New in Topoplan

The Adding a Group of Points (NG_MESH_VERTEX_ADD_BY_POINTS) command has been supplemented with a new By Point parameter, which allows you to obtain elevation marks from points, geopoints, and blocks while simultaneously adding new nodes to the surface.

The new Combining Surfaces (NG_MESH_JOIN) command combines 2 surfaces into one according to 2 scenarios: additive – saving the edges of both surfaces and exclusive – deleting the edges of the main surface and saving the edges of the secondary surface in the places where they overlap. If the surfaces do not touch, the edges of both surfaces will be preserved.

The Creating Geopoints by Interpolation (NG_CREATE_POINTS_BY_INTERPOLATION) command creates the specified number of new geopoints along a line with the possibility to obtain marks from the surface.

The Delete Point (NG_MESH_VERTEX_DELETE) command now allows you to delete several points at once, indicating them with a frame in the drawing.

The Add Structural Line (NG_MESH_STRUCTURAL_CREATE) command now allows you to add several structural lines at once by selecting the necessary objects in the drawing.

It also became possible to add closed structural lines, including with deleting points inside the contour.

Using the Create TIN by Points (NG_CREATE_TIN) command it is now possible to create a new type of object –TIN Surface.

The NG_MESH_PROJECT_OBJECTS command projects objects – blocks, points, geopoints, texts, Mtexts - on a surface. The elevation (Z coordinate) of the listed objects is changed to the elevation of the surface.

In the dialog box of the NG_IMPORT_POINTS command, it became possible, when importing measurement points into blocks, to select a block that exists in the drawing and set the correspondence of attributes to data from the imported file. The block selected for import is analyzed for attributes. Next, an attribute is selected, which will be filled with data from the point file during import.

In the results table of the geopoints import dialog (NG_IMPORT_POINTS), it is now possible to copy the data of any columns in full.

• Formatting has been improved;
• Symbols for collapsing groups of elements (arrows) have been added.

It concerns the dialogs for import, export, conversion of geopoints, as well as splitting a point cloud into geopoints.

Now, when recalling the KMLIMPORT command (importing KML/KMZ files), the underlay type selected the previous time is stored.

In the NG_CONVERT_POINTS geopoints conversion command now there is a possibility to set the unit precision, which is different from the drawing precision.

The New Topoplan (NEW_PLAN) command creates a new document with a pre-configured nanoCAD_EarthWork_metric.dwt template for the Topoplan module. The template is stored in the Templates folder. The following drawing units are set:

The Coordinates Reprojection (NG_REPROJECTION) command recalculates the coordinates of topographic objects using EPSG codes.

The Simplify Mesh (NG_SIMPLIFY) command reduces the number of surface triangles.

The 3D Slope (NG_3D_SLOPE) command creates a 3D slope on a surface or on objects.

The 3D Polyline Offset (3DPOLYOFFSET) command creates a similar polyline for a 3D polyline, with a specified distance from the original one (similar to the OFFSET command for two-dimensional objects).

The Height Difference (NG_HEIGHT_DIFFERENCE) command creates a new surface as a result of subtracting one surface from another.

The Elevation legend (NG_PAINT_ELEVATION_LEGEND) command displays a legend in the form of a table for the selected mesh in the drawing with coloring by height.

The Fillshapes (FILLSHAPES) command fills the contour with conventional symbols on a rectangular, checkerboard or arbitrary grid.

The new command Create Geopoints Manually (NG_CREATE_POINTS)

When creating, the location of the point in the drawing, description and elevation are specified.

The Creating a Group of Geopoints Manually command (C3D_CREATE_COGO_POINT_GROUP)

The command options are set in the Properties bar.

• Group name;
• Description;
• Marker style (of those existing in the drawing);
• Override Marker Style;
• Label Style (of those existing in the drawing);
• Override Label Style;
• Add with Raw Description prefix. The criterion for adding a point to the group. It allows you to add to the group only points with the specified raw description.

The Create Groups of Geopoints by Original Description (C3D_CREATE_COGO_POINTS_GROUPS_BY_RDESCR) – automatic creation of point group.

The command has no options.
All points with the same raw description are combined into one group. As many groups are created as there are different raw descriptions for geopoints in the drawing. The names of the created groups are the same as the raw descriptions.

