adding a stroke to line symbols
Hi,
I am using one of the Cartographers annual packs to create a floor plan. The problem I am having is that all the symbols are just vector drawings made with lines. They all look great on the screen but when I export the drawing to JPG the symbols are only a couple pixels thick. is there an easy way to add a stroke to, or thicken up these lines to make the design more printer friendly?
I've tried exploding the symbol and changing the properties to have a thicker line width. However, when I do that, it just seems to add an outline to the symbol lines. Also, when I explode the symbol (in this case, a table with chairs tucked in) it no longer respects the draw order and the chairs appear on top of the table.
Any ideas or help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
I am using one of the Cartographers annual packs to create a floor plan. The problem I am having is that all the symbols are just vector drawings made with lines. They all look great on the screen but when I export the drawing to JPG the symbols are only a couple pixels thick. is there an easy way to add a stroke to, or thicken up these lines to make the design more printer friendly?
I've tried exploding the symbol and changing the properties to have a thicker line width. However, when I do that, it just seems to add an outline to the symbol lines. Also, when I explode the symbol (in this case, a table with chairs tucked in) it no longer respects the draw order and the chairs appear on top of the table.
Any ideas or help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Comments
I am assuming that the inner part of the symbol is actually filled with white, and not transparent, or if the symbols are placed on top of one another they would indeed show through, and chairs appear to be on top of tables.
What that means is that exploding them and making them no longer be polygons filled with white but true lines will cause chairs to be visible through the tables, and appear to be on top of them.
I haven't used any vector symbols in any of my maps, so I am not familiar with the way they behave, but what happens if you use the change properties tool (and not the explode tool) and make the lines thicker?
Sorry for not providing more thorough information. It is the September 2015 annual, "Dracula Dossier".
If you explode them, and use change properties, set line width to an appropriate value (like 0.1) and set the fill style to 'Solid' at the same time. That should work for most of the symbols. Some of the symbols have multipolies defined in them too, explode these an extra time, and then make sure to change the color of the lines, since they will probably not be in the same color as the symbol anymore.
Note that some symbols will be trickier than others, and may require a bit more of a manual work than just explode and change properties.
Thank you very much for your help with my issue. Changing the fill style and the line width was exactly what needed to be done. As you mentioned, some symbols didn't fare too well with the simple changing of properties, but 90% of the symbols I used worked great with your instructions.
Thank you again.