2012

file. If the style has only a Big Font file, it is displayed with a leading comma:
,greek.
For each character in a text string, AutoCAD for Mac searches the Big Font
file first. If the character is not found there, the normal font file is searched.
To enable Big Fonts from the Text Style dialog box, choose the Big Font file
you want to use from the Asian Set list.
Use a Big Font to Extend a Font
To include special symbols in text strings, you can use a Big Font instead of
extending a standard text font.
In some drafting disciplines, many special symbols can appear in text strings.
The AutoCAD for Mac standard text fonts can be extended to include special
symbols. However, extending standard text fonts has several limitations:
 The number of shapes is 255 per font file.
 Standard character set uses almost half the available shape numbers. Only
codes 1 through 9, 11 through 31, and 130 through 255 are available.
 Multiple text fonts require duplication of the symbol definitions in each
font.
 Special symbols require that you enter %%nnn, where nnn is the symbol's
shape number.
The Big Font mechanism avoids these problems. You can select one or more
seldom-used characters, such as the tilde (˜) or the vertical bar (|), as an escape
code, and use the next character to select the appropriate special symbol. For
instance, you can use the following Big Font file to draw Greek letters by
entering a vertical bar (|, ASCII code 124) followed by the equivalent Roman
letter. Because the first byte of each character is 124, the character codes are
biased by 124 x 256, or 31744.
*BIGFONT 60,1,124,124
*0,4,Greek
above, below, modes, 0
*31809,n,uca
. . .
uppercase Alpha definition, invoked by "|A"
*31810,n,ucb
. . .
uppercase Beta definition, invoked by "|B"
*31841,n,lca
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