Masking?

[Dave Jones]

I'm trying really hard to not let that other programs functions affect my thought process as I transition to Revit but there are some things that are very intuitive over there that I'm having a hard time figuring out over here. For instance, what's the easiest way to mask a background say, behind a view tag for a detail view? Masking region? If so, how does one make a masking region circle to fit a detail view tag. The tag is not pickable or measurable so it's a trial and error until it fits deal. Seems there must be a better way.

[Dimitri Harvalias]

When editing the tag labels you can set the text to Transparent (as shown on your screen capture) or Opaque, which will mask out what is behind the text.

[Dave Jones]

When editing the tag labels you can set the text to Transparent (as shown on your screen capture) or Opaque, which will mask out what is behind the text.

how does one go about editing the tags in a view label? If I click on it there is no Edit Family option on the Modify/View tab. Then I went and found what I thought was the correct family file in my Imperial Library/Annotations, tried to edit the tags but am told that the file is Read Only and cannot be saved. Nothing's ever easy...

[twiceroadsfool]

how does one go about editing the tags in a view label? If I click on it there is no Edit Family option on the Modify/View tab. Then I went and found what I thought was the correct family file in my Imperial Library/Annotations, tried to edit the tags but am told that the file is Read Only and cannot be saved. Nothing's ever easy...

They are Annotation Families, under the Annotations Tab in the Families portion of the browser.

A little warning though: Theres making the text mask, and making the whole circle mask. Can you make the whole circle mask? yes. But getting the line across the middle of it has to be done with a very small font that is "__________" instead of with the line in the head family.

I assure you, no combination of masking regions and detail lines in the callout head family will make it behave correctly. But if you dont get it to work, shoot me an email. Thats a quickie fix, once you know how to do it.

[Joshua Kohl]

We create our callout and section heads using two half circle masking regions. One for the top half and one for the bottom half. By doing so the line in the middle will appear and then we set the text to transparent. We haven't had any problems doing it this way.

[twiceroadsfool]

We create our callout and section heads using two half circle masking regions. One for the top half and one for the bottom half. By doing so the line in the middle will appear and then we set the text to transparent. We haven't had any problems doing it this way.

I believe it only "doesnt work" on the section heads, where the line has to turn 90 degrees. But if it works then i stand corrected. :)

[Joshua Kohl]

Aaron,

Your right. I jumped the gun about our section heads. Our section heads are made of lines and our callout heads are made of 2 half circle masking regions.

[Dave Jones]

I believe it only "doesnt work" on the section heads, where the line has to turn 90 degrees. But if it works then i stand corrected. :)

the double masking region works fine on the callout head but as you've noted does not work on the section head. There's got to be a way to mask this eh?

[twiceroadsfool]

There is a way, its just stupid. You go back to having the mask be a solid circle. Then you make a text note that is a very very small style, like 1/64" high, and you type "________" (underscores) along a line that is long enough to make the dividing line. Reason being text stays oriented vertically, the masking region doesnt, and theres no amount of constraint that can fix it since its a strange hard coded thing.

if you use a normal font like Arial, it shouldnt ever be a problem. ive done it that way for years, when im in offices who want it to mask. it works fine.

But its a stupid solution to something that shouldnt be a problem.

[Dave Jones]

There is a way, its just stupid. You go back to having the mask be a solid circle. Then you make a text note that is a very very small style, like 1/64" high, and you type "________" (underscores) along a line that is long enough to make the dividing line. Reason being text stays oriented vertically, the masking region doesnt, and theres no amount of constraint that can fix it since its a strange hard coded thing.

if you use a normal font like Arial, it shouldnt ever be a problem. ive done it that way for years, when im in offices who want it to mask. it works fine.

But its a stupid solution to something that shouldnt be a problem.

thanks Aaron, I'll give that a go

[brandonconklin]

My first post!

If you nest the masking region into the annotation family it will actually sit behind the lines of section and callout heads. However there is something quirky about that hard coded line in the section head family(the one that stays horizontal regardless of the section orientation). It still gets behind a masking region even when it is nested. Therefore the underscore text workaround is still necessary with section heads. So far the nesting method has also worked for me on other generic annotation families also.

Brandon