Creating fill symbols
Release 9.1 Last modified December 7, 2006	Print all topics in : "Working with styles and symbols"

About creating fill symbols

Fill symbols are used to draw polygonal features such as countries, provinces, land uses, habitats, parcels, and footprints. Fills can be specified as solid, gradients, hatched overlays, random markers, transparent pictures, or opaque pictures. In addition, a polygonal data layer can be given a percentage of transparency. Fills are also used to draw graphic shapes and backgrounds, data frames, map elements, graphics, and text.

Fill types

The standard fill types are:

• Simple—fast-drawing solid fill with an optional outline
• Gradient—linear, rectangular, circular, or buffered color ramp fills
• Line—hatched lines at any angle, separation, or offset
• Marker—marker symbols drawn randomly or ordered
• Picture—continuous tiling of a .bmp (Windows bitmap) or .emf (Windows enhanced metafile) graphic

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

How to create fill symbols

Creating a solid fill

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 Fill Symbol.
4. Click the Type dropdown arrow in the fill Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Simple Fill Symbol.
5. Click the Color dropdown arrow and click the color you want.
Optionally, click More Colors and use the Color Selector dialog box to mix a new color.

6. Click OK.

Adding a fill outline

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 Fill Symbol.
4. Click Outline Color in the Fill Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click the color you want to use.
5. Set the Outline Width or click Outline to choose a predefined line symbol.
Optionally, use the line properties menu to create a new outline.

6. Click OK.

Creating a gradient fill

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 Fill Symbol.
4. Click the Type dropdown arrow in the fill Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Gradient Fill Symbol.
5. Click the Style dropdown arrow and click Linear.
6. Adjust the number of color Intervals and the color stretch Percentage from start to end.
7. Click the Color Ramp Style dropdown arrow and choose another fill.
8. Right-click the Color Ramp Style and click Properties to modify the ramp.
9. If you want to modify your ramp, click Color 1, click the dropdown arrow, and choose a color for the first color of your gradient fill color ramp. Click Color 2 and choose the end color of your ramp.
10. Click OK.
11. Right-click Style and click Save to style.
12. Type a name for the new color ramp.
The color ramp is stored in your personal style.

13. Click OK.
14. Click Outline and set the Width to 0 for no outline.
15. Click OK.

Tip

You can modify an existing color ramp or create a new one as you create the gradient symbol. Learn more about working with color There are four types of color ramps that are designed to communicate quantitative data, temperature, elevation, and to draw polygonal fills: Algorithmic—linear stretch between one or two specified end colors Random—alternating bands of random colors Multipart—combines other color ramp elements in a continuous band Preset—a ramp of individually specified colors

Creating a random dot fill

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 Fill Symbol.
4. Click the Type dropdown arrow in the fill Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Marker Fill Symbol.
5. Click Random.
6. Click Marker.
7. Change the Color.
8. Change the Size to 3.
9. Click OK.
10. Click the Fill Properties tab.
11. Adjust the X and Y Separation to 5, 5 for a denser distribution.
12. Click OK.

Tip

To create a transparent dot fill, set the background or foreground color to No color.

Creating an overlay fill

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 Fill Symbol.
4. Click the Type dropdown arrow in the fill Symbol Property Editor dialog box and click Line Fill Symbol.
5. Click the Units dropdown arrow and click Inches.
6. Click Line and click Properties.
7. Click the Units dropdown arrow and click Inches.
8. Click the Color dropdown arrow and click an orange shade.
9. Set the Width to 0.05.
10. Click OK and click OK.
11. Adjust the Angle to 45.
12. Set the Separation to 0.1.
13. Click Outline and set the Width to 0. Click OK.
14. Click the Add a New Layer button.
15. Repeat steps 3 through 5, choose a darker orange, set the Width to 0.01, and click OK twice.
16. Adjust the Angle to 45.
17. Set the Offset to 0.12.
18. Set the Separation to 0.1.
19. Click Outline and set it to 0. Click OK.
20. Click OK.

Tips

There is more than one way to create a transparent overlay fill: you can create a hatched line fill with alternating opaque and transparent hatches or you can set the entire feature layer to a percentage of transparency. Combining these can achieve a variety of effects. You can mix symbols with different units in the same style. You can make a layer display transparently.

Creating a picture fill

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 Fill Symbol.
4. Click the Type dropdown arrow in the Fill Symbol Property Editor dialog and click Picture Fill Symbol.
5. Navigate to a .bmp or .emf file.
6. Click the Foreground and Background Color dropdown arrows and set the new colors.
You can choose No color to create a transparent background or foreground.

7. Adjust the Scale of the picture.
8. Click OK.

Tips

A .bmp is a raster image. An .emf is a vector graphic. You can modify both foreground and background colors on one-bit .bmp pictures. You can only modify the background color on multibyte .bmp and .emf pictures. What's the difference between using marker fills, line fills, or picture fills? Marker and line fills are vector-based. The more dense the fill, the more drawing-intensive. Picture fills can be .emf (vector) or .bmp (images). To create a transparent picture fill, set the background or foreground color to No color. Swapping the color properties of a 1-bit .bmp image toggles which color can be modified with the Symbol Selector Options. Only the foreground color can be modified. A .bmp is an image, or a grid of pixels; therefore, only the individual pixels can be scaled. If it is scaled too large, it can look jagged, rough, or blurry. If it is scaled too small, it can lose detail. On the other hand, .emf vectors scale proportionately.

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