Reference Notes Callouts

Quick video

Power Tip: Advanced RefNote Tips

Reference Notes Callouts Overview
Leader and Callout Style Options
Customizing or Rescaling Reference Notes Callouts
Match Properties and Reference Notes Callouts
Placing Reference Notes Callouts in Paper Space
Calling Out RefNotes in Your Xrefs
Error Checking Reference Notes Callouts Using Verify Callouts
Related Webinars
Troubleshooting

A Reference Note callout identifies a Reference Note (RefNote) you've placed in your drawing with the number you've assigned to it. Most designers won't call out every single RefNote in a drawing. Rather, a callout is meant to provide visual identification of one instance of a RefNote, allowing you and your clients to recognize the others. We've designed the Reference Notes Schedule to provide a more detailed catalog of the RefNotes you've placed.

For instructions on adding and placing RefNotes, see our Reference Notes: Getting Started documentation page.

RefNotes Callouts are now Multileaders (MLeaders)! What's an MLeader? It's a native AutoCAD feature that renders the leader, arrow, and callout box into a singular, contiguous entity. For more information, see our MLeaders documentation.

Reference Notes Callouts Overview

Open our RefNote Callout tool:

F/X Site ribbon, RefNote Callout flyout

Type RefNoteCallout in the Command line

F/X Site menu, RefNote Callout option

In addition, you can call out a RefNote by clicking the Callout button in the RefNotes Manager.

The cursor will turn into a pickbox, and the Command line will prompt you to:

Select object to callout.

Use the pickbox to select the RefNote you want to call out. The Command line will prompt you to select a location for the Arrow point.

Click the location in your drawing where you want to place the point of the callout arrow.

The Command line will prompt you to select a Leader end point.

Drag the cursor in the direction where you want to extend the leader line. Click where you want the leader line to end. The Command line will prompt you to select a Callout location.

The callout will appear in your drawing in the location you selected.

As shown by the image to the left, RefNote callouts are designed to identify just one, or a few, instances of a particular RefNote in your drawing.

The Reference Notes Schedule will provide a more detailed catalog of RefNotes in your drawing.

Note that Notation and Length Reference Notes are themselves callouts. Therefore, when you place one of these types of RefNotes, you will be placing a callout in your drawing much in the way described above.

We offer several types of Reference Notes, each of which has its own specific function in adding items and data to your drawing. To learn about the different Reference Note types, visit our documentation sections on:

Notation Reference Notes: Place a numeric symbol referring to a text notation.
Length Reference Notes: Place an item of linear quantity, and calculate data such as cost per foot.
Area / Volume Reference Notes: Place a material such as a mulch in your drawing, represented as a hatch, and calculate data such as cost and square footage or cubic volume.
Object Reference Notes: Place one or more site objects, and calculate quantities and costs automatically.

Leader and Callout Style Options

To assign a leader and callout box style to the callouts that will label your RefNotes, use the Callouts and Leader options at the bottom of the Add Reference Note dialog box.

For instructions, see our Leader and Callout Style documentation.

We've provided the ability to give each RefNote its own distinct style for callouts, should you want to do so. If you want all your RefNotes Callouts to look the same, take care to set the leader and callout styles the same in each RefNote you create or edit.

Customizing or Rescaling Reference Notes Callouts

Our software allows you to customize the layer, font, color, name, and size of your RefNote callouts. However, because the callouts are coded to expand automatically along with the callout text, the callout blocks themselves are not customizable at this time.

If your RefNotes callouts seem to be coming in at the wrong size or scale (in relation to other objects in your drawing), the issue is likely related to the font size of the Callout Title text style.

To change the scale of your RefNotes callouts, open the General Preferences, select the Callout Title text style, and click Edit.

Enter your desired font size in the Point Size field, and click OK to apply your change.

Click OK in the General Preferences.

Editing the Callout Title Text Style from General Preferences

Delete and purge all existing callouts at the incorrect scale. You can now place your RefNote callouts again, and they should come in at the correct scale.

Rescaling the callouts will not as described above will not rescale your existing callouts. You'll need to delete and purge them, and then place them again.

Match Properties and Reference Notes Callouts

You can easily substitute one Reference Note you've placed in your drawing with another Reference Note using our Match Properties tool. If you use this method to replace a Reference Note you've already called out, the callout will update automatically. For more information, please see our Match Properties and Reference Note Callouts documentation section.

Placing Reference Notes Callouts in Paper Space

You can place RefNotes callouts into Paper Space and still complete all error checking as if they were placed in Model Space.

The primary reasons for placing callouts into Paper Space are:

The plan is extremely dense, like a virtual jungle, with no real negative space (such as a building, walk, or paving), and any callouts will fall onto other RefNotes or other objects, with the possibility of covering up vital information. In this situation, you can place callouts in areas outside the boundaries of the viewport, into blank areas of the Paper Space sheet layout.
You simply prefer the callouts to be placed in a Paper Space layout tab, and perhaps outside the site image viewport and into a blank area on the sheet layout.
Your office traditionally labels in Paper Space, and you want to keep up that tradition. We have found that this argument has broken down, as it is much faster, and in most situations more flexible, to label within Model Space while reserving Paper Space for the sheet layout only.

In this example, we'll place a RefNote callout in Paper Space for the playground slide RefNote pictured to the right.

Reference Note to call out in Paper Space, example

To call out your RefNotes in Paper Space, you must first “lock” the viewport display.

To lock the viewport, click the viewport's bounding line to highlight it.

Then right-click and select Properties from the menu that opens.

Once in the Properties panel, go to Display Locked and select Yes.

Now select the viewport and use the "grip points" to expand the viewport outward (in our example, to the right), exposing more of the drawing in Model Space.

Double-click within the viewport to work in “Floating Model Space,” or Model Space while you are in Paper Space.

Place your RefNote callout, and make sure you are extending the leader line outside of original viewport area.

The callouts will appear to be on other parts of the drawing, but they are automatically being moved to Paper Space when you place them.

Once finished placing your callout(s), you'll move the edge of the viewport back to its original location to see only the callout(s).

Viewport boundary moved back to original position

In the image to the left, the viewport is moved back to the original position, leaving our callout outside the viewport.

If you want to place your callouts in and around the site, you have no real reason to place them into Paper Space. If you don't have the room to place the callouts in the Model Space site layout, the Paper Space placement is a logical solution.

Calling Out RefNotes in Your Xrefs

You can easily label RefNotes in your Xrefs while still working inside your main drawing. Just make sure that both the drawing you’re labeling inside and the Xref drawing are set to the same Land F/X project. Then label your RefNotes as you would normally.

Error Checking Reference Notes Callouts Using Verify Callouts

Ready to error check your Reference Notes Callouts? Run our Verify Callouts tool to ensure that you've labeled your RefNotes correctly. See our Verify Callouts documentation for instructions.

Related Webinars

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