Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
Learning Objectives:












Use the REDRAW and REGEN commands.
Use the ZOOM command and its options.
Understand the PAN and VIEW commands.
Understand the use of the Aerial View window.
Draw text using the TEXT command.
Create paragraph text using the MTEXT command.
Edit text using the DDEDIT command.
Use the PROPERTIES palette to change the properties of the text.
Substitute fonts and specify alternate default fonts.
Create text styles using the STYLE command.
Determine text height.
Check spellings and find and replace text.
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 REDRAWING THE SCREEN
The REDRAW command (figure) redraws the screen and is
used to remove the small cross marks (blips) that appear
when a point is specified on the screen when BLIPMODE is
set to on. The REDRAW command affects only the current
viewport. If you have more than one viewport you can use
the REDRAWALL command to redraw all the viewports.
Redraw in the View menu is the REDRAWALL command.
Invoking
the
REDRAW
command from the View menu
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 REGENERATING THE DRAWINGS
The REGEN command makes AutoCAD regenerate the entire drawing to update it. The
need for regeneration usually occurs when you change certain aspects of the drawing. All
the objects in the drawing are recalculated and redrawn in the current viewport. One of
the advantages of this command is that the drawing is refined by smoothing out circles
and arcs. To use this command, enter REGEN at the Command prompt. AutoCAD
displays the message Regenerating model while it regenerates the drawing. The REGEN
command affects only the current viewport. If you have more than one viewport, you can
use the REGENALL command to regenerate all the viewports. The REGEN command
can be aborted by pressing ESC. This saves time if you are going to use another
command that causes automatic regeneration.
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 ZOOMING THE DRAWINGS
This command enlarges or reduces the view of the drawing on the screen, but it does not
affect the actual size of the objects. The Zoom command (figure a) can be invoked from the
shortcut menu by right-clicking in the drawing area and choosing zoom from the menu
(figure b).
Figure (a) Selecting Zoom
options from the Zoom
toolbar
Learning
Objectives
Figure (b) Invoking the Zoom
command from the shortcut menu,
when in the LINE command
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
Zoom command has several options and can be used in a number of ways.
• Realtime Zooming
• Previous Option
• All Option
• Window Option
• Center Option
• Scale Option
• Extents Option
• Dynamic Option
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Realtime Zooming
You can use the Realtime Zoom to zoom in and zoom out interactively. To zoom in,
invoke the command, then hold the pick button down and move the cursor up.
• All Option
This option of the ZOOM command adjusts the display area on the basis of the
drawing limits (figure a) or extents of the object, whichever is greater. Even if the
objects are not within the limits, they are still included in the display. Hence, with the
help of the All option, you can view the entire drawing in the current viewport (figure b).
Learning
Objectives
ZOOM
Options
Figure (a)
Figure (b)
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Center Option
This option lets you define a new display window by specifying its center point (figures
a and b) and the magnification or height (figure c).
Figure (a) Drawing before
using the option
Learning
Objectives
Figure (b) Drawing
after using the
ZOOM
Center
option
Figure (c) Drawing after
using the ZOOM Center
option
ZOOM
Options
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Extents Option
As the name indicates, this option lets you zoom to
the extents of the biggest object in the drawing. The
extents of the drawing comprise the area that has the
drawings in it. The rest of the empty area is neglected.
With this option, all the objects in the drawing are
magnified to the largest possible display (figure).
The ZOOM Extents option
Learning
Objectives
ZOOM
Options
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Dynamic Option
This option displays the portion of the drawing that you have already specified. You
can then specify the area you want to be displayed by manipulating a view box
representing your viewport. When you have the view box in the proper position and
size, the current viewport is cleared by AutoCAD and a special view selection screen
is displayed. This special screen comprises information regarding the current view as
well as available views. In a color display, the different viewing windows are very easy
to distinguish because of their different colors.
• Blue dashed box representing drawing extents
• Green dashed box representing the current view
• Panning view box (X in the center)
• Zooming view box (arrow on the right side)
Learning
Objectives
ZOOM
Options
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Blue dashed box representing drawing extents
Drawing extents are represented by a dashed blue box (figure),
which constitutes the larger of the drawing limits or the actual
area occupied by the drawing.
