Draw Text On Arc

This command draws text that aligns with an arc or polyline arc segment. Each letter of the text is drawn as a separate text entity that is rotated to align with the arc at that point. These text letters are automatically grouped together as an anonymous block. This command starts with the Create Text on Arc dialog. This command draws text that aligns with an arc, beginning at a picked point.  Each letter of the text is drawn as a separate text entity that is rotated to align with the arc. These text letters are automatically grouped together as a block. The text string, text height, and text style are set in the Create Text on Arc dialog box. 

Text String: Specify the text to label on the arc.
Text Height: Specify the text height. The default value is obtained from the text height specified in Drawing Setup. The value set here is retained throughout the drawing session.
Text Style: Choose an existing text style from the list of defined styles.
Select text offset on screen: When checked, the program will prompt you for offset. You can set the text offset from the arc by graphically picking the offset point on the screen. When this option is not checked, the Text Offset field described below becomes available to specify a known offset distance.
Text Offset: If the above setting is not selected, specify the Text Offset here. A positive value denotes an offset distance inside the arc, while a negative value denotes an offset distance outside the arc.
Is base of text towards radius point?: This option determines whether the base of the text should face the radius point of the arc. It orients the text to the curve. Examples showing the results of different settings follow.

Example 1 - Offset distance specified on screen and base of text away from radius point.

Select Arc or Polyline segment: pick Arc or Polyline segment to place text on.
Select Text Offset: pick the desired offset distance from arc
Select Text Placement:  pick a point, select the desired position to draw the text. Note that the text remains visible on the screen and attached to the “rubber banding cursor”so that various positions can be inspected before specifying the placement point.  The graphic below shows this aspect of the command.

Note that the ghosted text is located along the mid point of the arc. If no offset distance is specified or picked from the screen, the text will be placed at this point. An offset of zero puts the text directly on the arc.

Example 2 - Offset distance specified in dialog and base of text towards radius point.

Select Arc or Polyline Arc Segment: pick Arc
Select Text Placement:  pick point

Note that the prompt for offset distance was skipped because the offset distance was input on the dialog box. Simply select the text placement point resulting in the graphic below.

Pulldown Menu Location: Annotate > Annotate Arc
Keyboard Command: textarc
Prerequisite: An arc entity