Archinect
anchor

"Fat" text in AutoCAD

I've run into this problem with many versions of AutoCAD in the past and in the present and my obsessive compulsiveness wants to figure out what the hell is going on. In some of the drawings that I've worked on, the text (a True Type font) both appears on the screen and when plotted to be "fatter" than normal, almost like its in bold, but it's not. I've searched the ACAD forums and come across a few solutions with varying degrees of success:

- Make sure the "z" component of the text is set to "0"
- Use the FLATTEN command
- Copy and paste the entire existing drawing into a new drawing
- Explode the MText string and then FLATTEN it

One of those discussions can be found here:

http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5128880

and

http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5921842

Like I said, some of these work some of the time, but nothing works ALL the time. It also affects the text in the dimension strings. I don't know why this is and haven't found one perfect solution.

Any suggestions?

 
Jun 19, 08 7:02 pm
xtbl

could it be the layer it's on?

Jun 19, 08 7:06 pm  · 
 · 
xtbl

i mean, is it on a layer, or color, that plots @ a heavier lineweight?

Jun 19, 08 7:07 pm  · 
 · 
Living in Gin

"dead are the controller" might be onto something... Check your pen weight settings. If you're using a font where the characters are only composed of single lines (such as ROMANS.SHX), then I'd put them on a medium lineweight. But if you're using a thicker TrueType font such as Arial, then I'd put it on the lightest lineweight possible, so that the characters will be rendered accurately.

Jun 19, 08 11:12 pm  · 
 · 
Apurimac

I have the same issue in 2009, a coworker says it has something to do with copy pasting too much. I doubt this though as our text plots out at our 3rd heaviest lineweight. If DatC is right, our dwgs may look very different tomorrow afternoon!

Jun 19, 08 11:44 pm  · 
 · 
gonad

I ran into a similar problem. My text was displaying as bold but plotting thin. It would up being an issue with repathing the font.

tools > options > file tab > font file name

hope this helps

Jun 20, 08 7:35 am  · 
 · 

No, it has nothing to do with the pen settings because it is both a display and plotting problem. And the font that I'm having problems with is not an SHX font, but a TTF (Arial) so the layer you have it on does not affect its output.

Apurimac is close. I know this issue crops up sometimes when copying and pasting text. I'm just not sure why...

Keep the suggestions coming! I'm sure someone out there has solved this!

Jun 20, 08 10:04 am  · 
 · 
Apurimac

Actually it may have nothing to do with copy pasting, i just typed a brand new note and the text came out fat. WTF!?

Jun 20, 08 12:00 pm  · 
 · 

Yep, same thing happens to me on occasion...

Jun 20, 08 6:03 pm  · 
 · 
TomF

I'm sorry this post is so late in coming, but I just discovered this site today while searching for a solution to "fat " text. I found an answer that worked for our problem. Hopefully, it will help many of you too.

We are using AutoCAD ADT 2004 with Express tools. A co-worker was having problems with text suddenly displaying "fat" or "bloated". This was also happening to dimension strings. Long story short, after several failed attempts at other fixes, it dawned on me to check the "line weight control" pull down. This pull down is part of the PROPERTIES PULLDOWN MENU. It had been set by another co-worker for a heavy weight and he forgot to set it back to either "by layer" or "default".

We used a crossing window for our selection set and changed the line weights back to default. Problem solved.

It's so simple that it's embarrassing that I didn't think of it sooner.

May 11, 09 12:08 pm  · 
 · 
Nickn

Thanks for this forum post. Fixed the fat text problem here by changing the mtext "Position Z" all to 0.

Mar 7, 13 2:39 am  · 
 · 
John Smith

@Jason E Roberts You legend!!! Thank you for the massive help! P.S. Changing the Z co-ordinate to "0" worked for me.

Dec 3, 15 6:53 am  · 
 · 
3l3li

THANK MAN 

Jan 18, 16 4:47 am  · 
 · 
Helerea A.

