TEXT, DTEXT AND TEXTSTYLE
6.1 TEXT CREATION COMMANDS
The commands for creating text are formally named Dtext, Mtext and Text ( these are the commands used for typing ). The Draw pull-down menu provides access to the two commonly used text commands, Multiline Text… ( Mtext ) and Single-Line Text ( Dtext ) ( Figure 6.1 ). Only the Mtext command has an icon button ( by default ) near the bottom of the draw toolbar ( Figure 6.2 ). The Text command must be typed at the command line.
Figure 6.1 : Getting text from Pull-down menu
Mtext Toolbar
Figure 6.2 : Mtext toolbar
6.1.1 Dtext
Dtext ( Dynamic text ) lets you insert text into an AutoCAD drawing. Dtext displays each character in the drawing as it is typed. You can enter multiple lines of text without exiting the Dtext Command. The lines of text do not ‘wrap’.
Methods for invoking the Dtext Command include :
Pull Down-Menu : Draw > Text > Single Line Text
Command : Dtext
If we use the type command, the options are presented below:
Command: dtext
Justify/Style/< Start point>:
The start point for a line of text is the left end of the baseline for the text ( Figure 6.3 ).
Height is the distance from the baseline to the top of upper case letters. Additional lines of text are automatically spaced below and left justified. The rotation angle is the angle of the baseline ( Figure 6.4 )
Figure 6.3 Figure 6.4
The command sequence for this option is:
Command: Dtext
Justify/Style/<Start point>; PICK or ( coordinates ) Height < 0.20 >: Enter or ( value )
Rotation Angle < 0 >: Enter or ( value )
Text: ( Type the desired line of text and press Enter. ) Text: ( Type another line of text and press Enter. ) Text: Enter
Command:
NOTE: When the “Text;” prompt appears, you can also PICK a new location for the next line of text anywhere in the drawing.
Justify
If you want to use one of the justification methods, invoking this option displays the choices at the prompt:
Command: Dtext
Justify/Style/<Start point>: J ( Invokes the justification options.)
Align/Fit/Center/Middle/Right/TL/TC/TR/ML/MC/MR/BL/BC/BR: ( choice ) ( Type capital letters)
After specifying a justification option, you can enter the desired text in response to the
“Text:” prompt. The text is not justified until after you press Enter.
Align
Aligns the line of text between the two points specified ( P1,P2 ). The text height is adjusted automatically ( Figure 6.5 )
Figure 6.5 Fit
Fits ( compresses or extends ) the line of text between the two points specified (P1,P2 ). The text height does not change ( Figure 6.5 )
Centers the baseline of the first line of text at the specified point. Additional lines of text are centered below the first ( Figure 6.6 ).
Figure 6.6
Middle
Centers the first line of text both vertically and horizontally about the specified point.
Additional lines of text are centered below it (Figure. 6.6 ).
Right
Creates text that is right justified from the specified point ( Figure. 6.6 ).
TL
Top Left. Places the text in the drawing so the top line (of the first line of text) is at the point specified and additional lines of text are left justified below the point. The top line is defined by the upper case and tall lower case letters ( Figure. 6.6 ).
TC
Top Center. Places the text so the top line of text is at the point specified and the line(s) of text are centered below the point ( Figure. 6.6 ).
TR
Top Right. Places the text so that the top right corner of the text is at the point specified and additional lines of text are right justified below that point ( Figure. 6.6 ).
ML
Middle Left. Places text so that it is left justified and the middle line of the first line of text aligns with the point specified. The middle line is half way between the top line and the baseline, not considering the bottom (extender) line ( Figure 6.6 ).
MC
Middle Center. Centers the first line of text both vertically and horizontally about the midpoint of the middle line. Additional lines of text are centered below that point (Figure 6.6 ).
MR
Middle Right. Justifies the first line of text at the right end of the middle line. Additional lines of text are right justified ( Figure 6.6 ).
BL
Bottom Left. Attaches the bottom (extender) line of the first line of text to the specified point. The bottom line is determined by the lowest point of lower case extended letters such as y, p, q, j, and g. If only upper-case letters are used, the letters appear to be located above the specified point. Additional lines of text are left justified ( Figure 6.6 ).
BC
Bottom Center. Centers the first line of text horizontally about the bottom (extender) line ( Figure 6.6 ).
