304 Part II Drawing in Two Dimensions

Figure 13-9: An air and vacuum release valve.

Thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers for this drawing.

5.Choose Layer. From the Layer drop-down list, choose TEXT. Choose Color. From the Color drop-down list, choose ByLayer. All text is now on the TEXT layer using the ByLayer color. Press Esc to remove the grips and see the result.

6.Select the text at the bottom of the drawing that reads N.T.S. From the grips you can tell

that it has a middle-left justification. Choose Modify Object Text Justify (or type justifytext on the command line). At the prompt, type bc .

The command ends. If you want, select the text again to see that the insertion point grip is now at the bottom-center of the text.

7.Choose Modify Object Text Scale (or type scaletext on the command line). Follow the prompts:

Select objects: Select the two lines of text at the bottom of the

drawing.

Select objects:

Enter a base point option for scaling

[Existing/Left/Center/Middle/Right/TL/TC/TR/ML/MC/MR/BL/BC/BR] <BC>:

Type e to use the existing base point.

Specify new height or [Match object/Scale factor] <1/8">: Right-click

and choose Scale factor.

Specify scale factor or [Reference] <2">: Type 1.5 .

8.If you want, click the Properties palette’s Close button to close it. Save your drawing.

Understanding Text Styles

You certainly do not always want to use the default font. You can create text styles that give you full creative control over the font, font style (bold, italic, or both), character width, obliquing angle, and text height. You can even design backward, upside-down, and vertical text. (Vertical text is like the text you occasionally see on the spine of a book. It goes down instead of to the right.)

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Text styles are similar to layers, which I discuss in Chapter 11. Like a layer, each text style:

Has a name and several properties

Is saved with the drawing

Can be made current when you want to use it

Can be renamed and deleted

Creating text styles is part of the typical drawing setup procedure. You should include text styles in your drawing templates. AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT come with two types of fonts — the original .shx fonts, which are created using shape files, and TrueType fonts — the fonts used by most Windows applications.

Cross-	See Chapter 32 for instructions on creating shape files and your own fonts.
Reference

Creating a new text style

To create a new text style, choose Format Text Style. This starts the STYLE command and opens the Text Style dialog box, shown in Figure 13-10.

Figure 13-10: The Text Style dialog box.

Choose New to open the New Text Style dialog box, as shown in Figure 13-11. Type the name of your new text style and click OK. Text style names can be up to 255 characters and can include spaces. You return to the Text Style dialog box where you define the new text style.

Figure 13-11: The New Text Style dialog box.

306 Part II Drawing in Two Dimensions

Font

In the Font section of the Text Style dialog box, you specify the font, font style, and text height. Click the Font Name drop-down list arrow to see the list of fonts. Fonts with the double-T icon are TrueType fonts. The other fonts are fonts that are defined in a shape file that has the file name extension .shp and are compiled into a file with the extension .shx for faster access.

Click a font to choose it. You can see a preview of the font in the Preview section of the dialog box. The Preview section also has an edit box. Type some characters and click Preview to see the preview of those characters.

If the font you’ve chosen supports different styles, such as bold or italic, you can choose one of them in the Font Style drop-down box. None of the AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT fonts supports font styles, but many of the TrueType fonts do.

Type in the height you want for your font. Remember to take into account the scale factor if necessary.

You can leave the height at zero if you want to be able to vary the text height within that one style. If the height is zero, the DTEXT and TEXT commands prompt you for a height when you use these commands to place text.

Caution	If you create a text style using a height other than zero and use that text style when you
	define a dimension style, the text style height overrides the text height that you specify sep-
	arately in the dimension style. See Chapter 15 for more information on dimension styles.

Effects

In the Effects section, you specify the orientation, width factor, and oblique angle of the text style.

The default width of characters is set to 1. You can specify a smaller number to compress text and a larger number to expand it, as shown in Figure 13-12.

Width = 1.5

Width = .8

Figure 13-12: Text using different width factors.

The term oblique angle refers to the angle of the individual letters. It is generally used to create an effect, such as italic text. Of course, you don’t need to use an oblique angle if you’re using a TrueType font that supports italic text.

The angle definition used to define oblique text is different from the angle definition used for other objects. Up and down text — that is, normal text — is a zero oblique angle. A positive angle slants the text to the right — typical for italic text. A negative angle slants the text to the left. Figure 13-13 shows text with a positive and negative oblique angle.

Chapter 13 Creating Text 307

Oblique angle = –10

Oblique angle = 10

Figure 13-13: Text using differing oblique angles.

