AutoCAD symbol sets

[Ikoma]

Anyone have any recommendations for symbol sets usable in AutoCAD?

Let me add some extra info/background. I'm a Civil Designer by trade and spend all day in AutoCAD '07, '09, Civil 3D '07, & '09. I haven't used it much to do gaming maps since the results are so antiseptic (by intentional design). However, Autodesk recently released a pretty cool program called Impressions that takes DWG files and add a great deal of artistic flair. For examples, check out this gallery (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=11067559). So, with this new capability plus an increased amount of online gaming (Play by Post) time have enticed me to start using my professional skills a bit more for my gaming maps. I am hunting for block libraries and such to help out. Any ideas?

[Redrobes]

Its funny you post this as I was writing a converter to DXF last night. Still, I don't think you will find many people use DXF files for RPG mapping. The usual format for vector types is the SVG.

The trouble with DXF is that there are multiple versions - what 14 or 15 or something and then it comes in text and binary flavors and AutoCAD wont release the full format for the bin one etc so like MS Word, people are finding that their large collection with many hours wrapped up is not portable after a while.

Still, it does have a proven track record and is definitely capable of drawing good maps if you like that style.

I came across this little gem too.
http://www.cadstd.com/
which is a free and very easy to use CAD prog with DXF import and export which could draw great maps if you wanted to.

So to sum up, your best bet is to see if anything can convert SVG into DXF but then you might as well just stay with Illustrator / Inkscape for that purpose which is why I think you wont get a lot of responses to the query.

Theres lots of SVG art around and you should search the 'CUSAC' which is a repository of lots of RPG icons and I think it has SVG types in there too.


Edit -- It seems that Inkscape with this http://www.bobcookdev.com/inkscape/inkscape-dxf.html better DXF export might be useful for you. Theres a lot of talk on forums but little concrete solutions. It seems a lot easier to go from DXF to SVG tho and I think thats because thats the trend now away from DXF.

Oh yeah, the CSUAC is from here - http://gmsapprentice.com but you need to register to download parts of it.