Next to dimensions, notes are the most common notation feature found in AutoCAD drawings. Choosing Dimension è Leader lets you add a note with an arrow pointing to the object the note describes. Here's how it works:
Choose Dimension è Multileader, and click the Multileader tool in the Multileaders control panel (see Figure 10.10), or enter mld↲.
At the Specify leader arrowhead location or [leader Landing first/Content first/Options] <Options>: prompt, select a point to indicate the location for the arrow.
At the Specify leader landing location: prompt, click another point to indicate the other end of the arrow. You'll see the Text Formatting toolbar appear along with the text cursor at the note location.
Enter the note you want, and then click OK in the Text Formatting toolbar. The note appears at the end of the leader, as shown in Figure 10.11.
Figure 10.10: The Multileaders control panel
Figure 10.11: The leader with a note added
The text in the note will be in the current text style, unless you specify another style in the Text tab of the New Dimension Style or Modify Dimension Style dialog box. (See the "Setting Up the Dimension's Appearance" section later in this chapter.)
The Leader tool offers a lot of options that are not obviously presented when you're using it. In step 2 of the previous example, after choosing Dimension è Leader, you can press ↲ to modify the behavior of the Mulitleader tool. You'll see the following prompt:
Enter an option [Leader type/leader lAnding /Content type/Maxpoints/First angle/Second angle /eXit options] <eXit options>:
Table 10.1 gives you a rundown of these options and their function.
Option | Function |
---|---|
| |
Leader type | Allows you to choose between straight line arrows and curved arrows. |
Leader lAnding | Determines whether a leader landing is used. The leader landing is the short line that connects the arrow to the note. |
Content type | Lets you select between text or a block for the leader note. You also have the option to choose none. |
Maxpoints | Lets you set the number of points you select for the arrow. The default is 2. |
First angle | Lets you constrain the angle of the leader arrow to a fixed value. |
Second angle | If you're using more than two points for the Maxpoints option, the Second Angle option lets you constrain the angle of the second line segment of the arrow. |
eXit options | Lets you return to the main part of the Leader command to draw the leader. |
Besides the options shown in Table 10.1, you can create multileader styles to control the appearance of multileaders. Multileader styles are similar in concept to text and dimension styles. They allow you to set up the appearance of the leader under a name that you can call up any time. For example, you might want to have one type of leader that uses a block instead of text for the note and another leader that uses a dot in place of an arrow. Or you might want to set up a style that uses curved lines instead of straight ones for the leader line. You can create a multileader style for each of these types of leader features and then switch between each leader style depending on the requirements of your leader note.
To set up or modify a multileader style, click the Multileader Style Manager tool in the Multileaders control panel (shown earlier in Figure 10.10). You can also enter Mleader-style↲ at the command prompt. This opens the Multileader Style Manager dialog box shown in Figure 10.12. From here, you can select an existing style from the list at the left and click Modify to edit it, or you can just click New to create a new one. If you click New, you're asked to select an existing style as a basis for your new one.
Figure 10.12: The Multileader Style Manager dialog box Figure 10.13
Once you've selected Modify or New, you'll see the Modify Multileader Style dialog box (see Figure 10.13).
Figure 10.13: The Modify Multileader Style dialog box
Table 10.2 describes the options in each of the tabs of the Mutlileader Style dialog box. Some of these options are the same as those for the Multileader command.
TAB AND PANEL | FUNCTION |
---|---|
| |
Leader Format Tab | |
General | Lets you set the leader line to straight or curved. You can also set the color, line weight, and linetype for the leader line. |
Arrowhead | Controls the arrowheads. |
Leader Break | Controls the size of the gap in a leader line when the Leaderbreak command is applied. Leaderbreak places a break on a leader line where two leader lines cross. |
Leader Structure Tab | |
Constraints | Determines the number of line segments in the leader line. You can also apply angle constraints to the leader line segments. |
Landing Settings | Controls the leader line landing segment. This is the last line segment that points to the note. |
Scale | Lets you control the scale of the leader components. You can either apply a fixed scale or use the Annotative option to have the drawing annotative scale apply to the leader. |
Content Tab | |
Multileader Type | Lets you select the type of object that will be used for the leader note. The options are Mtext, Block, or None. |
Text Options | Gives you control over the way the leader note appears. You can control color, text style, size, justification, and orientation. |
Leader Connection | Determines the position between the leader line and the note. |
Once you've set up a multileader style, you can make it the default style by selecting the style from the Mutileaders control panel drop-down list.
The selected style will be applied to any new multileader you add to your drawing. You can also change the style of an existing multileader. To do this, click the multileader to select it, and then select the multileader style you want from the Mutileaders Style control panel drop-down list.
If you need to make changes to the note portion of a multileader, you can do so by double-clicking the note. This opens the Text Formatting toolbar, allowing you to make changes as if you were editing in a word processor.
At other times, you might want to make changes to the leader line, arrows, or other graphic features of the multileader. For example, you might want to have all the notes aligned vertically for a neater appearance. Or you might want to add more leader arrows so the note points to several objects in the drawing instead of just one.
The Multileaders control panel offers several tools that let you make these types of changes to your leader notes. The Multileader Edit tool lets you add or remove leaders from a multileader. This is a handy tool if you want a single note to point to several objects. The Multileader Align tool lets you align the note portion of several multileaders. Finally, the Multiline Collect tool lets you collect several multileaders that use blocks for notes into a single note.