• Green dashed box representing the current view
Box representing drawing
extents
A green dashed box is formed to
represent the area that the current
viewport comprises when the
Dynamic option of the ZOOM
command is invoked (figure).
Learning
Objectives
Representation
current view
of
the
Dynamic
Option
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Panning view box (X in the center)
A view box initially of the same size as the current view box is
displayed with an X in the center (figure). You can move this box
with the help of your pointing device. This box, known as the
panning view box, helps you to find the center point of the
zoomed display you want. When you have found the center, you
press the pick button to make the zooming view box appear.
• Zooming view box (arrow on the right side)
The panning view box
After you press the pick button in the center of
the panning view box, the X in the center of
the view box is replaced by an arrow pointing
to the right edge of the box. This zooming view
box (figure) indicates the ZOOM mode.
Learning
Objectives
The zooming view box
Dynamic
Option
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Previous Option
While working on a complex drawing, you may need to zoom in on a portion of the
drawing to edit some minute details. Once the editing is over you may want to return to
the previous view. This can be done using the Previous option of the ZOOM
command.
• Window Option
This is the most commonly used option of the ZOOM command. It lets you specify the
area you want to zoom in on, by letting you specify two opposite corners of a
rectangular window. The center of the specified window becomes the center of the
new display screen.
Learning
Objectives
ZOOM
Options
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Scale Option
The Scale option of the ZOOM command is a very versatile option. It can be used in
the following ways.
• Scale: Relative to full view
This option of the ZOOM command lets you magnify or reduce the size of a drawing
according to a scale factor figure (a). In figure (b), the image size decreased
because the scale factor is less than 1.
Figure (a)
Learning
Objectives
Figure (b)
ZOOM
Options
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Scale: Relative to current view
The second way to scale is with respect to the current view (figure). The following
example increases the display magnification by a factor of 2 relative to its current
value (figure).
Learning
Objectives
Drawing before Zoom Scale (X)
option
Drawing after Zoom Scale (X)
option
Scale
Options
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Scale: Relative to paper space units
The third method of scaling is with respect to paper space. You can use paper space
in a variety of ways and for various reasons. For example, you can array and plot
various views of your model in paper space. To scale each view relative to paper
space units, you can use the ZOOM XP option. Each view can have an individual
scale. The drawing view can be at any scale of your choice in a model space
viewport. For example, to display a model space at one-fourth (¼) the size of the
paper space units.
Learning
Objectives
Scale
Options
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Zoom In and Out
You can also zoom into the drawing using the In option, which doubles the image size.
Similarly, you can use the Out option to decrease the size of the image by half. To
invoke these options from the command line, enter ZOOM 2X for the In option or
ZOOM .5X for the Out option at the Command prompt. The center of the screen is
taken as the reference point for enlarging or reducing the view of the drawing.
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 PANNING THE DRAWINGS
The PAN command allows you to bring into view portions of the drawing that are outside
the display area of the current viewport. This is done without changing the magnification of
the drawing.
• Panning in Realtime
You can use the Realtime Pan to pan the drawing
interactively. For the PAN command, there are
various options
that can be used to pan the
drawing in a particular direction. These items can be
invoked only from the menu (figure).
Learning
Objectives
Invoking the PAN command
options from the View menu
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Point
In this option you are required to specify
the displacement.
• Right
Moves the drawing right so that some of
the left portion of the drawing is brought
into view.
• Left
Moves the drawing left so that some of
the right portion of the drawing is
brought into view.
• Up
Moves the drawing up so that some of
the bottom portion of the drawing is
brought into view.
• Down
Moves the drawing down so that some
of the top portion of the drawing is
brought into view.
Learning
Objectives
Panning
Realtime
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 CREATING VIEWS
You can store the view under a name and restore
the view using the name you have given it. Choose
the Named Views button available on the View
toolbar (figure a) to invoke the View dialog box
(figure b).
Invoking Named Views
from the View toolbar
• View Dialog Box
You can save and restore the views from the View
dialog box (figure). The following are the various
options in the Named Views tab of the View dialog
box.
• Current View
• Set Current
• New
• Details
Learning
Objectives
Figure (b) View dialog box
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Current View
The View list box displays a list of the named views in the drawing. The list appears
with the names of all saved views and the space in which each was defined.
