What font are you guys using in dwg mode?

[Patriot_1776]

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?

[TomD.inPDX]

The help files are very explicit on how to play with the fonts. You can create source files from the .CMP (compiled) files provided.

[James62]

Just s couple hours ago I've seen a PTC webminar about 3D annotations in Creo, and the presenter led me to figure out that there is a possibility to take the drawing settings from DTL file, and transfer them to Creo Model Annotation environment.

Time ago, when I was about to buy Creo, I was told by the Creo salesperson, that from Creo 1.0 and up, it's possible to just copy the contents of DTL file to config.pro file. I never knew what is this good for till today.

So that way it's possible to have your own fonts, dimension styles, text sizes, etc. in Creo model annotation environment.

[TomD.inPDX]

Someone lied to you Jakub. You can copy -some- of the .DTL file settings to your parts and assembly models. Font is not one of them, at least, not yet.

The NDX file is an interim file. It combines the -text- font and the -symbol- font for lookup by Creo. When you specify a .FNT font, you need to specify its NDX file in the DTL setup.

Yes, we looked at custom fonts in detail before. They are like little penplotter files all rolled up into a font. I found some bad information in help that I reported and never heard back.

The default FNT files are located here:

[James62]

Then I've got fooled twice. Oh well, it's like they say "try before you buy"..... but "try before you sell" would fit better here ofc.

I do not export my drawings to PDF, but to AutoCAD's *.DWG files. That is like our company's 2D standart since long ago, and also of many other manufaturers around here.

I am forced to use AutoCAD's isocp2.shx font in BricsCAD (AutoCAD's clone), and isocpeur.ttf in Creo drawings. I found these two to be somewhat compatible in my BricsCAD's template, so I don't have to change the font type there during the data translation.

The huge downside of this is that isocp2.shx has got little thinner letters than those that come from Creo drawings. So i always have to move around some symbols in notes and such, before actually sending the *.dwg file to the printer.

I could set the font style in my BricsCAD's template to be also the isocpeur.ttf, but what would the drawing look like in case someone who hasn't got isocpeur.ttf installed opens it in their PC? It would looks like drawn by a 5 year old.

I so wish to figure out this problem, and never have to bother with moved notes, etc. again but this is like way tooo hard.

[TomD.inPDX]

That is the age-old font issue. My problem was trying to be compatable with CoCreate. That was a real let-down when I couldn't seamlessly collaborate with one of PTC's own holdings! And I mean, I couldn't even come close!

For the time being, I will stick with the .FNT styles for my work. I like the ISO30985 for readability. When it comes to doing model text, I do need access to Helvetica-like fonts. I find that projecting many of the TTF fails if you add any taper at all and even the .FNT fonts fail too. At least, in model text as geometry, there are no conversion issues, but access issues as you mentioned may still exist. If the font isn't there on a future installation, what will happened in the sketch utilizing the missing font? Is it imbedded?

[James62]

That's too bad.

Model text is just also another thing I almost always do in Rhino, and import it into Creo afterward, cause the font, and font3d texts from Creo seem way too jagged. Usually, I make just the middle curve of the font, then the thickness, and the taper on the text are added by some sort of cone-shaped milling tool during the milling process.

I've actually found, I've got some font files (ndx, fnt, cmp) from my VAR from over here. These seem to be about 12 years old, and there is also some odd guide included about how to type in some of the specific diacritic marks. I'll see how these work, and translate to AutoCAD's DWGs later.

Thanks for your input, Tom.

One more question. Where can I find the info about font compilation in the help files?