measure indicators: custom text

Question

In Inkscape, I try to "name" some dimensions (x, h, d etc).

What is the "classic" way to add such indicators like in picture? I don't need to measure, but to name a dimension.

for b I tried "path effects"=> "measure segments", that is painful, I can't place the letter in the middle of the line and give enough space around.
for the gc I need to display the distance between the middle of the circle and the upper border... impossible, I needed to add a transparent rectangle but I can't get rid of the line in the middle

You draw the elements. Or if you must use text on path. Inkscape is direct modeling tool, its meant to draw things manually. While there are some convenience functions to do certain things with tools automatically, the tool itself is not designed with this in mind. There is no overarching system that can do prettymuch everything you want effotlessly, because every indirect modeling tool is an afterthought. Except maybe if draw everything manually is considered effortless. — joojaa, Commented May 4, 2022 at 15:41
@joojaa, I just ask if there is a way to do it in Inkscape. "Is not possible" is an answer among others, just to know — serge, Commented May 4, 2022 at 15:52
@serge sure, "is not possible" is harder to prove. But obviously its possible to do by making each text, line arrow and lines manually. Im not sure if it is possible to automate or not though. Like i said the system is not consistent so its hard to evaluate where it fails. I am just pointing out that it is not unusual for the software to make you do it manually, since doing it manually is the softwares core design purpose (nothing wrong with that). — joojaa, Commented May 4, 2022 at 16:21
@joojaa OP don't really care to evaluate "where the system fails"... there is a practice question, not theory about big data. — serge, Commented May 5, 2022 at 7:53
Sorry, this disucssion is getting longer here, and it's irrelevant to GDSE, let's continue on chat.inkscape.org — s.ouchene, Commented May 5, 2022 at 15:25

serge · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-05 17:06:04Z

2

Finally, even not without pain, there is a way to achieve it, using Path Effects (Menu Path=>Path Effects).

Some mentions here:

the extension is unstable, and we should sometimes force the redrawing by fake changing some options to refresh the needed display
in order to add multiple text dimensions, we need to add multiple paths effects to the same path
in order to measure distance between two different paths, we need to create fake invisible paths between them, and apply the effect to that invisible path
in order to change texts, apply format to it, is possible to right click on the text, then "unlock" the object, then edit is available
in order to have more white space around the text, I added just empty spaces in the text field

answered May 5, 2022 at 17:06

serge

1516 bronze badges

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thanks @s.ouchene for your suggestions and help
– serge
Commented May 5, 2022 at 17:09
1

Another workaround is to use Tikz with the textText extension. Here are some example of technical drawing using Tikz: tex.stackexchange.com/questions/14901/…
– s.ouchene
Commented May 5, 2022 at 17:34

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