Individual symbol scale

Rosemont_Line

Had a few questions about the above; I didn't see the answer to this in the CC3 manual or on the forums, so hopefully I didn't just miss it! Anyway, I know that I can change the symbol scale in "Drawing Properties", and I also see that you can quickly access that window by right-clicking while a symbol is selected. My understanding is that both of those methods lead to the same thing: changing "the symbol scale" for that drawing, i.e. changing the scale at which ALL symbols will be rendered, which is saved with the map.

What I want to know is, can an individual symbol have its scale changed without affecting any other symbol? And if so, would this be something that is still saved with the map, or would the only way to accomplish this be to change the actual symbol definition's properties so that it would ALWAYS be the new scale even on a new map?

Ralf

There is a couple other things you can do:

1. You can change the scale of individual instances of a symbol with the "Scale Symbols in Drawing" command from the Symbols menu. It scales all selected symbols and works much like any other Editing command. This will not affect future instances of the symbols in the same map.

2. You can scale symbols from within the Symbol Manager. This affects the underlying symbol definition and will therefore affect all the instances of that symbol in the map. It will also affect all future instances of that symbol you add to the map.

Hope that helps!

Monsen

Posted By: Saito SI know that I can change the symbol scale in "Drawing Properties", and I also see that you can quickly access that window by right-clicking while a symbol is selected.

These two are not the same thing. The default symbol scale from drawing properties are saved with the map, and sets the default value for the symbol scale. When you right click with a symbol on the cursor, you are setting the "current scale", which will be used only temporaily, and this value is not saved with the map. The value you choose here will be used for all symbols you place in the future, until you either change it or reload the map/restart the program, at which time it reverts to the default symbol scale.
Note however that these options doesn't affect symbol scale at rendering time as you describe, but at the time of placing the symbol. Once a symbol is placed, it keeps whatever scale you used when placing it, changing the symbol scale will not affect the scale of symbols already placed, these must be manually changed by the various tools if needed.

Rosemont_Line

Posted By: RalfThere is a couple other things you can do:

1. You can change the scale of individual instances of a symbol with the "Scale Symbols in Drawing" command from the Symbols menu. It scales all selected symbols and works much like any other Editing command. This will not affect future instances of the symbols in the same map.

2. You can scale symbols from within the Symbol Manager. This affects the underlying symbol definition and will therefore affect all the instances of that symbol in the map. It will also affect all future instances of that symbol you add to the map.

Hope that helps!

It does, thanks! If I'm understanding you correctly (and I think I am, based on what the "scale" dialog in the Symbol Manager is telling me), using the second method will change the scale of that one symbol for this one map. Meaning:
-All symbols of that type already placed on the map will adjust to the new scale
-All subsequent symbols of that type will be in the new scale when placed
-The new scale will apply ONLY to this one map; if I make a new map, the symbol will go back to the default scale

Is that all correct? If so, that's perfect. What I wanted to do was experiment with making different city symbols smaller or larger than one another (without having to change each instance of a symbol manually, one at a time).

EDIT: I don't know why I asked that, rather than just trying it out, haha. Anyway, I did test it out, and all of those points seem to be the case, so this works nicely. Thanks!

Posted By: Monsen

Posted By: Saito SI know that I can change the symbol scale in "Drawing Properties", and I also see that you can quickly access that window by right-clicking while a symbol is selected.

These two are not the same thing. The default symbol scale from drawing properties are saved with the map, and sets the default value for the symbol scale. When you right click with a symbol on the cursor, you are setting the "current scale", which will be used only temporaily, and this value is not saved with the map. The value you choose here will be used for all symbols you place in the future, until you either change it or reload the map/restart the program, at which time it reverts to the default symbol scale.
Note however that these options doesn't affect symbol scale at rendering time as you describe, but at the time of placing the symbol. Once a symbol is placed, it keeps whatever scale you used when placing it, changing the symbol scale will not affect the scale of symbols already placed, these must be manually changed by the various tools if needed.

Understood! Thanks for the clarification; I did in fact think that the right-click was just a shortcut to the same function as in Drawing Properties.

While I'm here, a symbol-related question (figure I might as well just ask rather than start a new thread)... What are the rules when it comes to modifying assets that come with an Annual? I ask because there are a couple things in the Modern Political style that - ideally - I'd like to change. For example: one of the highway symbols actually says "Imperial Route", so if I were going to use that symbol, I'd have to change that text (there's nothing about the place I'll be creating with this style that is "Imperial" anything). So, is that allowed, to alter the art assets that come with a style pack (as opposed to creating my own from scratch), and then use the altered assets in my maps?