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Solidworks Text is stacked

Solidworks Text is stacked

Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
Hi everyone,

This is my 1st post.  I searched the forums and couldn't find a solution to my problem so here goes.  Whenever I save my solidworks ppart as an img (.jpg or .tif, even .pdf) the text does not display correctly.  For example, I have dimensions on them and the numbers are all stacked on each other and illegible.  I cannot figure out how to make them display correctly.  Thanks in advance for the help.

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

Sounds strange.  What version of SW are you using (and SP)?  What type of video card and driver are you using?  What font have you selected for your dims?  All the above can contribute to your problem.

"But what... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
I am using SW 2005 SP0.0.  My dimensions are currently in Arial 12pt and it was century gothic (default?) with the same problem.  I have a geforce 2 video card with current nvidia drivers.  It seems like it just doesn't scale the font correctly.  Printing the part straight from solid works will show the font really spread out.  I had an annotation with a "tight" rectangle border that looks fine on the normal screen but print preview (and printing) shows the text stretched and beyond the borders of the border.  It only seems to be a problem with the horizontal direction, vertically the text is completely fine (not squished or anything like that.

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

Sooo what are you working on? A Drawing, a Part, or an Assembly?

Your video Card is not support - http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/VideoCard... - This maybe part of your problem.

Can anyone else test this and see the same results? - I tested this with my setup and it looks fine for me.

You might also check your Print drivers as well.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com

For all Newbie's - Welcome to the nerd herd!

FAQ731-376

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

I have not seen this with SolidWorks, but I have with other smaller CAD software. The printer driver was the fix for them. As Scott wrote, check your video card ... upgrade to a supported card.

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
Would printer drivers or video card really make a difference when saving as a jpg or pdf?  Everything is completely fine when working within solidworks itself.  Also I checked the video card page that Scott listed and the only problem with my video card noted is slow OpenGL performance.

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

You could try changing Tools> Options> System Options> Performance to enable Use Software OpenGL, then save your JPG again.  If it comes out fine, then you know it's your video card.

"But what... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
That option is grayed out for me.

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

Close all your files in SW. You must not have ANYTHING open to toggle that option. If it's still greyed out then your Video card is not compatiable with SW and then that would lead me to believe the problem is your video card.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com

For all Newbie's - Welcome to the nerd herd!

FAQ731-376

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
Well the option wasn't grayed when I tried again but still didn't solve the problem.  I have tried inserting the solidworks file into word for a report (which is why i need an image of the part) but couldn't get that to work either.  Here is the picture that I am having problems with (http://www.csulb.edu/~syoung5/Uni/MAE451/wing2.jpg) maybe the actual pic could help.

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
Hmmmm, I think it has something to do with the dimensions and actual sizing of the object.  I just made a small rectangle when I opened up SW and added the dimensions and then saved as a .jpg.  It looked fine.  Then I added some random line to make the object "bigger" on the viewing area.  Then I saved as a .jpg again and was getting bunching of the numbers on the dimensions.  Are the fonts on the dimensions linked up to the units for the part in any way?

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

I'm not sure I follow that last question, but Units determine what the dimension will display and the dimension font control the way it's displayed. This is true with most any windows application.

If your in a part and you look at your Document Properties then that information is all linked to sketches, etc...

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com

For all Newbie's - Welcome to the nerd herd!

FAQ731-376

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
Sorry to keep going on but im still having problems.  I have gotten the dimensions/annotations to be legible if i use differnet units (cm. in this case) even though everything I'm drawing is in feet.  I think I have a better understand of what happens.  It appears that when saving as a jpg SW saves the entire thing as an image first and then stretches the image to fit the page.  Now the fonts have been made part of the image so when the image is stretched they do not maintain their actual type.  Is this correct?

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
My current display is 1280x1024.  The only reason I am trying to get the picture is that I want to insert it into a word document.  I have used centimeter scale for length and everything turns out fine when saving as a jpg.  The problem is when I have the scale in feet (which is actually what it is).  Then everything gets squashed on top of each other.  However, when printing in solidworks everything is completely fine.  Thanks again for all the help.  I really appreciate it.

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

Have you just tried getting a screen shot then using MS paint to crop the image. Then do a copy and past it in a document?

This could be another way around it. I'm faster at doing it this away most of the time.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com

FAQ731-376

RE: Solidworks Text is stacked

(OP)
I will try that.  I tried it already but I cut and paste  an then saved as jpg in paint so I lost a fair amount of quality on the image.  I will try just cutting from paint and straight into word and see how that works.

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