Introduction

We recently been asked about how to add a white background behind text so that you can read it.

There are a couple of ways to do this and we’ll look at two.

Problem

The issue was that some lines goes through the text item as shown below. This could lead to errors in reading the text correctly.

Solution

The first solution is to create a Wipeout object and move the Text in front of the Wipeout. To do this you would go the Annotate ribbon tab and select Wipeout.

Then draw the shape and enter. We drew a rectangular shape around the 120 text item, hiding the text.

Then select the text and Right click and move the text to the front, by changing the draw order.

You’ll need to do this process for each text item.

The Second Solution

Another solution is to firstly convert the text item to Mtext. This is done in AutoCAD’s Express Tools. These tools are only found in the full version of AutoCAD.

Once converted to Mtext select the item. Then in the Properties change the Background mask property to Yes and select both the Use Background mask and Use drawing background color options. You can change the Border factor to suit. In this example I use 1.

This will add a background to the text item and hide the lines behind the text. Solving the problem.

To change the other text items you need to convert each one to Mtext separately and then you can use the Match Properties to apply the Background Mask to the other Mtext items.

Conclusion

There are other options like creating a hatch object in place of the Wipeout but using either of these processes you’ll be able to reduce the risk of the user reading incorrectly.

If you need any further training or have any question wrt the topic, please reach out to us at: https://www.mgfx.co.za/contact