CIRTXT-bgol (Circle Around a Text)

Command Type: AutoLISP routine (works in AutoCAD, BricsCAD, ZWCAD and most AutoLISP-compatible CAD platforms)
Developed by: BGol Community, bgol.in

Inspired by the general concept of circle-around-text highlighting utilities used in CAD drafting. This is an original, independently written routine, new file name, new command name, new source code, created so the CAD community has a free, editable, open-source alternative.

Overview

CTXR draws a circle sized and centered to enclose each selected TEXT entity, a fast way to highlight important values (elevation callouts, benchmark points, etc.) with a circular emphasis marker instead of manually judging and drawing a circle by eye.

How to Use

1. Load CIRTXT-bgol.lsp into your CAD session (drag-and-drop the file onto the drawing window, or use the APPLOAD command).
2. Type CTXR at the command line and press Enter.
3. Select the TEXT entities you want to highlight, then press Enter to confirm.
4. A circle is created around each selected text, sized to that text's own bounding box (with a small padding factor so the circle clears the characters), on layer BGOL-CTXR (colour cyan). The original text is left untouched.

Why Use It

• Proper Fit Regardless of Text Length, circle size adapts to each text's actual length, avoiding the guesswork of manually judging circle size.
• Time Savings, automates placing a properly-sized circle around many text entities in one pass.
• Consistent Presentation, produces a uniform highlighting style across all marked values in a drawing.

Where to Use It

• Highlighting critical elevation values, benchmark points, or other key numeric/text data with a circular emphasis marker.
• Any presentation-drawing task needing multiple text values consistently and neatly circled for visual emphasis.

Notes

• Circle radius equals half the text's bounding-box diagonal, scaled by a 1.15x padding factor; edit *bgol-ctxr-pad* near the top of the .lsp file to change the fit tightness.
• Works on TEXT entities; run MT2TX-bgol.lsp first to convert MText if needed.
• Source code is fully open, feel free to study, modify, and redistribute it under the same open, free-for-all spirit.

Credits

Developed and shared for the CAD community by BGol Community. Website: https://bgol.in/ Free and open-source, use it, modify it, share it, for personal or commercial work alike.