Tag Archives: Professional Map Making

Assign Unsymbolized Objects to OCAD Symbols

How are unsymbolized objects created?

If vector data such as Shape, GeoPackages or DXF are imported into OCAD, OCAD must know which imported objects are to be assigned to which OCAD symbols by means of a Cross Reference Table (.ocdCrt) during import.

If the translation table contains errors or gaps, the imported objects are displayed in OCAD as unsymbolized objects, i.e. the objects appear in the drawing area but are not assigned to any OCAD symbol.

What properties do unsymbolized objects have?

Unsymbolized objects are displayed by default in red color on top of the other map objects.

If an unsymbolized object is selected, the layer name is shown in the left part of the status bar.

Hide or Show unsymbolized objects by changing the Show Objects without Symbol option in the Symbol menu.

How can unsymbolized objects be converted?

Option Cross Reference Table:

You can use the Convert Imported Layers to Symbol command from the Map menu to convert unsymbolized objects to symbolized OCAD objects. In the dialog box you can create and/or modify a list of references. A reference consists of a layer (left side) and the corresponding OCAD symbol (right side). Symbol number -1 means that OCAD do not import and delete the layer.

You can save the list to a cross reference (.ocdCrt) file for later use. You can load an existing cross reference file to modify or execute it. Predefined cross reference tables by OCAD can be found in the folder C:\Program Files\OCAD\OCAD 2018 [EDITION]\Crt.

This procedure is useful if geodata is often imported.

Option Manual Assignment:

See an animation here.

This procedure is useful when only a few unsymbolized objects are involved.

Show Background Map Favorites

Thanks to the Background Favorites option, you can quickly and easily switch between different background maps when drawing.

In the Manage Background Maps dialog, you can make a background map visible in the background favorites by turning on the eye icon in the corresponding cell.

In this example, four different background maps are loaded: An areal image, a slope gradient map, a hill shading map and a vegetation height map. The last two are marked as background favorites.

As you know, the topmost visible background map is displayed in OCAD. In this example, the aerial image is therefore displayed, when we switch to Draft Mode.

If you now switch to the Draft Mode (Only Background Map Favorites), the two background maps marked as background favorites are displayed (in our example the hill shading map and the vegetation height map). The hill shading has been set as transparent so that both files are visible together.

You can switch the View Mode in the Status Bar (see image above) or in the View menu. You can also set a Shortcut to quickly navigate through the different View modes, e.g. Alt + V.

Which View modes appear in the loop can be set in the OCAD Preferences. For example, if you are not working with Spot colors, you can omit this mode.

OCAD Basics

The OCAD Basics exercise teaches both basic and advanced drawing and editing functions in an interactive way. Many tips and tricks for working efficiently with OCAD are also presented.

The exercise file is therefore not only suitable for beginners, but also for experienced users who want to refresh their OCAD knowledge.

It can be found in the OCAD program under Menu File > Open Sample Maps in English, Swedish or German (OCAD Basics_EN.ocd, OCAD Basics_SE.ocd or OCAD Basics_DE.ocd).

If the files are not visible, please download the latest OCAD Update.

More OCAD Tutorials can be found here.