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Creating Profile Sketches | 45
Creating Profile Sketches
In Mechanical Desktop, there are three types of profile sketches:
■ Text-based profiles, used to create parametric 3D text-based shapes
■ Open profile sketches, used to define features on parts
■ Closed profile sketches, used to outline parts and features
You can solve and apply parametric constraints and dimensions to all three
of these profile sketch types.
Creating Text Sketch Profiles
A text sketch profile is a line of text displayed in a rectangular boundary. You
extrude a text sketch profile to create the emboss feature on part models.
To create a text sketch profile, you use the command
AMTEXTSK. A dialog box
opens where you can enter text and choose a font style and size, or you can
enter the information on the command line.
You define an anchor point for the rectangle on your part and a point to
define the height of the text. You have the option to define a rotation value
on the command line to position the text at an angle. As you move your cur-
sor to define the anchor and height points, the rectangular boundary scales
appropriately to accommodate the size of the text.
You can change the size of the text by changing the value of the height
dimension. You can apply typical parametric dimensions and constraints
between the rectangular boundary and other part edges or features.
When the text sketch profile is sized correctly and in the right position on
your part, you extrude it to create the emboss feature.
To learn more about using text sketch profiles in the emboss feature, see
“Creating Emboss Features” on page 140.
text sketch text sketch with rotation defined