You want to create a .BMP or a .WMF file so you can show all or part of your drawing to other people.

As revealed in the previous two tips, the DWGeditor functions for extracting bitmap (.BMP) or Windows MetaFile (.WMF) files only operate on entities that reside in the current space, be it a paper space layout or model space. The preferred practice normally is to draw the part or assembly in model space and then to apply the annotations such as border, title block, notes, and dimensions in a paper space layout. The problem is that when you extract the part or assembly you don’t get the dimensions and other annotations.

The process required to move entities to the other parallel universe is quite simple. Most of the time the logical approach involves moving annotations and dimensions from the layout to model space.

It is probably a good idea to Save the current state of the drawing before proceeding.

If you don’t know it already, the first step is to determine the viewport scale factor.

1. If the viewport is on a frozen layer then thaw it so the viewport can be seen.
2. Double-click on the viewport border to bring up the Entity Properties dialog box.

Figure 1: Use the Entity Properties dialog box to determine the viewport scale

1. Note the value in the Scale window down near the bottom of the dialog box.
2. Click OK to dismiss the dialog box.

You are now ready to set up the actual transfer.

1. Start the Block command.
2. Supply a suitable name, such as ChangeSpace.
3. Pick a logical insertion point. This is a point that can be defined by using an object snap in both the layout view and in model space, remembering that object snaps can reach through the viewport to model space. A good choice would be something like the center of a circle on the part or assembly.
4. Select the entities to be transferred. When you have finished the selection process they will disappear from the layout.

Now it’s time to perform the actual transfer.

1. Start the Insert command by entering it from the keyboard.
2. Enter the previously-assigned transfer block name.
3. Snap to the same insertion point that you used when defining the block.
4. For a scale factor, enter the inverse of the viewport scale that was determined in step 3. For example, a viewport scale of 0.5 requires an insertion scale of 2.0 for both the X and Y directions.
5. Use a rotation angle of 0 (zero).

uccess! You have transferred the annotation entities from the paper space layout to model space. You can now use the Extract command to create a .BMP or a .WMF file that shows everything.

Unfortunately, you have now messed up the original drawing file in that all your annotations exist within a single block insertion in model space and have disappeared from the paper space layout. That is why I suggested that you Save the drawing just before you start, so that you can now Quit the drawing without saving your changes.

I know that you would never make a mistake, but what if someone else did the transfer without making a backup and then saved the revised drawing? No problem; you can salvage things by deleting the transfer block from model space, re-inserting it in the paper space layout, and then exploding it. To be neat and orderly you should also Purge the now-unused block definition.

In step 5 I suggested entering the Insert command from the keyboard. You can also use the menu sequence Insert > Insert Block… which invokes the DdInsert command, which uses a dialog box. In this box you need to uncheck the Position Block When Inserting button, enter the X and Y scale factors, and then click the Select button to pick the insertion point.

Figure 2: Use the Position block when inserting option of the DdInsert command

• Block: 

Keyboard: block
Menu: Tools > Create Block
Toolbar: Tools > Create Block

• Insert: 

Keyboard: insert

• DdInsert:

Keyboard: ddinsert
Menu: Insert > Insert Block…
Toolbar: Draw 2D > Insert Block…

• Purge:

Keyboard: purge
Menu: Tools > DWGeditor Explorer> Purge

• Export:

Keyboard: export
Menu: File > Export to file…

You have designed a new machine, and are now working on the 2D shop layout for its installation. You need to run essential service lines and hoses to it, such as compressed air, cooling water, power, and so on. You want the lines to be repeatedly tagged with a text label so they are easy to follow.

Although DWGeditor comes with a large library of different non-continuous line types, they don’t contain the labels you need. Line type definitions are contained in an external file that can be edited to add the ones you want, but this can be a lengthy process and is not fully documented.

Custom-labelled lines can easily be created by merging a few existing commands along with a tip from a previous version of the SolidWorks Express newsletter, entitled “Who is That Masked Object?”.   In it we explored how to use the 3Dface command to mask out portions of a drawing. This time we are going to see a specific application for this technique as used to quickly create custom text-labelled line types.

 Simply follow these easy steps:

1. Use the Text command to create a suitable word or string of text. Use the following options:
1. Alignment: Middle
2. Start point: 0,0,1 (note the Z-axis value of 1)
3. Height: <as appropriate for your drawing scale>
4. Rotation angle: 0 (zero)
5. Text: <as appropriate>
2. Use the 3DFace command to create a rectangle around the text.

Figure 1: Create a text object and a 3D face

1. Double-click on the 3D face in order to bring up the Entity Properties dialog box:
1. Change the four Z-axis values to 0.5.
2. Check the four “Invisible Edges” boxes.
3. Click OK

Figure 2: change the z-axis and the edge visibility of the 3D face

1. Start the Block command:
1. Block name: <a logical choice would be to use the contents of the text string that you created earlier>
2. Insertion point: 0,0,0 (note the Z-axis value of zero)
3. Select objects:
1. Select the text item
2. Enter the letter L. (This selects the “last” item created, which is the 3D face, which cannot otherwise be selected because it is invisible).
2. Draw a spline curve.

Figure 3: draw a spline curve

1. Start the Measure command. Surprisingly, this command doesn’t measure the length of an object. Instead, it repeatedly places markers along the object spaced a specified distance apart. By default the markers are Point objects, but we can substitute a block definition instead.
1. Select entity to measure: <pick the spline created in step 5>
2. Block/segment length: <Enter the letter B>
3. Block to insert: <enter the name of your label block>
4. Align blocks with entity: Y
5. Segment length: <pick or specify a distance about five times greater than the width of your label block>

Your label block repeats itself along the selected entity, and the text always stays aligned with the object and the right way up. More on this later.

Figure 4: use the Block option of the Measure command to repeat the labels along the spline

1. Run the Hide command. Presto! You now have a non-continuous line that is repeatedly labelled with the desired text as a series of block insertions. It was not necessary to mess with the line type definition file at all, and you can send the file to other users without worrying about “custom” line definitions.

Figure 5: the Hide command produces the final result.

Ah, but there is no free lunch (unless maybe you work for the government). This technique is really a bit of a cheat in that it doesn’t actually create a line type definition. You will have to use the Measure command separately on each object that you want to label. In addition, the blocks are not associative to the object so that if you need to change the size or location of the object then you will need to manually move or delete the tags and re-apply them to the modified object. For this reason, it is an excellent idea to put the tag blocks on a unique layer so that you can freeze all other layers in order to simplify selection of the tags you want to delete.

The basic secret that makes this trick work is the fact that the text is “above” the 3DFace, which in turn is “above” the labelled object. The Hide command will need to be run just before you plot the drawing. Regen makes the hiding go away, and so the underlying object will become visible through the text.

This technique will work on lines, polylines (including curve-fit ones), splines, arcs, circles.  and ellipses.

Block placement starts at the end closest to where the entity was selected and proceeds from there. Splines and ellipses try to keep the text the right way up, but the text alignment of the other object types depends on which end was closer when you picked the entity. Note the two horizontal lines, for example.

Figure 6: this technique produces slightly different results on different entity types

Label blocks can include other symbols as well as text, such as flow direction arrows.

If you omit step 3b then each tag will be outlined by a rectangle.

Figure 7: Leave the edges visible to get boxes around the labels

Good Luck!

• Text

Keyboard: Text
Alias: T, TX
Menu: Insert > Text
Toolbar: Text > Text

• 3Dface

Keyboard: Face
Alias: 3Dface

• Properties

Keyboard: EntProp
Menu: Modify > Properties
Toolbar: Modify > Properties

• Hide

Keyboard: Hide