{"id":4621,"date":"2021-08-06T16:41:39","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T16:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/volksswitch.org\/?page_id=4621"},"modified":"2026-09-13T10:07:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T16:07:05","slug":"creating-bliss-tactile-symbols","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/volksswitch.org\/index.php\/volks-devices\/bliss-tactile-symbols\/creating-bliss-tactile-symbols\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Bliss Tactile Symbols"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

How do you create Bliss-based tactile symbols to help your students\/clients develop communication skills?<\/p>\r\n

Before describing the process of designing your own tactile symbols, you should know that we have already made available to you pre-designed and ready-to-print symbols<\/a> in STL format for 242 core concepts.\u00a0 These STL files are based on the default settings of the designer, so they have no added Braille, text engraved on the sides, a recess on the back for you to put a 15 mm Velcro dot, and an internal pocket for inserting an RFID tag. \u00a0[You don’t need to insert a tag if you’re not going to use the symbols with a Voice It\u00a0device<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\r\n

All of this is to say that you may never need to design another symbol.\u00a0 You may be able to accomplish all your goals with the pre-designed symbols.<\/p>\r\n

If you need additional symbols or if you need a modified version of the existing symbols, or if you’re just curious about what the symbol designer can do, read on.<\/p>\r\n

First things first<\/h5>\r\n

You’ll need the symbols and puzzles designer along with some supporting files.\u00a0 Go here<\/a> to download and “install” these files.<\/p>\r\n

Now let’s look at using the Bliss Tactile Symbols designer.\u00a0 The Bliss Tiles and Puzzles designer is described on this page.<\/p>\r\n

The Designer Window<\/h5>\r\n

When you launch the designer within OpenSCAD, you’ll see the symbol designer user interface.\u00a0 The designer has three sections.\u00a0 On the left is a display that provides a view of your symbol as it is currently defined.\u00a0 On the right is the Customizer pane.\u00a0 You’ll do all your work here.\u00a0 Below the display region is the Console window.\u00a0 For the most part you can ignore this window until you’re ready to print your symbol design.<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

The Customizer Pane<\/h5>\r\n

The Customizer Pane has two regions.\u00a0 The upper region is where you access and create Presets.\u00a0 Below that is a set of expandable sections where you specify the values of several options for your symbol:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Click on the arrowhead to the left of each section to expand it.\u00a0 You’ll start at the top section and proceed downward when defining your own symbol.\u00a0 [Alternatively, you can start with a preset that has already been created for a symbol.\u00a0 These are the Presets associated with the ready-to-print symbols in the “STL files” folder.\u00a0 More on that below.]<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Symbol Info<\/h5>\r\n

The Symbol Info section gives you with several options to control the size and shape of your symbol:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Begin by choosing the type of word\/concept for which you will be creating a tactile symbol.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Your choice will affect the shape of the top edge of the symbol and will serve as a tactile indication of the word\/concept class associated with the symbol.\u00a0 Each entry begins with a special character that will give you a hint about the edge shape:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
noun, pronoun, preposition<\/td>\r\nverb<\/td>\r\nadjective, adverb, determiner<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

The last choice produces a flat top-edge and is appropriate when you put a series of words\/concepts together on a single tactile symbol (e.g., “I love you”).<\/p>\r\n

Next choose the thickness of your symbol by setting the “symbol thickness” in millimeters.\u00a0 Note that your symbol must be at least 8 mm thick if you want to put braille on the sides of the symbol.<\/p>\r\n

You can resize your symbol, as a whole, if you need a larger or smaller symbol.<\/p>\r\n

Choose a display color for your symbol:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Each color is followed by the word\/concept class associated with that color in the Fitzgerald Key<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

As you’d expect from the name, the color you choose is for display purposes only.\u00a0 You still need to choose the color of the filament you load in your printer.\u00a0 This option will help you better visualize what the symbol will look like if you load that color into your printer.<\/p>\r\n

