Text Style Manager
Command Licensing and Default Menu Location
- The Text Style Manager command is part of the RPS Tool Shed Toolbox
- The command is located on the Tool Shed macros menu ribbon
- The command is located in the System Management menu group
Command Description
Provides the ability to export and import project text styles to an RPS Settings library allowing you to move your text styles easily between projects and users. Also provides the ability to quickly switch text styles to / from True Type Fonts to Stroke Fonts for each text style definition. You can protect the text styles that you create while manipulating text styles created through data import of e.g. CAD files.
The Text Style Manager replaces the Text Style IO command as all of the functionality of the previous command has been incorporated into the Text Style Manager.
Command Interface Description
The Text Style Manager command dialog looks as follows
Text Styles list:
The Text styles list shows you all of the Text styles that are defined within the project. The text styles can come from your project Template (Text Styles that you have defined) and also from imported CAD files (DWG, DGN, DXF files).
Add a Text Style:
To add a text style click the + button in the top right corner of the Text Style list. Enter a Text Style name for the text style you are creating.
Edit a Text Style:
To edit the name of a text style click the pencil icon in the top right corner of the Text Style list. Change the name of the selected text style.
Delete a Text Style:
To delete a text style, select the text style in the text style list and click the trash can icon in the top right corner of the Text Style list.
Import Text Styles from an external file:
To import text styles from a previously saved text style settings file, click the
icon in the top right corner of the Text Style list.
Export Text Styles to an external file:
To export your defined text styles from this project so that they can be used by other projects or other TBC users, click the 
icon in the top right corner of the Text Style list. The file is stored as an RPS settings file.
Locked / Unlocked status:
In this area we show whether the Text Style is locked or not - typically your Text Styles (from the Project Template) should be locked because these are as you need them to be, whereas ones that were imported from CAD files are unlocked. Locking a text style stops it from being inadvertently changed by a user.
User Notes:
In the Text Styles list, you can process one line at a time or you can use CRL / SHIFT click combinations to group select text styles and make changes to all those selected at the same time. When using e.g. the SHIFT selection, click the first line that you want included, hold the SHIFT key down and click the last line of the group that you want to select. Keep the SHIFT key held down while you make your global change e.g. change all those selected to Locked or unlocked, or change them all to stroked font or back to True Type font etc.
Source:
The source of a Text Style can be Project i.e. it is defined in the project Template or by an imported CAD file. It can also be User, this is a text style that has been defined by you as a user within the current project.
Name:
All Text Styles have a name, we recommend that you name your text styles so that
- They all appear together in the list e.g. Prefix all names with RPS - for RPS text styles.
- So you can rapidly differentiate between ones that you created / TBC system styles vs import CAD styles.
We also recommend naming your Text Styles based on the use case that the Text style will have. We also recommend including the text height in the name e.g. RPS - CFMAP - CF Labels (0.08). In the example shown, this tells me that it is an RPS Text Style, that it is used for Cut Fill Maps, and is used for the Cut Fill Map labels and that the labels will be 0.08 units text height.
True Type Font and Stroked Font:
In the RPS Text Style manager we allow you to define a True Type font as well as a Stroked (simpler linework text) font for each Text Style. This allows you to now switch a drawing between True Types and Stroked fonts quickly and easily. Stroked fonts are faster than True Type fonts in terms of Graphics memory and Graphics speed. Some CAD drawings will be much slower to work with when the text is defined as True Types. Simply come into this command, select all the imported CAD text styles and change them all to Stroked Font and you will find that your graphics speed and how often it needs to regenerate will improve significantly.
Active Font:
For each text style you can define whether it will use the true Type or the Stroked font in the drawings, you can switch back and forth as often as you need to do so. So while working on your models or takeoffs, switch to Stroke fonts, when you are ready to build your drawings switch to True Type Fonts for presentation quality.
Match Width:
True type fonts and stroke fonts may have different widths or obliquing applied to them, so they may not fill the exact same width space when you switch between them. You can use the Match Width button to set the width of the Stroke Font to be similar to that of the True Type Font. You can adjust the width factor setting for either font type to adjust further as needed.
After Match Width is applied
In the above example you can see that the Stroke font is wider than the True Type font, so you would apply a Width factor like 0.8 or use the Match Width button on the selected Text Style to make it narrower and more closely replicate the True Type font.
