Linear symbols are made in Linear Symbol Editor. Linear symbols are composed of several sub-lines. The required linear symbols are constructed through different forms and styles of sub-lines. Therefore, the basic elements of linear symbols are sub-lines. For example, the following illustration shows the basic way in which sublines form linetypes.

As shown in the following figure, make a linetype symbol, which is composed of two sub-lines: sub-line 1 and sub-line 2, both of which are short horizontal lines. According to the requirements of the linetype symbol, make appropriate Horizontal offset and Vertical offset for the sub-lines, and set the color style and line width of the sub-lines. The making of the linetype symbol can be completed. Linear Symbol Editor provides various types of sublines. Based on these sublines, users can modify the style and style of the sublines to construct the required line type symbols.

Composition: Horizontal offset 2mm and Vertical offset 2mm for sub-line 1, and the color of fixed sub-line 1 is red RGB (255, 0, 0); For subline 2, fix the subline color to green RGB (0,255,0) and set the line width to 1 mm.

Subline type

Line type symbols created in the Linear Symbol Editor are based on sub-lines, and the editor has provided a variety of sub-line types, as shown in the following figure. After adding a sub-line in the Linear Symbol Editor, you can select the type of the sub-line. The child linetype in the drop-down list in the illustration is the base child linetype provided.

In addition, the subline can also be formed by a specific symbol, as shown in the following figure, the type of the subline is a symbol subline, that is, the subline formed by the symbol, and the virtual-real Mode of the subline (for the virtual-real Mode of the subline, (See Virtual-real Mode below) You can adjust how the symbols in the subline are distributed, such as the spacing between symbols. To set the type of the subline to the symbol subline, select the Custom Symbols type in the subline type list.

When the type of the subline is set to Symbolic Subline, you can further specify the symbols that make up the subline and adjust the Virtual-real Mode of the subline.

Subline Virtual-real Mode

The Virtual-real Mode of the subline is used to determine which distance to draw and which distance not to draw on a subline, so as to make a subline similar to the dash type, as shown in the following (left figure), the dash type subline (system linetype). The setting of Virtual-Real Mode is as shown in the drawing. The blue color block represents the distance of the real part, and the distance value is shown by the number on the color block; the gray color block represents the distance of the imaginary part, and the distance value is shown by the number on the color block.

As shown in the following figure (right figure), as a result of canceling all settings of the Virtual-real Mode of the subline of the dash type, the subline becomes a solid line.

   

How does Virtual-real Mode work on sublines and affect the rendering of sublines? The following content will be explained in detail. Because there are different types of sublines, for the same Virtual-real Mode, some types of sublines may produce different interpretation methods of Virtual-real Mode. There are several ways to explain the effect of Virtual-real Mode on sublines.

Dash type:

After Add Subline, if the subline type is set to Subline (system linetype), the Subline will have a default Virtual-real Mode. After deleting Virtual-real Mode, the subline will be solid. It can be understood that the solid line is the basic subline of the Subline. The line type of the dash is obtained by setting the Virtual-real Mode. Therefore, the effect of the Virtual-real Mode is explained based on the solid line.

As shown in the figure below, the sub-line is a solid line. If the Virtual-Real Mode is set to 20 for the real part and 40 for the imaginary part, the sub-line will be drawn in the following mode:

1. Drawing a short solid line with a length of 20, that is, the set real part 20, from the drawing starting point of the sub-line;
2. Next, the sub-line has a distance of length 40 and nothing is drawn, that is, the blank part is the set imaginary part 40;
3. Next, repeat the two drawing operations above.

To sum up, the Virtual-Real Mode of this type of subline is: the real part of the subline is drawn, and the drawn length is: real part = length value. The imaginary part is not drawn, and the undrawn length is: imaginary part = length value. Length values are in units of 0.1 mm.

Schematic diagram of Virtual-real Mode of short horizontal line sub-line

In the Linear Symbol Editor, the drawing mode of the Virtual-real Mode is the sub-line type of the above mode: parallel double line (center alignment), parallel double line (top alignment), and parallel double line (bottom alignment).

Short Vertical Line Type:

Similar to the "" sub-line type, it is called the sub-line of the short vertical line type, as shown in the following figure. If the Virtual-Real Mode is set to: the real part value is 20, and the imaginary part value is 40, after the setting is completed, the sub-line of the short vertical line type will be drawn in the following mode:

1. Draw a short vertical line at a distance of 20 (real part = 20) from the drawing start point of the subline;
2. Next, start at a distance from the short vertical line drawn in the previous step, and draw another short vertical line at a distance of 40 lengths (imaginary part = 40);
3. Next, start at a distance from the short vertical line drawn in the previous step, draw another short vertical line at a distance of 20 lengths (real part = 20), and so on, to complete the Virtual-real Mode drawing of the short vertical line sub-line.

