Creating a Text With a Leader

You can create a text with a leader either in the free space or associated with an element. You can set text properties either before or after you create the text.

This task shows you how to:

See Also
About Creating a Text With a Leader
Adding a Leader to an Existing Annotation
Handling Annotation Leaders

Create a Text with a Leader with Reference to an Element

You can create a text with a leader associated with a 2D element, such as a line, a circle, a curve, etc.

Before you begin: Open a layout representation and create a rectangle.
  1. From the Annotation section of the action bar, click Text with Leader .
  2. Click the point on the element to indicate the leader anchor point.
  3. Optional: Move the pointer so that the leader attachment point is snapped on the privileged direction.

    The leader segment turns blue indicating the snapping on the privileged direction.



  4. Click in the sheet to define a location for the text (text anchor point).
  5. Enter the text in the Text Editor dialog box or directly in the frame.
  6. Optional: Reposition or modify the text.


  7. Click again in the sheet or select a command icon to end the text creation.


    Important:
    • The leader is associated with the element you selected. If you move either the text or the element, the leader stretches to maintain its association with the element. If you change the element that is associated with the leader, both the new element and the text with leader remain associative to each other.
    • If the leader is snapped on the perpendicular direction with respect to the reference, its orientation is associative.

  8. Create a circle.
  9. Drag the text with leader (using the yellow handle at the leader's extremity) to associate it with the circle instead of the rectangle.

    You can drag the leader extremity point and associate with another geometry only if its leader is not snapped on the perpendicular direction with respect to its reference.



    Important: When creating a text with a leader in a view that is not up-to-date, the leader is correctly positioned, but not is associated with the geometry.

Create a Text with a Leader with Reference to a Datum Target

You can create a text with a leader with reference to a datum target.

In other words, you can associate the extremity of the created leader to the center of the datum target's upper compartment or lower compartment.

Before you begin: Create a datum target.
  1. Click Text with Leader .
  2. Pause over the datum target.
    The attachment points in the datum target's upper and lower compartment are displayed. The nearest attachment point is highlighted to show that the annotation will be positioned on it if that point is selected.

  3. Click the attachment point to indicate the leader anchor point.

    Symbol of the leader extremity changes to a filled circle and simultaneously the text in the selected compartment is transferred to the created text. However, if the selected datum target is locked for editing, the created text is also locked for editing after its creation.



  4. Optional: Move the leader so that the leader extremity is snapped on the privileged direction.
    The leader segment turns blue.

  5. Click in the free space to define a location for the text (text anchor point).
  6. Enter the text, in the Text Editor dialog box and click OK, or in the frame and click in the sheet to end the text creation.


    The leader is created and associated to the datum target. The text's angle is set to the same value as that of the datum target, and rigid positional and orientation links are created between the text and the datum target.

Position a Text with a Leader on an Existing Text

When creating a text with a leader, you can position the text on an existing text using the attachment points. That is, you can snap annotation positions to any predefined place.

Before you begin: Create a text with a leader.
  1. Click Text with Leader .
  2. Click the point on the element to indicate the leader anchor point.
  3. Move the pointer over the existing text.
    The attachment points are displayed. The nearest attachment point location is highlighted indicating that the annotation will be positioned with reference to it if that point is selected. For more information about the attachment points, see Annotation Positioning.

  4. Click on a required attachment point to position the text.
    The leader is removed and the annotation is positioned on the selected attachment point.
  5. Enter the text in the Text Editor dialog box and click OK.
    The text is positioned at the reference text's selected attachment point. Its angle is set to the same value as that of the reference text, and a positional and an orientation links are created between both annotations.

    If required, you can change the position of the text.

  6. Click the text and drag to change the position.
    The annotation is snapped to the selected position.