An essential part of the design process is adding text, notes, and annotations.
Annotations are text and graphics that give information about the design. You can add annotations to a drawing, a part, or an assembly by using the text and annotation commands in the software.
Types of annotations
To place annotations, you can use the following commands:
• Text Box
• Balloon
• Callout
• Connector
• Feature Control Frame
• Datum Frame
• Datum Target
• Surface Texture
• Weld Symbol
• Center Mark
• Center Line
Annotations with leaders
When you create a balloon, feature control frame, datum frame, datum target, or surface texture symbol, you can place them with a leader by setting options on the command bar. A weld symbol always has a leader.
The annotation’s leader can point to another element or be placed in free space.
Annotations with leaders have the following components:
(1) Leader line
(2) Break line
(3) Terminator
(4) Annotation
You can manipulate the annotation by selecting the leader and moving parts of it. You can control the display of a leader’s break line and terminator and insert or delete vertices on a leader.
Snapping to keypoints and intersection points
When placing many types of annotation and when measuring distance, you can use shortcut keys to select and snap to keypoints or intersections. After you locate the line, circle, or other element that you want to snap to, you can press one of these shortcut keys to apply the point coordinates to the command in progress: M (midpoint), I (intersection point), C (center point), and E (endpoint).
To learn more, see Help topic Selecting and snapping to points.
Adding leaders
You can add a leader to an annotation with the Leader command. An annotation can have more than one leader. The terminator end of the annotation can point to an element or be placed in free space. The annotation end of a new leader must connect to an annotation or the leader on an annotation.
You can create a callout by placing a text box and adding a leader to it with the Leader command.
Inserting and deleting vertices on leaders
You can insert or delete a vertex on any annotation with a leader using the Alt key.
To insert a vertex, click the leader, then position the pointer where you want the new vertex (1). Press and hold the Alt key, then click the mouse button (2). A new vertex is added, which you can reposition (3).
To delete a vertex, position the mouse over the vertex you want to remove, hold the Alt key and click the mouse.
Annotations and associativity
Annotations can be associative or non-associative. An associative annotation moves when the element it is connected to moves. Text boxes differ from the other annotations in that they are always non-associative.
If you attach the terminator of a leader to an element (1), the annotation moves with the element (2). If you create the leader connection point in free space, the annotation is not associative to any element in the drawing.
To make a connected annotation non-associative, press the Alt key while dragging the terminator handle to disconnect the annotation from the element.
To make a free space annotation associative, select the terminator of the leader and drag it to an element. The element edge highlights to show that it is connected.
To move a leader line connection point to free space or to another element yet retain associativity with the first element, press the Alt+Ctrl keys simultaneously while dragging the terminator handle.
Formatting annotations
You can format an annotation several ways. If you want several annotations to look the same, you can apply a style by selecting it on the command bar. Text styles can be applied to text boxes. You can apply dimension styles to the following annotations:
• Balloon
• Callout
• Feature control frames
• Datum frames
• Weld symbols
• Surface texture symbols
• Center marks, center lines, and bolt hold circles
• Connectors
If you want to customize the look of your annotations, you can select an annotation and edit its properties with the command bar or the Properties command on the Edit or shortcut menu.
Saving annotations
When an annotation, such as a feature control frame, appears several times, you can save the settings so that you can use them again. You can save any of the settings for a feature control frame, weld symbol, or surface texture symbol in a template with a name that you specify, much like a style.
Tracking changed dimensions and annotations
In the Solid Edge Draft environment, you can track dimensions and annotations that have been changed or deleted when a drawing view is updated. To open the Dimension Tracker dialog box so you can identify these changes, use the Tools®Dimensions®Track Dimension Changes command.
• On the drawing, every changed dimension and annotation is flagged by a revision balloon.
• On the Dimension Tracker dialog box, changed items are displayed in a columnar format. You can sort the changes by clicking a column heading.
• You can select one or more items in the list and assign a revision name to the balloon labels on the drawing.
To learn more, see Help topicTracking dimensions and annotations.