Symbols as images or filled regions?

[Duncan Lithgow]

I have the exciting task of making a set of symbols for ISO 7010 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_7010 ) and some kind soul has made a great set of SVG icons already. So it would be very easy for me to export these to the exact size I want in PNG format and embed them in my Symbol Families. Is there a disadvantage to this?

I can think of a few, but they don't seem all that important.
- Images don't always scale well, certainly not on screen. But if the images has the correct quality for the final plot then this is just a screen cosmetic problem.
- Images will generally increase Symbol Family file size. But symbols like these are small to start with so it's a marginal increase.

On the other hand
- Filled Regions have many points and with small shapes can be a problem.

Workflow
- With the help of Inkscape I can scale them to whatever I need
- I can also export the contours to DXF, and use those as the basis to draw the symbols. They are very nicely made with thoughtful use of a limited number of curves.
- Scaling them down brings back the usual problem of Revit not being able to draw such small details. So they would require some manual simplification.

[Duncan Lithgow]

Looks like I have to answer my own question. Revit is **** at making useful symbols, they are very limited. I'd love to hear from some MEP people as they typically make more use of symbols.

[david_peterson]

For things like what you're showing, I've made Face Based families with thin extrusions and materials. Did the same thing for the AED Wall Flag and face as well as FE Cabinet lettering. Worked great. Renders really nice.

[Duncan Lithgow]

Thanks Dave, yeah that's useful at detailed scales. Not so workable on a 1:500 plan. Shame really, it should be easy to have what you're talking about in the models 3D space and a paper-scale symbol embedded into it.