BR
Bottom Right. Aligns the bottom (extender) line of the first line of text at the specified point. Additional lines of text are right justified ( Figure 6.6 ).
ACTIVITY 6a
ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS BELOW.
6.1 What is DTEXT and how we access DTEXT Command.?
6.2 By default the justification mode used by the DTEXT command is left justified.
Study the following prompt sequence to place the text string “ELECTRICAL.”
Start New Drawing and select Start from scratch and select English setting. At your drawing area mark the “A” and “B” point with the distance 2.0 inches. The figure below shows “A” and “B” point.
Figure: 6.7: The “A” and “B” Point with a distance of 3 inches
Follow these instruction to learn about DTEXT
a. Command: DTEXT
Justify/Style/<Start point:’: (Pick the point at “A”) Height <0.20>: 0.40
Rotation angle <0>: (Press Enter to accept this default) Text: ELECTRICAL
Text: (Press Enter to exit Dtext and return to the command prompt)
b .
Command: DTEXT
Justify/Style/<Start point>: Justify ( or enter shortcut ‘J’ )
Align/Fit/Center/Middle/Right/TL/TC/TR/ML/MC/MR/BL/BC/BR: TC
Top/center point: (Pick a point at “A”) Height <0.20>: 0.40
Rotation angle <0>: (Press Enter to accept this default) Text: ELECTRICAL
Text: (Press Enter to exit Dtext and return to the command prompt)
c. Command: DTEXT
Justify/Style/<Start point>: Middle Middle point: (Pick a point at “A”) Height <0.20>: 0.40
Rotation angIe <0 >: (Press Enter to accept this default) Text: ELECTRICAL
Text: (Press Enter to exit Dtext and return to the command prompt)
d. Command: DTEXT
Justify/Style!<Start point>: Align
First text line point: (Pick the point at “A”) Second text line point: (Pick the point at “B”)
Rotation angle <0>: (Press Enter to accept this default) Text: ELECTRICAL
Text: (Press Enter to exit Dtext and return to the command prompt)
e. Command: DTEXT
Justify/Style/<Start point>: Fit
First text line point: (Pick the point at “A”) Second text line point: (Pickthe point at “B”) Height <0.20>: 0.40
Rotation angle <0>: (Press Enter to accept this default) Text: ELECTRICAL
Text: (Press Enter to exit Dtext and return to the command prompt)
f. Command: DTEXT
Justify/Style/<Start point>: Right End point: (Pick the point at “A”) Height <0.20>: 0.40
Rotation angle <0>: (Press to accept this default) Text: ELECTRICAL
Text: (Press Enter to exit Dtext and return to the command prompt)
FEEDBACK TO ACTIVITY 6a
ANSWERS.
6.1 The DTEXT command stands for Dynamic Text mode and allows you to place text in a drawing and view the text as you typed it in. This command can be selected by picking “Draw” from the pull-down menu area followed by “Text” and finally
“Single Line Text. Multiline 6.2
a.
Figure 6.8 : Justifying text by default
b.
Figure 6.9 :Justifying text by a center point.
c.
Figure 6.10 : Justifying text by a middle point.
d.
Figure 6.11: Justifying text by aligning the text between two points. The text height is automatically scaled depending on the length of the points and the number of letters that make up the text.
e.
Figure 6.12 :Justifying text by fitting the text in between two points and specifying the text height. Notice how the text appears compressed due to the large text height and short distance of the text line.
f.
Figure 6.13: Justifying text by a point at the right.
INPUT 6b
6.1.2 TEXT
Text is essentially the same as Dtext except that the text is not dynamically displayed one letter at a time as you type, but rather appears in the drawing only after pressing Enter. The other difference is that Dtext repeatedly displays the “Text:” prompt to allow entering multiple lines of text, whereas Text allows only one line. Otherwise, all the options and capabilities of Text are identical to Dtext.
Command: text
Justify/Style/<Start point>: PICK Height <0.2000>: Enter or (value) Rotation angle <0>: Enter or (value)
Text: sample line of text. (The line of text appears in the drawing after pressing Enter.) Command:
If you want to type another line of text below the previous line with the Text command, use Text again, but press ‘Enter’ at the first prompt. The Text command then responds with the
“Text:” prompt, at which time you can enter the next line of text. The new line is automatically spaced below and uses the same height, justification, and other options as the previous line.
