Text is in outline

[Mason2152]

Hi, I cannot figure out how to fix this. It doesn't matter what font I use, or text size. Unstyled text is always in this weird outline style and extended beyond the text box. I cannot figure out what I did or how to get it back.

If I select a pre-loaded style like Dimension 12pt everything is fine and I can alter size and font with no problem, but I can't make my own styles without this issue.

Haven't been able to find any posts with this problem yet, any ideas?

Thanks,

Christopher 

[Janvin Lowe]

20 hours ago, MullinRJ said:

For VW 2018:

 

Text PLAIN.vsm 5.39 kB · 1 download        Text OUTLINE.vsm 5.47 kB · 1 download        Toggle Text OUTLINE .vsm 5.54 kB · 1 download

 

@Janvin Lowe, since I know you are using VW on a PC, would you please report back how these work for you? The only oddity I see is the text shifts right when it is converted to Outline, but it shifts back when it is reset to Plain. I'm curious if this is because my PC is still running Windows 7. Also report your OS.

 

Thank you,

Raymond

Well, @MullinRJ, a thank you to you is in order as that worked beautifully in VW 2018 without the oddity that you experience when shifting over to Outline - so far, all text formatting works while in Outline mode as well, then as you indicated, all formatting is removed when selecting either Text PLAN or Text OUTLINE.  And as the name suggests, Toggle Text OUTLINE, does just that retaining all existing text formatting (bold, italics, underline) while converting the text to Outline. 

 

As you can see in the screenshots below, the oddities that I experience is with the text edit cursor and the underline not aligning completely correctly with the text - not a dealbreaker for me but it just looks like the text characters have been displaced from their respective character holders due to the marginal increase in width(?).

 

I have not set keyboard shortcuts or hotkeys for these so if I ever do replicate the keyboard combos that initiated the Outline sans the plug-ins, I'll certainly share that as we on here.

 

Thank you once again for providing these plug-ins. 

[MullinRJ]

@Janvin Lowe,

   I am glad the plug-ins work for you.

 

 

What you are showing above looks similar to what I see when I say the outline text is shifted (on a PC.)

 

This shows two nearly identical text blocks, except for color and position. In the first image, the red one is shifted slightly down to show that they are aligned horizontally.

 

 

After moving the red text directly atop the blue one, I converted the red one to Outline then selected both text blocks again before taking the screen shot. Notice how the outline characters shift to the right. The text insertion points are still coincident, and the bounding box grips are still perfectly aligned, but the red outline text extends beyond its bounding box to the right.

 

When I edit the red text, the edit cursor lines up between the blue characters, just like you describe. Likewise, if I apply the Underline attribute to the red block, the underlines line up under the blue characters, again like you describe. My guess is that this is just how VW displays Outline Text on a PC. Technically, it is not supported, so we can't really complain. You can always post a WISH item on the Forum, but be prepared to wait. If the shift doesn't bother you then you should be good to go.

 

Raymond

 

PS - You didn't report your OS. I am still curious what system you are using. If you would, please create a signature for this forum in your User Account Settings - Signature. At the very least, include your VW version, and your OS. It will save a lot of back and forth every time you post a question or problem, as the two most frequent questions will have already been answered. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

[Janvin Lowe]

12 minutes ago, MullinRJ said:

@Janvin Lowe,

   I am glad the plug-ins work for you.

 

 

What you are showing above looks similar to what I see when I say the outline text is shifted (on a PC.)

 

This shows two nearly identical text blocks, except for color and position. In the first image, the red one is shifted slightly down to show that they are aligned horizontally.

 

 

After moving the red text directly atop the blue one, I converted the red one to Outline then selected both text blocks again before taking the screen shot. Notice how the outline characters shift to the right. The text insertion points are still coincident, and the bounding box grips are still perfectly aligned, but the red outline text extends beyond its bounding box to the right.

 

When I edit the red text, the edit cursor lines up between the blue characters, just like you describe. Likewise, if I apply the Underline attribute to the red block, the underlines line up under the blue characters, again like you describe. My guess is that this is just how VW displays Outline Text on a PC. Technically, it is not supported, so we can't really complain. You can always post a WISH item on the Forum, but be prepared to wait. If the shift doesn't bother you then you should be good to go.

 

Raymond

 

PS - You didn't report your OS. I am still curious what system you are using. If you would, please create a signature for this forum in your User Account Settings - Signature. At the very least, include your VW version, and your OS. It will save a lot of back and forth every time you post a question or problem, as the two most frequent questions will have already been answered. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, no complaints coming from me given we've got the Outline attribute working on a PC!

 

Ah and I totally forgot to include the PC specs I'm working with - it's supposed to be in my signature but I guess the signature appears only if I were to post something vs replying to a post.

VW 2018 SP6 (Build 465771)(64-bit)
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
OS build:  19045.3086
Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7GHz
64 GB DDR4-3200 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060TI

 

[Janvin Lowe]

An interesting TEXT OUTLINE workaround (for PC folks who don't have the OUTLINE attribute in the text object info palette) that I just found that I used on a project drawing 4 years ago (a technique that I may have found on here perhaps?) is to use the TEXT ALONG PATH... function.  This not only allows me to retain the editability of the text itself (e.g. font etc) albeit through a couple extra steps but it also allows you to control the thickness of the OUTLINE (ie. stroke) which not even the default OUTLINE attribute would've allowed you to do.  Although this is not ideal if you're looking to write a paragraph in the OUTLINE attribute but if it's a title or a short text string, then it's a decent workaround.  Thoughts?

Edited August 13, 2023 by Janvin Lowe