Double clicking on the name of a group of geopoints in the Drawing Explorer now starts not the group renaming, but editing its parameters in the Properties bar.

It has become possible to delete groups. It is performed from the Drawing Explorer by the Delete command of the context menu of an unnecessary group of geopoints. You can rename a named group of geopoints by selecting the Rename in the context menu of the named group.

New grips have been added for a geopoint: label rotation and marker rotation. Moving them rotates the label and marker relative to the insertion point. The same parameters can be changed in the Properties bar:

The Create geopoints by points and texts (NG_CREATE_POINTS_BY_TXT) command creates geopoints by points (circles, blocks) and text objects (texts, multiline texts) found at a specified distance from them.

The Export geopoints (NG_EXPORT_POINTS) command allows you to:

• export such objects as geopoints, blocks, simple points to txt, csv, sdr format, with the possibility to create labels in the drawing;
• save the label’s rotation value or other user attributes when exporting to an external file;
• select encoding.

The Convert Points (NG_CONVERT_POINTS) command allows you to convert point objects: points to geopoints and blocks, blocks to points and geopoints, geopoints to points and blocks.

It has become possible to create custom label and marker styles for geopoints from the context menu of the appropriate sections of the Drawing Manager (C3D_CREATE_COGO_MARKER_STYLE, C3D_CREATE_COGO_LABEL_STYLE).

 

 The parameters of the created styles are configured in the Properties bar.

 

Editing properties of label styles is started by double clicking on the required label style in the Drawing Explorer. The parameters are set in the Properties bar.

 Editing properties of marker styles is started by double clicking on the required marker style in the Drawing Explorer. The parameters are set in the Properties bar.

You can set user-defined properties for geopoints. If you have additional data that cannot be distributed over existing standard geopoint properties, you can define your own user-defined properties.
There are four types of user-defined properties available:

• String: allows you to enter text as a value. Is used when you want to enter any alphabetic or numeric characters.
• Integer: allows you to enter only whole numbers without decimals.
• Double: creates a property that allows you to enter numbers with decimal places.
• Boolean: creates a property that allows you to switch Yes/No (“true” or “false”) value.

User-defined properties of geopoints are grouped into user-defined property classifications. A classification can be created, filled with user-defined properties or deleted.
Thus, if you have a survey that contains tree data, you can create the Trees classification. Then create user-defined properties related to this classification in it.

 
For example:

• Name (string),
• Deciduous (boolean),
• Elevation (double).

All user-defined properties of geopoints and their classifications are displayed in the Drawing explorer (Drawing Settings – COGOPoints – User-Defined Property Classification).

You can view and edit the values of user-defined properties of the drawing geopoints in the Properties bar.

You can create a new user-defined property classification by selecting Create in the context menu of the Drawing Settings – COGOPoints – User-Defined Property Classification in the Drawing Explorer. The name of the new classification is entered from the keyboard:

 You can create a new user-defined property by selecting Create in the context menu of any user-defined property classification in the Drawing Explorer.

User-defined properties can also be assigned during the import of geopoints by the Import Geopoints command.
You can delete a classification or a user-defined property by selecting Delete in its own context menu in the Drawing Explorer.

The Import georeferenced rasters (NG_IMPORT_RASTERS) command is intended for batch loading of georeferenced rasters in TIF, ECW formats.
This allows you to quickly form high-quality underlays from large orthophotomaps, previously divided into component parts.

The Search for key lines on surface (NG_KEY_LINES) command searches for key lines (thalwegs, ridges, etc.) across the surface.

The Delete Edge command (NG_MESH_EDGE_DELETE) now has the possibility for group deletion of edges.

New parameters and interface of the Paint mesh by elevation (NG_PAINT_ELEVATION) command now allow to:

• Configure coloring gradient;
• Specify minimum and maximum values;
• Set color outside the specified range;
• Select the gradient type (continuous or discrete);
• Save gradient to file and import gradient from file.

In the Import Geopoints (NG_IMPORT_POINTS) command:

• The Additional options have appeared, where you can specify the accuracy of linear and angular units for import;

• The possibility to select encoding has been added.
• The possibility to specify the projection EPSG code to convert imported points has been added.