6.1.3 MTEXT
Multiline Text ( Mtext ) has more editing options than other text commands. You can apply underlining, color, bold, italic, font, and height changes to individual characters or words within a paragraph or multiple paragraphs of text.
Mtext allows you to create paragraph text defined by a text boundary. The text boundary is a reference rectangle that specifies the paragraph width. The Mtext object that you create can be a line, one paragraph, or several paragraphs. AutoCAD references Mtext (created with one use of the Mtext command) as one object, regardless of the amount of text supplied. Like Text and Dtext, several justification methods are possible.
Command: Mtext
Current text style: STANDARD. Text height: 0.2000 Specify first corner: PICK
Specify opposite corner or : PICK or (option)
You can PICK two corners to invoke the Multiline Text Editor, or enter the first letter of one of these options: Height, Justify, Rotation, Style, or Width. All of the options can also be accessed within the Multiline Text Editor.
Using the default option the Mtext command, you supply a “first corner” and “opposite corner” to define the diagonal corners of the text boundary (like a window). Although this boundary confines the text on two or three sides, one or two arrows indicate the direction text flows if it “spills” out of the boundary ( Figure 6.14 ).
Figure 6.14
After you PICK the two points defining the text boundary, the Multiline Text Editor appears ready for you to enter the text ( Figure. 6.15 ). Enter the desired text. The text wraps based on the width you defined for the text boundary. You can right-click for a menu allowing you to Cut, Copy, and Paste selected text. Select the OK button to have the text entered into the drawing within the text boundary.
Figure 6.15: Multiline Text Editor
There are three tabs in the Multiline Text Editor: Character tab, Properties tab , and Find and Replace tab. Using the options in these tabs is interactive text in the editor immediately reflects the changes made for most options in these tabs. There is also a button to Import Text.
Import Text
Importing External Text into AutoCAD.
Find/Replace Tab
We can find text in multiline text editor and replace or editing the text .
Properties Tab
Use the properties tab to specify the format of the entire paragraph Although this is the second tab, it is recommended that you format the entire paragraph(s) here before editing individual characters using the Character tab ( Figure. 6.16 ). The following options are available.
Figure 6.16 Style
Choose from a drop-down list of existing text styles.
Justification
This property determines how the paragraph is located and direction of flow with respect to the text boundary.
Previous paragraph widths used are displayed in this drop-down list. You can enter a new value in the edit box to change the width of the existing text boundary. If a Width of 0 is entered or “no wrap” is selected, the lines of text will not “wrap” within the text boundary.
Rotation
The entire paragraph can be rotated to any angle. Changes made here are not reflected in the text appearing in the editor but only in the drawing itself. You can type MTPROP at the command line to directly access the Properties tab of the Multiline Text Editor.
Character Tab
After formatting the entire paragraph, use the character tab to alter individual characters in the paragraph(s) ( Figure 6.17 ). using the option in this tab, first select ( highlight ) the desired character or words, then set the desired options. The following options are available.
Figure 6.17 Font
Choose from any font in the drop-down list. Your selection here overrides the text Style used for the entire paragraph(s). Even though you can change the font for the entire Mtext object (paragraph), it is recommended to set the paragraph to the desired Style (in the Properties tab), rather than changing all characters to a different font here. See following NOTE.
Height
Select from the list or enter a new value for the height of selected words or letters. Your selection overrides the text Height used globally for the paragraph.
Bold, Italic, Underline
Select (highlight) the desired letters or words then PICK the desired button. Only authentic TrueType fonts (not the AutoCAD-supplied .SHX equivalents) can be bolded or italicized.
Stack/Unstack
If creating a stacked fraction, use a / (slash) between the numerator and denominator. If creating stacked text, place a ^ (caret) before the bottom text. Highlight the fraction or text, then use this option to stack or unstack the fraction or text.
Text Color
Select individual text, and then use this drop-down list to select a color for the selected text.
This selection overrides the layer color.
Symbol
Common symbols (plus/minus, diameter, degrees) can be inserted. Selecting Other...
produces a character map to select symbols ( Figure 6.18 ).
Figure 6.18
ACTIVITY 6B