Many of you saw Carlson’s new Supervisor+ GPS tablet at our workshops last November and December but it’s just now being officially rolled out…
Come by our booth at the NC and SC Surveyor’s Conventions in the next couple weeks and give it a test drive.
I didn’t until this weekend.
While working on a new Picks and Clicks article for Professional Surveyor magazine I stumbled on something incredibly handy. This setting keeps text that’s inserted into a linetype in an Upright position rather than allowing it to be upside-down.
Notice the polyline in the picture below. The top segment (drawn from left to right) has the text upright but the bottom segment (drawn from right to left) shows the text upside-down.
The reason this happens is because of the definition of the “GAS_LINE” linetype in the acad.lin file.
The R=0.0 parameter formats the linetype text so that it aligns with the line segment. Therefore, whether text is upright or upside-down depends on the direction the line is drawn. However, if you simply change the R=0.0 to U=0.0, the polyline displays like this:
Notice the text is now upright in both segments. Using the U in the linetype definition sets the “Upright” flag. Setting it to 0.0 keeps it Upright relative to the line. I played around with it a bit and, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to help much when rotating with DVIEW or UCS. But, when you’re working in world coordinates, this is a great tool.
To my knowledge this is a recently added enhancement to AutoCAD – but I thought it was cool enough to put up here!
My next column in Professional Surveyor will be… Surprise! Standardizing Linetypes! I’ll post a link here when it’s posted on their site. Follow this link to see if you are eligible for a free subscription to the print magazine: Subscribe to Professional Surveyor magazine.
Last fall I was interviewed by Penelope Grenoble for an article in an upcoming issue of Grading and Excavation Contractor magazine. The article has been published in the January-February 2012 issue and can be found online here: Lean and Mean: Training in Tight Times
For those who are interested, it looks like they also offer a free subscription to their print magazine to qualified readers.
This article originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Professional Surveyor magazine.
After we published “Understanding Field to Finish” in the September issue, I received more feedback and questions than I had for any other article to date. Although my plan for this month’s column had been “CAD Standards Part 2” (Part 1 is in the June issue), it makes more sense to answer some of the questions that were sent my way about Field to Finish first.
(I am using Carlson Survey for the examples in this article, but corresponding features and commands should be available as part of the Field to Finish feature of most other programs.)
The majority of readers’ questions revolve around how to code field descriptions and generate linework for multiple point codes. You use multiple point codes when you have a single field shot that defines more than one feature—for instance, a shot that locates both an edge of pavement and a sidewalk. However, before diving too quickly into multiple point codes, let’s make sure we have a good understanding of the different ways that you can use descriptions and linework codes to generate linework.
In Figure 1, the dotted lines represent the actual edges of pavement that exist in the field. Points 1-10 have a description “EP” designating them as Edge of Pavement.
When locating features that are generally symmetrical and that have two “sides,” such as a road, a sidewalk, or even a ditch having two tops of bank, we have a choice in how best to collect the points. Depending on field (and traffic) conditions, it may make more sense to take all the shots along one side of the road before crossing the road and taking all the shots along the opposite side.
The other way to collect shots is in what we call Zorro fashion: where we crisscross the street, taking shots on both sides, as we progress down the road. You can see that we used the Zorro style when taking shots in Figure 1. Point 1 is on the northwest side of the road, and shots 2 and 3 are on the southeast side. We then crossed back over to the northwest side to pick up 4 and 5, and so on.
To draw the linework for the edges of pavement, you must create a field code for the EP description. You can see from Figure 2 that it requires only a couple of specific settings to indicate that this is a 2D polyline type of entity and on what layer the polyline is to be created.
With the EP field code defined, using Field to Finish to draw points 1-10 generates the linework on layer “EP” (shown in red in Figure 3). Obviously this is not quite what we expected. I like to say that this is an example of the software doing exactly what we told it to do … rather than what we meant to tell it to do. So, we need to make a couple of adjustments.
The software understands only that it’s expected to connect all of the EP points with a 2D polyline. Carlson Survey allows you to choose whether the field code points are connected in “Sequential” order or “By Nearest Found.” The default setting is “Sequential,” which is why it connected the points the way it did. Unless we provide a little more information, there is no way for it to differentiate one edge of our pavement from another. If we make a minor change in the descriptions we use, we can have the program generate the linework correctly.
Rather than calling all edge of pavement points EP, we can use a number to modify the description so that we can tell the two polylines apart. We can use “EP1” for the northwest side and “EP2” for the southeast side. Now, when we redraw the points using Field to Finish, we end up with Figure 4, which is exactly what we wanted.
It is important to note that the field code does not change even though we’re now using EP1 and EP2 instead of EP. The field code is still “EP.”
Let’s introduce just a little more complexity. Beyond points 1-10, we have an extension of this road with two additional edges of pavement that are shown as dotted lines in Figure 5. We do not want to continue the linework from points 9 and 10 but to start new polylines instead.
If we use descriptions EP1 and EP2 for the new edges of pavement, Field to Finish will assume we are continuing the other edges of pavement. So we must, again, have a way to differentiate the new edges of pavement from the ones drawn previously.
Using the same method as in the prior example, we can use descriptions “EP3” and “EP4” for the new edges of pavement. As you can see in Figure 6, this leaves us with the four separate polylines that we wanted.
The only drawback here is that the numbering of each distinct edge of pavement could get confusing on a large site. In this example, once they’ve been used, EP1 or EP2 can’t be used again without Field to Finish thinking all the EP1 points are part of the same polyline.