You can indicate whether you want to insert an RFID tag into the symbol during printing.\u00a0 This is the default.\u00a0 The RFID tag is intended for use with the Voice It device described here<\/a>.\u00a0 If you select “yes” a pocket will be included in the symbol that is large enough for a 30 mm RFID tag.\u00a0 Selecting “yes” but not inserting an RFID tag, won’t stop you from printing the symbol and won’t make the symbol look strange.\u00a0 So if you accidently choose “yes” but didn’t intend to insert a tag, don’t worry, just go ahead and print the symbol – it will look fine.<\/p>\r\n

Finally, you can add pockets for placing mounting magnets inside the symbol or adding recesses for 10 mm Velcro dots on the back surface of the symbol.\u00a0 The Velcro recesses can be placed in four corners (the default) or a single recess in the center.\u00a0 If you go with a single, centrally located recess, you can move it vertically to best match your needs.<\/p>\r\n

Graphic Info<\/h5>\r\n

The raised graphic you’ll put on your tactile symbol will be a Blissymbol.<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

A set of Blissymbol graphic files for all the core concepts have been gathered together in.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Click the “Open” button and list of Bliss SVG files will appear:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

These are the same SVG files that are in the Bliss SVG files folder you downloaded.\u00a0 What if you can’t find the concept you need in this list?\u00a0 This page<\/a> will tell you how to obtain additional Blissymbols or even create entirely new ones.<\/p>\r\n

Just select a Bliss concept from the list.\u00a0 Here, we’ve chosen the “advance, go-(to)” concept:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The symbol will automatically widen to fit the concept symbol that you choose.<\/p>\r\n

By default, the Blissymbol’s indicator is hidden since it is already captured in the shape of the top edge of the symbol and therefore unnecessarily increases the tactile complexity for the user.\u00a0 However, you can cause it to appear by setting “Remove Bliss indicators” to “no”:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The “Graphic Height” option controls the distance that the graphic will extend beyond the face of the symbol:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
graphic height = 1 mm<\/td>\r\ngraphic height = 5 mm<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

You can choose a display color (black or white) for the graphic.\u00a0 As the name implies, this is just for display purposes and to help you visualize your symbol.\u00a0 The graphic will only be a different color if you can swap filament colors during the 3D-printing process.\u00a0 We recommend that you use contrasting colors for the symbol body and the graphic (if you can) to aid individuals with visual impairments as much as possible.<\/p>\r\n

Finally, you have the option of including or hiding the earth and sky lines.\u00a0 Note that the earth and sky lines may be necessary for proper interpretation of a Bliss graphic.\u00a0 However, if you believe that the lines are distracting to your student and you are confident that removing the lines won’t cause confusion, you can do so.<\/p>\r\n

Symbol Text and Braille<\/h5>\r\n

You can determine whether the word associated with the symbol should be engraved on the underside of the symbol, as well as, whether the word should be represented in Braille on the edge of the symbol.\u00a0 The section is divided into two parts.\u00a0 One is associated with engraved text and the other is associated with Braille bumps:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Enter the text that should be included in engraved form and\/or as braille in the “Symbol Text” box.\u00a0 This will often be the same as the selected\/entered word associated with the graphic image but you may want to use a word that is different from the one that was part of the filename or multiple words that represent the same concept (e.g., “do” and “does”).<\/em><\/p>\r\n

If you are working with a student for whom, English is a second or developing language, you can choose word(s) from a more appropriate language.<\/p>\r\n

Engraved Text<\/h6>\r\n

By default, the text you enter in the “symbol text” box will be engraved on the sides of the symbol.\u00a0 You can turn this off by setting the “engrave text” pull-down list to “no”.\u00a0 You can place the text on a different surface by choosing a different option from the “text location” pull-down list:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
front*<\/td>\r\nback<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n
sides (default)<\/td>\r\nend<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n

*\u00a0 Note that selecting “front” as the location of the text will cause the text to initially appear in the vertical center of the symbol.\u00a0 You will need to move the text vertically so that it doesn’t interfere with the Bliss graphic.<\/p>\r\n