Short Vertical Subline Virtual-real Mode Diagram

In the Linear Symbol Editor, the types of sublines drawn in the Virtual-real Mode in the above manner are: Staggered up and down, short vertical line (center alignment), short vertical line (top alignment), and parallel double line (bottom alignment).

Long and short interlacing type:

Similar to the "" sub-line type, it is called the sub-line of the long and short interlaced type, that is, the sub-line is formed by interlacing the two elements of the long vertical line and the short vertical line, as shown in the following figure. If the Virtual-Real Mode is set to: the real part value is 20, and the imaginary part value is 40. Sublines of the long and short staggered type are drawn as follows:

1. Draw a long vertical line at a distance of 20 from the starting point of the sub-line (real part = 20);
2. Next, starting from the vertical line drawn in the previous step, draw a short vertical line at a distance of 40 lengths (imaginary part = 40);
3. Next, start at a distance from the vertical line drawn in the previous step, draw another long vertical line at a distance of 20 lengths (real part = 20), and so on. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to complete the Virtual-real Mode drawing of the long and short staggered type subline.

Schematic diagram of virtual-real Mode of long and short interlaced sublines

In the Linear Symbol Editor, the drawing mode of the Virtual-real Mode is as follows: long and short interleaving (up), long and short interleaving (down), long and short interleaving (up long and down short), and long and short interleaving (up short and down long).

Inclined line type:

Similar to the "" sub-line type, it is called the sub-line of the oblique line type, that is, the sub-line is composed of oblique lines with a certain oblique angle, as shown in the following figure. If the Virtual-Real Mode is set to 40 for the real part and 80 for the imaginary part, the sub-line of the oblique line type will be drawn according to the following mode after setting:

1. Drawing an inclined line from the drawing start point of the sub-line, the start point of the inclined line being the drawing start point, and the end point of the inclined line being at a distance of 40 from the drawing start point (real part = 40);
2. Next, starting from the end point drawn in the previous step, no content is drawn within the range of the length of 80 (imaginary part = 80), that is, the blank part is the set imaginary part 80;
3. Next, draw the next sloped line. The starting point of the sloped line is the end point drawn in the previous step. The end point of the sloped line is a distance of 40 from the starting point of the sloped line (real part = 40), and so on. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to complete the Virtual-real Mode drawing of the sloped line type subline.

Diagonal Line Type Subline Virtual-real Mode Schematic

In Linear Symbol Editor, the types of sublines drawn in Virtual-real Mode in the above manner are: oblique line (/) and oblique line (\).

Inclined line (Staggered up and down) type:

Similar to the "" sub-line type, it is called the sub-line of the slanted line (Staggered up and down) type, that is, the sub-line is composed of two slanted lines with different slanted directions, as shown in the following figure. If the Virtual-Real Mode is set to 40 for the real part and 80 for the imaginary part, Once set, the sub-lines of the sloped line (Staggered up and down) type are drawn as follows:

1. Drawing an inclined line from the drawing start point of the sub-line, the start point of the inclined line being the drawing start point, and the end point of the inclined line being at a distance of 40 from the drawing start point (real part = 40);
2. Next, a next slope line is drawn, the starting point of the slope line is the end point drawn in the previous step, and the end point of the slope line is a distance of 80 (imaginary part = 80) from the starting point of the slope line;
3. Next, draw the next sloped line. The starting point of the sloped line is the end point drawn in the previous step. The key point of the sloped line is a distance of 40 from the starting point of the sloped line (real part = 40), and so on. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to complete the Virtual-real Mode drawing of the sloped line type subline.

Diagonal Line (Staggered up and down) Type Subline Virtual-real Mode Schematic

In the Linear Symbol Editor, the types of sublines drawn in the Virtual-real Mode in the above manner are: Slanted lines (Staggered up and down).

Symbol Type：

Similar to the "" or "" subline type, the subline here is called Symbol Type, that is, the subline is composed of a special symbol element, as shown in the following figure. If the Virtual-Real Mode is set to 20 for the real part and 40 for the imaginary part, after the setting is completed, The sublines of Symbol Type are drawn as follows:

1. One symbol element is drawn at a distance of 20 from the drawing start point (real part = 20) from the drawing start point of the sub-line;
2. Next, nothing is drawn within a length of 40 (imaginary part = 40) from the start of the symbol element drawn in the previous step, that is, the blank part is the set imaginary part 80;
3. Next, draw another symbol element at a distance of 20 from the end point drawn in the previous step (real part = 20), and so on. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to complete the Virtual-real Mode drawing of the Symbol Type sub-line.

