Yesterday I'm on the job locating some text to be engraved, my boss looks ove rmy shoulder and suggests that it might be better to have the text rootated 180 for better visual in use. No problem. I grab the text and hit the rotate tool. Much to my surprise it screwed up the numbers. Anyone see this before?
Sorry, SW 2012 Premium
I've seen this before i think.
Rotating option is just trying to rotate the numbers itself isn't it?
I've learned that if you want the text in a different angle you need to draw a construction line at an angle first, so you can put the text on top of it.
In this case, you just had to use these two buttons i think:
Marco,
That didn't work for me using a line in my example. It still flipped the characters to the 'other side'. It would be counter productive for SW to require that you rotate each character in the text. In this case it is text as a word or series of numbers on a line in a prior sketch. Thanks for your reply!
You just want the numbers on top of the line. Am i understanding you right?
What about using the 2 buttons? With the left marked one you can put your text on top, or under a line. With the right marked button you can reverse the characters.
My English isn't excellent ( at all) , so if i'm understanding you wrong, i'm sorry.
Bernie,
You don't use the rotate button, just move your sketch line that you have selected as the curve for the text to follow like this:
Paul
Paul,
I didn't realize there was a direction vector, Thank you! My issue is still complicated in that I use the sketch line to position the text and they're (typically) centered under the hole. Then choosing 'center' for the text itself. You would see a vertical construction line to the center of the text line. I think I can use two sketch lines top and bottom and choose the appropriate one when necessary.
If no one else comes forward with a better solution I'll mark your answer as correct in a few days. Thanks again.
Here´s my 5 cents...
You´ll be able to absolute position text, and rotate around text center.
Short constr. line must of course be half text height..
Edit: Sorry, I´m on SW2013.
Sketch pic: 
Over and out / JFK
Bernie,
How exactly you need to text to be when rotated 180°
I would like to thank Marco, Paul, Deepak and Fredrik for their suggestions. Fredrik has the solution though I have to change the way I model the engraving. I would create the panel, then layout all the sketches for the engraving in a separate single sketch. I would then use those to create my engraving in individual extrusions. Since my sketch was fixed I could not rotate the line as Fredrik suggested. It looks like I'll have to setup my engraving sketch lines differently, I'll just drop the center location line down from the holes as a guide from now on and attach the text line to it there.
You´re welcome...
( ...it´s "old school" sketching, but it works... )
Yes! I'm a mechanical engraver from way back, old school pantographs and the like. I looked at the sketch line as the setup for the engraving like I did so many years ago setting slides for the characters and placing individual letters into those slides, setting the scale, sharpening cutters. We would put tape in the approximate location of the engraved text and visually center using rulers (scales) and finally engrave.
I may add I´m a BIG fan of old school sketching.
I often use a lot of reference geometry, relations,
sketch driven patterns & always use fully defined sketches.
It will ensure I´m always in the drivers seat, and my model will behave like I intended.
I also "stress-test" my models:
change length, angle, thickness, etc. into extreme values to make sure they are stable.
When I use such a tested model as a donor for a new, similar model,
I know it will work on first attempt when editing.
Man is lazy by nature;
time invested in "stress-test" will pay back every day...
/ Fredrik
Yes! I use equal length construction lines and equation driven ones that result in fully defined sketches a lot too. I get the question, "how is that fully defined with only one dimension?" I primarily do precision sheet metal design though take deviations into machine and weldments. I like that you can get accurate flat patterns when you do things right. I inspect the models and the flat patterns before they go to programming the CNC's.
The fewer driving dimensions, the fewer error sources...
Our products also require high (sheetmetal/flat pattern) precision.
Many of them are "box-inside-box" sheet metal designs.
Don´t you just love when your first prototype is so accurate,
you don´t have to adjust for series manufacturing,
and you can make a customer specific without trial-and-error...
I had a similar but more complex engraving problem. So complex in SW . . .
Here´s my 5 cents...
You´ll be able to absolute position text, and rotate around text center.
Short constr. line must of course be half text height..
Edit: Sorry, I´m on SW2013.
Sketch pic:
Over and out / JFK