Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 332 AutoCAD and Its Applications—Advanced Only text created using the TEXT or DTEXT command (a text object) can be assigned thickness. Text created with the MTEXT command (an mtext object) cannot have thickness assigned to it. In addition, only AutoCAD SHX fonts can be given thick- ness. Therefore, when creating a text style to use for 3D purposes, select a text font in the Text Style dialog box with a .shx fi le extension. See Figure 13-2. Windows TrueType fonts cannot be used to create text with thickness. If a text object assigned a TrueType font is selected, the Thickness option will appear in the Properties palette. You can assign a thickness value, but it will not be applied to the text. Text and the UCS Text and the UCS Text is created parallel to the XY plane of the UCS in which it is drawn. Therefore, if you wish to show text appearing on a specifi c plane, establish a new UCS on that plane before placing the text. You can use the UCS icon grips to create a new UCS. Figure 13-3 shows several examples of text on different UCS XY planes. Changing the Orientation of a Text Object If text is improperly placed or created using the wrong UCS, it can be edited using grips or editing commands. Editing commands and grips are relative to the current UCS. For example, if text is drawn with the WCS current, you can use the ROTATE command to change the orientation of the text in the XY plane of the WCS. However, to rotate the text so it tilts up from the XY plane of the WCS, you will need to change the UCS. Rotate the UCS as needed so the Z axis of the new UCS aligns with the axis about which you want to rotate. Then, the ROTATE command can be used to rotate the text. See Figure 13-4. The 3DROTATE command can also be used instead of rotating the UCS. AutoCAD SHX font Figure 13-2. Only AutoCAD SHX fonts can be used for 3D text with thickness. Figure 13-3. Text located using three different UCSs.