Le 18-03-12 à 12:58, Bald Eagle a écrit :
> 
> As a natural and plentiful supply of Dried Frog Pills (TM) is becoming more
> scarce and illicit as the decades whiz by, errant thoughts on various subjects
> and POV-Ray such as the following continually fill my mind:
> 
> The lettering on road surfaces is a vertically stretched typeface, to compensate
> for the somewhat extreme viewing angle from the driver's seat.
> 
> I have not seen any specifications for these letters and arrows, and have not
> yet found a source to download such a font / typeface.
> 
> Doing a bit of trigonometric scribbling, at first glance it appears that the
> upper half and lower half of such a typeface [ideally] ought to be scaled to
> different extents.
> 
> So my questions are:
> a) can anyone dig up DOT specs?
> b) Are such fonts available for download?
> c) What's the best way to display a text{} object such that the bottom half and
> top half are unequally scaled?
> (I'm thinking CSG-type cropping, or something like Dave Blandston's excellent
> work with text)
> 
> I'll likely work up some diagrams and equations, but I figured I'd just throw
> this out there for fun.
> 
> 

For the fonts :
There is a font called "skyscraper" that you may find interesting for 
that purpose.
You can use any stencil like font vertically scaled by a factor from 2.5 
to 4.

I've never noticed any uneven scaling. Some characters and symbols may 
look that way, but are very probably not.

I don't think that there are any real DOT specs, or at least, not any 
universal ones. Those letterings are probably eyeballed to look about 
correct. Then, some countries could edict some "standards" based on that.


Alain

Post a reply to this message

Well actually there apparently is the predictable and virtually inevitable
pathological creeping bureaucratic control of everything in their grasp:

Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices

This seems to be very similar in the UK, Australia, and the US as far as I can
tell.   There are diagrams, and measurements, and all of that.

To make sure that everything, everywhere, for everyone, is the same.
In the name of diversity.

They also specify that instead of
STOP
 ON
RED

The first word is closest to the driver.  So it it needs to be:
RED
 ON
STOP

so that you actually DO read the words in the correct order as you drive up to
and over them.

And I don't think Bob was as bored as this guy:
http://joesretirementblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/progress-in-manomet-part-3-manomet.html


So, this was all interesting, educational, and somewhat terrifying all at the
same time.

Post a reply to this message

On 13-3-2018 21:26, clipka wrote:
> Am 13.03.2018 um 20:47 schrieb Kenneth:
> 
>> Take this for instance...
>>
>>           STOP
>>            ON
>>           RED
> 
> I hear you.
> 
> Fortunately, over here in Germany we rarely ever have this problem:
> Virtually all our traffic signs and corresponding road markings are
> purely pictographical; and when we do have text on road surfaces, it's
> usually just a single word, such as "TAXI" or "BUS" to indicate a lane
> reserved for particular typs of vehicles.
> 
> One of the things I found most annoying when driving a car in the US was
> that I was ever so often forced to _read_ while driving. Felt pretty
> distracting to me.
> 

The notice (STOP ON RED) generates an interesting (sociological) 
question. If such is necessary to be brought to the driver's attention, 
is it customary in the US to drive through red otherwise? Does the red 
light not suffice? Just a thought. ;-)

-- 
Thomas

Post a reply to this message

"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> And I don't think Bob was as bored as this guy:
>
http://joesretirementblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/progress-in-manomet-part-3-manomet.html

No, not that much. Now this got me looking for a video of the arrow markings
being drawn before the paint goes down. I was envisioning templates but this
YouTube video shows a person capable of going without. Some skilled tape
measuring, but only a single hand drawn curved line at 1:40 into the vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=109&v=qLa9OaB3-Z0

> So, this was all interesting, educational, and somewhat terrifying all at the
> same time.

Funny you should put it that way. As I read the blog I was thinking about when I
was a little kid and the family was at a campground. There was a road closed
barricade with those glass beads embedded in it, complete with a couple yellow
flashing lights, when we drove in after dark.
I was only interested in the reason it lit up in the headlights so I was
scrapping the glass off in my hand and some guy walked up and told me not to do
that because it won't shine anymore. Scared me, being just a kid. Felt like I
was taking some kind of magic stuff off it.