• New
The New button allows you to create a new view
and save it by giving it a name. When you choose
the New button, the New View dialog box is
displayed as shown in figure.
• Set Current
The Set Current button allows you to replace the
current viewport by the view you specify.
• Details
Learning
Objectives
You can also see the description of the general
parameters of a view by selecting the particular
view and then choosing the Details button.
New View dialog box
View Dialog Box
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Using the Command prompt
You can also use the -VIEW command to work with views at the Command prompt.
Command: -VIEW «
Enter an option [?/Orthographic/Delete/Restore/Save/Ucs/Window]:
You can use the various options to save, restore, delete, or list the views. If you try to
restore a Model space while working in Paper space, AutoCAD automatically switches to
floating model space. In this case AutoCAD will prompt you further as follows.
Enter view name to restore: Select viewport for restoring
Learning
Objectives
Creating
Views
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 AERIAL VIEW
The Aerial View window, can be used to view the
entire drawing and select those portions you want to
quickly zoom or pan. You can keep the Aerial View
window open as you work on the graphics screen, or
minimize it so that it stays on the screen as a button
which can be restored when required (figure). The
Aerial View window can also be invoked when you
are in the midst of any command other than the
DVIEW command.
The Aerial View window has two menus, View and
Options. It also has a toolbar containing zoom in,
zoom out, and zoom global options.
Learning
Objectives
AutoCAD graphics screen with
the Aerial View window
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
The following is a description of the available options in the Aerial View.
• Toolbar Buttons
The Aerial View window has three buttons: Zoom In, Zoom
Out, and Global figure.
• Zoom In
This option leads to magnification by a factor of 2 centered on
the current view box.
• Zoom Out
This option leads to reduction by half centered on the current
view box.
Aerial View window
• Global
The Global option displays the complete drawing in the Aerial View window.
Learning
Objectives
Aerial View
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Menus
The menus available in the menu title bar are View and Options. The View menu contains
Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Global options, which are the same as their respective buttons in
the toolbar. The Options menu has the following options.
• Auto Viewport
When you are working with viewports,
you may need to change the view in the
Aerial View window to display the
current viewport view.
• Dynamic Update
When you make any changes in the
current drawing, the view box is updated
simultaneously in the Aerial View window
if you have selected the Dynamic Update
option.
• Realtime Zoom
If on, this option updates the drawing area when you are zooming in the Aerial View
window in realtime.
Learning
Objectives
Aerial View
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 CREATING TEXT
In manual drafting, lettering is accomplished by hand using a lettering device, pen, or
pencil. This is a very time-consuming and tedious job. Computer-aided drafting has made
this process extremely simple. In this section, you will learn how text can be added in a
drawing by using TEXT and MTEXT commands.
 CREATING SINGLE LINE TEXT
The TEXT command displays a line in the drawing area where you specified the
start point after entering the height and the rotation angle. The prompt sequence
that follows when you choose this command is as follows.
Specify start point of text or [Justify/Style]: Specify the start point.
Specify height <current>: Specify height
Specify rotation angle of text <0>:«
Learning
Objectives
Enter text: Enter first line of the text.
Enter text: «
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Start Point Option
This is the default and the most commonly used option in the TEXT command. The prompt
sequence is as follows.
Specify height <default>:
Specify rotation angle of text <default>:
Enter text :
The Specify height prompt determines the distance by which the text extends above the
baseline, measured by the capital letters.
The Specify rotation angle of text prompt determines the angle at which the text line will be
drawn. The default value of the rotation angle is 0 degrees (3 o’clock, or east).
At Enter text: prompt, enter the text string. Spaces are allowed between words.
Learning
Objectives
Single Line
Text
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Justify Option
AutoCAD offers different options to align the text.
Alignment refers to the layout of the text. The
main text alignment modes are left, center, and
right. You can align a text using a combination of
modes; for example, top/middle/baseline/bottom
and left/center/right as shown in figure. Top refers
to the line along which lie the top points of the
capital letters; Baseline refers to the line along
which lie their bases. Letters with descenders
(such as p, g, y) dip below the baseline to the
bottom.
Text alignment positions
Learning
Objectives
Single Line
Text
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
The different alignment options are as follows.
Align option. In this option the text string is written
between two points. The two points may be specified
horizontally or at an angle.