Height:
Height is the height of the text as it will appear graphically or on a printout. Height can be defined in Ground or Sheet units.
Height units:
When the text height is defined in Ground units, it is as if the text has been painted on the ground. The text height does not change with plot scale so if you plot at 1" = 50’ the text will be larger than it will be if you plot at 1" = 100’.
When the text height is defined in Sheet units, the height of the text is dependent on the plot scale that you are working to i.e. if your text height is 0.1 inches and you are working at 1"=50’ scale then the height of the text will be 0.1 x 50’ = 5’ high on the drawing. If you are working at 1" = 100’ then the text height will be 0.1 x 100’ = 10’ high on the drawing. If you change the drawing scale, the text height should dynamically change, however in some cases the text height is derived from the sheet unit at the time the text is created and will only update if you change text styles.
Count:
Count is the number of text items in the project that are using the text style.
Unique properties
Text has some properties that are unique to either Stroked or True Type fonts. For example Stroked fonts have properties including font, width factor, oblique angle (slant or italic) and weight (boldness) and true Type fonts have properties including font, width factor, oblique angle and additionally Bold / No Bold, Italic / no Italic and Underline / no Underline.
Stroked font selector:
Select the stroked font that you would like text presented in if you select Stroked font for the text style display. TMODELF is a simple font that is very efficient for CAD graphics.
True Type font selector:
Select the True Type font that you would like text presented in if you select True Type font for the text style display. When producing drawings you will likely use a variety of the same family of fonts that provide varying degrees of boldness, italics and other characteristics. You can download font families e.g. Work Sans font family from Google.com and install them into your Microsoft Windows operating system. Once installed they will be available to you inside Trimble Business Center. It is typically a good idea to use fonts from the same font family to drive a consistent look and feel into your drawings.
Width factor:
Width factor is a horizontal compression or expansion of the text font. A value less than one is a compression. A value greater than 1 is an expansion of the font. You can use Width Factor to more closely match the width of your Stroked font to your True Type font.
Oblique angle:
Oblique angle adds a slant to your text font to make it look italicised. A positive value tilts the text forwards and a negative value tilts the text backwards. Typically use a value less than 20 degrees.
Weight:
Weight adds a boldening to your text style. A value greater than 0 increases the boldness from the standard font weight.
Bold:
Bold increases the weight of your text style when enabled.
Italic:
Italic creates a forwards slant on your text style
Underline:
Underline adds an underline to the text using the text style.
Common properties for text styles
Both stroked and true type fonts share some common properties, that further adjust the way that the text using the text style will be presented.
Justification:
The justification point of a text item is the “anchor point” that it will be placed at. Justification has 9 positions that use combinations of Top, Center and Bottom and Left, Middle and RIght ie Center Left means centered vertically and left horizontally in the 9 point locations. TBC also offers Baseline which is the actual baseline of the characters (along with Left, Middle and Right) as well as a few other options including e.g. Decimal Point for numerical values.
Height:
Define the height of the text required in either Ground or Sheet Units. Typical Ground Unit Heights will be e.g. 3’ or Sheet Unit Heights e.g. 0.1"
Auto Flip:
Auto Flip means that when the text using the text style is rotated on the drawing, when the text gets to a 90 degree rotation, the text will flip 180 degrees so that it is now more easily readable because it is not upside down. For example when you label road alignments the alignment may loop around on itself, making e.g. alignment labels hard to read.
White out:
White Out places a white box behind the text on the drawing. This is typically used when you are placing text over solid color or variable colored background like Cut Fill Maps, Ortho Photos, Elevation Maps etc. The white background makes the text stand out and makes it highly readable.
OK
When you click OK the changes that you have made are implemented and the CAD drawings will be updated. The text styles created will be available for selection in all commands where a text item is being placed and a text style is therefore required.
Cancel
Closes the command without further execution.
Video Demonstration
The following video shows how to utilize the Text Style Manager command
Use Case Videos
The following videos show the use of the Text Style Manager command in a work process context
Feedback and Enhancement Requests
If you would like to provide feedback on the use of the Text Style Manager command or to request enhancements or improvements to the command please Click Reply below.