Symbol Type Subline Virtual-real Mode Diagram

In the Linear Symbol Editor, In Virtual-real Mode, the sub-line types drawn in the above manner are: Cross Symbol (×), Cross Symbol (Up), Cross Symbol (Down), Custom Symbols (Relative Angle), and Custom Symbols (Fixed Angle).

The following figure mainly illustrates the difference between the two types of sub-lines of Custom Symbols (relative angle) and Custom Symbols (fixed angle). The two types of sub-lines are the sub-lines of Symbol Type. The difference is:

• Custom Symbols (Fixed Angle): If the Rotation angle of the symbol is set for the symbol constituting the subline, the Rotation angles of all symbols in the subline are always the same, with the vertical positive direction as the starting point of the angle of 0 degree, and the counterclockwise direction as the direction in which the angle value increases. When you symbolize a line object, the symbol in that line maintains a consistent orientation regardless of whether the line object is a line or a polyline.
• Custom Symbols (Relative Angle): If the Rotation angle of the symbol is set for the symbol constituting the sub-line, the Rotation angles of all symbols in the sub-line may not be uniform. For example, when symbolizing a line object, if the line object is a polyline, The 0-degree starting point of the Rotation angle of the symbol will change with the different directions of each line segment in the broken line. At this time, the positive direction perpendicular to the line segment is the 0-degree starting point of the angle, and the counterclockwise direction is the direction in which the angle value increases; When symbolizing a line object, if the line object is a curve, the positive direction perpendicular to the tangent of the curve is the 0 degree starting point of the angle, and the counterclockwise direction is the direction in which the angle value increases.

The red polyline in the figure below is the line object that needs to be symbolized. In order to show the difference between the two sub-line types of Custom Symbols (relative angle) and Custom Symbols (fixed angle), here, the line object is symbolized by using the line symbol, while the symbolized line object is retained.

Subline offset

In the Online Symbol editor, the default offset of the newly created sub-line is Horizontal offset = 0, Vertical offset = 0, and the offset unit is millimeter. You can control the Relative between sublines by setting the offset of the sublines.

Subline offset diagram

Subline End Symbol

Add an End Symbol to a child line to add a specified symbol at a special location on the child line. Special locations on a subline where you can add an End Symbol are: the head of the subline, the tail of the subline, the Middle Point of the subline, the Segment Center of the subline, and the Polyline Center of the subline. The effect of the addition of the subline End Symbol is further understood through the following illustration.

• Polyline Head Add End Symbol

  As shown in the following figure, the effect of adding End Symbol at the beginning of the sub-line is to add a specified symbol at the drawing starting point of the sub-line. There are two sub-lines in the figure below. The sub-line type and the Virtual-real Mode and style of the two sub-lines are different. The effect of the two lines after adding the first End Symbol.

  Polyline Head Add End Symbol

• Polyline Tail Add End Symbol

  As shown in the following figure, the effect of adding an End Symbol at the beginning of the sub-line is to add a specified symbol at the end of the sub-line. There are two sub-lines in the figure below. The sub-line types of the two sub-lines are different from the Virtual-real Mode and style of the sub-line. The effect of the two lines after adding the End Symbol.

  Polyline Head Add End Symbol

• Middle Point Add End Symbol

  Subline Middle Point Add End Symbol. The effect is significant when symbolizing a line object. If Middle Point Add End Symbol is set for a subline in a linetype symbol, when symbolizing a line object with that linetype symbol, The specified End Symbol is added to all nodes of the line object except the two end points of the line object. As shown in the following figure, the Middle PointEnd Symbol is added in the setting sub-line, and the effect set can be previewed in the Linear Symbol Editor only when the "Polyline" preview is used. Sublines symbolize a polyline object as shown in the following figure.

  Middle Point Add End Symbol

• Segment Center Add End Symbol The effect of adding an End Symbol to the Segment Center of

  a subline is significant when symbolizing a line object. If Middle Point is set to add an End Symbol to a subline in a linetype symbol, when symbolizing a line object with the linetype symbol, The specified End Symbol is added at the midpoint of the segment between two adjacent nodes of the line object. As shown in the following figure, the Segment CenterEnd Symbol is added after setting the sub-line, and the effect after the sub-line symbolizes a polyline object is as shown in the following figure.

  Segment Center Add End Symbol

• Polyline Center Add End Symbol

  Subline Polyline Center Add End Symbol. The effect is significant when symbolizing a line object. If one of the sublines in the line symbol has Polyline Center Add End Symbol set, When you use the linetype symbol to symbolize a line object, the midpoint location of the line object is calculated, and the specified End Symbol is added at that location. As shown in the figure below, the Polyline CenterEnd Symbol is added after setting the sub-line, and the effect after the sub-line symbolizes a polyline object is shown in the figure below.

  Polyline Center Add End Symbol