Text with Character - AutoCAD 2012 - page 282

TrueType: In the Text Style dialog box, TrueType font names appear with a TT
symbol to the left of the name and no file extension. TrueType fonts give you more
and fancier font options, but they can slow down AutoCAD when you zoom, pan,
or select and snap to objects. TrueType fonts also can cause greater complica-
tions when you exchange drawings with other AutoCAD users.
It's okay to use a TrueType font sparingly for something like a title-block logo, but in
general, you should stick with standard AutoCAD SHX fonts whenever possible.
The most popular AutoCAD font is Romans.shx (Roman Simplex). (You may
also run into Simplex.shx , an older version of Roman Simplex.) Romans.shx is
a good, general-purpose font for drafting in AutoCAD. Avoid complicated, thick
fonts. They can slow down AutoCAD, and they're usually more difficult to read
than the simpler fonts. Remember, you're doing CAD here, not fancy graphic
design or reproductions of medieval manuscripts!
Whenever possible, avoid custom fonts, which are font files that don't come
with AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT (both programs come with the same fonts).
AutoCAD installs its standard SHX fonts in the C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2012 - English\Fonts folder ( C:\Program
Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD LT 2012 - English\Fonts in AutoCAD LT); as
long as you haven't added any custom fonts to that folder, you can refer to it for a
list of standard fonts. AutoCAD doesn't embed font files in drawings; instead, it
must refer to the font files installed locally under either AutoCAD (for SHX fonts)
or Windows (for TrueType fonts). If you use a custom font of either type, exchan-
ging your drawings with other people will be more complicated. If you must use a
custom font, make a note of it and remember either to send it whenever you send
the DWG file (assuming that the font isn't copyrighted, which many custom fonts
are) or to warn the recipients that the text will appear different on their systems.
It's far less hassle to avoid custom fonts altogether. See Chapter 20 for additional
information about how to deal with fonts when you send and receive drawings.
Get in style
The following steps describe how to select an existing text style or create a new one be-
fore you enter text into a drawing. If you want to experiment with an existing drawing
that contains a variety of text styles, you can download the AutoCAD 2012 sample draw-