Fit Option. In this case you select the text height, and
it does not vary according to the distance between the
two points.
Center Option. You can use this option to select the
midpoint of the baseline for the text.
Middle Option. Using this option you can specify the
middle point of the text string.
Learning
Objectives
Writing the text using Align, Fit,
Center, and Middle options
Justify
Option
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
Right Option. This option is similar to the default
left-justified Start point option. The only difference is
that the text string is aligned with the lower right
corner (the endpoint you specify); that is, the text is
right-justified.
TL Option. In this option the text string is justified
from the top left.
Writing text using the Right, Top-Left,
Top-Center, and Top-Right options
Learning
Objectives
Justify
Option
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Style Option
With this option you can specify another existing text style. Different text styles can have
different text fonts, heights, obliquing angles, and other features. This option can be
invoked by entering TEXT and then S at the next prompt.
Learning
Objectives
Single Line
Text
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 DRAWING SPECIAL CHARACTERS
In almost all drafting applications, you need to draw special characters (symbols) in the
normal text and in the dimension text. For example, you may want to draw the degree
symbol (º) or the diameter symbol (ø), or you may want to underscore or over score some
text. This can be achieved with the appropriate sequence of control characters (control
code). For each symbol, the control sequence starts with a percent sign written twice (%%).
The character immediately following the double percent sign depicts the symbol. The control
sequences for some of the symbols are:
Learning
Objectives
Control sequence
%%c
%%d
%%p
%%o
%%u
%%%
Special character
Diameter symbol ()
Degree symbol ()
Plus/minus tolerance symbol ()
Toggle for over score mode on/off
Toggle for underscore mode on/off
Single percent sign (%)
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 CREATING MULTILINE TEXT*
You can use the MTEXT command (figure) to write a
multiline text whose width can be specified by defining two
corners of the text boundary or by entering a width, using
coordinate entry. The text created by the MTEXT command
is a single object regardless of the number of lines it
contains.
Invoking Multiline Text
from the Draw toolbar
Once you have defined the boundary of the
paragraph text, AutoCAD displays the Multiline
Text Editor as shown in figure.The Multiline
Text Editor consists of the Text formatting
toolbar, Text window (with a ruler at the top),
and shortcut menu.
Multiline Text Editor
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
The following is the description of the options available in the Text formatting toolbar and the
shortcut menu.
• Text Formatting Toolbar
The options provided under this toolbar are as follows.
• Style
The Style drop-down list is the first drop-down list available on the left of the Text
Formatting toolbar.
• Font
The Font drop-down list displays all the fonts
available in AutoCAD. You can select the desired font
from this drop-down list, see figure.
Font drop-down list
Learning
Objectives
Multiline Text
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Text Height
The Text Height edit box is used to
specify the text height of the multiline
text. Remember that the MTEXT
height does not affect the size
specified for the TEXT command.
• Undo
The Undo button allows you to undo
the actions in the Multiline Text
Editor. You can also press the
CTRL+Z keys to undo the previous
actions.
Learning
Objectives
• Bold, Italic, Underline
You can use the appropriate tool buttons
located on the text box to make the
selected text boldface, or italics, or create
underlined text. These three buttons toggle
between on and off.
• Redo
The Redo button allows you to redo the
actions in the Multiline Text Editor. You
can also press the CTRL+Y keys to redo
the previous actions.
Text Formatting
Toolbar
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Stack
The character / stacks the text vertically with a line, and
the character ^ stacks the text vertically without a line
(tolerance stack). The character # stacks the text with a
diagonal line. After you enter the text with the required
special character between them, select the text, and then
select the Stack/Unstack button. If you enter two numbers
separated by / or ^ and then press the Enter key, AutoCAD
displays the AutoStack Properties dialog box (figure).
• Color
AutoStack
dialog box
Properties
The Color drop-down list is used to set the color for the multiline text. You can also select
the color from the Select Color dialog box that is displayed by selecting Select Color in
the drop-down list.
Learning
Objectives
Text Formatting
Toolbar
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Text Window
The Text window is used to enter the multiline text. The width of the active
text area is determined by the width of the window that you specify when
you invoke the MTEXT command.
• Shortcut Menu
In the Text window, right-click to display the shortcut menu shown in figure.
