Research: Text and Callouts

[FrankL]

I would like to have the ability to convert to upper or lower case in a word, sentance or parragraph.

[ktkcad]

Marty,

Do you mean like the options contained in Preferences...Edit...Marquee Select:

Intersect Rectangle
Contained in Rectangle
Center Inside Rectangle

Yes this is good but ACAD simplifies this. Draw the marquee left to right and it is inclusive, right to left it is only fully contained items. No clicking to change preferences or hot keys...after a few times it becomes second nature which way to pull the marquee.

[Doug Park]

Yes, but to the uninitiated the alternate selection based on direction is confusing. Given the confusion over what selection mode is currently active that we have seen here even though it is explicit, I could see this as a nightmare to support.

If we were to do this, it would have to be an advanced feature that you would turn on explicitly. Or access by holding down a modifier key.

[dshall]

Draw the marquee left to right and it is inclusive, right to left it is only fully contained items. No clicking to change preferences or hot keys...after a few times it becomes second nature which way to pull the marquee.

Yes please, this would be great, I watch some acad guys in the office and this is second nature to them.... please,please,please
-scott

[WendyWelton]

Yes this is good but ACAD simplifies this. Draw the marquee left to right and it is inclusive, right to left it is only fully contained items. No clicking to change preferences or hot keys...after a few times it becomes second nature which way to pull the marquee.

Karl,

Yes, this is how acad works and I like it very much. I was trying not to go the "acad does it..." route!

Dan,

I've used acad forever, taught it, trained it, etc. This is not a feature that people have trouble getting. As a matter of fact, I've found people get the hang of it far easier than remembering where the $#*%&%^ this setting is buried in the menu. And Karl is right, it becomes second nature amazingly fast.

I would be perfectly happy with that solution. I'd also be perfectly happy with hotkeys. It's having to drill down 3 clicks to get to this setting, after I stop to remember just where it's hidden, that's not floating my boat.

Remember that anything available only via a menu has the same downside. Just which menu is nowhere near as intuitive as you might think. Stair sections moving independently for instance: Is it a Default? A Preference? Edit? No wait, it's "Architectural"! Huh? You might just as well call that category "we couldn't decide".

[retire45]

Doug,

PLEASE do something about the selection issue.. Status quo in preferences is wrong.. I have used Datacad for years and it is a hotkey toggle to include partially windowed items.. The Autocad way I won't mind one bit.. It is elegant and simple.

Generally, CAD editing settings should not be a default one sets but on the fly or openly accessible..(concentric jump?) In Archicad they have little floating palettes that automatically appear and offer toggles.. even that is a little clumsy.

This goes back to a couple of suggestions a while back about dockable panels ..

[Larry Kumpost]

Draw the marquee left to right and it is inclusive, right to left it is only fully contained items. No clicking to change preferences or hot keys...after a few times it becomes second nature which way to pull the marquee.

On my AutoCAD it works the other way around.

I would like to see this feature as well.

Doug: Not sure why you think this would be so "confusing".

[JeffM]

On my AutoCAD it works the other way around.

I would like to see this feature as well.

Doug: Not sure why you think this would be so "confusing".

This is getting a bit off topic.

But when I used Acad (im a few versions behind), the marquee looked different. It was apparent that you were doing something different when dragging from top left or bottom right.

[Larry Kumpost]

This is getting a bit off topic.

But when I used Acad (im a few versions behind), the marquee looked different. It was apparent that you were doing something different when dragging from top left or bottom right.

I still use version 2002:

Drag a box (marquee) from top left I get only what is completely in the box and the box is a solid line.

Drag the box (marquee) from the lower right and I get everything that is in or partly in the box and the box is a dashed line.

You may be able to adjust how these display but I never have.

That is the way the marquee selection has always worked for me... going back to version 9.

[corrcadd99]

Hello,

I was a beta tester for Versions 10 and X1 and have vented out about this in the past.

I hope I don’t open a can of worms but I still prefer the 9.5 text . The text leader association was great. (When copying text the Leader followed) The leader was user friendly, snapped in ortho angles, was very fast and easy to use. I'm spending extra time tweaking crooked leader lines and adjusting leader starting/ending points (Leader Tails etc..)

