Annotative C3D labels...

[castled071049]

Am I correct that setting the annotative scale and the standard scale to different scales in a non-display-locked viewport has no effect on C3D labels? (i.e. the labels scale to the standard scale regardless of the annotative scale setting.) In this case, I'm particularly interested in parcel labels.

Thanks,

C3D v.2012

[tcorey]

Hi Jerry,

When you say Standard Scale, do you mean the scale you set in Drawing Settings? If so, no, that's not correct. When working on Layouts, inside viewports, Civil 3D labels scale to the zoom scale, without regard to Cannoscale or drawing scale. Zoom by window (giving you a weird scale like 0.0034 or whatever) and then regen and you'll see what I mean.

Tim

[castled071049]

I think I'm trying to say what you said. (See attached screen shot.) When you look at a viewport's properties, it words the viewport scale as "Standard Scale" and the annotation scale as "Annotation Scale." In this case, the annotation is set at 1:40 and the zoom ("standard") scale at 1:100. The C3D labels scale to 1:100 and ignore, as you pointed out, the annotation scale.

Thanks for responding so quickly, Tim.

Jerry.

[AllenJessup]

You're correct. Annotation Scale only affects AutoCAD Annotation objects not Civil 3D labels.

You can make some styles with a static height as shown below as long as your drawing scale remains the same. You have to create an expression for each size. This way the height is not affected by zooming in a layout.

 

Allen

[LeafRiders]

I think this is for real, but I sure was hoping for a better solution. Oh well better luck next time. When you create all you style remember to always create them in a 1:1 context. Never deviate from that or you'll end up cussing about how you can't plot something to scale because your labels are out to lunch.

[Neilw_05]

Before you put a lot of work into setting up styles you should have a clear understanding of how you want them to behave. With today's annotation technology you should not need to account for final plot scale when setting up styles. In other words you should configure text, dimensions, blocks, and anything else that is scale dependent to have the dimensions you want them to be when plotted.(i.e. set text height=0.10 for 0.10 plotted text). The software is designed to automatically compensate by applying a multiplier to the size according to the plot scale.

[AllenJessup]

The trick to what I'm doing is that these are only Point Label Styles and they are only used for proposed points, mainly top of curb. When I do details of an area, I want the relationship between the point labels and the drawing to stay the same. I've never tried this with any other style.

Allen

[tcorey]

That's a slick solution, Allen. Expressions make so many more options available...

[BrianHailey · Accepted solution]

For anyone that's interseted, here's a blog post I wrote that explains how to use the expression that Allen showed to get text to not scale:

http://civil3dplus.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/labels-with-text-that-doesnt-scale-youre-kidding-right/

And just to clarify a bit, the expression Allen showed will create text that is 0.8' tall in the model so if you try to plot that at any sort of normal scale, it will basically be a dot but when used in the model, it will always be 0.8' regardless of the drawing or viewport scale.

[AllenJessup]

Thanks Tim. As with many workarounds in Civil 3D, I learned it on this newsgroup.

Allen

[AllenJessup]

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@BrianHailey wrote:

And just to clarify a bit, the expression Allen showed will create text that is 0.8' tall in the model so if you try to plot that at any sort of normal scale, it will basically be a dot but when used in the model, it will always be 0.8' regardless of the drawing or viewport scale.

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That would be true if I were working in Feet

But since I probably learned the technique from your blog I wont quibble.

Allen