About Contour Labels

You can create contour labels by specifying line segments that cross contour lines of a surface. Add Single, Multiple, or Multiple at Interval contour labels. Modify the properties of contour label lines to change the label style for major, minor, and user-defined contour labels.

Multiple Contour Labels

Use a line or polyline of an existing object as a label line or draw a label line (1) that crosses multiple contours.

Multiple Contour Labels at an Interval

Create multiple contour labels at an interval by drawing a contour label line (1) that crosses surfaces contours and specify the interval (2) between the labels along those contours.

Single Contour Labels

Use a line or polyline of an existing object as a label line or draw label lines on the fly for single or multiple contours.

Note: The line that is used to place the contour labels is a custom object called the Surface Contour Label Group object. The default layer for this object is set on the Object Layers tab of the Drawing Settings dialog box. Freezing the default layer of the contour label line freezes the contour labels. To control the visibility of the contour label line, change its display settings in the contour label line properties.

Tip: To make a contour label mask out the contour use the Background Mask property in the contour label style. Edit the contour label style using the Label Style Composer, and on the Layout tab under Border, set the value for Background Mask to True.

You can also use the Masking property in the AutoCAD Properties palette to mask contour lines. For more information, see About Background Masks for Label Style Components.

Tutorial Exercise: Labeling a Surface