Tipster Sam Lucido writes about how to set and control background text masking for dimension text in AutoCAD and its verticals.

"Did you know that you can mask the background of dimension text? You can add a background mask to a single dimension or all dimensions within a drawing file.

"There are several ways to change this. First, you can create a new dimension style and set the fill color to background. All of your dimensions with that style will have the mask set to background, which will in effect wipeout any objects behind the dimension text.

"You can also select the dimension, right-click, and open the properties palette. Select the Fill Color pull-down menu, then the Background option.



"AutoCAD has two system variables that control the background color for dimensions. DimTFill controls the background of dimension text:

• 0 — No background
• 1 — The background color of the drawing
• 2 — The background color specified by DimTFillClr

DimTFillClr sets the color for the text background in dimensions. Color numbers are displayed in the Select Color dialog box. For ByBlock, enter 0. For ByLayer, enter 256."

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Reviewer Brian Benton: Masking text, notes, and dimensions is an easy way to ensure that your annotations are visible to those reading your drawings. It hides everything beneath the text, ensuring that it is visible by preventing any other object from printing over the top of it. Text masking keeps the mask with the text. It doesn’t create a separate object, like a wipeout, that requires maintenance every time the text is altered. It fits itself to the text area width and height.