Stardraw Library Exceeds 70,000 SymbolsThe library that supports Stardraw Design 7.1 has reached a new milestone, now containing more than 70,000 symbols representing products from over 700 manufacturers. Stardraw's symbols library has been a work in progress for over 20 years. Since the advent of the symbols request service in 2002, Stardraw's specialist symbols department has received almost 13,000 product requests, of which 95% have been published. On average, the company receives around 100 product requests per month. According to the company, the result is that Stardraw's symbols portfolio represents the largest, high-quality graphical library available to the professional AV industry from a single source: all symbols are generated in-house by Stardraw's symbols department according to an established data specification. This means that regardless of the original data or what the symbols might represent, a qualitative standard is maintained. As a result, the company says any and all symbols used in project documentation work seamlessly with each other, making the design a coherent whole. In Stardraw Design 7.1 a product might be represented by multiple symbols, where each symbol is appropriate for its use in the context of system documentation in one of the SD7.1 modules; block schematics, rack layouts, pictorial schematics, or panel layouts. So, for example, block schematic symbols are focussed on connectivity and show technically accurate inputs and outputs, delineated by signal type (audio, video, power, etc.,) and are assigned to different layers accordingly. Rack layout symbols by contrast are visually accurate, to-scale drawings showing high detail front and rear views of the product, plus a side view with demarcation for clearances that should be allowed, for example, for connectors and cables (with a safe bend radius). The addition of new symbols to the library is prioritized based on user requests: those with a current subscription can visit the Stardraw website and simply enter the manufacturer and model number of the products they want to have added to the library; Stardraw's symbols department does the rest. There is no cost, either to the user or the manufacturer, to request or add products to the library. In response to symbol requests, the publication of new symbols since January 1, 2005 shows that:
• 40% are published within one week
• 50% are published within two weeks Updates to the library are synchronized (downloaded) seamlessly each time SD7.1 is run, so long as the user has a current subscription. "This is a major milestone and a reminder of the quite staggering effort put in by our symbols department," noted Stardraw CEO, Rob Robinson. "Quality data is a key factor in enabling Stardraw Design 7.1 to deliver productivity gains to our users and we want to thank all those who have helped us to build such a valuable and pertinent library through their product requests." For full details of the Stardraw library and to make product requests see the URL below. 
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