I am having the same problem from more than one year when I started the first time to work in AutoCAD. I got true AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD2016 (present) and this problem struggled me a lot. It was more often on previous version but is still present even in the AutoCAD 2016. For me, after I tried multiple ways and "solutions", the only things that work is to copy all my draws on a new drawing.

Aug 26, 16 5:56 am  · 
 · 
Dangermouse

its a bug that happens if you move or copy an mtext object with either ortho or osnap enabled.  

if it happens, you have to delete the text and retype

autodesk is aware of the bug and gives zero fucks.  

Aug 26, 16 9:04 am  · 
 · 
sideMan

try this:

in model space, at the command line

Dview, hit Enter, PO, hit Enter, 0,0,0 hit Enter, 0,0,0 hit enter, 0,0,1

I think I have this typed out correctly.

I cannot remember where I got this or I would post a link.

Good Luck!

Aug 26, 16 9:26 am  · 
 · 
seanselfe

this is why autocad drives me crazy

Aug 26, 16 10:55 am  · 
 · 

It's not fat. It's Big Boned.

Aug 26, 16 11:09 am  · 
 · 
hagisgold

I've ran into the same problems every once in a while. 

It's always about the 'z'

to change them altogether, 

1. Filter out text either using layiso or FILTER

2. Select All text objects

3. CHANGE - P(Properties) - E (Elevation) - 0

This always fixes my fat texts

Aug 29, 16 3:12 am  · 
 · 
ervilaspatil

WATCH THIS VIDEO FOR 100% SOLUTION

 

AUTOCAD THICK AND BOLD TEXT AND LINE (100% SOLVED)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Ke4RoHS3E

Dec 31, 16 2:45 pm  · 
 · 
claudiaolave

thank you! I was going crazy with this issue.

Feb 7, 19 6:17 pm  · 
 · 
rayquirke

Thanks hagisgold that worked great. Your solution is the only one that worked after trying many solution from many sites. Thanks again.

Aug 29, 19 5:15 am  · 
 · 
c0dyJK

Ready for this one.......?

I have been trying to fix this issue for far longer than I am willing to admit, trying ALL of these fixes and more from around the web...

My issue: 2 identical xrefs for separate purposes, on separate sheets (keynote legends for floor plans and rcp) Title text for the RCP legend kept coming in BOLD but the floor plan version was fine - even when attached on the same page as the incorrect BOLD one. All same properties, all same text style settings, etc. Everything was the same, even the layer that the final Xrefs were on.

Fix was so simple. I was CLIPPING my RCP legend xref with a rectangular clipping boundary to hide some extraneous things I had off to the side within the xref. This was causing the BOLD title text only on that xref....


DELL Precision 5760, RTXA3000, ACAD 2023

Jul 11, 22 6:52 pm  · 
 · 
atelier nobody

This sounds like a bug that should be reported to Autodesk.

Jul 12, 22 1:45 pm  · 
1  · 
mm1

Select text in Properies put Z on sam number (10), and then put back in 0,00.....

Jan 11, 24 4:28 am  · 
 · 
jaridjohnston

I'm experiencing the same issue. Despite exploring various options, none of them have resolved the problem. 

Interestingly, others can open the same drawing, and it displays correctly with the "romans.shx" font. 
However, for the past few days, whenever I open any drawing, the content appears bloated or fat.

I initially suspected a driver or Windows update, but the last update was six weeks ago, and the issue only started recently. It seems as if AutoCAD is having trouble locating the "romans" font, substituting it with something else.

I've attempted to resolve this by copying older versions of the font, dating back to 2004, into the font folder and other directories, but unfortunately, this hasn't provided a solution.

I'll continue my search for a fix, and if I discover one, I'll provide an update.

Thank you,
J

Mar 7, 24 3:45 pm  · 
 · 

Block this user


Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?

Archinect


This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.

  • ×Search in: