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Patriot_1776
Patriot_177622-Sapphire II
22-Sapphire II
March 20, 2013
Question

What font are you guys using in dwg mode?

  • March 20, 2013
  • 5 replies
  • 15800 views

Why is it so hard to find a font made for Engineering dwgs? I want a totally circular "O", and a zero with a line thru it. I want a 1 with the little "flag" on top, I want capital "i" to look like a Roman numeral, and I want the capital "L" to have the foot on it. We recently made a change to our font to: "iso30985font", and it's better than the "Font" text for sure, but I'd still lie to have the capital "i" look like a Roman numeral. I mean, in most fonts, you can't tell the difference between a lower-case "L" and a one and an upper-case "i".

Why does this seem to be such a difficult thing?

What are you guys using?

    5 replies

    K
    knorman1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    March 20, 2013

    I definitely fell your pain on this one. For a while I was experimenting with many of the different fonts, but I could never find one that I really fell in love with. I can usually find a font that I initially like better than the default "Font" font, but I always find shortcomings the more I use them. I was using CG Triumvirate for a while and didn't hate it, but eventually stopped using it. You wouldn't like it due to it not having the Roman numeral style capital "i". Alas, I'm back to using the default font and suppressing the urge to vomit every time I make a drawing.

    I usually frown upon comparing features of different CAD programs and CAD programs in general, and I sincerely hope I don't derail this thread by doing so... but... I've always felt that Solidworks did an amazing job with their drawings package as a whole, very much including their default font. Every time I'm in the shop, I can pick out the drawings made with Solidworks and the ones made with ProE/Creo instantly. Anyone know what they use?

      T
      TomD.inPDX17-Peridot
      17-Peridot
      March 20, 2013

      I too prefer the ISO30985font. I am just not liking the way Creo treats TTF on the drawings. the only other thing I do is add thickness of .012 to the ISO font to help it stand out in PDF plots.

      If you really want to go back to the "source" you would look at the Leroy lettering templates. These do not have the little features you are seeking either so they are technically not "required" although ISO does address these better.

      The "O" and "0" issue is commonly resolved with width. The "O" is typically -rounder- when compared to "known" zeroes. The upper case I (eye) and lover case l is always an issue without serifs. In the past, drawings used only upper case and special cases were created for the use of "i" such as not using them in revisions. As for the 1's, this one is a no brainer... it should have the small tick on the top in my opinion even if Leroy doesn't agree.

      Do a Google search for Drafting Fonts and you will get a lot of "recommendations". You can always drop a TTF in the appropriate install folder of Creo and use it. Just remember that each time you update your software, you need to re-install the font. So keep a copy handy.

      BTW: you do know you can create your own fonts for Creo, right?

      T
      TomD.inPDX17-Peridot
      17-Peridot
      March 20, 2013

      And have a look at ISOCTEUR and ISOCPEUR in your windows character map. It seems pretty close by delineating the lower case L with a small hook and O's are blocky while zero's are oval.

      Dale_Rosema
      23-Emerald III
      Dale_Rosema23-Emerald III
      23-Emerald III
      March 20, 2013

      Default Font for most and Filled for some things in title block. I agree with you that zeros should have slash,
      "Z"s and sevens should be crossed. And the things with "I" and "l" (do you know which one is which - they are different).

      Since I am with a company, I don't change things that much, but it would probably be differenct if I was on my own.

      Dale_Rosema
      23-Emerald III
      Dale_Rosema23-Emerald III
      23-Emerald III
      March 20, 2013

      Do you still skip using "i" and "O" and "Q" in on revision levels?

      T
      TomD.inPDX17-Peridot
      17-Peridot
      March 20, 2013

      Yep.

      T
      TomD.inPDX17-Peridot
      17-Peridot
      March 20, 2013

      It seems the dotted or slashed zero's came from the advent of computer terminals when the screens resolution was limited. I found only 4 fonts in Windows 7 that does this:

      8514OEM

      CONSOLAS

      FIXEDSYS

      TERMINAL

      (and one that was an artist font not worth listing here)

      ...several of which is low-rez friendly. You will also see that limited serifs are deployed for the i-L issues.

      J
      James621-Visitor
      1-Visitor
      March 21, 2013

      ISOCPEUR.ttf looks very similar to AutoCAD's isocp2.shx.

      But in case of PDF's coming from Pro/E, there are always special characters, that will come out as a mess, if you use a *.ttf font.

      It's a battle that can't be won.

      On Pro/E *.ndx fonts you can apply the text_thickness in *.dtl options file, on TTF fonts applying thickness is not possible.

      T
      TomD.inPDX17-Peridot
      17-Peridot
      March 22, 2013

      I did a little investigation on this today.

      I stumbled across a PDF folder under the TTF folder. This got me thinking. The PDF folder is full of odd files none of which are purely TTF files. These must be conversion compensation files of sorts.

      TTF_Study_I.png

      My 1st test was to use one of the default fonts... bluprnt.ttf (nice architectural font!). What Jakub said about thickness not affecting TTF is true. In the case of this font, the aspect ration too is unaffected. Height is affected (obviously). However, when you use symbols (diameter symbol below) the system reverts back to the default symbol library library and thickness config setting does affect these.

      I plotted the drawing using the "USE TTF" option (no stroke) to PDF (save-as>export) and brought the BMP image back into the drawing as an overlay (underlay). The two compared very nicely!

      TTF_overlay1.JPG

      So what I am thinking is happening with the non-default TTF is that there is not a 1 for 1 conversion in that odd PDF folder. Also notice that odd file in the top of the font folder "AdobeFnt11.3.lst". Are only the default fonts compatible? I don't know yet, but this is a step in the right direction.

      In the case of bluprnt.ttf at least, it seems a WYSIWYG conversion.

      Patriot_1776
      Patriot_177622-Sapphire IIAuthor
      22-Sapphire II
      March 25, 2013

      Interesting. I guess I just fail to understand why PTC can't make the font work on screen the way it should. It shouldn't be hard. But, of course, we STILL have to deal with the fact that text on a dwg is just a "box" when we try and manipulate it, vs AutoCAd showing us the actual text........

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