Professional Engraving Systems

Basic Notary Seal Layout in XGW
January 22, 2008

 

 

Before we begin, lets refresh our geometry.

The diameter (D) of a circle is measured from outer edge to outer edge. The diameter of our circle below is 2 inches.

 

In Xenetech, the diameter of a circle is the same as the Letter Height.

The radius (R) of a circle is measured from the center of the circle to the outer edge or one half the diameter or R = 1/2(D). The radius of our circle below is 1 inch.

 

 

Getting Started

1. In Xenetech select File | New...
2. Set the single plate size to 1.625 wide and 1.625 high.
3. Set the multiple plate size to 1 inch wide and 1 inch high.
4. Click on OK.

We will assume for this example that you do not have the drawing tools package. Therefore, we will install the utility font and use the circle from there to make our seal.

5. In Xenetech select Font | Install Resident Font...
6. Select the Utility font and click on OK. The name for the utility font is Utility.fnt
7. Click on in the toolkit and set it to 1.375
8. Press <Enter> on the keyboard.
9. Click on in the toolkit and set it to Center.
10. Click on and set it to zero.
11. Press <Enter> on the keyboard.
12. Click on and set it to zero.
13. Press <Enter> on the keyboard.
14. Click the to enter text mode. Type an upper case N (this will place a circle on the screen)
15. Press <F8> on the keyboard. This will evenly space the circle on the plate.
16. Now select the circle that is on the screen.
17. Press the <F5> key to duplicate the circle.
18. With the newly created second circle selected, click on in the toolkit and set it to 1.

This next step is important so be sure to follow along closely...

19. With the smaller circle already selected, hold down the shift key and click on the larger circle. At this time both circles should be selected and the larger of the two circles was the LAST one selected. Believe it or not, this is important. When aligning objects, you need an anchor. An anchor is an object that doesn't move and is the base of the alignment. By selecting the larger circle last, we make it the anchor. This means that the smaller circle aligns to the larger one.
20. Now, select Arrange | Align Center and Middle.

If you did everything as indicated above, the smaller circle will be aligned in the center of the larger circle and your plate will look just like mine below. If your circles are much thicker than mine, select both of your circles, click , set the value to zero and press <Enter>.

 

These circles are merely used as a template to set up the seal, since Xenetech allows only rectangular plates. After we finish the setup, the circles will be deleted.

Ok, now lets add some text. With NOTHING selected:

1. Install the font you wish to use.. (I will be using good ole Gothic)
2. Click on in the toolkit and set it to .125.
3. Click on in the toolkit and set it to 0.00.
4. Press <Enter> to go into text mode, and type "BATON ROUGE"
5. Press <Enter> to create a new line.
6. Type "LOUISIANA 70817"

Don’t worry about the location of these lines, they will be placed correctly later, just get the text on the screen.

Click to redraw the screen.

Your plate should look something like this:

 

 

 

Fitting the text between the circles

Here is where the geometry comes in handy. What we want to do is place the text between the two circles and centered. Just how on earth will we do that you might ask? That is just what we are about to discover. Here is what we know so far:

• The radius of the large circle is .688
• The radius of the small circle is .5
• The letter height of our text is .125

Remember that the radius is 1/2 the diameter!!

What we need to find is what the radius of the text will be. Here is how we do this.

1. By subtracting the radius of the smaller circle from the radius of the larger circle, we will get the distance between the two circles. This value is .188.
2. Subtract the letter height of our text (.125) from the distance between the two circles (.188) and you get .063. This value is the amount of space left between the two circles after the text is in place.
3. Now we want the text centered between the two circles so we will take the value .063 and divide it by 2. This will give us .031. This means that after the text is in place we will have .031 inches between the smaller circle and the bottom of our text as well as .031 inches from the large circle and the top of our text.

Believe it or not, we now know the radius of our text. As we discovered above, the text will start .031 inches above the smaller circle. Since the radius of the smaller circle is .5, all we need to do is add .031 to .5 and we get .531!!

Knowing this:

1. Select the line "BATON ROUGE"
2. Select Font | Arc to arc the line of text.
3. With this line selected, note that the BaseLine field now displays ARC Y Center. Change the to 0.813. This is the vertical center of the plate.
4. Now select the in the toolkit and type in the value .531.

This should have the top line arced correctly and placed just inside the upper outer edge of the circle.

Even though the selected arced line has ‘Center’ for its Justification, it is still possible to move this line left to right with the mouse, this is normal. However, to ensure that it is centered horizontally in the circle, check the ‘X Center’ in the Toolkit, it should be set to 0.813 also (the horizontal center of the plate). If the line was accidentally moved, select it and change its X Center to 0.813.

Your plate should look something like this:

 

 

 

5. Select the line "LOUISIANA 70817".
6. Change the to -180.0. Be sure to use the "-" key at the top of the keyboard. The "-" key on the number pad at the far right of the keyboard is used for something different and will not work for selecting negative values.
7. Press <Enter>.
8. Now select the in the toolkit and type in the value .531.
9. Press <Enter>.
10. With the text still selected, go to Font |Arc and arc the text.
11. Select and change it to 0.813.

If everything worked correctly, the bottom line of text should be arced between the two circles. Your screen should now look like this:

 

 

 

Now all that you need to do is save this job for future use. Remember to remove the circles before you engrave!!

In Summary

Here is another look at the seal we just created above. You can use this as a guide as to how the math is done.

 

 

• D1 This is the diameter of the inner most circle. Remember that the diameter in Xenetech is also the letter height. The value for this example is 1 inch.
• D2 This is the diameter of the outer most circle. Remember that the diameter in Xenetech is also the letter height. The value for this example is 1.375 inches.
• R1 This is the radius of the inner most circle. Remember the radius is 1/2 of the diameter. The radius for this circle is .5 inches.
• R2 This is the radius of the outer most circle. Remember the radius is 1/2 the diameter. The radius for this circle is .688 inches.
• R3 This is the radius to the bottom of the arced text. To get this value:

1. Subtract R1 from R2. (.688 -.5 = .188)
2. Subtract the letter height of the text from .188. (.125 - .188 = .063)
3. Divide the remainder in half. (.063 / 2 = .031)
4. Last but not least, add this to R1. (.031 + .5 = .531)
   

 

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