The Polylength measurement tool places specialized markups that calculate multiple, linear measurements as well as their cumulative length. This can be particularly useful, for example, when measuring individual segments of a continuous piece of material.
Polylength measurements can appear to be similar to Area Measurements, but they are not closed shapes; even when they are created such that their start and end points touch, they are always treated as open shapes.
For just the cumulative length of a multi-segment line, also see Perimeter Measurements. For single length measurements, see Length Measurements. For a similar markup without a measurement, see the Polyline Tool.
As with any measurement, be sure to calibrate the document first.
To "close" the shape, click on the starting point of the first line segment.
Note: Even though their start and end points can touch, Polylength measurements are always considered open shapes and will behave as such. For a closed-shape measurement, see Area Measurement.
Tips:
You can add an action to nearly any markup. Simply right-click the markup and select Edit Action to open the Action dialog box.
Select a markup to reveal its control handles. Each handle controls a different aspect of the markup's size and orientation.
To rotate the markup, click and drag the orange handle outside the markup (when the markup is first placed, it will be at the top). By default, the markup is rotated in increments of 15°; to rotate in increments of 1°, hold down SHIFT while dragging.
To move the entire markup together, click and drag a part of it other than the control handles.
To move only the caption, click and drag it while holding down SHIFT. To return the caption to its default position, right-click it and select Reset Caption Position. To move multiple captions at the same time, SHIFT-click them, then click and drag one of the selected captions while holding down SHIFT. Note that, if multiple captions in a Polylength measurement are moved, right-clicking one and selecting Reset Caption Position will reset the positions of them all.
To rotate the caption, click and drag the orange handle directly over it. By default, the markup is rotated in increments of 15°; to rotate in increments of 1°, hold down SHIFT while dragging.To return a rotated caption to its original position, right-click it and select Reset Caption Position. Note that only the cumulative length caption can be rotated; while the length captions of the segments cannot be rotated, they can be adjusted to align on the segment or horizontally in the Appearance Properties.
See Editing Markups for more information.
The appearance of the Polylength measurement is configurable, including its line and fill color, line width and style, opacity, and font characteristics for the caption.
To change the appearance of a Polylength measurement, select it and click the Properties tab.
Color: Sets the line color.
Fill Color: Controls the fill color of the endpoints.
Highlight: Makes the fill color and line transparent so underlying content shows through.
Opacity: Sets opacity level of the line and endpoints, from 0 (invisible) to 100 (opaque).
Line Width: Sets the line thickness in points.
Style: Determines the pattern of the line segment.
Start and End: Controls the appearance of the endpoints for each side of the line. The diagram below shows samples of each type of endpoint.
Each endpoint has an associated Scale that determines the size of the endpoint in relation to the Line Width. By default, it is set to Auto and will automatically adjust as the Line Width is changed.
Show Segment Values: Select to show the segment lengths on the markup. Select an alignment for these captions:
Show Caption: Select to include caption text on the markup. Click Edit to choose which measurements to include.
Font: Sets the font used for the selected text. Available fonts are divided into three regions:
Note: If you attempt to embed a font for which the viewing and editing permissions do not allow formatting, Revu will display a message indicating the font will not be embedded in the PDF.
Font parameters are retained in the PDF such that even if the original font is not embedded or on the viewer's workstation, a suitable representation of the font will be substituted.
Font Size: Sets the size of the font.
Text Color: Sets the color of text.
Font Style: These settings control the formatting of the text. Options include Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strikethrough. Generally, any combination of these styles can be applied to format the text.