And another more recent memory when I felt a little silly for almost stopping to
gather up overflow of those things when they striped the road near home. There
was so much in one place where it must have spilled, had that same desire to get
some of that magic again.

Post a reply to this message

Am 14.03.2018 um 08:40 schrieb Thomas de Groot:

> The notice (STOP ON RED) generates an interesting (sociological)
> question. If such is necessary to be brought to the driver's attention,
> is it customary in the US to drive through red otherwise? Does the red
> light not suffice? Just a thought. ;-)

I was told that they have a general "right turn on red" policy, kind of
this thing generalized:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%BCnpfeil

So in that context it does make sense.

Post a reply to this message

clipka <ano### [at] anonymousorg> wrote:
> Am 14.03.2018 um 08:40 schrieb Thomas de Groot:
>
> > The notice (STOP ON RED) generates an interesting (sociological)
> > question. If such is necessary to be brought to the driver's attention,
> > is it customary in the US to drive through red otherwise? Does the red
> > light not suffice? Just a thought. ;-)
>
> I was told that they have a general "right turn on red" policy, kind of
> this thing generalized:
>
> https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%BCnpfeil
>
> So in that context it does make sense.

no, it is always 'turn right on red after stop', not 'right turn yield on red.'

on a rainy night my concern is to discern the lane boundaries, signs painted on
road surfaces are not worth considering.

Post a reply to this message

"omniverse" <omn### [at] charternet> wrote:
Scared me, being just a kid. Felt like I
> was taking some kind of magic stuff off it.

As well it should - everyone knows that's fairy dust, imbued with the breath of
a unicorn.
Scraping that little bit off has left a dark mark on your soul.
Removing any more would have plunged that part of the world into eternal
darkness.

> And another more recent memory when I felt a little silly for almost stopping to
> gather up overflow of those things when they striped the road near home. There
> was so much in one place where it must have spilled, had that same desire to get
> some of that magic again.

And again the evil resurfaces!


https://www.ebay.com/i/182302520850?chn=ps

Post a reply to this message

"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:

>
> Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices
>
> They also specify that instead of
> STOP
>  ON
> RED
>
> The first word is closest to the driver.  So it it needs to be:
> RED
>  ON
> STOP
>
> so that you actually DO read the words in the correct order as you drive up to
> and over them.
>

Ha, I didn't know that. I know I've seen such opposite examples now and
then--maybe some of the road-painting crews here in Virginia didn't yet learn to
read :-P  (Ooh, am I being cynical about my fellow Virginians? Perish the
thought.)

Now I'll be *totally* confused at night in the rain :-O  I'll have to take a
copy of the Manual with me, to thumb through as I approach the intersection...

Post a reply to this message

Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:

>
> The notice (STOP ON RED) generates an interesting (sociological)
> question...

More likely a question of cognitive abilities. Or lack thereof. :-P  Around my
city, there are TONS of unnecessary (and duplicate!) signs on the roadways. To
'remind' people of what they're supposed to do, I guess. No real surprise,
though: If you still have all of the teeth in your head (or most of them), you
can get a driver's license. Driving ability not required.

Post a reply to this message

"Bald Eagle" <cre### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> "omniverse" <omn### [at] charternet> wrote:
> Scared me, being just a kid. Felt like I
> > was taking some kind of magic stuff off it.
>
> As well it should - everyone knows that's fairy dust, imbued with the breath of
> a unicorn.
> Scraping that little bit off has left a dark mark on your soul.
> Removing any more would have plunged that part of the world into eternal
> darkness.
>
> > And another more recent memory when I felt a little silly for almost stopping to
> > gather up overflow of those things when they striped the road near home. There
> > was so much in one place where it must have spilled, had that same desire to get
> > some of that magic again.
>
> And again the evil resurfaces!
>
>
> https://www.ebay.com/i/182302520850?chn=ps

I hadn't thought those glass spheroids would be anything less than perfect!
Well, very round anyway, for the purpose they're used for.

 Quote: Roundness 65 to 95%.

In a microscope they must look something like a POV-Ray sphere offset from
center of camera look_at.  ;-)

Post a reply to this message