Predefined shapes: Arrows and Balloons

Since 4.9

New features have been introduced in the FMA vector drawing interface: arrows and balloons, which can be utilized in both overlay and redline drawings.

These elements are created on the current layer and can be accessed conveniently through the Draw section of the Viewer toolbar.

Arrows: Arrows consist of a dot marking the beginning and an arrowhead marking the end.

To draw an arrow, sketch it from the starting point to the endpoint. The shape and size of these markings are fixed, with dimensions derived from the width of the arrow line.

For more information, please refer to the Styles section.

Balloons

A balloon consists of balloon text and a balloon pointer, with the arrowhead marking the end of the pointer. The text is automatically framed.

To create a balloon, first click where the pointer should point, then draw the line up to where you want the text and click again.

This action initiates a dialog for editing the balloon text, which can be closed using the Close button.

The balloon pointer and frame are dynamically linked; the pointer is clipped to the frame's boundary, and moving the text adjusts the pointer line accordingly.

Text anchor adjustments can be made to achieve your desired connection effect between the line and frame.

Size & Styles: Common styles for arrows and balloons can be defined in the Arrows section of System Settings on the FMA Administration page.

These styles work in a similar way to those in the Labels section. Adjustments made to line width or color affect all existing arrows and balloons, whereas changes in font family and size only affect newly created balloon texts, retaining any subsequent modifications.

Using a nominal drawing scale is advantageous when targeting specific pixel font sizes on printouts produced at a specified scale.

When set to Auto, the nominal drawing scale establishes the font size for new balloons based on a fraction of the current drawing's total size.