Creating marker symbols
Release 9.2 Last modified January 4, 2008	Print all topics in : "Styles and symbols"

About creating marker symbols

Marker symbols are used to draw point features and point graphics. They can be used in conjunction with other symbols to decorate line symbols and create fill patterns and text backgrounds. As graphics, they can add special cartographic elements.
You can use outlines and halos with symbols. An outline uses a line symbol to surround the layer graphic, whereas a mask uses a fill symbol to draw a halo around all layers of the symbol. A halo can also have an outline as part of its definition. A mask is a halo that is created by designating a fill color with a specified width around the layer and an optional outline.

Marker types

The standard marker types are

• Simple—Fast-drawing set of basic glyph patterns with optional mask
  
• Character—A glyph from a TrueType font
  
• Arrow—A glyph from a TrueType font
  
• Picture—A single Windows bitmap (.bmp) or Windows enhanced metafile (.emf) graphic
  

Any number of layers can be combined in a single marker.

Improving marker symbol drawing performance

The drawing performance of marker symbols, whether used to symbolize points or as a component of one of the other types of symbols, can be improved greatly by using simple marker symbols and single-layer character markers. These are your best choices for symbolizing large point feature datasets.

Masks and haloes can greatly increase draw times. A good alternative to adding a mask or halo to a character or simple marker is to create an .emf file that represents the symbol and use a picture marker symbol that displays the contents of the .emf file. In addition, .bmp-based picture marker symbols can be replaced with .emf markers to improve performance with those symbols.

How to create marker symbols

Creating a simple marker shape

1. Click the Tools menu, point to Styles, then click Style Manager.
   
2. Click the style folder in the style tree in which you want to create a new symbol.
   
3. Right-click the open space in the Symbol contents window, point to New, then click Marker Symbol.
   
4. Click the Type drop-down arrow on the marker Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Simple Marker Symbol.
   
5. Click the Style drop-down arrow and click Square.
   
6. Click the Color drop-down arrow and click a color.
   
7. Check Use Outline.
   
8. Click the Outline Color drop-down arrow and click a color.
   
9. Set the Outline Size to 0.5.
   
10. Click OK.
    

Tips

What's the difference between an outline and a mask? An outline uses a line symbol to surround the layer graphic. A mask uses a fill symbol to draw a halo around all layers of the symbol. You can use any text or display font in your system's fonts folder to create symbols. You can also create your own TrueType fonts and copy them to your system's font folder.

Creating a marker from a TrueType font

1. Click the Tools menu, point to Styles, then click Style Manager.
   
2. Click the style folder in the style tree in which you want to create a new symbol.
   
3. Right-click the open space in the Symbol contents window, point to New, then click Marker Symbol.
   
4. Click the Type drop-down arrow on the marker Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Character Marker Symbol.
   
5. Click the Font drop-down arrow and click ESRI Default Marker.
   
6. Set the Units to Points.
   
7. Select the marker symbol (99) from the window list.
   
8. Click the Mask tab.
   
9. Click Halo.
   
10. Click Symbol and create a white fill with a black outline width of 0.5. Click OK.
    
11. Adjust the Size of the halo to 2 points.
    
12. Click OK.
    

Tips

You can create your own TrueType fonts using third-party font-creation software and copying them to your system's font folder. You can use any text or display font in your system's font folder to create symbols. You can also create your own TrueType fonts and copy them to your system's font folder. A north arrow is created from a TrueType font. It also has unique properties that link it to its source data frame, and it can have a background and border.

Creating an arrow marker

1. Click the Tools menu, point to Styles, then click Style Manager.
   
2. Click the style folder in the style tree in which you want to create a new symbol.
   
3. Right-click the open space in the Symbol contents window, point to New, then click Marker Symbol.
   
4. Click the Type drop-down arrow on the marker Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Arrow Marker Symbol.
   
5. Click the Units drop-down arrow and click Points.
   
6. Click the Color drop-down arrow and click a red shade.
   
7. Set the Length to 21.6.
   
8. Set the Width to 9.
   
9. Click the Copy Layer button .
   
10. Click the Paste Layer button .
    
11. Click the Color drop-down arrow and click black.
    
12. Set the X Offset to -1.5.
    
13. Set the Y Offset to -2.0.
    
14. Click OK.
    

Tips

The ESRI Arrowhead font contains a variety of arrow shapes. A north arrow is a character marker symbol and is created from a TrueType font. It also has unique properties that link it to its source data frame, and it can have a background and border.

Creating a marker from a picture graphic

1. Click the Tools menu, point to Styles, then click Style Manager.
   
2. Click the style folder in the style tree in which you want to create a new symbol.
   
3. Right-click the open space in the Symbol contents window, point to New, then click Marker Symbol.
   
4. Click the Type drop-down arrow on the marker Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Picture Marker Symbol.
   
The Open dialog box automatically opens.

5. Click .bmp or .emf from the Files of type drop-down arrow.
   
6. Navigate to the location of the graphic and click the graphic file.
   
7. Click Open.
   
8. Set the Size.
   
9. Set the Angle.
   
10. Set the Background Color.
    
11. Set the Transparent Color.
    
12. Click OK.
    

Tips

The pictures used in the styles that come with ArcMap are stored in the \bin\styles\pictures folder where ArcGIS is installed. You can create pictures using any graphics software package that supports export to Windows bitmaps or Windows enhanced metafiles. Using a graphics package to design artwork allows you to create a single image with several colors as well as combine graphics and text. You can scan graphics and use an editing package to clean them up and save them as a .bmp or .emf file. One difference between a .bmp and a .emf is that a .bmp is a raster format and a .emf is a vector format; therefore, the .emf format has better clarity and scaling abilities. Only the foreground color of a 1-bit .bmp can be modified. Swapping colors toggles the color to be modified with the Symbol Selector.

Creating a multilayer marker symbol

1. Click the Tools menu, point to Styles, then click Style Manager.
   
2. Click the style folder in the style tree in which you want to create a new symbol.
   
3. Right-click the open space in the Symbol contents window, point to New, then click Marker Symbol.
   
4. Click the Type drop-down arrow on the marker Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Character Marker Symbol.
   
5. Click the ESRI US MUTCD 3 font.
   
6. Set the Unicode to 242, the X Offset to 0.5, and the Size to 18.
   
7. Click the Add A Layer button.
   
8. Click the ESRI US MUTCD 3 font.
   
9. Set the Unicode to 241, the Size to 18, and the color to CMYK 65 0 43 35.
   
To enter a custom color, click More Colors on the bottom of the color palette.

10. Click the right arrow at the top of the Color Selector menu to change the color model.
    


11. Click the Add a New Layer button .
    
12. Click the ESRI MUTCD 3 font.
    
13. Set the Unicode to 240, the Size to 18, and the color to CMYK 0 31 49 38.
    
Your symbol will now look like this:


14. Click OK on the Symbol Property Editor dialog box.
    

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