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Old 12th Jun 2021, 7:06 pm   #1
Chris55000
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Default Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

Hi!

Does anyone know of a free tool that will draw the basic grey stippled shading on Constructor Magazine diagrams please?

I'm wanting to write a tutorial on documenting Rotary Wafer Switches, tagstrips, etc., and something that I can overlay over a vector image that will fill in a closed shape with the "stippled dot" effect, like is drawn in Practical Wireless, is what I'm looking for!

My sPlan has some fill effects, but stipple isn't included amongst them!

Chris Williams
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Old 13th Jun 2021, 12:30 am   #2
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

Any chance of a picture or pointer to page and article in one of the mags to see what you are describing Chris?

The few I looked at (1950's) all had solid black dots (both PW and Radio Constructor).
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Old 13th Jun 2021, 1:38 am   #3
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

Yes, show us a picture. All the vector programmes I've used will allow the user to define a given pattern as a fill, though I'd expect they have a distributed dot effect as a standard.
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Old 13th Jun 2021, 2:28 am   #4
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

What I'm just looking at in a 61 PW copy is more like stubble than stipple! Black dots, but slightly variable in "length" and distribution.

My usual go to for all things graphic is Freelance from Lotus Smartsuite, which can be downloaded free now (I believe). There is a "dotty" pattern, but not very close to what I'm looking at in PW.

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Old 13th Jun 2021, 10:16 am   #5
Chris55000
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

Hi!

I had some difficulty with finding an example showing exactly what I was trying to describe, but this is a typical example showing what I would like to be able to draw from scratch, tailor–made to suit the switch wafers from the particular piece of gear I'm documenting !

Chris Williams
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Old 13th Jun 2021, 12:00 pm   #6
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

PS!

I can draw the wafer outline, the contact fingers, switch rotor and a representation of the wiring in my sPlan, but I don't know how to simulate or draw the black dot fill, which provide a better constrast than a solid light grey filling on a b/w line diagram.

I do, incidentally, have a copy of Lotus Freelance – I found a "Time Software Disc Pack" that had it on!

If anyone can point me in the direction of where to find a simulated stipple/random black dot filling in a readily available package that's cheap I'd be very grateful – old software will do fine!

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Old 13th Jun 2021, 12:20 pm   #7
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

Try some of the masonry fills, render, cement, sand etc..

Had a quick look in LibreCad, sand looks about right.
 
Old 13th Jun 2021, 12:31 pm   #8
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

The old drawing seems to have truly random, irregularly shaped, black spots. How about something like coarse sand or other fine granular material on a piece of white card, photographing it, converting the properties to one bit black and white, and using that. Such properties conversion is possible with the Microsoft Photed.exe program in the "save as" options that used to ship with Windows up to half-way through the XP era.

Last edited by emeritus; 13th Jun 2021 at 12:32 pm. Reason: typos
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Old 13th Jun 2021, 12:54 pm   #9
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

You can take a sample of the existing image, or use snippets of it to make a tile, then create a pattern fill and use it on any of the contiguous outlines you wish.

This is straightforward in Inkscape (the foremost open-source Adobe Illustrator offering), or I'm using Affinity Designer from Serif.

They have a package equivalent to Adobe's, but it's done as one-off licences rather than the gouging subscription model. £150 got me Designer, Photo and Publisher which work together rather better than Adobe's suite and are almost infinitely cheaper. If you do any amount of graphic, photo or publishing work then one or all of these come highly recommended.

If you want, I'll have a crack at making a fill and testing it on one of the vector drawings of a switch wafer you need doing if you send me the files.
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Old 13th Jun 2021, 1:58 pm   #10
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Default Re: Stipple filling of black dots for drawing switch wafers?

Hi!

I have the Affinity Workbooks and full purchased copies of Affinity Publisher & Designer, so if there's a way of doing this in Affinity Designer that would be lovely!

(I'll be buying Photo next Pay Day!)

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