The shortcut menu provides various options to edit the multiline text. To edit
the text, select it and then right-click. The shortcut menu is displayed. The
Undo and the Redo options are used to undo or redo the last actions done
in the Multiline Text editor. The Cut and Copy options can be used to
move or copy the text from the text editor to any other application. Similarly
using the Paste option, you can paste text from any windows text-based
application to the Multiline Text Editor.
Learning
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Shortcut menu
Multiline Text
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
The remaining options available in the shortcut menu are discussed next.
• Indents and Tabs
The Indents and Tabs option allows you to set the
indentation of the multiline text and the tab position.
Note that as mentioned earlier, these options can
also be set using the ruler and the sliders available
on top of the drawing window. When you choose
Indents and Tabs from the shortcut menu, the
Indents and Tabs dialog box is displayed as shown
in figure.
• Indentation Area
Indents and Tabs dialog box
• Tab stop position Area
Learning
Objectives
Shortcut
Menu
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Justification
In large complicated technical drawings, the
Justification option is used to fit the text matter
along a particular width. This option is used to control
the justification and alignment of the text paragraph.
The various justifications are TL, ML, BL, TC, MC,
BC, TR, MR, BR. figure shows various text
justifications for multiline text.
• Find and Replace
When you choose this
option, the Replace
dialog box is displayed
as shown in figure.
Learning
Objectives
Text justifications for MTEXT (P1
is the text insertion point)
Replace dialog box
Shortcut
Menu
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Select All
This option is used to select the complete text entered in the Multiline Text Editor.
• Change Case
This option is used to change the case of the selected text to uppercase or lowercase.
• AutoCAPS
If you choose this option, the case of all the text written or imported after choosing this
option will be changed to uppercase.
• Remove Formatting
This option is used to remove the formatting such as bold, italics, or underline from the
selected text. To use this option, select the text whose formatting you need to change and
then right-click to display the shortcut menu. In the menu, choose the Remove Formatting
option. The formatting of the selected text will be removed.
Learning
Objectives
Shortcut
Menu
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Combine Paragraphs
This option is used to combine the selected paragraphs into a single paragraph.
AutoCAD replaces the returns between all the paragraphs by a space. As a result, the
lines in the resultant paragraph are in continuation.
• Stack
The Stack option is used to stack the selected text if there are any stack characters
(characters separated by /, #, or ^) available in the multiline text. Note that this option is
available only if you select stack characters from the text.
• Unstack
The Unstack option is used to unstack the selected stacked text. This option is available
only if there are some stacked characters in the text.
Learning
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Shortcut
Menu
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Properties
This option is available only when you select a stacked
text. When you choose this option, the Stack Properties
dialog box is displayed as shown in figure.
• Text Area
• Default
• Appearance Area
• AutoStack
• Symbol
When you choose Symbol from the shortcut menu, a
cascading menu appears that displays some predefined
special characters.
Stack Properties dialog box
• Import Text
When you choose this option, AutoCAD displays the Select File dialog box. In this dialog
box you can select any text file you want to import as the multiline text.
Learning
Objectives
Shortcut
Menu
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Example 1
In this example you will use the Multiline Text Editor to write the following text on the
screen.
For long, complex entries, create multiline text using the MTEXT option. The angle is 10degree. Diameter = 1/2” and Length = 32 1/2”.
The font of the text is Swis721 BT, text height is 0.20, color red, and written at an angle of
10-degree with Middle-Left justification. Make the word “multiline” bold, underline the text
“multiline text”, and make the word “angle” italic. The line spacing type and line spacing
between the lines are At least and 1.5x respectively. Use the symbol for degrees and
replace the word “option” with “command”.
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
1.
The first step is to choose the Multiline Text button from the Draw toolbar. After invoking
the command, specify the first corner on the screen to define the first corner of the
paragraph text boundary.
2.
Select Swis721 BT true type font from the Font drop-down list.
3.
Enter 0.20 in the Text height edit box, if the
value in this edit box is not 0.2.
4.
Select Red from the Color drop-down list.
5.
Now enter the text in the Multiline Text
Editor as shown in figure.
6.
Double-click on the word “multiline” to select
it and then choose the Bold button to make
it boldface.
7.
Highlight the word “text” and then select the Underline button to underline it.
