Our Irrigation Symbols

The Irrigation Symbols Library

 

 

 

Maintaining a comprehensive library of symbols is a huge undertaking, and we wouldn't wish it on anybody. Some examples of symbol requirements that have come up recently include the Rain Bird HE-VANs (and before those were the really handy SQ nozzles), the Hunter MP-3500, and the Toro Precision series. That's a lot of symbols to have to maintain continuously, and it takes a tremendous effort on our part. One of the really wonderful benefits of using our irrigation design software is the ability to spec any equipment and know that a symbol will be assigned automatically.

You can make minor edits to customize any of our irrigation symbol blocks. For example, you may want to change the lineweights or layer names and colors within our symbols to match your standards. You can also create or add your own irrigation symbol by overwriting the appropriate block from our library with the linework from your custom symbol. For more information, see our Adding Your Spray Symbols documentation.

 

 

 

Expanded Rotor Symbols Library

We expanded our collection of rotor symbols in 2019 to include rotating arc indicators and symbols.

 

• No Rotation:

These symbols consist of our original default rotor blocks. The symbol will be fixed, and will place with no rotation. This symbol type does not show spray direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expanded Rotary Symbols Library

As of 2020, rotary blocks are now using symbol families. You can choose from 8 families created by us, or create up to 49 additional families for your custom symbols.

 

You can choose which symbol family to assign to each rotary manufacturer. Note that:

• Symbols in families 1–4 do not include attributes, and symbols in families 5–8 include attributes.
• The rotary symbols now include spray arcs to indicate spray direction, which appear automatically when you place a rotor.

 

To see examples of how these symbols will appear when you add rotaries to your projects, see our documentation on adding rotary heads.

 

Here are a couple of examples of the new rotary symbols with spray arcs:

 

Want to continue using the old default rotary default symbols? Make sure the system variable USERi1 is set to 23 in each irrigation drawing file where you want to use the old symbols. After you've set the variable to this value, you won't be prompted to set a symbol family when adding rotaries in the Irrigation Manager, and the spray arcs will not be included when you place the symbols.

Our master Irrigation Symbols drawing is the best reference to see all rotary family styles together and see details such as naming convention. If you make changes to any of our default rotary symbols, it's a good idea to download the Irrigation Symbols drawing and make the same change there as well, for your reference.

 

 

 

Rotary Symbol Families and Other Options

Rotary heads now offer the following options:

• 8 families in total plus the ability to create up to 49 of your own families:
• R01
• R02
• R03
• R04
• R05
• R06
• R07
• R08
• R50–99 (allowance for custom created families)
• Symbol arcs organized into 3 groups corresponding folders within your LandFX\Blocks\Graphics\Irrigation\radius folder:
• R1 (to be used for families 1–4)
• R5 (to be used for families 5–8)
• Any custom families created (50–99 series) – the system will auto-match and look for an RXX identifier to use as arc blocks for that given family. As an example, our user-defined symbol option R50 will pull arcs from the R50 arc folder.

 

 

 

Rotary Symbol Naming Conventions

Symbols:

• LAFX (Land F/X prefix) -R01 (family identifier) -01 (symbol identifier)
• Example: LAFX-R01-01

 

Schedule symbols:

• LAFX (Land F/X prefix) -R01 (family identifier) -05 (manufacturer identifier) -0024 (symbol group identifier) _SS (schedule symbol suffix)
• Example: LAFX-R01-05-0024_SS

 

Spray arc blocks:

• LAFX (Land F/X prefix) -ARC (arc block identifier) -05 (manufacturer identifier) -01 (symbol group identifier) _SS (schedule symbol suffix)
• Example: LAFX-R01-05-2400_SS

 

Family preview slides:

• LAFX (Land F/X prefix) -R01 (family identifier) -05 (manufacturer identifier) -FAMILY (preview slide identifier) _SS (schedule symbol suffix)
• Example: LAFX-R01-05-FAMILY

 

 

 

Updated Spray Symbols Library

As of 2021, our spray symbols library includes rotating arc indicators and symbols, much like our library of rotor symbols.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see our updated spray symbols, download our irrigation symbols drawing.

 

 

 

Spray Symbol Naming Conventions

Spray symbols now include a radius block and an arc block, much like rotor symbols.

