Dimension Component as a Text entity

rhankc · 14 Dec 2007, 22:46

Sometime back there was a post and a sketchy of a dimension edited to be a note that was then made into a component and when that component was placed, it was to be exploded, then the text of the dimension could be edited; remember?
I am trying to do this and I seem to have a setting wrong and I don't know which one. I set it up with a 1" dimension and edited the text using different sizes of text, and even made a component of the OP's note dimension. When I place it in my drawing I have a very limited zoom view field of this component before it disappears. I doesn't drop behind the plane and it when highlighted it only highlights the component boundary, but sometimes I dont get any highlights at all. I have the properties set to Glue to any and I have tried different fonts. This happens to both my created components and the OP's component in my drawing. Neither my created component nor the original samples disappear in the OP's file though.

Anyone have an idea what is wrong in my setup to cause this. Thanks

Gaieus · 15 Dec 2007, 11:12

Hi Hank,

Maybe they are just hidden when too small?

Try to go to Model info > Dimensions > Expert dimension settings and uncheck the "hide when too small" box (or play with the slider).

rhankc · 15 Dec 2007, 23:57

Well gai, I thought you were on to something, but the OP's file has the same out of the box setiings as mine. I am going to investigate the possibility of imperial (mine) vs. Metric (OP) settings. Wish me luck

rhankc · 17 Dec 2007, 19:43

Gai, thanks for the direction. I figured it out and the solution is to turn off (uncheck) the Hide When Foreshortend and Hide When too Small boxes. The slider bars didn't help any that I could tell.
I found a real cool trick for placing text in any view that doesn't float by combining the dimension text component with the \n dimension text edit provided by Joe Wood a couple weeks ago. When the component is exploded and you edit any value of the text, and you can get the equivalent of paragraph text by using the \n command. Thanks Joe and Gai.

dylan · 18 Dec 2007, 08:36

Hank this ruby by TIG may interest you, it's a very good way of placing text where you want.
http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?p=14125#p14125

rhankc · 18 Dec 2007, 17:39

Dylan,
You are so right, much easier and better. Thanks for the suggestion.