Topic: annotative text

[flopo]

Hello everybody,
Do you use annotative text? Is it usefull?

[Aerdvark]

This I have wondered too. So I will join in this thread only to listen... psstt...

[T.Willey]

Maybe this will be more useful in the CAD General section?

I don't use it, and don't code for it.

[Daniel J. Ellis]

Maybe this will be more useful in the CAD General section?

I don't use it, and don't code for it.

I've used it on occasion (we do planning drawings here, so don't have much call for it)- it works well, but can cause the odd panic if you forget to set a viewport's annotitive scale!

[sinc]

We use it extensively, along with Annotative Dimensions and MLeaders.  I've used Annotative Blocks on occasion, but not so much, since C3D Point Styles serve most of our needs in that regard.

Annotative objects seems to be problematic in the 2008 version, but they're better in later in versions.  I pretty much never calculate a modelspace height for text anymore.

[mjfarrell]

Yes, it is strongly suggested that one use annotative text.

As to their issues; be sure to let your vendor know.  Demonstrate the problem, and see where the support process takes you. 

keep in mind they do whatever they want, and no one has any special voice (the cad whisperer) to make them respond any faster to your issue...

[JCTER]

Nope.  No benefits here.

[mjfarrell]

Nope.  No benefits here.

care to quantify?  about the hows or whys?

[JCTER]

Nope.  No benefits here.

care to quantify?  about the hows or whys?

nope.

[Shinyhead]

We have some clients that use it a lot (so we do as well) and others that don't.
I have used annotative blocks, dims, mtext and mleaders with decent success. Haven't used annotative hatch much though.

If your going to do it, it makes sense to make some custom tools though. We have an annotation palette that automagically asigns all the common annoscales to an object when its created and another that strips out all but the current annoscale. With those tools it makes the whole thing pretty painless once your used to how they behave.

The biggest issue I see with them is forgetting that if you move via grip editing, it only moves the object in that annoscale, at other scales it is in a different location.  Not a huge issue, but it can make for unexpected results.

[mjfarrell]

Shinyhead, are you doing that grip editing through the viewport, or in Model Space?
Or is it happening irrespective of how you are getting the grip?

[Shinyhead]

No matter how you do it, and it is supposed to work that way, its not a bug.

Let me explain, lets say I have a 16 scale elevation with an mleader label pointing to a crown molding.

I also use the same elevation in a detailed 4 scale elevation.  The same label appears on both, but it needs to be positioned differently at 4 scale then 16 scale. I just grip edit the leaders text anchor to where I want it (or the arrow head, doesn't matter), and at 4 scale it shows up the way I want it without it moving the item as displayed in 16 scale.

Think of it like linked objects, each visible at only one annoscale, but able to be in different scales and locations for each scale 'instance'.

If you issue a move command on the item all of them move in all the scales, but grip edit applies only to that 'instance' of the item.

Totally confused yet?

[sinc]

Yeah, the whole "Annotative Scales" thing works OK, once you get the hang of it.

I've never been a big fan of it, though.  Per-viewport visibility and placement would have been more useful, rather than using those dratted Annotation Scales to control everything.

[mjfarrell]

somehow I thought there was an option....possibly a bad dream here....wherein one could select which of the set of anno objects would be moved, when grip editing???


Nope, it ws just a dream.....

[sinc]

somehow I thought there was an option....possibly a bad dream here....wherein one could select which of the set of anno objects would be moved, when grip editing???


Nope, it ws just a dream.....

Yeah, you can...  Switch to modelspace, and change the active Annotation Scale to the one you want to move.  If you want to move more than one, repeat the process for each desired Annotation Scale.