You can choose between regular or bold text.\u00a0 You may find that bold text prints better on your printer than regular text.\u00a0 Text height controls the vertical size of the text.<\/p>\r\n

The Bliss Tactile Symbols are often taller than they are wide.\u00a0 You may want to rotate longer words so you can take advantage of this longer dimension.<\/p>\r\n

If you place text on the front or back of the symbol, you can control both its vertical and horizontal location.\u00a0 if you place the text on the sides or end of the symbol you can only control its horizontal location.<\/p>\r\n

Braille<\/h6>\r\n

If you set “Include Braille” to “yes”, Braille for the symbol text will be placed on the edge of the symbol.\u00a0 The symbol designer displays a subset of Braille ASCII<\/a> (or more formally The North American Braille ASCII Code, also known as SimBraille).\u00a0 The designer only supports lower and uppercase letters and spaces entered into the symbol text box.\u00a0 It converts all uppercase letters to their lowercase equivalent.<\/p>\r\n

You cannot have both Braille and engraved text on the sides of the symbol.\u00a0 If you want to have both Braille and engraved text on your symbol, place the text on one of the other surfaces.<\/p>\r\n

Your symbol must be at least 8 mm thick in order to display Braille on the side.\u00a0 With an even thicker symbol, you can increase the size of the Braille.\u00a0 This might make it easier for the individual to inspect and read the texture.\u00a0 A value of 10 for “braille size multiplier” produces standard size Braille.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

If necessary, you can slide the Braille horizontally along the edge of the symbol by using the “slide braille horizontally” option.<\/p>\r\n

Hole for String<\/h5>\r\n

You can “string” together several 3D-symbols to provide easier access for the individual who will be using them to communicate.\u00a0 The symbol designer gives you several options for placement and size of the string hole – including, no hole at all.<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The following images show holes from side to side of the symbol.\u00a0 The top images show the hole going through the top of the symbol and the bottom images show the hole going through the bottom of the symbol:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

You may find that it’s easier for the user to explore and understand the graphic if the hole goes though the bottom of the symbol.<\/p>\r\n

Finally, you can put a hole through the symbol from front to back – at the top or bottom of the symbol:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

You may find that a front-to-back hole lets you put more symbols on the string than a side-to-side orientation.\u00a0 The problem with a front-to-back orientation is that it the hole location might interfere with the graphic and you’ll need to keep the hole small.<\/p>\r\n

If the initial position of the hole interferes with the graphic or results in other issues for the symbol,\u00a0 use the “move hole vertically” slider to move the location further toward the top of the symbol or further toward the bottom.<\/p>\r\n

Using the Ready-Made Presets and Creating Your Own<\/h5>\r\n

At the top of the Customizer pane, there are some controls that allow you to save your settings for a concept and recall them later.:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

We’ve done that already for our 242 core words\/concepts.<\/p>\r\n

On the left is a pull-down list of saved, presets.\u00a0 Each preset stores all the option values at the time you save the preset.\u00a0 A special preset called “design default values” represents the default values of all options when you first start the program.\u00a0 \u00a0Click on the pull-down arrow and you’ll see the presets that we’ve already created for you:<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

If you make a change to a saved concept by changing the value of an option, an the word “unsaved” will appear to the right of the “Concepts” lable.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

You can save the change by clicking the “Save” button.\u00a0 To create a new design, click the “New” button and give the design a name.\u00a0 To delete a preset, choose it from the pull-down list and then click the “Delete” button.\u00a0 If you’ve made several changes to a design but want to start over, click the “Reset” button.<\/p>\r\n

Your designs are saved in the “Bliss Tactile Symbols.json” file.\u00a0 If you do a lot of work to create your own symbol definitions, you might want to back up this file along with any folders that you added new files to.<\/p>\r\n

3D-Printing a Bliss Tactile Symbol<\/h2>\r\n

The following video shows how a tactile symbol is sliced and printed – including insertion of an RFID tag and changing filament colors to make the Bliss graphic stand out for visually impaired individuals:<\/p>\r\n