 

Radius block:

• LAFX-Family-Radius
• Example: LAFX-N1-04
• Example: LAFX-N8-15

 

Arc block:

• LAFX-ARC-style-radius-arc
• Example: LAFX-ARC-NW-12-180
• Example: LAFX-ARC-NB-12-360
• NW indicates the arcs for the Black on White heads (text numbers).
• Layers/colors for the arc blocks: LK-IRRG-ARC

 

Symbol family # locations:

• Arc Rotates:
• 3 (N1)
• 4 (N2)
• 5* (N3)
• 6 (N4)
• 7 (N5)
• 8 (N6)
• 9* (N7)
• 10 (N8)
• * code is dropping arc indicator (from symbol code) to recognize arc rotate blocks
• Block rotates:
• 1 (S)
• 2 (T)
• (U): empty
• (V): empty
• (W): empty
• X: User Defined
• (Y): empty
• (Z): empty
• No rotation:
• All existing (N) spray families (non-rotating)

 

Schedule symbols:

• LAFX-Family and schedule suffix-Radius-number
• Example: NA2S-12-9 (original naming example: N2S-12-9)

 

Each family type has a FAMILY DWG and slide file (SLD) that controls how you see your options. If you want to modify the display, open the folder LandFX/Blocks/graphics/irrigation/schedule_symbols and find the DWG file named:

• LAFX-FAMILY-N-(family number)
• LAFX-FAMILY-NA-(family number)
• LAFX-FAMILY-S
• LAFX-FAMILY-T
• LAFX-FAMILY-X

 

If you want more rotating symbol options, you can create a file that matches the above names, with U-W, Y, Z, etc. as the suffix. (example: LAFX-FAMILY-U)

Our Symbol Block Naming System

As with our other symbols, our irrigation symbol blocks are named in such a way that the software knows what type of equipment a block represents based on its source file name – also the name of the block you see when selecting it as a symbol for a piece of equipment. We updated this file naming system in 2020 to provide a better organizational structure for our symbol block files. Note that you'll also need to respect these naming conventions when saving your custom symbol files into our system.

 

 

 

What Happens with Older Blocks Already Defined in Your Drawings

If you already any of our older blocks defined in your drawing, the system will continue using those blocks. If you start a new drawing and try to place anything, the system will attempt to place one of the new named blocks, which means it will download a second version of that block type, but named with the new name structure.

 

 

 

The system will update existing blocks in a previous project (that is, a project that uses older defined blocks and older block names) in two main ways:

• If you add equipment to a project, the system will auto-assign and download the new block for that equipment
• If you click a preview thumbnail to change a block – that is, if you use our Edit Equipment tool and click an existing piece of equipment, and then click the thumbnail and select one of the symbols there – the block definition will update to that newly named block.

 

 

 

How Our Updated Naming Conventions Work

Here's how our updated symbol naming structure breaks down:

 

• Heads (other than bubblers): The naming of these symbols is based on the symbol family types. You can choose these symbols on the fly.

 

• All other symbols: Refer to the Equipment Codes guide below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equipment Codes

 

Heads

• Bubblers: BUB-

 

 

Valves

 

 

Auxiliary Equipment

 

 

Drip Equipment

This list of prefixes mirrors the equipment categories and subcategories in the Irrigation Manager. As you select equipment from any of these sections, the system will load the symbol sets based on the prefix for that subcategory.

 

 

 

Saving Your Custom Blocks

If you want to save your own custom irrigation symbol blocks into our system, just make sure the block names start with the prefixes listed above for the corresponding equipment. The rest of the block name can be whatever you like.

Schedule Symbols

The blocks for the schedule symbols heads are located in the folder LandFX/Blocks/Graphics/Irrigation/Schedule_Symbols. When running an Irrigation Schedule, you can organize spray heads in two possible ways:

• By Group
• By Nozzle

 

 

When you run a schedule "By Nozzle," the symbol for each nozzle you've used will appear in the schedule. This option requires no special schedule symbol.

 

 

When you run a schedule “By Group," the system will require a Schedule Symbol that relates to the options of grouping as applies to each manufacturer's requirements. Thus, in the case of 8' radius spray heads, Rain Bird 1800 will require a group that lists four nozzles: Q, T, H, and F, whereas Toro 570 will require a group with six nozzles: Q, T, H, TT, TQ, and F. Each radius can have several options for schedule symbols, which appear to the side of the radius heads on the drawing.

 

 

 

Schedule Symbols for Rotors & Spray Heads

For rotors and spray heads, our default library of schedule symbols only includes the standard single symbol. If you want to use one of the updated four-arc symbols in your schedule, you can download these updated symbols using the link below.

