Building Objects with AutoCAD - Section 2
8.2 Editing Text Objects
From chapter 16 onwards we deal with subjects that have to do with the edition of the drawing objects. However, we must see here the tools available for editing the text objects we just created since their nature differs from that of other objects. As you will see later, we may be interested in extending a line, chamfering the edges of a polygon, or simply rotating a spline. But in the case of text objects, the need for its transformation may arise immediately after its creation, so we have to make this exception with regard to editing issues if we want to maintain the methodological principle of going from the simple to the Complex and linking issues by their logical relationships. Let's see.
If we must modify the text of a line, then we can double-click on the text, or write the “Ddedic” command. When activating the command, Autocad asks us to indicate with a selection box the object to be edited, by doing so, the object will be circumscribed in a rectangle and with the cursor ready so that we can modify the text in the same way as we do with any processor of words. If we double-clicked with the mouse, we immediately go to the edit box.
In the “Text” group of the “Annotate” tab we have two buttons that also serve to edit the objects of a line. The "Scale" button, or its equivalent, the "Text scale" command, allows you to change the size of several text objects in one step. The reader will discover very soon that virtually all editing commands, like this one, the first thing Autocad asks us is that we designate the object or objects to modify. You will also get used to that, once the objects are indicated, we will finish the selection with the “ENTER” key or the right mouse button. In this case, we can select one or several lines of text. Next, we must indicate a base point for climbing. If we press “ENTER”, without selecting, then the insertion point of each text object will be used. Finally, we will have before us the four options to change the size in the command window: the new height (which is the default option), specify the height of the paper (which applies to text objects with annotative property, which we will study later), match based on existing text, or indicate a scale factor. As we could see in the previous video.
For its part, the "Justify" button, or the "Textjustif" command, allows us to change the insertion point of the text without it moving on the screen. In this case, the options in the command window are the same as we presented before and, therefore, the implications of their use are also the same. Anyway, let's take a look at this editing option.
Until now, perhaps the reader has already noticed the absence of elements that allow you to choose some type of letter from the wide catalog that Windows usually has, also the lack of tools to put bold, italic, and so on. What happens is that these possibilities are controlled by Autocad through the "Text Styles", which we will see next.
8.3 Text Styles
A text style is simply the definition of various typographical features under a certain name. In Autocad we can create all the styles that we want in a drawing and then we can associate each text object with a specific style. A relative limitation of this procedure is that the created styles are saved along with the drawing. But if we want to use a style of an already created file in a new drawing, there are methods to import it as we will see in the chapter dedicated to the resources in the drawings. Another possibility is that we make our collection of text styles and engrave it in a template on which we base our new works. In addition, we can also modify an existing style, all text objects that use that style will be updated immediately in the drawing.
To create a text style, we use the dialog box trigger of the “Text” group that we have been studying, although it is also available in the drop-down list of already created styles and, in addition, in the “Annotation” group of the “ Start". In any case, the "Text Style Manager" opens. The existing style by definition is called "Standard." Our suggestion when working with the "Text Style Manager" is that you do not make changes to the "Standard" style but use it as a base to create others with the "New" button. A practical idea, of course, is that the name of the new style reflects the end that style will have in the drawing. For example, if it is going to be used to put the names of streets in an urban plan, nothing better, even if it seems redundant, than to put it “Name of streets”. Although in these cases there are usually rules already established to name the styles of each industrial branch or, even, of each corporation to which you belong. For a principle of order in collaborative work environments with Autocad, it is common to prevent artists to create their own names of style that may affect the work of others.
On the other hand, in this dialog you can see the list of fonts installed on Windows. To this list are added some of Autocad's own that you can easily distinguish by having the extension ".shx". The types of fonts included with Autocad have simple shapes and work perfectly for the purpose of technical drawing, however, you will find that when creating your own text style, you have before you the entire range of fonts installed on your computer.
If text objects created with a specific style are going to have different sizes in the drawing, then it is convenient to keep the height value as zero in the dialog box. This will mean that every time we draw text from a line, Autocad asks us for that value. If, on the other hand, all the text objects associated with a style are of the same size, then it will be convenient to indicate this, this will save us time in the creation of text objects, since we do not have to capture the height constantly.
At this point, let's see the "Text Style Manager" on video.
It usually happens that the text size that is useful at the time of the drawing, is not appropriate when that same drawing is taken to a presentation to be drawn or published electronically, subject that we will see in the chapters 29 and 30, because in some If the text can be very small or very large, which would force us to adjust the size of the various text objects in our drawing, which can be incredibly arduous despite the use of text styles. There are different solutions to solve the problem. One of them would be to use the command to scale the size of the text, but its main disadvantage is that it involves selecting the different text objects to modify, with the risk of omitting some and giving up the result. The second solution would be to create a text style with fixed size, setting the height. At the time of the presentations for printing, we can adjust the size of the text by modifying the style used. The disadvantage is that all text objects would have to be of the size imposed by the style (s) used.
The solution proposed by Autodesk is called “Annotative property”, which, once activated for text objects created with the style, allows you to easily and quickly modify the scale of these objects, either for the model space in which you are drawing, or the presentation space prior to drawing the drawing. As what is modified is the scale of the text object, it does not matter if the different objects have different font sizes, as each one will adjust to the new specified scale while maintaining the proportional size differences between them. Therefore, keep in mind that it is preferable to activate the annotative property of the new text styles that you create, so that you can modify the display scale of these objects in the different spaces of your drawing (modeling or presentation, which will be studied in its moment), without having to edit them later.
On the other hand, we will often turn to the subject of annotative property, since dimension objects, shading, tolerances, multiple directives, blocks and attributes, as well as text objects, also possess it, although , Basically works the same in all cases. So we will study it in detail later, when we have reviewed the differences between model space and paper space.
Finally, at the bottom of the dialog box we can see that there is a section called "Special Effects". The three options on the left do not require further comment as their results are obvious: "Head down", "Reflected on the left" and "Vertical". For its part, the "Width / height ratio" option has 1 as a default value, above it, the text widens horizontally; below one contracts. In turn, the "oblique angle" tilts the text to the indicated angle, by definition its value is zero.