Sympathy Tutorial

4.5 Setting up the Playfair Gimmick

At the end of the previous step, the four lights to be Playfair-encoded should have been selected and the Sympathy window should look like this:

Step 4.5 Initial Image

We can now customize these lights so that they are Playfair encoded. In Module 3 Step 7, a Letters Latent gimmick was set up for the whole grid using the Filling Properties Gimmicks Tab. But here we don't want all the lights to be Playfair-encoded, only the selected ones; so we use the Light Properties Gimmicks Tab. To see this, use the Properties... command on the Light menu, then click on the Gimmicks tab. The Light Properties dialog should then look like this:

Step 4.5 Intermediate Image

To configure the selected lights to be Playfair encoded, click the Playfair cipher option, then enter the Playfair keyword sympathizer in the box to the right of the Keyword: label. When you have done this, the Light Properties dialog should look like this:

Step 4.5 Final Image

Note that a check appears to the left of the Customized label to indicate that the gimmick setting for these lights has been changed from the default setting (None).

We will now use the Light Properties Appearance Tab, so instead of closing the dialog, click on the Appearance tab. The Light Properties dialog should then appear as shown at the start of the next step.

Relevant Help Sections

Light Properties Gimmicks Tab