The good news is that it only requires another small coding difference to allow you to re-use EP1 or EP2 again. In Figure 7, we still use the EP1 and EP2 descriptions, but we use them in combination with special linework codes “+7” and “-7.” In Carlson lingo, “+7” is the default code to “Start a new polyline” and “-7” is the code to “End the polyline.” You can see that once we have descriptions “EP1 -7” and “EP2 -7” at points 9 and 10, we start new polylines by reusing EP1 and EP2 at points 11 and 12. As long as you’re diligent about using the “-7” special linework code to end the previously drawn polyline, you can reuse the descriptions.
Multiple Point Codes
You use multiple point codes when you have two site features (such as the edge of pavement and a sidewalk) that intersect. As you can see in Figure 8 there are two points where a sidewalk meets the edge of pavement. In Figure 9, you can see the descriptions we used so we could have Field to Finish process points 5 and 6 as part of both the EP and SW linework entities.
Point 5’s description “EP1 SW1 +7” means that this shot is a vertex along the current EP1 polyline and also starts a new polyline named SW1 to define the edge of the sidewalk. Point 6’s description “EP1 SW2 +7” means that this shot is also a vertex along the current EP1 polyline and starts another new polyline named SW2 for the other side of the sidewalk.
To have Carlson’s Field to Finish process these points as shown, we had to create only one additional field code: the “SW” code for sidewalk. We set the Entity Type to 2D Polyline and set the Main Layer to “SW” (Figure 10).
Now, let’s take a closer look at the descriptions for points 5 and 6 (Figure 11). In Carlson Survey, if you use a space between two descriptions, the program allows you to process them separately using the two corresponding field codes. The corresponding field codes used to process these descriptions are EP and SW so Carlson will process the same point twice, first using the EP field code and then again using the SW field code.
Because having a space in a point description is an indicator to Carlson that multiple field codes may need to be processed, it is a best practice to avoid using spaces in your descriptions. Using a description such as 24” RCP PIPE can create several problems, but the main one is that Carlson will think it is supposed to process three separate field codes: one for 24”, one for RCP and one for PIPE. A better description would be PIPE/24” RCP. In this example, a field code named PIPE would be processed. And, because a forward-slash (/) separates PIPE from 24” RCP, Carlson considers everything after the slash as a comment and will ignore it when processing Field to Finish.
If you follow the maze of dialog boxes in Figure 12, there are several settings to take note of:
If you select “All,” any point description that contains a space will be processed as a multiple point code. If you select “None,” all spaces will be ignored when it comes to processing multiple point codes. If you select “Prompt,” you will be prompted with the dialog box from Figure 13 each time a space is encountered in a point description.In the Special Codes dialog box, you can see the default settings and are able to customize the Special Codes used to process descriptions, points, and linework in Field to Finish.
With that, I hope I’ve been able to answer a few more of your Field to Finish questions. Please don’t hesitate to call or email as needed. I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season, and I’ll see you back here in 2012!
This article originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Professional Surveyor magazine.
You can download the most recent updates to Carlson’s 2012 desktop software HERE
As they do at the end of each year, Carlson has announced some “End of Year Pricing Specials” for their software. The best office software deal this year is for Carlson Civil Suite 2012 including one year maintenance.
I am discounting my prices further so I am prohibited from advertising my pricing for Civil Suite at all. Please call me at 919.417.8351 for a quote or email me for a coupon code that can be used in our online store.
Carlson is also discounting the Surveyor+ RTK GPS System. If you purchase through me by 4:00pm ET on December 31, 2011, my price on the system is $10,995 and includes full SurvCE Complete for Total Station, Robotics, GPS and Advanced Roading. If you have questions please call me at 919.417.8351 or Jeremy Taylor at 919.337.7998. We do have financing options available.
I also have one copy of Carlson Takeoff available at a significant discount – first come, first served! Again, you’ll have to call me to find out the price or email me for a coupon code that can be used in our online store.
Our September 2011 Newsletter can be downloaded HERE
This blog is in the process of being transferred to www.ThatCADGirl.com. Please join us there.
Carlson Software released the 2012 version of their desktop software products today. A complete list of Improvements in 2012 can be found here. The newest version can be downloaded here. Current customers who are eligible for automatic upgrade to 2012 can automatically generate your new 2012 serial number by following this link and providing your current 2011 serial number.
Products released today include Civil Suite, Survey, Civil, Hydrology, GIS, Point Cloud, Construction and Takeoff among others. Only the products for installation with IntelliCAD or on top of your AutoCAD have been released at this time. The versions of Survey and Takeoff with embedded AutoCAD will be released in the next several weeks.
After so many years keeping their prices the same, you will notice that Carlson has slightly increased the prices of Civil Suite, Survey, Civil, Hydrology & GIS. In my opinion and even with the price increase, Carlson continues to offer the most bang for the buck when compared to other civil/survey/construction packages on the market today.
To find out about purchasing or upgrading, you can visit our new Online Store or our Carlson Pricing & Upgrades page. Or, feel free to call 919.417.8351 or Email Us with questions.
Or maybe I should say, “We’re now on Facebook… again”! Kudos to those few people who stumbled onto the Facebook account I played around with and forgot to delete months ago, but a new That CAD Girl Facebook page has now been launched.
I plan to use Facebook as the primary method of keeping everyone up to date on the latest events & training classes and news about Carlson and Autodesk software releases. Hope to see you there!