The latest Chief X1 patch has some issues with leader lines disappearing (text is showing but the leaders are not) Huge Bug ! Please Fix ! This would be fine if the leader line was associated to the text as it was in version 9.5

An option to revert to 9.5 text would be great (Check Box in preferences)

I did not like Version 10 due to the text changes (I thought it was a step backwards - not as user friendly) , Version X1's text is better but still needs work.

If reverting to 9.5 text option (Preferences) is not feasible, Than the following improvements would be a step in the right direction.

1. Copying associated leaders when copying text (as in CA 9.5)
2. Snap the Leader line tails to set angle snaps.
( Again - I hate having to tweak crooked leader lines tails)
3. All of the other suggestion in this post combined (great suggestions)

Mike Corriveau
Corriveau Cadd

[Kelly K]

Hello,

I was a beta tester for Versions 10 and X1 and have vented out about this in the past.

I hope I don’t open a can of worms but I still prefer the 9.5 text ........
An option to revert to 9.5 text would be great (Check Box in preferences)

I did not like Version 10 due to the text changes (I thought it was a step back wards - not as user friendly) , Version X1's text is better but still needs work.

If reverting to 9.5 text option (Preferences) is not feasible, Than the following improvements would be a step in the right direction.

1. Copying associated leaders when copying text (as in CA 9.5)
2. Snap the Leader line tails to set angle snaps.
( Again - I hate having to tweak crooked leader lines tails)
3. All of the other suggestion in this post combined (great suggestions)

Mike Corriveau
Corriveau Cadd

Mike,

Thats interesting about 9.5, because I feel the same. In fact, I have retained my text files and have brought them forward with each successive upgrade (which was a disaster under ver 10, arrows flying out to nowhere seeking some fantasy connection). X1 seems to be better behaved as you indicated.

What's amusing is the other day I open ver 9 added some text and then copied it forward because I wanted to overwrite some of the changes that I had made in ver. 10.

So I guess I would agree.

Kelly

[Doug Park]

Having leader lines copy with the text may be possible to do although I would need to analyze the side effects to see if it would be possible.

I would challenge the point that the old leader lines were easier to use. With the new leader line tool I can put in an annotation in fewer clicks and get it positioned right the first time whereas with the old version you needed several clicks and drags to do the same thing and you were virtually guaranteed that it was in the wrong place to start with.

Getting your leaders lined up was nigh near impossible in 9. It was so bad that many were using the arrow tool to do them anyway.

Today you can not only place them faster and more accurately, but you have full control over arrow style, layer, number of segments, they can be curved, splines, there are more options on where they can attach to the text etc.

I haven't seen a case of leader lines disappearing in quite some time, so if you have a reproducible case please send it in to support.

The trainers and power users that I trust have told me that we shouldn't be going back to the version 9 style of leaders as the new ones are much more flexible and usable once you invest the small amount of time required to learn how to use them correctly.

I would suspect that your issues of angles is due to having auto position tail turned on. I recommend turning this off.

Don't create your arrows by clicking the add arrow button in the text dialog. Create them by drawing them either using the leader line tool or using the text arrow tool. The fastest way to draw your arrows is to use the leader line tool.

Start dragging from what you want to point to and click once for each corner in your line. By default the leader line tool has 2 segments. You can set this to any number you would like but setting higher gives you more options. If I typically want 1 to 3 segments in my leader line I could set it to 3. Then if I want a 1 segment arrow I draw the first one then click on the end of the tail to finish it off. Type in my text and it will automatically position the text in what is a very likely to be correct position.

In addition in X1, the arrow attaches to the thing you are pointing to. If you move it, the arrow head will move reducing the need to reposition a lot of arrow heads if you move an object. If you delete either the text or the item it points to the arrow will get deleted.

Given all the advantages, I find it very difficult to believe that V9 arrows are better.

[WHirsch]

There were some aspects of the ver 9 leaders that were missed in V10, particularly the automatic insertion of a line break in the leader line, and the ability to insert a second leader line at the time of creation. Both of these omissions have been nicely dealt with in the current version, though the the add line option is a bit kludgy. I'm hoping that we move forward in the next release, not backwards!

[RMorrison]

I would suspect that your issues of angles is due to having auto position tail turned on. I recommend turning this off.

Doug,
Just an FYI that this default doesn't hold for leader line text. It was reported and confirmed as a bug. Very annoying in the meantime, though.

[FWD]

JP Ware
"Take a look at how AutoCad handles text and dims, "


I would agree with that.