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| Alternative panel designs 07/11/2021 at 12:08 #142220 | |
clive
2789 posts |
Anothersignalman in post 142218 said:Yellow route lights instead of white is trivial. I thought at least one existing sim had a different colour for shunt routes (or perhaps it was calling-on routes) but I can't remember which or be bothered to do a search. The points keys sound like the standard BR points keys found on panels all over the place. But there's no way in SimSig to draw them. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: Anothersignalman |
| Alternative panel designs 07/11/2021 at 12:26 #142221 | |
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Anothersignalman
96 posts |
clive in post 142220 said:The points keys sound like the standard BR points keys found on panels all over the place. But there's no way in SimSig to draw them. Don't need to draw them; just have replaceable tiles overlaid on the map, one each for switch-black-left, switch-black-centre and switch-black-right and repeat for white, and the rare cases of yellow, red etc? My switches are 40px wide x 56px tall in the centre position, +4px either side when set to left or right, so mapping the assets to an area of 48x56px should work, placed inside a 64x121px area including the lights and text? I drew those based on photos but I might be able to get dimensions for the actual switches eventually. Log in to reply |
| Alternative panel designs 07/11/2021 at 15:52 #142222 | |
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Stephen Fulcher
2078 posts 
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The issue is you cannot show that on the screen in SimSig, only characters that appear in the Simsig font.
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| Alternative panel designs 07/11/2021 at 16:31 #142223 | |
jc92
3685 posts |
The closest match to one of those switches would be the tokenless block switches on salisbury and exeter.
"We don't stop camborne wednesdays" Log in to reply The following user said thank you: Anothersignalman |
| Alternative panel designs 07/11/2021 at 21:35 #142225 | |
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Anothersignalman
96 posts |
Stephen Fulcher in post 142222 said:The issue is you cannot show that on the screen in SimSig, only characters that appear in the Simsig font. Guess I misunderstood the posts above when talking about the block section styles. Hmm, does the SimSig font include the majority of the Unicode range? Maybe there's something we could do using Greek letters like phi, or can we overlap two characters in the same spot i.e. O with either \, | or / overlaid? Last edited: 07/11/2021 at 21:37 by Anothersignalman Reason: None given Log in to reply |
| Alternative panel designs 07/11/2021 at 21:42 #142226 | |
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JamesN
1607 posts |
Anothersignalman in post 142225 said:Stephen Fulcher in post 142222 said:The character set is quite limited, you can look it up yourself in the windows character map.The issue is you cannot show that on the screen in SimSig, only characters that appear in the Simsig font. It can only show one character in each “cell” - no overlapping to combine or similar. It’s also the only graphics that can be used on the display - no smaller labels in a different font how you’ve put in some of your mockups. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: Anothersignalman |
| Alternative panel designs 07/11/2021 at 22:50 #142229 | |
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clive
2789 posts |
JamesN in post 142226 said:Anothersignalman in post 142225 said:Not even that: you can only use character codes from 32 to 199 inclusive. Plus there are six other symbols not in the font that are drawn each time they're needed.The character set is quite limited, you can look it up yourself in the windows character map. Changing the font is not trivial for a number of reasons that I'm not going into. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: Anothersignalman |
| Alternative panel designs 14/11/2021 at 16:05 #142322 | |
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Anothersignalman
96 posts |
Hi all, I've had time over the weekend to consider the issue further. Attached is what I'd personally consider an acceptable compromise. I think I've only used Simsig tiles, with the exception of "VIA" and "SDG" which would have to be generated new for this panel but which probably have applications elsewhere. If this proves impossible, a simple 'V' and 'S' respectively, or even a # could work. Additionally, arrows could be used instead of the solid shapes for the point levers, i.e. ↖, ↑ and ↗. I've also stuck with the hexadecimal codes listed by Clive above, though I have shown the dark green that would be one of the ten custom colours in the mid-left sector. I've also shown how the point levers might work - clicking any of the three symbols would cycle left-middle-right-middle-left, just as left- or right-clicking either of the route buttons (for setting or cancelling respectively) would request then, when possible, set the respective route. 
Post has attachments. Log in to view them. Last edited: 15/11/2021 at 04:31 by Anothersignalman Reason: None given Log in to reply |
| Alternative panel designs 03/03/2022 at 17:00 #145552 | |
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Anothersignalman
96 posts |
Follow up to the discussion above, has anyone already converted the Simsigv2 *.fon font file to *.ttf, and if so could they please provide a copy? If that's available I could start to play around with various panel types using a spreadsheet program to keep the ASCII artwork in the correct arrangement, which would give much better results than the above MS paint attempt.
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| Alternative panel designs 03/03/2022 at 18:12 #145554 | |
GeoffM
6376 posts |
Anothersignalman in post 145552 said:Follow up to the discussion above, has anyone already converted the Simsigv2 *.fon font file to *.ttf, and if so could they please provide a copy? If that's available I could start to play around with various panel types using a spreadsheet program to keep the ASCII artwork in the correct arrangement, which would give much better results than the above MS paint attempt.I think you'd be better off (re)creating the font in true TTF rather than trying to convert a bitmap to vector and dealing with all the artifacts that brings. Thinking outside the box, maybe it's possible to use the Interface Gateway to drive your own panel, such as in SVG format. SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| Alternative panel designs 04/03/2022 at 11:15 #145570 | |
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Anothersignalman
96 posts |
GeoffM in post 145554 said:Anothersignalman in post 145552 said:Follow up to the discussion above, has anyone already converted the Simsigv2 *.fon font file to *.ttf, and if so could they please provide a copy? If that's available I could start to play around with various panel types using a spreadsheet program to keep the ASCII artwork in the correct arrangement, which would give much better results than the above MS paint attempt.I think you'd be better off (re)creating the font in true TTF rather than trying to convert a bitmap to vector and dealing with all the artifacts that brings. Sorry, bit of a misunderstanding - I'm not trying to create my own system or anything like that, I just want to be able to use a spreadsheet program to give a better feel for how custom Simsig simulations might look, because I think that will work better than using MS Paint. I've never tried creating a font before, but I suppose I can look into it... Log in to reply |