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We have added two new commands, one each in GeoTools and CADPower. In many ways, these two are related to each other but the purpose for which they might be put into use warranted that they go into two different products.
This blog post explains them in detail.
First, the CP_POLYGETZ command which goes into CADPower.
The CP_POLYGETZ command in CADPower is located under the CADPower -> Polyline Tools, under the sub-heading Others.
It can be used to perform elevation transfer operations from one polyline [target] to another [source] based on specific criteria.
When you start this command, you are asked to select a source and target polyline. Once this is done, you get a dialog box as shown:
In the above example, I have chosen the highlighted [dotted] polyline as the source and the one above it as the target polyline. The CP_POLYGETZ command allows to transfer elevations from the target to the source. There are two ways in which this is possible:
Create a vertex on source polyline nearest to each vertex on target polyline:
In this method, for each vertex of the target polyline, a 3D point nearest to it on the source polyline is determined. The source polyline is then replaced with a new polyine created using all such points which are essentially the nearest points (on the source polyline) of vertices of the target polyline. Therefore, this method results in the source polyline having exactly the same number of points as the target polyline but in the XY region of the nearest point on source polyline and the elevations belonging to the nearest target polyline vertex.
Populate existing source polyline vertex elevations from nearest point on target polyline:
In this method, each vertex elevation of the source polyline is replaced with the elevation of a point on the target polyline which happens to be the nearest point to it [the source polyline vertex]. In other words, this will result in the number of vertices of the source polyline to be the same but its elevation can change based on the target polyline elevations.
The second command we introduced is the GT_POLYINSVX command, which goes into GeoTools.
The GT_POLYINSVX command in GeoTools is located under the GeoTools -> Polyline Tools, under the sub-heading Process. This is a handy tool with various types of transfer operations possible between polylines and point features. For example, if you want to transfer point feature elevations to nearby locations on polyline (grabbing vicinity point data, including snapping them to polylines and the like), this is the tool to use.
Upon starting GT_POLYINSVX, you get this dialog box (see below):
In this command, you choose a 3D polyline and a selection of point features (CAD POINT objects or blocks). Some of the options available in this tool:
- to move the point features to snap to nearest physical location of polyline
- for the polyline to acquire the elevations from the point features (and new vertices get created)
- populate polyline vertices with elevations from nearby point features, allowing either 'move & snap' or 'inherit elevation only' operations.
Where can you put these commands to use?
This post attempts to explain the various tasks that can be achieved by this command. You will need to try, test and understand the options before you can apply this to your exact editing requirements.
These two commands have been explicitly requested by the CAD guys at Optus Telecom, Australia and their network of survey sub-contractors, who have been one of the power users of GeoTools and CADPower, both under the AutoCAD and Bricscad platforms.
In a typical surveying situation, you have surveyed locations of one asset class and another set of feature locations nearby and you need to move/snap either to the other based on rules. These two commands is an attempt to put down those rules into a generic command format.
In mechanical engineering (CNC programming etc), point-cloud data processing situations and similar CAD operations also, you may encounter situations where these kinds of editing operations find use.
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