You can create text that is backward (like a mirror image) or upside-down. Some fonts let you create vertical text. Figure 13-14 shows an example of each kind of text. Check the appropriate check box to create the effect you want.

Figure 13-14: Vertical, backward, and upsidedown vertical text.

After you finish defining your text style, click Apply to make it current. Click Close to return to your drawing.

Renaming and deleting text styles

You can rename and delete text styles easily. To rename a text style, start the STYLE command to open the Text Style dialog box. Choose Rename to open the Rename Text Style dialog box, as shown in Figure 13-15. It works just like the New Text Style dialog box.

Figure 13-15: The Rename Text Style dialog box.

To delete a text style, choose it from the Style Name drop-down list of the Text Style dialog box and click Delete. A message box asks you to confirm. Click Yes to delete the text style. You cannot delete a text style that is being used.

On the	The drawing used in the following Step-by-Step exercise on creating text styles, ab13-b.dwg,
CD-ROM	is in the Drawings folder on the CD-ROM.

308 Part II Drawing in Two Dimensions

STEP-BY-STEP: Creating Text Styles

1.Open ab13-b.dwg from your CD-ROM.

2.Save the file as ab13-03.dwg in your AutoCAD Bible folder.

3.Choose Format Text Style to open the Text Style dialog box. Click New. In the New Text Style dialog box, type Notes and click OK.

4.From the Font Name drop-down list, choose romans.shx. In the Height text box, change the height to 1/16". In the Width Factor text box, change the width factor to .95. In the Oblique Angle text box, type 10. Click Apply to make the new style current. Click Close.

5.Start the DTEXT command. At the Specify start point of text or [Justify/ Style]: prompt, pick a start point at the lower-left corner of the drawing. At the

Specify rotation angle of text <0>: prompt, press Enter. At the Enter Text: prompt, type Note: Not drawn to scale. . Press Enter again to end the command.

6.Save your drawing. It should look like Figure 13-16. If you’re going on to the next exercise, keep this drawing open.

Figure 13-16: You’ve added text by using a new text style.

Modifying a text style

To change a style, choose Format Text Style. From the Style Name drop-down list, choose the text style you want to change. Make changes the same way you did when creating the style. Choose Apply and then Close. The drawing regenerates and the text that uses the style you changed is modified accordingly. This is a powerful way to control the look of text in your drawing.

Note	Unfortunately, only changes to the font and text style affect current text. Other changes, such
	as width factor, oblique angle, orientation, and height, are ignored. However, new text takes
	on these other changes.

Chapter 13 Creating Text 309

Making a style current or changing a text object’s style

You can choose the current style when you use one of the text commands. If you use DTEXT or TEXT, the command displays the Specify start point of text or [Justify/ Style]: prompt. Right-click and choose Style. (The prompt also displays the current style and height.) If you know the name of the style you want to use, type it and press Enter. The

Specify start point of text or [Justify/Style]: prompt repeats. You can choose the Justify option or pick a start point to continue the command.

If you use MTEXT, the Multiline Editor opens, as explained in the next section. Choose the text style you want from the Style drop-down list.

The Styles toolbar is an easy way to make a style current or change the text style of existing text. To make a style current, choose the style from the Text Style Control drop-down list with no text selected. To change the text style of existing text, select the text and choose a new style from the list. You can also change the style of selected text in the Properties palette.

Importing a text style

As explained in Chapter 11, you can use the DesignCenter to import features from other drawings. To import a text style, follow these steps:

1.Choose DesignCenter from the Standard toolbar to open the DesignCenter.

2.In the left pane, navigate to the drawing that has the text style you want.

3.Double-click the drawing icon or click its plus sign.

4.To see the list of the text styles, double-click the text style’s icon in either the left or right pane.

5.Double-click the text style’s icon to import it into your drawing.

6.Click the DesignCenter’s Close button to close the DesignCenter.

On the	The drawing used in the following Step-by-Step exercise on changing text styles, ab13-3.
CD-ROM	dwg, is in the Results folder on the CD-ROM.

STEP-BY-STEP: Modifying Text Styles

1.If you have ab13-03.dwg open from the previous Step-by-Step exercise, continue to use it for this exercise. Otherwise, open ab13-03.dwg from the Results folder of your CD-ROM.

2.Save the file as ab13-04.dwg in your AutoCAD Bible folder.

3.The note at the bottom-left corner of the drawing uses the Notes text style. Choose Format Text Style. In the Text Style dialog box, make sure NOTES is the style name listed, and then choose italic.shx from the Font Name drop-down list. Choose Apply and then Close.

4.The drawing regenerates and the text’s font changes.

5.Save your drawing.