Background Mask doesn't show or print

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I'm on Civil3d 2010.  I have a drawing where i have background masks on most of my text - everything works great.  Then I did a "Save As" to give the drawing a new name.  After working in it for a day or so, I noticed that all of the text masks don't show.  When I hover over mtext (or blocks with mtext), a border shows around the text (only when hovering).  But bottom line is the background mask doesn't show at all or print. The original drawing is still fine.

I've checked and this has nothing to do with line merge in the pc3 file etc.

Any thoughts? Is there a sys var that could have been toggled or something? 

Desperate....

Thanks,

Ted

[AllenJessup]

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@Anonymous wrote:

  But bottom line is the background mask doesn't show at all or print.

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Are you using the background mask to mask objects behind the text or to give them a border or background color? I only use them to mask so your statement above makes me wonder.

Usually if the background masks didn't seem to be working I'd try bringing the text to the front with draw order or you could use TEXTTOFRONT. Since the mask is part of the text, it should follow.

Allen

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the response.

I'm using the back mask (mtext property) with the "Use drawing backgroud color" option checked.

I have selected my text and brought to front.

I've attached a pic to show how the border of the mtext background mask shows when it is not selected but my mouse hovers over it.  I am positive the box represents the background mask as I have adjusted the Border offset factor and the box adjusts accordingly.

Also, I tried unchecking the "Use drawing background color"  and setting the mask color to red.  When I do this, a red box outline surrounds the text (I tried this in the properly working drawing file and all the text is blotted out with a solid red rectangle.  I've attached a second pic showing this.

I simply cannot figure out why it isnt functioning properly.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

-Ted

[Anonymous]

Sorry, just realized attached images didn't work out.  Try these:

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Found the answer:

FILL set to ON

credit: http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?19818-MTEXT-Background-Mask-Not-Displaying

[AllenJessup]

Glad to here you solved it. Thanks for posting the answer.

Allen

[Anonymous]

Having the exact same problem, but my FILL is set to ON already. The MTEXT is in Paper Space over a VP with an XREF I'm trying to cover. TEXTTOFRONT, MTEXT masking, DRAW ORDER, and creating a WIPEOUT make no difference whatsoever. The MTEXT stays hidden by the XREF. Two images below show that the XREF is being shown in full instead of the text showing as the front layer. (In the second image you should be able to see that masking is on.)

EDIT: The only thing that helped, at least on the printing side (though still not in viewing it) was making sure that Plot Paper Space Last was checked when printing. How irritating though.