Learning
Objectives
Multiline Text Editor
Example 1
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
8.
Highlight the word “angle” by double-clicking on it (or pick and drag to select the text) and
then choose the Italic button.
9.
Right-click on the text window and choose Justification > Middle Left from the shortcut
menu.
10. Click at the start of the multiline to move the cursor
to the start. Now, right-click on the text window and
choose Find and Replace from the shortcut menu.
11. In the Find what edit box, enter option and in the
Replace with edit box, enter command.
12. Choose the Find Next button. AutoCAD finds the
word “option” and highlights it as shown in figure.
Choose the Replace button to replace option by
command.
Learning
Objectives
Multiline Text Editor with the
selected word highlighted
Example 1
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
13. Now, choose Cancel to close the Replace dialog box to return to the Multiline Text
Editor. Choose the OK button to exit the Multiline Text Editor. The text is displayed on
the screen as shown in figure.
Multiline text for Example 1
Learning
Objectives
Example 1
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Exercise 2
Draw the text on the screen as shown in figure (a) and figure (b). Use the special
characters and text justification options shown in the drawing using the TEXT and MTEXT
commands. The text height is 0.1 and 0.15 for figure (a) and figure (b) respectively.
Learning
Objectives
Figure (a)
Figure (b)
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 EDITING TEXT
The contents of MTEXT and TEXT object can be edited by using the DDEDIT and
PROPERTIES commands. You can also use the AutoCAD editing commands, such as
MOVE, ERASE, ROTATE, COPY, MIRROR, and GRIPS with any text object. The various
editing and modifying operations are discussed next.
• Editing Text Using DDEDIT Command
You can use the DDEDIT command to edit the text. If you select TEXT object,
AutoCAD displays the Edit Text dialog box as shown in figure in which the
selected text is displayed in the Text edit box.
Learning
Objectives
Using the Edit Text dialog box to edit text
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Editing Text Using the PROPERTIES Palette
Using the DDEDIT command with the text object, you can only
change the text string and not its properties such as the height,
angle, and so on. In this case, you can use the PROPERTIES
palette for changing the properties. Select the text and choose the
Properties button in the Standard toolbar. AutoCAD displays the
PROPERTIES palette with all the properties of the selected text
as shown in figure.
PROPERTIES palette
Learning
Objectives
Editing Text
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Match object
You can use the Match object option to select an existing text whose height will be used to
scale the selected text.
• Scale factor
You can use the Scale factor option to specify a scale factor to scale the text. You can also
use the Reference option to specify the scale factor for the text.
Learning
Objectives
PROPERTIES
Palette
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Modifying the Justification of the Text
You can modify the justification of the text using the Justify Text button in the
Text toolbar. Note that even after modifying the justification using this command,
the location of the text is not changed.
Learning
Objectives
Editing Text
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 SUBSTITUTING FONTS
AutoCAD provides the facility to designate the fonts that you want to substitute for other
fonts used in the drawing. The information about font mapping is specified in the font
mapping file (acad.fmp).
The font mapping file is an ASCII file with FMP extension containing one font mapping per
line. The format on the line is:
Base name of the font file;Name of the substitute font with extension (ttf, shx, etc.)
You can enter this line in the acad.fmp file or create a new file. If you create a new font
mapping file, you need to specify this new file. You can use the Options dialog box to
specify the new font map file. You can also use the FONTMAP system variable to specify
the new font map file.
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Specifying an Alternate Default Font
When you open a drawing file that specifies a font file that is not on your system or is not
specified in the font mapping file, AutoCAD, by default, substitutes the simplex.shx font file.
You can specify a different font file in the Options dialog box or do so by changing the
FONTALT system variable.
Learning
Objectives
Substituting
Fonts
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 CREATING TEXT STYLES
By default, whenever you write a text in AutoCAD, it is written using the default text
style called Standard. This text style is assigned a default text font (TXT.SHX) and
the default formatting. However, if you need to write a text using some other font
and other parameters, you need to use the Multiline Text Editor. This is because
only using this command you can change the formatting and font of the text.
To create a new text style or to
modify the default style, choose the
Text Style button from the Text
toolbar. The Text Style dialog box is
displayed as shown in figure.
