Hello,
I have a moderate amount of programming skill, and was wondering about creating some kind of sign design software to speed up the design process for props, video game creation and other NON-PROFESSIONAL usecases. I have a basic amount of skill creating signs in inkscape and I'm asking what features would be needed in this software? How should it work? What should it not do?
Any and all suggestions welcome! (diagrams are a plus )
I could imagine some kind of interface where you select a type of direction sign (flag, map etc.), select the current road status (motorway / primary / other) and then add "blocks" of destinations and road types. It would require a careful reading of the "Guildford" rules to get right, but could possibly end up producing better signs than some of the real ones that ended up in the botched roadsigns thread!
For a "simple" design package I fear there are too many rules for it to be easily implemented. Line and horizontal spacings vary depending on the precise text being used. Then there's the intricacies of map-type signs before you even consider the likes of Tiger tails and Shared lane ADS.
If you wanted to create something that "looks about right but isn't 100% correct", it's probably do-able, but only if you don't want to create the more complicated type of sign. Even then, the amount of effort put into it would possibly leave the creator wanting some payment for their time!
Last edited by Conekicker on Tue Apr 02, 2024 11:50, edited 1 time in total.
Patience is not a virtue - it's a concept invented by the dozy beggars who are unable to think quickly enough.
Conekicker wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 11:42
For a "simple" design package I fear there are too many rules for it to be easily implemented. Line and horizontal spacings vary depending on the precise text being used. Then there's the intricacies of map-type signs before you even consider the likes of Tiger tails and Shared lane ADS.
Conekicker wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 11:42
For a "simple" design package I fear there are too many rules for it to be easily implemented. Line and horizontal spacings vary depending on the precise text being used. Then there's the intricacies of map-type signs before you even consider the likes of Tiger tails and Shared lane ADS.
Given like your usecase isn't the creation of complex, hyper-realistic signs, but limited props for other media, it might make sense to focus on providing well for a few simple, restrictive cases. For example, you might cover a simple direction sign with a single destination and road number, or a single type of motorway turn-off sign with maybe one or two lines of destinations. It wouldn't cover complex cases, but it sounds like your intended users might not need those complex cases, or could tweak what they're trying to do to fit within the limitations of your software. At that point you'd basically just be writing one or two lines of text in a fixed position on a pre-defined image.
jnty wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2024 14:11
Given like your usecase isn't the creation of complex, hyper-realistic signs, but limited props for other media, it might make sense to focus on providing well for a few simple, restrictive cases. For example, you might cover a simple direction sign with a single destination and road number, or a single type of motorway turn-off sign with maybe one or two lines of destinations. It wouldn't cover complex cases, but it sounds like your intended users might not need those complex cases, or could tweak what they're trying to do to fit within the limitations of your software. At that point you'd basically just be writing one or two lines of text in a fixed position on a pre-defined image.
Depending on the length of the text, as a bare minimum, you'd need the ability to stretch the width of the sign. Pre-defined positions and angles for arrows and chevron locations would also be minimum requirements. A map-type motorway ADS width will also vary, potentially by quite a bit, depending on the length or either the destination or route number or both. If you then want to add extra lines of text or symbols into the mix, that's when complications raise their ugly head(s).
Patience is not a virtue - it's a concept invented by the dozy beggars who are unable to think quickly enough.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions! I will need to read up on the manual and get more of an idea how the signs are designed. If anyone wants this software, just know it may never come out, as this is just me playing around.
Thanks again!
On these lines, my avatar has two sentences. What's the line with full stops? A single sentence without a full stop looks fine, but I've never seen a sign with full stops with multiple sentences, a new sentence just starts with a Capital letter, but without a terminating full stop it can be grammatically ugly.
It's supposed to be an attempt to try and tidy up this mess here.
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