You can automate and standardize drawing view captions and view annotation captions by defining the caption content as part of the Drawing View style, and by using property text.
By automating captions, you can:
Display a predefined caption automatically when a particular type of drawing view is placed.
Ensure that the caption content and format is current, consistent, and adheres to a drawing view style.
Define both a primary caption and a secondary caption for a drawing view. The secondary caption text is always displayed below the primary caption text.
Captions may consist of plain text, property text, and symbols.
You can define default primary and secondary caption content for a drawing view as part of the Drawing View style in the Drawing View Style dialog box. You also can define a caption for a selected view annotation type.
When you place a drawing view, or create a view annotation, the information referenced by the property text codes is displayed in the caption, along with any plain text and symbols you selected.
Using the Caption tab
Use the Caption tab (Drawing View Style dialog box) to specify the property text-derived content of the primary caption and the secondary caption. The secondary caption text is always displayed below the primary caption text.
For the currently selected type of drawing view--Principal and Pictorial Views, Section Views, Detail Views, Auxiliary Views, or 2D Model Views--and for the currently selected caption type--Primary caption or Secondary caption--use the top portion of the Caption tab, under Drawing View, to define the basic caption content that you always want to display when the drawing view type is placed.
You can use the first four buttons to insert commonly used property text codes.
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Use these buttons |
To insert these property text codes |
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Suffix (%AS) |
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View Scale (%VS) |
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View Angle of Rotation (%VR) |
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Annotation Sheet Number (%LN) Note: The %LN property text code provides a cross-reference between the section, auxiliary, or detail view caption and the sheet where the corresponding cutting plane, viewing plane, or detail envelope is located. |
You can use the next two buttons to insert symbols and other types of property text at the cursor position, either in the drawing view caption text or the view annotation caption text.
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Use this button |
To do this |
Using this |
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Retrieve any property text strings associated with the Draft document or with the model. |
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Insert symbol codes that specify tolerance zone, dimensions, material condition, geometric characteristics, and welds. |
For view annotation captions, use the middle portion of the Caption tab--under View Annotation--to specify a single line of property text, plain text, and symbols that you always want to display in the caption where the currently selected View Annotation Type--Cutting Plane, Viewing Plane, or Detail Envelope--is shown.
For examples of how you can use property text to automate the information displayed in view annotation captions, see the help topic, View annotation captions.
Using the Caption Format tab
Use the Caption Format tab (Drawing View Style dialog box) to specify the formatting of the caption and its location with respect to the drawing view or view annotation. You can:
Specify the placement location--above or below the drawing view--for the primary and secondary captions that you define.
Choose a font type, font size, and color of the caption text.
Example:
You can specify the Arial Unicode MS font, which supports Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language characters inserted using the Microsoft Character Map dialog box.
Add a horizontal divider between the primary and secondary captions.
Using the Lines tab
Use the Lines tab to specify the appearance of lines and terminators used in cutting planes, viewing planes, and detail envelopes, and in the section, auxiliary, and detail drawing views that are derived from them.
In addition, each drawing view style references formatting instructions from the following tabs in the drawing Dimension style:
To learn how to create captions within drawing view styles, see the Help topic, Define caption content using property text.
Using property text to extract information into a caption ensures caption content is current. For example, inserting the %VS and %VR property text codes into the caption text displays the current view scale and view rotation angle. Inserting the %LN property text code into the section view caption displays the sheet location of the cutting plane used to create it. Similarly, inserting the %VN property text code into the detail envelope caption displays the sheet number of the detail view.
You can use the check boxes in the Caption section on the Annotation tab (Solid Edge Options dialog box) to automate the following:
Display the view scale in the caption only when the view scale is different from the sheet scale. Otherwise, do not show the view scale.
Display the view rotation angle only when the drawing view is rotated. Do not display rotation angle when it is 0 degrees.
Display sheet location information in a caption. When a derived view is moved to a different sheet than its parent, update the caption with the sheet number cross-reference. When the views are reunited, do not show the sheet number.