The possibility to create new properties for points has been added to the dialog box of the Import geopoints (NG_IMPORT_POINTS) command. When adding a property, a new column appears in the result table:

The imported points will obtain these properties:

The mechanism for matching text file columns to certain data types has been improved. The column heading displays the data type. In case of incorrect initial data typing, it is necessary to drag one column to another by the header. At that, previously the data in these columns used to change mutually.

Now it is not the content of the columns that change, but the headings themselves. The data remain in place.

In addition, now when you hover over the column header and drag it, the cursor changes its appearance.

Points inserted as blocks now take into account the drawing scale. Previously, points in the form of blocks were always inserted with the same scale.

The situation when while launching the Import Geopoints (NG_IMPORT_POINTS) command the dialog did not display a list with the name of existing groups of geopoints (or the ability to create geopoints) has been fixed.

 

Now the name of the block being created after importing block geopoints does not contain the date.

Now, in the geopoints import dialog box, the names of existing blocks are now sorted in order. Previously, when importing geopoints from a TXT file in the form of blocks, the search for the required block took considerable time.

An incorrect behavior after expanding groupboxes has been fixed: even those objects that should have been hidden became visible.

A case sensitivity in the font selection subdialog has been removed.

The situation has been fixed when, while importing several files at once, the creation of entities was repeated as many times as many files was opened.

The incorrect table behavior when importing multiple files has been fixed. With multi-selection of files, changing the beginning of a new line changed the general list, but not the result for each file individually.

Import from KML/KMZ-format (Keyhole Markup Language) has been realized with the possibility to recalculate data from/ to various topographic and geodetic coordinate systems using EPGS codes (KMLIMPORT command).

In the Import KML/KMZ files (KMLIMPORT) command:

• The dialog box, in which the downloaded files are now displayed on the globe, with the possibility to select a map or a satellite image, has been updated.
• Search by number, projection name and display of the selected projection parameters have appeared.
• After importing objects, these objects are zoomed in the drawing.

When changing the topographic scale, a proposal appears to change the scale for geopoints inserted into the drawing and the conventional signs of the classifier (blocks).

In the Create TIN by Points (NG_CREATE_TIN) command:

• It has now become possible to select user attributes for obtaining a mark (Z coordinates) when constructing a surface by geopoints.
• Filtering by the angle between edges when creating a surface has been added.

The possibility to change the anchor point when inserting frames to form layout viewports in the Create View Frames command has been added.
Changing the anchor point of the frame is convenient in case of designing routes, because they can go in any direction. This is also true for tablets, where usually the numbering goes from left to right and from top to bottom. But when you try to insert the second row, it is already inconvenient to use the anchor point from the bottom left.

For cycle change of the anchor point, just press the Spacebar key or select the Anchor point keyword. Anchor point can be set to any vertex of the frame:

In previous versions, the layout frames created by the Create Layouts for Frames command were quadrangular and did not take into account the position of the stamp. Now the frames profile fully corresponds to the boundaries of the viewport of the layout, which is created on their basis by the Create Layouts by Frames command.

This is especially important for the A4 landscape format, where the stamp occupies a significant part of the layout and it is difficult to predict whether the model will fit in the future viewport, or its part will be covered by the stamp.

Now automatic panning is performed after importing data from the LandXML format using the Import from LandXML (NPC_IMPORT_LANDXML) command.

Display of two parameters of the Volume between Models (NG_VOLUMES) command in the Properties bar has been fixed.

A ban on creating custom properties without a name has been introduced.

Such properties as Locked (prohibition of moving, copying, stretching geopoints) and Label Visibility (showing/hiding labels, regardless of the style configured for them) now work in geopoints.

The bug with the appearance of masking when moving a geopoint labe has been fixed.

The possibility to rotate a geopoint label if the label was moved has been added.

Support for smooth contours on Civil 3D surfaces:

When creating the style of labels (C3D_CREATE_COGO_LABEL_STYLE) and markers (C3D_CREATE_COGO_MARKER_STYLE) for geopoints, the bar is now automatically updated.

The ability to split a drawing into prepared sheets for subsequent printing has been implemented. The Creating Frames command allows you to place view frames of future sheets on the drawing. The Creating Layouts by Frames command creates layouts based on frames with the desired design and scale.

Creating Frames (CREATEVIEWFRAME). The command allows you to create frames in the model space for the subsequent formation of designed sheets. Each frame is a viewport of such a sheet.

