Text Background Mask - resizing

I have spent nearly 20 years working with AutoCAD and have just made the switch to BricsCAD. It seems to work pretty well and I have nearly worked out most of he differences in the interface.

When I set text to have a background mask the size of the background mask is automatically made to match the size of he text. However, if I resize the text box so it is narrower the width of the background mask does not reduce. It stays the same width as the original text.

Has anyone else come across this problem and is there an option I haven't found yet that fixes it.

I know I can do workarounds by grouping text with a wipeout but I would prefer it if I can get the text backgroundmask to work properly.

Regards,

Denis Bowden

Comments

  • Do you mean the void left in a hatch around a text? If so, you shouldn't need a workaround. The text box does re-size to match the text, and any associative hatch that was created with that text in place automatically adjusts to match. If the hatch wasn't originally created as associative it won't adjust, but the text box itself re-sizes and a new hatch will fit the new shape.
  • As Anthony pointed out, Textmask over hatches automatically updates with font size change. However Textmask(ing) over objects behaves differently (identical to AutoCad (at least older versions )). The only workarounds I know of:
    1) Wipeout/Frame/On resize wipeout with grips.
    2) Simultaneously scale both text and Wipeout Frame (do not just change Text Height in properties).
    You can change scale of the Wipeout in Properties, but by default basepoint is lower left.
  • I don't find that. When I re-size a multiline text, its background mask always changes to whatever size I make it, i.e. sometimes wider than the text itself, depending on word-wrap.

    Hatches form voids around text that are based on the size of the text itself, not the size of the background mask. So even an associative hatch doesn't adjust if I change the width of a multiline text but the width change is not enough to make the text itself get wider or narrower.
  • ...When I re-size a multiline text, its background mask always changes to whatever size I make...


    With objects (not hatches)?


  • By background mask, I meant the thing that's called that in the Properties pallet. It's a solid hatch that can be any color. It only covers up other entities if it's placed above them in draworder, and it really only acts as a mask if it's above them and if its color is the drawing background color. It's a property of mtext entities but not of text entities. When I explode an mtext, the background mask becomes a separate solid entity.

    The special relationship with hatches appears to be a property of the hatch entity, not of the text or mtext entity. The hatch entity fills around the text or mtext, even if the mtext doesn't have a background mask. It's as though there's an invisible boundary around the characters, not necessarily the same as the boundary of an mtext's background mask. And if the hatch was originally created as an associative hatch, it adjusts whenever the shape of the text or mtext changes, That's true whether the shape is changed by changing the width of an mtext or by changing the style or text height of either a text or an mtext.

  • Ahh, BACKGROUND MASK. Apologies, I only saw references to TEXTMASK, WIPEOUT (different commands).
    You are correct in that changes to MTEXT reflect in Backgound's geometry.

  • I have attached a picture that shows the problem I have. The example is multiline text drawn on top of a hatch (so it is easy to see the background mask).

    I have made the same multiline text object in AutoCAD and BricsCAD.

    I then set the text to have a backgroundmask and then grabbed the grip in the top, RH corner of the textbox and dragged it to make the textbox narrower.

    In both AutoCAD and BricCAD the textbox aurtomatically got longer to match the height of the text box.

    AutoCAD also automatically makes the background mask narrower to match the text width but BricsCAD doesn't.

    If I turn of the backgroundmask option in BricsCAD and then turn it back on again it doesn't reset the witdth of the backgroundmask. It is still the original width.

    This problem also occurs when dragging the grip and making the text wider. The background mask doesn't resize it's width.

    imagebackgoundmask.jpg
  • Denis, it shouldn't work that way. The only way I would be able to produce the lower mtext in your image is if I used a background mask, kept the text box wide, and got the text configuration you showed with line breaks.

    Do you have the latest release of v14? If so, you should file a bug report, attaching that DWG file and telling them exactly what version and operating system you have. They're very good about fixing bugs.
  • Hi Denis,

    Anthony is right, it shouldn't happen like this in BricsCAD. I tried to see if I could re-create the issue by generating a drawing in AutoCAD, then modifying in BricsCAD. I didn't have any issue. Seems to me that there may be something specific in your drawing that is causing this. As Anthony has recommended, you should raise a support request.

    Have you tried doing a _RECOVER on the drawing? Perhaps this may fix the issue.

    If you still have AutoCAD, you could check to see whether this MTEXT has been set-up to use columns. BricsCAD looks to have issues the background mask when columns are in use. However this looks to be a different issue to yours.

    Be aware that you can't adjust the height of the MTEXT text box using grips, or the text editor. For some reason they have only provided the ability to change the width. This can cause problems when resizing MTEXT text boxes with a background mask. To change the height you have to manually adjust via the property bar.

    Regards,

    Jason Bourhill

    CAD Concepts


  • This looks similar to an issue with updating of the background mask that we had in V13. If this is occurring on V14 then please file a support request.
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