Text Baseline?

[ryan_slaback]

Is there a way to set the baseline of text to be at a certain dimension? I was doing some nameplates and anytime there was something that was subscript or superscript I had a hard time maintaining the same baseline. I know that I can center the whole text but it moves up or down based upon if I have anything below the baseline like a p or above the tops of the regular letters like a lowercase h (in Times New Roman)

[mikejohn]

Ryan
You could ungroup the text and move individual letters, then re-group.
But isnt this going to look odd?

............Mike

[ryan_slaback]

Mike I should have clarified better. I am doing many nameplates that I want each one to use the same baselines. When I use transform to move the text it centers based on the size of the whole text box including stuff above and below the normal baseline. Does that make more sense?

For example I want the following titles to have the same baseline.

Director of Pupil Services
District Administrator

Because of the second p in Pupil hanging down it shifts that text up just a smidge.

[jsfrost]

I am sure there are better ways, but this is how I would approch the problem. I would draw the plate once with a construction line where I want the text baseline, save the master and then start each new nameplate from this.
On each new nameplate, enter the text, draw a surounding rectangle, and then position the bottom of the rectangle where you want the text baseline. Group rectngle and text, and resize and reposition as desired using the layout line on the master for allignment. Once the layout is finished, ungroup the text/rectangle, delete the rectangle and layout lines, regroup the text and toolpath as desired.

Jim

[ryan_slaback]

Jim that is very similar to the way I actually did it. However I have a very mechanical design based background so the idea of doing things "close enough" like manually drawing a baseline give me the heebie jeebies. I like to know that things are precisely positioned. Even if I am the only person who knows the difference.

[mikejohn]

Ryan
In Autocad I can simply start the text at 0,0, and offset it the required 'standard' distance each time.
Centering left and right is straightforward as well.
I don't us Part wizard, but maybe this is also possible there.

...............Mike

[drodda]

Ryan,

In PW2 you can type your text then select it. In the transform vectors you can change the position and origin with precise coordinates. If you make your origin posistion to the top either left or right this allows you to align the top of the letters instead of the bottom if you change your Y coordinates. I did not test this with every situation but it seemed to work for the few samples that I did use.

Dave

[drodda]

Ryan,

After a few more tests I realize that with a "h" in the word you would need to align the bottom of the text instead of the top origin as the h is taller than the Capital letters.

Dave

[drodda]

Ryan,
Upon further review. Yes I work for a Civil Engineering firm and I also have trouble with moving things just by grabbing them and making it close.

If you take the height of each of the text strings that you are trying to align. You will need a base number from a piece of text that does not contain any extra high or low characters. Subtract this number from the height of the text string that you are wanting to align. Divide the difference by two and move the text Y up or down depending on which way it needs bumped this amount. This method seems to be the most acurate and worked every time I tried it.

If you have a project that needs nameplates done all the time and you use the same text size on all you could do the math once and keep it for future nameplates. Other than that I think this would be tedious to say the least.

Dave

[charles_o]

Ryan
A couple of questions. What size is the text? Are you V-carving, area clear ect.? Does it have to be times NR?
I use a program , (Desk Engrave) to generate small font text for plaques. It will let you specify a orign point that when you import into Part Wizard stays constant. The program is limited but it is the best free single line text generator I have found.

Charles

[charles_o]

Ryan
Another way to try. If the text is the same size on all the name plates then find out what the drop down is for the font you are using, Times NR at a .25 text height has a drop down of .0788 for every letter except the cap Q. Then if you need to have a base line of say Y=.5 then when you transform a line of text that has subscript letters you would set Y at .4212 and the base line would be consistant with lines set at .5 that did not have any subscript letters.
Charles

[ryan_slaback]

To answer some questions. The signs are indeed V-carved and the font size is 60 pt. I also had problems with the h noting that it went above the top as well. This leads me to a problem when I have an h and a p.
The font really does need to stay as that since that is what the board asked for. It is professional and easy to read from a distance. Does anyone with programming experience know how it works in a word processing program?

[drodda]

Ryan,

I stumbled across this while trying to find a solution to your issue.

If you turn on your "snap to grid" in the 2d view pull down in PW2 then select the text you are wanting to align to the baseline. Move your mouse over the part of the text you want aligned to the grid or baseline and drag it up or down and the text will move to the grid. Just make sure your grid is your baseline and this works every time simple. If you want the bottom of the p on the baseline make sure you grab it on the bottom line with the mouse to move it. If you want another part lined up just grab the text on the part you want aligned. No math and very accurate.


Dave

[charles_o]

Very good Dave. It does seem to work. Although I had trouble aligning in both the X and Y axis' at the same time.
Ryan
The h going higher should not be a problem if you align off the bottom of the text. One thing I did notice while playing with this is that the bottom of the letters that have a round bottom such as an asopu etc. are lower compared to a baseline then ones with a flat bottom such as an hlitr etc.. This then raised a question in my mind of is this a PW issue or a times new roman or is this common everywhere we find typed text. Well it seems to be common. Every font that I checked out in both PW and MS word seems to do this. Another thing I discovered is that Word sets a baseline for a line of typed text that is below the average letter and that you can format that distance on whole blocks of text, a sentence or even an individual letter. Not alot of help now, but maybe in PW3.
Charles

[ryan_slaback]

Charles, the specific problem is when I have a word which goes both above and below. Something like.

Bookkeeper where the K goes above the rest and the p below the rest.

[drodda]

The baseline can only be at the bottom of the text so the k has no bearing on the adjustment just the bottom of the B in Bookeeper. It's impossible to have a baseline both above and below any text without changing each letter size itself and this would look really strange.

Charles,
As far as aligning in the X and Y direction I use the center command first then bump the text up or down to the baseline or grid.if you move your text far enough right then move it back it will align in the X and then you can bump it up or down in the y. Not a perfect fix but a great work around.