You can define, create, and compile shape and font files to use custom symbols and text fonts in your drawings.
Shapes are objects that you use like blocks. Blocks are more versatile and easier to use and insert than shapes. However, shapes are more efficient for the program to store and draw. User-defined shapes are helpful when you must insert a simple part many times and when speed is important.
Use the LOAD command to load a compiled shape (SHX) file containing the shape definition. Then you use the SHAPE command to insert shapes from the file into your drawing. You can specify the scale and rotation to use for each shape as you insert it. SHP fonts are a special type of shape file, and are defined in the same way as shape files.
You enter the description of shapes in a specially formatted text file with a file extension of .shp. You use a text editor or word processor that enables you to save in ASCII format to create the shape definition (SHP) file, and then you compile the file with the COMPILE command. Compiling a shape definition file generates a compiled shape file (SHX) with the same name as the shape definition file.
If the shape definition file defines a font, you use the STYLE command to define a text style. Then, you add text to a drawing to use the characters defined in the compiled shape file. If the shape definition file defines shapes, you use the LOAD command to load the shape file into the drawing. Use the SHAPE command to insert the specified shapes into the drawing.
A Type 1 PostScript font must first compile it into a shape file before it can be used in the program. The COMPILE command accepts both SHP and PFB files as input and generates an SHX file.
The program cannot compile and load every Type 1 font. The PostScript font facilities in AutoCAD-based programs are intended to process a subset of Adobe fonts. If you receive an error while compiling a PostScript font, the resulting SHX file (if one is generated) may not load into the program.
For more information on the Adobe Type 1 font format, refer to Adobe Type1 Font Format Version 1.1. When you have purchased and installed these fonts, you can begin using them with the program.