 

 

 

 

The Symbol Families

Our Irrigation Symbols Drawing contains several "symbol families" for each type of irrigation equipment. Each family includes a number of related irrigation symbols, which will have a different structure, appearance, and organization particular to each equipment type.

 

 

Symbol Sizes

Our irrigation symbols were sized to fit into the space provided for them, along with at least a small length of pipe. This feature is especially critical for the smaller-diameter spray heads. We've sized our symbols with the following scales in mind:

Up to 1”=20' scale: all symbols.

1”=30' scale: all symbols with a 5' radius or greater.

1”=40' scale: all symbols with an 8' radius or greater.

 

 

 

An Example: The Spray Symbol Families

To illustrate the general thinking behind our irrigation symbols, here's a breakdown of our spray symbol families. The descriptions below apply particularly to our spray symbols, but they should give you some idea of how we create and organize each family.

Spray symbol families are no longer assigned by Preference Set. You can now select spray symbols on the fly as you would all other family types (e.g., rotors, rotary heads, etc.).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our spray symbol library also includes a family called Family X. We created this symbol family specifically to allow users to customize the symbols. The symbols in Family X are essentially blank, allowing you to make extensive changes to them. Note that they are organized by radius size.

 

 

 

The spray heads in Families 1, 2, and 3 are diagrammatic. When placed into a drawing, they will all be rotated to match the direction in which their arc pattern is pointing. When you save them, they should be pointing due east. Open some of these with specific arcs, such as 1/4 or 1/3, for a visual example. Spray head symbols in families 1 and 2 are either circular or hexagonal, and Family 3 consists mainly of square symbols.

 

 

The spray heads in families 4 through 11 do not rotate when placed, as each has a numerical value for its radius. Symbols in these families have either a black letter in a white background or a white letter in a filled background.

 

All irrigation symbol blocks are located in the appropriate subfolders within the folder LandFX/Blocks/Graphics/Irrigation. For example, the spray head symbols are located in the folder LandFX/Blocks/Graphics/Irrigation/Spray. Each family lists the various radii and arc requirements. If you turn on the layer X-TEXT-013M, the AutoCAD file name for each symbol will appear below the corresponding symbol.

 

 

 

Selecting Spray Symbol Families

As mentioned above, your spray symbol families are no longer assigned according to the Preference Set you're using for your system design. Instead, you'll pick from the set of spray families on the fly in the same way you'd do with a rotor symbol. With this update, you won't be limited to 2 turf sprays and 4 shrub sprays – you can have as many of each as you want.

 

 

 

For most projects, you can simply add a turf spray and a shrub spray. The families you select for Turf Spray and Shrub Spray will apply to the corresponding categories of heads the first time you add a turf or shrub spray to a project.

 

Editing Our Irrigation Symbols

Our irrigation symbols may be close in appearance to what you want ... but not quite. For example, their lineweights may be too thick or too thin for your office standards. For information on making minor edits to our symbols, please see our documentation page on Editing Our Irrigation Symbols.

 

 

 

Related Webinars

• Irrigation Customization: We cover the Irrigation Preferences, including what to consider as you're setting up your office standards, and what will and won't change on the fly when you modify these settings, as well as customizing irrigation symbols. (1 hr 2 min)
• Dotting Your Irrigation I's: Each client will have different styles and requirements, but the concept is the same: You should feel comfortable matching any client's standards. We'll show you how. (1 hr 1 min)
• Implementing Your Office CAD Standards: Find out how easily you can adapt your own office standards to Land F/X – and how effectively the software will then apply them to your projects. (1 hr 2 min)
• Working With Blocks: Take a broad look into the role of blocks within Land F/X and how to integrate your personal set of blocks into our system. (1 hour 4 min)
• Customizing Irrigation – What You Should Know: Join us for a discussion on the "need-to-knows" of making the software work with your office standards. We'll show you the different ways you can customize, and you'll pick up some valuable tips for setting up the software to meet your office standards. (1 hr 1 min)

Troubleshooting

Issue: The letters or attributes in an irrigation symbol (such as a rotor) are not centered

 

Issue: After I select a piece of irrigation equipment, I don't see any options for selecting a symbol. Am I missing a library item?

 

Issue: Problems with the S2 Spray Family

 

Issue: The wrong irrigation symbols are coming in

 

Issue: You want to make the spray radius lines of your heads visible when you plot or plot preview

 

Issue: You selected an irrigation symbol block and you can see that it's using an old block definition or our old naming style

 

Issue: You tried to edit an irrigation symbol block, and the thumbnail preview slide is blank

 

Issue: Your heads are placing with the incorrect symbol family