Each frame carries information about the template, format and scale of the sheet. The design of the future sheet will be taken from the template in accordance with the format.

After the Creating Frames command starts, you can configure the options of future sheet for the frame:

Template – a template file containing a list of available formats with frame design. You can specify a template for formats according to standards or for a topographic tablet.

After selecting a template, specify the sheet size for the inserted frame.

Layout – Allows you to assign a layout format without reassigning the template.

Scale – selection of the topographic scale. By default, the scale of the created sheet is set according to the current TOPOSCALE:

After setting all the parameters, specify the position of the view frame in the drawing. In this case, you can use the nanoCAD precise positioning tools to snap to axial, auxiliary lines, mesh, points, or existing view frames. You can rotate frames and use other standard mechanisms for placing objects in the drawing workspace.

 Creating Layouts by Frames (CREATEVIEWFRAMELAYOUT). The command creates layouts for designing a drawing according to previously created frames. Each frame has its own sheet, with the same design, format and scale that were specified when creating the frame.

The sheet’s frame and stamps are a dynamic block with parameters and attributes that can be edited in the Properties bar or using grips.

It is possible to design in form of GOST and topographic tablets.

For tablets, the Survey plot scheme, or the Sheets combining scheme are created.

 Hide Frames (HIDEVIEWFRAMES). Frame hiding mode. Turns off the display of all created frames in the model space. Repeated execution of the command returns the display of frames.

 Delete Frames (DELETEVIEWFRAMES). Deletes all frames created by the Creating Layouts by Frames command (CREATEVIEWFRAME).

 Mesh Seal Holes (NG_MESH_SEAL_HOLES). If during creating a TIN surface or during its editing, surface discontinuities have formed, the command allows you to fill them with missing faces.

 Add Mesh Edge (NG_MESH_EDGE_ADD). The command allows you to add edges to an existing surface at its boundary. An edge can only be added on a non-convex boundary (inner or outer) so that a new triangular face can be created without disturbing the 2.5D mesh.

 Create Slope (NG_CREATE_SLOPE). The command makes it possible to create various types of conventional signs for slopes, cliffs, retaining walls:

• Unfortified slope;
• Fortified slope;
• Steep coast with a beach;
• Steep coast without a beach;
• Stone retaining walls;
• Wooden retaining walls;
• Ground steep.

Before starting, the command checks the set topographic scale and offers to switch to the 2D-wireframe visual style.

After running the command, set the slope type and characteristics in the Properties bar. The options vary depending on the type of slope and how its edge is specified.

Next, indicate the location of the slope in the drawing. Slope edges can be drawn manually or created from existing drawing lines, depending on the value of the Specify slope edges option. The top and bottom of slope can be closed lines.

You can create a slope from one top point (hill). To do this, instead of specifying points for the slope top, select the Peak option from the context menu or command line.

In the drawing, the slope is selected as a single set of objects, parts of which can be moved.

 Move point (NG_MESH_VERTEX_MOVE_XY is renamed to NG_MESH_VERTEX_MOVE).
The command now has the ability to choose when moving a point whether snap to drawing objects or take the height of the mark from the surface;

 Add point (NG_MESH_VERTEX_ADD)
The command can now take elevation either from a drawing object or from a surface.
When adding surface points, the position of contour lines is now updated, if any have been drawn.

 Delete point (NG_MESH_VERTEX_DELETE).
Deleting surface points now updates the position of the contour lines if they were drawn.

 Import elevation grid (NG_IMPORT_ELEVATIONGRID). The GRD (Surfer 7 Grid File Format) binary format has been added to the list of supported formats.

 Add structure line (NG_MESH_STRUCTURAL_CREATE). The ability to build retaining walls has been added to the command.

 Export to LandXML (NG_EXPORT_LANDXML).

It became possible to export geopoints to the LandXML format. When exporting, the belonging of points to a group is saved. Export of geopoints and surfaces is disabled and enabled in the command parameters in the Properties bar.

 Import Geopoints (NG_IMPORT_POINTS). The command for importing geodetic measurements from external text files has been significantly improved.

Now you can open multiple files for import at the same time.

New formats became available for import: CSV, SDR (Sokkia).

You can choose the type of imported objects: blocks \ geopoints \ primitives.

