Annotating

To create an annotation:

1. In the Annotation module, click Create .

2. Shift-click in your scene to select a location for the annotation.

3. Enter the annotation text in the Description section. Use the search field to find annotations by this name.

4. Under Properties, adjust the font, line, and background color, as well as background transparency.

   • Name identifies an annotation when using Python.
   • Node identifies the Scenegraph node associated with the annotation. When selecting the position of an annotation, the selected geometry becomes the associated Scenegraph node. Another node can be dragged from the Scenegraph onto the Node field to assign it to the annotation.
   • Use Node Visibility uses the visible state of the node associated with the annotation. If the node is invisible, so is the annotation. If the annotation has no node association, Use Node Visibility has no effect.

5. Under Size and Position, adjust the position and size of the annotation.

   Dynamic Scaling enables size variation of labels based on their depth within the Render Window. For example, an object's label appears closer in the Render Window and is larger than that of an object further back. There are three scaling options:

   • Near - Makes the closest labels smaller, which is appropriate when working close to the screen.

   • Far - Makes labels further away larger, which is appropriate when working far from the computer screen. This is good when sharing a presentation with others.

   • Off - Makes labels larger, but the same size.

   Since both Size and Dynamic Scaling affect annotation size, use them in combination to get the right size.

When working with groups, keep in mind, they can be nested; therefore, when searching for an annotation that could be grouped, try using Toggle Search Depth. If some annotations are not displayed, check the box in front of the group to make them visible. To group annotations:

1. In the Annotation module, right-click and select Create Group or use Ctrl + G.

   Tip:

   To rename a group, click the group, then Ctrl + R, enter the name, and click Enter.

2. Ctrl-click and select all annotations to be added to the group.

3. Drag the annotations into the group.

To change the position of an annotation:

1. Select an annotation from the List View.
2. Click Reposition .
3. Shift-click in the scene to select a different location for the annotation.

To remove an annotation:

1. Select an annotation from the List View.
2. Click Delete .

To remove all or a range of annotations:

1. Select the first annotation in the List View, then Shift-click the last. Also try Ctrl-click to select specific annotations.
2. Click Delete.

1. In the List View, right-click an annotation you want to zoom into.
2. Select Zoom To from the context menu.

Save the current list of annotations to an XML file, so they can be loaded into the scene later.

1. Right-click in the List View.
2. Select Save Annotations to save them to an XML file or Load Annotations to load them into the scene.

Click Show Annotations to view of all annotations. Click the check box next to any annotation in the List View to hide its display.

Click Duplicate to duplicate all highlighted annotations.

Click Select Nodes to select nodes in the Scenegraph associated with selected annotations.