Topic: contour lables

[drizzt]

I am looking at the styles for contour labels and noticed that there is a "dragged state" for contour labels. Ummm.... why.... you can't drag them, can you?

[mjfarrell]

yes, yes you can drag them...should one actaully do so is another question entirely  

because once you do...they lose the contour information   

[Jeff_M]

You can drag the contour label? I am able to drag the ContourLabelLine, but the labels themselves are not selectable.

[mjfarrell]

You can drag the contour label? I am able to drag the ContourLabelLine, but the labels themselves are not selectable.

exactly

[Dent Cermak]

Herhehehehe!!    I can do it in Carlson.   

[drizzt]

Herhehehehe!!    I can do it in Carlson

I am wondering why you would ever want to

[mjfarrell]

yes, yes you can drag them...should one actaully do so is another question entirely  

[Dent Cermak]

Herhehehehe!!    I can do it in Carlson

I am wondering why you would ever want to

On our maps we show a ton of spot elevations, plus all the labels and stuff. Sometimes it nice to be able to move the lable to clear up any overprints or just to make it look better. Our in-house requirement is for either the index contour line to be broken for the lable or to use the mask-out feature so as not to have to break the index poly. Moving these values has absolutely no ill effects on the data and actually clarifies the reading of the data.

[drizzt]

but you are actually moving the label, not using a "leader" to point to were it was right?

[Dent Cermak]

No cartographer would EVER use a leader for a contour value!! That's just not the way it is done. Our styles, standards and specifications do not allow for that. Matter of fact, in the military mapping units you ONLY used any leaders if you wanted some Warrant Officer editor right up your bum. A very big no-no. To this day leader arrows are a "last resort" on any map I prepare.
Get ahold of any topographic quad map, professionally prepared, and you will see what I mean. Our "standards" are totally different from most other engineering drawings and worlds apart from the majority of the architectural drawings that I have seen.

[sinc]

That was actually the point of this thread...  Why do C3D Contour Labels have a "dragged state"?  They can't be moved into the drag state, and even if they could, nobody would ever want a contour label in the dragged state, so why does the contour label style even have dragged state settings?

The thing that's actually confused me is when AntiQuark says that "yes you can drag them"...  I haven't been able to figure out how.  I can move the contour label itself, but I can't drag it away from the contour and into the dragged state.

[mjfarrell]

you can drag them (label lines)...right off the contour line and then they have no value


the reason or logic of the Contour Label Style editor/creator showing the 'dragged' state tab is part of the 'consistency' across the interface, whether the object has that ability or not the user is presented with the same interface.
Although we all know that that concept of 'consistency' across the interface is in practice a myth throughout the application.  I've given them a 10 for concept, and a 3.35 for the execution of it.

[sinc]

Ah, I see, you're talking about dragging the contour label line...  I think the OP was talking about dragging the contour label itself into the dragged state.

As far as the consistency, though...  That whole idea, putting in a dialog box page that doesn't apply to an object, simply because other similar objects have that dialog page...  Well, I'd view that as a disgusting perversion of the concept of "consistency"...   :loco:

But I think we're on the same page there.  

[drizzt]

exactly sinc!