When importing survey files, it is possible to create blocks with the signature of number, mark, code (if available). The scale of blocks depends on the value of the current topographic scale.

If an existing block is selected when creating a point, then a new block with attributes is created, where the point sign is the block that the user has selected. If a new non-existent block is selected, then after the dialog settings, the block editor opens to edit the point sign (circle by default).

You can set layers for each element.

The result table has received additional features:

• Changing the order of points, changing the order of columns. In case of incorrect initial data typing, you can drag one column to another by the header, mutually changing data in these columns;

• If the corresponding box is checked, it is possible to create a polyline using filtered points;

• Data filtering by any column is available;

• It is possible to edit point data (name, coordinates, code);
  

• If the import is to geopoints, it is possible to create a new group.

• Multiple editing of cells is available using the SHIFT and CTRL keys. All selected cells are edited simultaneously. For example, you can clear a column if the data is not needed.

Saving of user settings (separators, colors, layers, fonts, etc.) to a file has been implemented.

Now the commands for surface editing and working with relief can be launched sequentially, without the need to complete the previous one.

The drawing explorer now displays groups of coordinate geometry points (geopoints), as well as sets of point marker styles and point label styles.

Styles of labels and markers of coordinate geometry are edited by selecting the desired style in the drawing explorer and then calling the command from the context menu. The properties of the selected style are displayed and changed in the Properties bar.

It became possible to bind to geopoints in the Node mode.

Now a geopoint can be moved with transformation commands: MOVE, ROTATE, ALIGN, etc.

Commands to work with the measurement archive have appeared.

The work with measurements can be divided into 2 stages: collection of a measurement files archive and formation of a project underlays collection from this archive.
An archive of measurement files contains raw or preprocessed data, while a set of prepared underlays should be groups of geopoints ready for use in projects.

Filling the archive of measurement files
Measurement files are stored in the Geofiles folder. The path to the folder is defined in the Standard directories section of the Options dialog.
To add a file to the archive, the Add measurements command is used, with the help of which the required file on the disk is specified, if necessary, a new name is given to it, after which it is copied to the measurement archive.
If you need not only to save a raw file, but to carry out a full import at this stage, so as not to return to setting parameters later, then you should use the Save to measurement archive command. You need to configure the parameters in it, after which the result in the form of a DWG file is placed in the archive.
The measurement archive is displayed in the file explorer in Geofiles folder. By expanding it, you can view all archive measurement files.


Creating selections and forming a set of underlays
To work with points, it is necessary to form selections from the measurement archive.
Selections are formed by special commands in the form of separate DWG files, which are subsequently placed as external references in working drawings. Thus, the same selection (underlay) can be inserted into several different working DWG files.


To form a selection:

1. Create a new underlay with the Attach geounderlay command.
2. Import the required measurements into it from the archive using the  Import measurements command.
3. Configure groups of points, forming them, if necessary, and setting their parameters (styles). Enable/disable the visibility of the desired groups.
4. Save the drawing to the collection of underlays as a separate named entity using the  Save as geounderlay command.

The underlay collection is a separate Geofiles folder. The path to the folder is defined in the Standard directories section of the Options dialog.
It is also visible in the File Explorer as the Geofiles folder. By expanding it, you can view all the underlay files.

A new Conventional signs functional bar appeared. It is used to insert conventional signs into a drawing (for drawing topoplans of scales 1:500, 1:1000, 1:2000, 1:5000).
Before drawing conventional signs, select one of the topographic scales: 1:500, 1:1000, 1:2000 or 1:5000, in accordance with the required scale of the finished drawing.

The bar elements are structured by thematic sections and in alphabetical order.

The capabilities of the Conventional signs bar are not limited to inserting signs from an existing classifier. It is also possible to create your own signs or connect third-party libraries. To do this, use the buttons at the top of the bar.

 Create element. Creating a new element of the library.

 Create section. Creating a folder for thematic ordering of library items.

 Create library. Prompts for a name in the command line and creates a new empty library with two ordering options: thematic and alphabetical.

 Attach/detach library. Opens a dialog box that allows you to enable/disable the display of existing libraries in the Conventional signs bar. The source library cannot be disabled.

It is also possible to create new thematic sections, edit the composition of elements included in them, as well as delete any sign or section from the library.