Expert: Bill DeShawn - 5/21/2008

Question
I used SurvCADD 2006 with AutoCAD 2004 to label contour elevations over a large area. This was a base drawing xreffed into another drawing. I did not realize that when I labeled the contours the software would use textmask (wipeout). Consequently, when I reloaded my xref the contour elevations have boxes around them. When I look at the base sheet, the boxes are not visible. How do I get rid of these boxes in my base drawing (not visible) so they won't show up in any drawings this file is xreffed into. I guess I am asking if there is a way to un-wipeout the text?

Answer
Judy:
The wipeouts can be quite useful if they are done right.  I like them, myself, because I don't have to break the contours.  Unfortunately, TEXTMASK.lsp doesn't do the job right by itself.  Wipeouts are designed to be "FRAME ON" and "FRAME OFF".  It's something you can control with the WIPEOUT command.  I guess they were thinking that for editing purposes you can turn the frames on, and for plotting purposes you can turn the frames off.  You might try that approach first to see if you can put up with it that way.  It's actually a good alternative to the next way I'm going to explain.

The TEXTMASK.LSP routine is given to us in raw code form.  So, we can all edit it with NOTEPAD if we desire.  I edited mine so that the wipeout that was produced was changed to the color 255 which in my ctb files (for color-dependent plotting) is screened to 0%.  This works out great, because now I can have text frames that are visible in the DWG file, but invisible when plotting.  Also, if plotting to PDF, they won't turn black like they do if they are made with a color that is not screened.  

So there are a couple of options for you.  If you want to edit TEXTMASK.lsp and don't know how, get back to me and I'll give you some instructions.  

If you just want to lose the textmask, then type TEXTUNMASK and start selecting all the contour elevation labels.  

Keep in touch
Bill DeShawn
http://my.sterling.net/~bdeshawn