Crop Around Text

[cadman777]

Hi All,

Does anyone have a way to crop the visible lines in a view where text is?

Example: Dimension text crosses edges of a pipe. Need to crop the pipe edges where the text crosses + a little more, so the text can be easily read.

The way I've been doing it for years is to place a Sketch on the view, draw a rectangle or ellipse around the text, and then use BreakOutView>Part to 'erase' the lines going through the text.

There's got to be an easier way than that, right?!

[NigelHay]

Not a problem I've encountered but could you use the break command in a view to create the space for a dimension?

[ampster40]

sorry this reply isn't any help but recall someone else posting the same thing within the last week.  Acad was mentioned in that post so the natural thing I mumbled to myself in my head was Inventor is not Acad.....heh.

Would be a good option to add to Inventor considering the history AutoCAD users have had creating various ways to do roughly the same thing. 

[cadman777]

Thanks for the suggestion.

The pipes are pickets on a railing, so I can't use break.

[Frederick_Law]

Try using dwg drawing in Inventor instead of idw.

Oh maybe not for 2010 .....

[cadman777]

Good point.

But back in the day when I used ACAD, there wasn't any command to crop around text.

Besides, it's not good drafting practice to land dim text on top of object lines.

But in structural detailing, they do it all the time!

Anyway, it's not about ACAD for me, it's about clean, easy to read, fabrication drawings.

[A.Acheson · Accepted solution]

I think this was asked a couple of post down and I did a little digging and annotation and geometry cropping/clipping doesn't exist in inventor. It's an Autocad thing. The best you can do is maybe a leader to get the text /dim away from the dim line or place  the annotation on another view. Can you share a picture of the situation? Maybe others can suggest a suitable approach. 

There was some long winded apprach suggested to place text in a symbol which allows clipping of geometry. Maybe that could work for you? 

[The_Angry_Elf]

I know this! I know this!!!

It's been years since I've done it or showed how to. Give me a few to re-discover it, but there is a rather easy way to do this.

OK, so I know the hatch automatically trims itself around the text, but personally, I feel it's not clipped enough.

I know there was a manual option for this years ago (like 10-15) that I used on a regular basis. Now I'm trying to find the settings that control that clipped box. I'm sure it's now inaccessible to a point. Ugh, it was so easy before. Now I'm on a mission...LOL

[CGBenner]

@The_Angry_Elf 

You're keeping us all in suspense, Elf!  😂

[throttle1253Z225]

I know that text can have a "mask" as shown in this print preview, but as for dims, I can't recall the option to do so.

[Frederick_Law]

Add empty (just space) text and put dimension on top?

[blandb]

I tried that before I posted the last image, but the text box will stay on top of the dimension.

[Jim_OFlaherty]

Sorry, got pulled away.

So far, from all I can find, the hatching automatically clips around the text for cut views (sections, etc), but have yet to find a way to edit the clip window that's used, is it even accessible?

I'll keep looking into this as I know it was a very easy thing to do in previous releases. Looks like they may have removed this ability.

[Jim_OFlaherty]

Well, you are Autodesk, don't you know the answer?

I can just see you and Johnson sitting back, snickering, waiting for my replies....;)

[The_Angry_Elf]

Well, sorry folks. I could have sworn there was a way to do this or at least a way to modify/set the "clipping" window to hide the underlying geometry or hatch. But haven't been able to find anything yet.

I'll keep looking but I got a few fish I need to fry here first.

Maybe I'll get a chance this weekend.

[The_Angry_Elf · Accepted solution]

@cadman777 

I've posted this as a request in the Ideas board:

Clipping around Text - Autodesk Community

Please feel free to add or correct anything I posted and let's get people to vote for this.

All the other requests for this got only a few votes and thus were archived.

Let's drive this one home.

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Folks,

This can be done in more recent Inventor (2020?). In the Format Text, there is a command called "Background Fill." Simply set it to the same color as the background. Then the text will clip the view geometry.

I don't think this workflow was available on 2010, Chris.

Many thanks!

[cadman777]

Thanks for the tip.

I looked for it before coming in here.

That would seem like an easy 'work-around' to a true clipping function.

Anyway, too bad it's not on 2010!

[cadman777 · Accepted solution]

I did a little more experimentation on this.

Here are the three relevant links I found on it:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/is-there-a-text-mask-option-in-a-drawing/td-p/6257852

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/hiding-things-behind-sketched-symbols/td-p/5820416

http://blog.ads-sol.com/2015/10/text-mask.html [BEST]

I tried ADS' instructions in the 3rd link and had problems.

Spent an hour+ trying various combinations to see how each option worked.

The result is, SymbolClipping didn't work at all for some reason.

But view object line clipping works on Projected views and Detail views, but not on Base Section and all other views.

So my cumbersome method is still the best answer to this need (Sketch on view & Breakout>ThroughPart).

Not sure why, unless it's the usual half-arse development I've grown accustomed to w/Autodesk software!

[cadman777]

Another couple questions:

Is there a way to make the TextBox 'hug' the text, so that the TextBox expands/shrinks with the text when using PromptedEntry? 

Does anyone know of a TTF that has a background mask that may work in Inventor?
Or maybe I can edit an existing TTF and put a mask behind it and use it as desired?

I had a 'brilliant' idea:

Make a png file of a rectangle and import it into a Symbol.

Well, wouldn't ya know, it didn't work.

I thought for sure that pic file would block anything it sat on in a drawing view!

To reiterate, this is just another of the myriad examples of HALF-ASSED PROGRAMMING by penny-pinching corporate whores. Just another GRANDIOSE DISAPPOINTMENT from a gang of scheming corporate monopolist thieves. Modern corporate monopolies = feudal guilds. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM:

“Coke was not the only judge who argued that monopolies violated the common
law (Weaver of Newbury’s Case, 72 Eng. Rep. 962 [1616?]; Les Brick-Layers &
Tilers v. Les Plaisterers, 81 Eng. Rep. 871 [1624]), but Coke’s name became
permanently associated with freedom of trade. After he retired from
Parliament, he wrote a series of books, the Institutes of the Common Law of
England, that became the training books for generations of lawyers, including
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and John Marshall. Basing his arguments on the
Magna Carta, Coke wrote that “all grants of monopolies are against the ancient
and fundamentall laws of this kingdome”...and therefore the monopolist...is odious.”
(77 Eng. Rep. 1218 [1797]).

UPDATE on TTF background:

Add a color background to a TrueType Font and use it as the font for my masked text.

But that won't work according to this Reddit post:

While it is possible to edit TTF fonts, you cannot make the "background" white.
TTF fonts can only specify opaque and transparent parts (technically, only
the opaque parts are specified and everything else is transparent). The
application that displays that font can chose one single color for the opaque 
part. But it cannot make "some parts black and some parts white".
answered Jan 19, 2016 at 15:34 by itchee