Author Topic: ( C3D ) Working with Survey Figures - is it possible?  (Read 1910 times)

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sinc

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( C3D ) Working with Survey Figures - is it possible?
« on: December 04, 2006, 12:48:24 PM »
OK, we've got all our linework coming in from the field and forming Survey Figures in the drawings.  But now, we're discovering that this isn't as useful as we thought it was.

Basically, it seems that Survey Figures are designed to sit there and look just the way they look when they come in.  If we try to actually do anything with or to them, we get problems.

For example, there seems to be no way to turn on Linetype Generation, or the "Fit" or "Spline" options to smooth out jagged linework, or use the Figures to create a Surface Mask, or anything else.

I've tried exploding the Figures, but that breaks all the logical connections to the figure.  If the figure was used to add breaklines to a surface, the breaklines are removed from the surface when the Figure is exploded.  If the Figure is copied, and I explode the copy, the copy is exploded, but the original Figure also disappears, and the breakline is removed from the surface.

I've discovered that I can actually leave the Figure linework in the drawing, and use it for surface breaklines.  But in order to do anything else, I need to create a new drawing, and import the FBK file again.  Then, in the new drawing, I can explode the figures, and turn them into standard polylines.  Then I can block the polylines back into my original drawing.  Not only is this a royal PITA, it means I have two copies of each of these features in my drawing - one that's a Survey Figure and hooked to Survey Data and Breaklines, the other is a plain old dumb polyline that can do things like Linetype Generation, and can be used for things like surface masks.

It seems there has GOT to be an easier way, but maybe not...  It's become obvious so far that Autodesk has concentrated FAR more on the engineering side of C3D than on the Surveying side, so it's possible this is just another hole in the product...
« Last Edit: December 04, 2006, 12:50:08 PM by sinc »