Balloon Annotations

Balloon annotations can be used in a manner similar to Text annotations, but with directed emphasis due to the balloon annotationÕs tail. Balloon annotations accept dragged color and can be resized, reshaped and moved using the mouse. The text in a Balloon annotation can be edited by double-clicking the mouse on it. Other Balloon annotation attributes are controlled using the Balloon Annotation Inspector.

Balloon Annotation Inspector

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Fill Color - The color well sets the fill color for the Balloon, and the switch turns the fill color off and on.

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Shadow Color - The color well sets the shadow color for the Balloon, and the switch turns the shadow color off and on.

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Border - The slider and color well set the line width and color of the box border. The switch turns the balloon border on or off.

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Style - The style matrix is used to choose from which side of the Balloon the tail extends.

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Text Color - The color well sets the color of the text in the Balloon. You can also set the text color by dragging a color to it; multiple colors can be set in the text by dragging colors to the text while editing it.

¥ Dimensions - For more precise and repeatable sizing, the Height and Width text fields specify the size of the main body of a Balloon.


Resizing and Reshaping

Balloons can be resized like other annotations, by grabbing their selection handles. The eight handles around the main body resize the main body of the Balloon, independent of the tail. Text inside the Balloon rewraps as you resize the Balloon. The other two handles, on the tail of the balloon, change the size and position of the tail. The one at the end of the tail changes the position of the end; the one in the middle of the tail slides the whole tail along the side of the main body from which it extends.