The braille layer
a carton maker does not send back
A medicine carton carries its name in braille, and the dots are a grid stated to a tenth of a millimeter. This sets that grid, and measures what you laid out against it — before the female die is cut. 完全免费。 真的免费。
- The standard's own grid.
- Dots 2.5 mm apart, cells 6.0, lines 10.0, and a dot 1.6 mm across at its base — the figures ECMA's Euro Braille states, not an approximation of them.
- Vector, at true size.
- Every dot is a circle in millimeters in the SVG and in the PDF. Nothing is traced, and nothing is a picture of braille.
- The layer, and only the layer.
- What is saved holds the dots and nothing else, which is how every guideline asks for braille to be supplied.
- The 8 mm rule, checked.
- A dot closer than eight millimeters to a cut, a crease or a perforation is reported while you are still typing.
- Nothing is uploaded.
- The text is translated and the dots are drawn in your browser. There is no account and no server.
- Cells of your own.
- A language this tool has no table for still lays out: paste the cells from your own translator and the grid does the rest.
What it does
Four decisions, and the one that is not yours
What it says, which braille, which grid and where on the panel. The grid is the standard's, and that is the point of the tool.
The name, and the strength
- A line of type to a line of braille
- Uncontracted — the pharmaceutical rule, and the safe one
- Capitals dropped, because a capital sign is a cell nobody has room for
- The number sign written once for a run of figures, not once per digit
Which braille it is
- European (the German basis ECMA writes in), UEB and French
- The twenty-six are shared; the punctuation is where tables disagree
- A character with no cell is named, never guessed at
- Or hand over Unicode cells from your own translator
The grid it is embossed on
- Marburg Medium — 1.6 / 2.5 / 6.0 / 10.0 mm
- Library of Congress Spec 800, and the ADA signage figures
- Every number editable, with the checks still holding
- A word space is an empty cell, which is where 12 mm comes from
Where it lands on the carton
- The panel in millimeters, and the block placed on it
- Left, centered or right, with offsets across and down
- Quarter turns, for braille up the side of a pack
- Measured from the dots' own edges, not from the grid
Features
Everything the tool holds
Written out, because a tool used on artwork that gets embossed is one you should be able to decide about.
Translation
Text to cells.
- Uncontracted braille, one cell to a character
- Three tables: European, UEB and French
- Number sign, letter sign and — if you want them — capital signs
- Unicode cells in, for any language or any national table
The grid
What the standards state.
- Marburg Medium, as ECMA's Euro Braille restates it
- Library of Congress Specification 800
- The ANSI ranges the ADA signage guidance quotes
- Dot, dot pitch, cell pitch and line pitch, each in millimeters
The panel
Where it goes.
- The carton face in millimeters, drawn at its true size
- Aligned left, centered or right, with offsets
- Quarter turns
- The safety zone on screen, at whatever distance the job keeps
What leaves
The file the platemaker gets.
- SVG and PDF in millimeters, vector throughout
- A named layer holding the dots and nothing else
- Mirrored for the female die
- Dot centers at a hairline, for drilling or milling the counter
How it works
From a product name to a layer
Four steps, and none of them leaves the page.
Type the line
The name and the strength. It is translated as you type, and shown as cells you can read.
Choose the standard
Marburg Medium for a European carton. The grid comes with it; every figure can still be set.
Put it on the panel
The carton face in millimeters, and the block placed on it. The safety zone is drawn while you move it.
Take the layer
SVG or PDF, dots only, at the size they will be embossed.
Who it is for
Everybody the dots pass through
A braille layer is drawn once and then handled by four trades, and each of them has a way of finding it wrong.
Medicine cartons
The name and the strength, in the grid a European pack is embossed to.
Artwork studios
The layer, in the color that is used for nothing else — supplied the way the guidance asks.
Carton makers
Whether it clears the creases, before the blank is made rather than after.
Die shops
The mirror for the counter plate, or the dot centers for drilling it.
Labels and signs
The American book figures and the ANSI signage ranges are here too.
Proofreading
The cells written out, to be read by somebody who reads braille.
FAQ
Good to know
Is anything uploaded?
No. The text is translated and the dots are drawn in your browser, and the file is written there too. There is no account and no server.
Which braille does it write?
Uncontracted — one cell to a character — in one of three tables: the German basis that ECMA's Euro Braille is written in, Unified English Braille grade 1, and French. Contracted braille is a language of its own and a wrong contraction on a pack is worse than no braille at all, so this tool does not attempt it. If your language is not here, translate it where you already do and paste the cells in.
Why are capitals dropped?
Because that is the guidance for medicine packs: a capital sign is a cell of its own, a carton has room for very few, and the standard's own examples are lower case. You can turn the signs on if a job needs them.
What are the eight millimeters?
The distance carton makers ask you to keep between a dot and a cut, a crease or a perforation. A dot in a crease is flattened by the folding machine and a dot near a cut is where the blank tears. The tool draws that zone and says when a dot is inside it.
Can I get the file for the female die?
Yes — turn the layer over with one switch, and if the shop is drilling or milling the counter, save the dot centers at a hairline instead of the dots.
Is this a compliance check?
No, and no tool that only sees a file can be one. What is stated in law is the finished pack: the dot height it stands to, how it survives the carton being folded, and that the braille says what the label says. This gets the grid, the spacing and the safety distance right in the artwork, and it prints the cells for a person to read. The proof on board is still a proof on board.
Where do the figures come from?
The Marburg Medium grid as ECMA restates it for folding cartons, Specification 800 from the Library of Congress, and the ANSI ranges quoted in the ADA signage guidance. Every number is on screen and every one of them can be changed.
A die is cut once
Type the name, choose the standard, and take the layer — at the size it will be embossed.