Create a Symbol

Symbols are a group of entities joined together to make one object, making the entities much easier to select. They are useful for creating things like furniture symbols or anything else you can think of.

Creating a Symbol

1

First of all you must draw the object that you want to turn into a symbol, in the example below I have drawn a table and 4 chairs made up of 1 circle and 4 rectangles.

I have layered the entities in my object as follows, allowing the most flexibility when it comes to switching layers on/off.

I have put the 4 chairs onto layer 'Chairs'

I have put the circle onto layer 'Table'

When I have built my symbol, I will put it onto layer 'Tables and Chairs'

For additional options see ADVANCED section below, otherwise jump to step 2.

ADVANCED

Multiple Insertion Points - You can have multiple insertion points for your symbol if desired, this will provide you with more points to move your symbol around easily. To do this you need to place these insertion points on your object before building your symbol. You can add these insertion points by clicking on the 'Insertion Point' button (highlighted in Blue below) which is located on the DRAW menu ribbon.

When you Build your symbol (shown in step 2 below) make sure you select these insertion points along with the entities.

This is what your object looks like with the additional insertion points added.

NOTE: If you cannot see the insertion points they might be very small so, either zoom in to see them or change the size of them under SETTINGS > Points.

NOTE: Once you have built the symbol (shown in step 2), the insertion points will become invisible and only show as Red nodes which can be used to move the symbol.

TIP: While inserting a symbol with mutiple insertion points, you can change between these points by pressing 'O' on your keyboard.

Control Points - You can also add control points to your symbol. Control points will allow you to scale or rotate the symbol just by clicking on the control points. You can add these control points by clicking on the 'Control Point' button (highlighted in Blue below) which is located on the DRAW Ribbon. To change the way the control point works, select the control point and adjust its properties using the Properties Explorer. When your Build your symbol in step 2 make sure you select these control points along with the entities.

This is what your object looks like with a Control Point added.

2

Once you have drawn your object, select all of the entities and click the 'Build Symbol' button (highlighted in Blue below) which is located on the MODIFY Ribbon.

TIP: You can also initiate this function by using the default Hot Key ' B '

3

You now need to specify what will be the insertion point of the symbol, in this example I will use the centre of the circle.

NOTE: If you have added additional Insertion Points as explained in the ADVANCED section above, select a different position to those.

4

After specifying your insertion point above, the following dialog box will now appear for you to give the symbol a name. Enter a name in the box and click OK.

NOTE: If the symbol already exists on your drawing, the below message will appear. If you click Yes to this message then the existing symbol will be replaced with your new one so, be careful when overwriting existing symbols because this operation cannot be undone.

5

Your symbol will now be created and will look like this when selected.

With a single insertion point:

With multiple Insertion points and a Control Point:

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