepting the Land F/X default line colors, or are plotting this drawing prior to making the above mentioned batch file changes, use the LFX.ctb plot style, also located in the LandFX/Administration folder.

 

This drawing includes samples of each category of plant symbol, and at different scales, with Trees and Shrubs on different tabs. Review the output of the drawing, bearing in mind the look within the different scales.

 

If the symbol output is, for example, with thicker line weights than desired, use the AutoCAD Layer Manager to reduce (or change as desired) the overall line weights of this drawing until the plotted output is to your liking.

 

Use BatchMan to Change all of the Planting Symbol Line Weights

 

After determining a line weight change that is suitable, use the BatchMan batch file management tool to change the line weights on all of the planting blocks at one time.

 

Step 1: Open BatchMan, select the button Recurse DWG Dir at the Files in:. Then locate the folder LandFX/Blocks/Graphics/Planting/Trees. Now ensure that only Layer Names and Colors, and Save As (selecting the appropriate file format) are the only actions that will be performed.

 

BatchMan dialog box with “Trees” directory recurse selected (all sub folders within the Trees folder), and “Layer Names and Colors” and “Save as:” selected only. Ready for the batch operation to change any of the layer names or colors of the tree symbols.

 

Step 2: BatchMan will open each tree drawing and then provide a list of the layer names and colors. You will then highlight the layers to have the line weights changed, and change them as follows:

 

Change All Layers dialog box with the “Trees” directory drawing names and colors listed.

 

The Land F/X line weight convention is to list the line weight by millimeters in the name of the layer, i.e., 013M is 0.13mm.

 

If, as in this example, the line colors are too thick, you will need to highlight the layers with thicker lines and change them to layers of thinner line. For example:

§	Highlight the layer X‑TREE‑050M (which will plot at 0.50mm, or 0.020”) and change its name and color to the next thinnest layer, or, in this case, X‑TREE‑035M (which will plot at 0.35mm, or 0.014”) and the same color as is on that layer.

§	You can continue to select the X-TREE-(SIZE) lines and change them to thinner line, or stop with the line widths that concern you the most.

 Remember:

§	Don’t alter the X-TREE portion of any layer name, just change the ending identifier.

§	It’s best to rename and assign a new color to a layer, rather than just change the color, to avoid other possible miscommunications or problems later.

§	You can change any number of layers to the same layer if you wish. Land F/X will convert the layers to the same layer.

§	The shadows (X-TREE-SHAD*) layers can be altered as well as the solid lines, if desired.

§	The screened lines (X-TREE-SM*) layers can be altered as well as the solid lines, if desired.

§	Try to leave the X-TREE-TRUNK layer alone, it should not be moved or renamed.

 

The same procedure is used to evaluate the shrub symbols.

 

Adding User Defined Plant Symbols to Land F/X

 

Open the drawing User Tree Master.dwg, or User Shrub Master.dwg from the LandFX/Administration folder. Insert your tree or shrub symbol to the corresponding master file and ensure that certain basic conventions are adhered to:

§	The symbol must be drawn to 1 unit in diameter (in this case, 1” in diameter).

§	Make sure that all of the layers start with X-TREE or X-SHRB for trees or shrubs. All of the tree or shrub layers are already loaded into the above master drawings. Change or rename your drawings layers if necessary.

§	Keep the trunk on X-TREE-TRUNK or X-SHRB-TRUNK layer.

§	If you use shadows, make sure the layer names are X-TREE-SHAD or X-SHRB SHAD.

§	Make the insertion point at the center of the symbol.

§	Place the user defined symbol blocks in the User_Defined folder under LandFX/Blocks/Graphics/Planting/Trees (or Shrubs).

§	Use the Save Block function to add one drawing at a time to the database.

§	Use the Data Manager Sync feature if you have added a number of blocks to the User_Defined folder.

§

Name the trees TREE- and then a logical numbering sequence, and the shrubs SHRUB- and a number sequence. A recommendation would be to name the blocks with three or four digits to represent your firm to separate the block names from the Land F/X blocks. For example, if your firm was XYZ and Associates, name the trees TREE-XYZ-001, …002, etc.