• TechNotes
• Drawing Curved Text

TechTip of the Month Contest Winner of October 2005 - Dan Kunschik’s tip on curved text!

Editor’s note: We have to admit that Dan’s tip was originally posted to the ArchiTalk in January 2005, however it was referred to it in October, and since it is a great tip for advanced ArchiCAD users, we thought it was well worth the mug ?

- „...For example I must indicate the sea high water level on a site plan. I want the text to follow the path of a spline.” This tip provides a creative solution to the above problem for advanced users.

• To summarize the solution, for curved text, one must create a new Line style based on the text to be displayed in a curved format. The required steps would thus be:

• Use the Text 3D.GSM to place the desired text into a 3D Window.

• Copy the linework out of the 3D Window & place the text outline in plan

• Add whatever additional horizontal line work you would like it to have
• Copy this linework to a new linetype
• Use your new line in any ArchiCAD tool

This sounds rather easy; but it is worth to read through the more detailed description below, as it provides solutions to the caveats of the described process.

• It is best if you create the linetype for a specific scale so draw the linework at the scale you intend to use it for. Make sure your drawing scale is set properly before you begin. Here's an example for creating a 1/16" (let’s use 1:50 in our metric scale example) scale line type matching a 14 point font size (5 mm font height in metric).

Step one:

Important notes:

• Max Line Type width or "dash" in the line type settings is 4.25" (107.95 mm) Max linetype height in linetype settings is 1” (25.4 mm)

• Max Line Width Scale Adjustment Formula: Max Width = 4.25 * Drawing Scale

• Max Width = 4.25 * 16 ( = 107.95 * 50 in metric)
• Max Width = 68” ( = 5397.5 mm)
• Draw a 68” (5397.5 mm) horizontal line on your plan to represent this Max Width
• Max Line Height Scale Adjustment Formula: Max Height = 1” * Drawing Scale
• Max Height = 1” * 16 ( = 25.4 * 50 in metric)
• Max Height = 16” ( = 1270 mm)
• Draw a (1270 mm) vertical line on your plan to represent this Max Height

If now the two lines are dragged to the Origin, so that the vertical one’s middle point sits exactly on the Origin itself, we will be able to exactly position our text above the line and also will be able to check if the desired size pattern fits the maximum symbol pattern size.

Step two:

Now let us determine the height of the text in the Text 3D.gsm object so it would suit the desired font size.

Important note: There are 72 Points in an inch (i.e. cc. 2.835 points per mm, but this is irrelevant since we use mm as text height measurements anyway)

To determine the intended point size you would like the text on your new line type line to match - we're using 14 point for this example (10 mm high characters in metric units) – can be done as follows:

1. Height in inches = [(scale*12)*text point size]/72
   In metric: scale*text size (in mm)
   
   Height in inches = [(16*12)*14]/72 ((50)*10 in metric units)
   Height in inches = 37.33" (500 mm) 

2. Select the Text 3D.gsm and set its height to 37.33" (500 mm) then type your desired text in the object dialogue
3. Place the object in plan and generate an elevation of it (in the same scale as the floor plan)

4. Marquee and copy the text outlines

5. Paste the text outlines on plan above the 68' (5397.5 mm) line you previously drew If the text fits the rectangle defined by the max height and max width lines, then we can continue. Otherwise, some of the desired attributes will need to be changed so the pattern will fit into the maximum size ’rectangle.’

Step three:

We have now the desired size of the text – so the only thing is left is to create the new line type:

1. Select the text and (only) the horizontal line and copy them (Ctrl+C on Windows or Cmd + C on the Macintosh)

2. Open Options...>Attributes...>Line Types...

3. Here choose to create a New Line Type
4. Select the ’Symbol’ line type option
5. Name it accordingly (e.g. „Water level 14 pt 1/16” (or 1:50 in metric)) so it will be easy to identify later
6. Click on ’Paste Line Components’ – and the text and line should appear in the dialog box
7. Set the Gap to be 0” or whatever unit you are using
8. Click on OK
9. Start drawing with the line.

Enjoy!

Hints:

• Its actually simpler than it looks but there are some obvious limitations:
• The example uses one simple unbroken line. If your line type requires dashes, etc. - simply split up and modify the linework but be sure and completely fill the Max Line Width area - theremust at least be a piece of linework at the beginning and at end of the Max Line Width area.
• The text will always repeat based on the thescale - in the above example it will always repeat every 68' when thescale is 1/16"=1'- 0" Obviously this will create certain limitation onthe frequency of the text repeat you might desire.

• For a more detailed explanation visit an excellent article by Mr LászlóNagy here

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