Learning
Objectives
Text Style dialog box
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
In the Style Name edit box the default style (Standard) will
be displayed. For creating a new style, choose the New
button to display the New Text Style dialog box (figure) and
enter the name of the style you want to create.
New Text Style dialog box
You can change the font by selecting a new font from the
Font Name drop-down list. Similarly, you can change the text
height, width, and oblique angle. After making the desired
changes, choose the Apply button and the Close button to
exit the dialog box. figure shows text objects with all these
settings.
Learning
Objectives
Specifying different features
to text style files
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 DETERMINING TEXT HEIGHT
The actual text height is equal to the product of the scale factor and the plotted text height.
Therefore, scale factors are important numbers for plotting the text at the correct height.
This factor is a reciprocal of the drawing plot scale. It is very important to evaluate scale
factors and text heights before you begin a drawing. It would be even better to include the
text height in your prototype drawing by assigning the value to the TEXTSIZE system
variable.
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 CHECKING SPELLING
You can check the spelling of text (text generated by
the TEXT or MTEXT commands) by using the SPELL
command. If the spelling is incorrect for any word in the
selected text, AutoCAD displays the Check Spelling
dialog box as shown in figure.
Check Spelling dialog box
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 TEXT QUALITY AND TEXT FILL
AutoCAD supports TrueType fonts. You can use your own TrueType fonts by adding them
to the Fonts directory. You can also keep your fonts in a separate directory, in which case
you must specify the location of your fonts directory in the AutoCAD search path.
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 FINDING AND REPLACING TEXT
You can use the FIND command to find and
replace the text. The text could be a line text
created by TEXT command, paragraph text
created by MTEXT command, dimension
annotation text, block attribute value, hyperlinks,
or hyperlink description. When you invoke this
command, AutoCAD displays the Find and
Replace dialog box as shown in figure.
Find and Replace dialog box
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
• Find Text
To find the text, enter the text you want to find in the
Find text string edit box. To select text, choose the
Select Objects button. In the Search in drop-down list
you can specify if you want to search the entire drawing
or current selection. If you choose the Options button,
AutoCAD displays the Find and Replace Options
dialog box as shown in figure.
• Replace Text
Find and Replace Options
dialog box
If you want to replace the specified text with new text, enter the new text in the Replace with
edit box. Now, if you choose the Replace button, only the found text will be replaced. If you
choose the Replace All button, all occurrences of the specified text will be replaced with the
new text.
Learning
Objectives
Find and
Replace
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Exercise 3
Draw the text on the screen as shown in figure (a). Use the text justification that will produce
the text as shown in the drawing. Assume a value for text height. Use the PROPERTIES
window to change the text as shown in figure (b).
Drawing for Exercise 3
Learning
Objectives
Drawing for Exercise
(After changing the text)
3
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Exercise 4
Draw the text on the screen as shown in figure.
You must first define text style files using the
STYLE command with the attributes as shown in
the drawing. The text height is 0.25 units.
Drawing for Exercise 4
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Exercise 5
Draw figure using the draw, edit, text, and
display commands. Do not dimension the
drawing.
Drawing for Exercise 5
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Exercise 6
Draw figure using the MIRROR command to
duplicate the features that are identical. Also,
add the text shown in the figure. Use the
display commands to facilitate the process. Do
not dimension the drawing.
Drawing for Exercise 6
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Exercise 7
Draw figure and also add the text shown in the
figure. Use the display commands to facilitate
the process. Do not dimension the drawing.
Drawing for Exercise 7
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Exercise 8
Draw figure using the MIRROR command to
duplicate the features that are identical. Use
the display commands to facilitate the process.
Add the text to the drawing but do not
dimension the drawing.
Drawing for Exercise 8
Learning
Objectives
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Problem Solving Exercise 1
Draw figure using AutoCAD’s draw, edit, and
display commands. Also add the text to the
drawing. Assume the missing dimensions. Do
not dimension the drawing.
Drawing for
Exercise 1
Learning
Objectives
Problem
Solving
Chapter 7 /Controlling the Drawing Display
and Creating Text
 Problem Solving Exercise 2
Draw figure using AutoCAD’s draw, edit, and display
commands. Also add the text to the drawing. Assume the
missing dimensions. Do not dimension the drawing.
Learning
Objectives
Drawing for Problem Solving
Exercise 2