Survey Figure to 2D Polyline

[kevinjackman]

When i import survey, my curb returns are drawn for me as Survey Figures with arcs and that's awesome for the 3D model, but I also want 2D linework as well.

So I usually explode the figures into 3D polylines, then convert that to 2D polylines.

The problem is that I do not get ARCS when I explode into 3D polylines.  As 3D polylines can't contain arcs, i get a series of segments in the shape of an arc and those segments seem to have a large mid-ordinate distance, as the curb return looks 'choppy'.

Is there a way to change the default so that i get many more segments so that the 3D polyline looks more like an arc (less choppy)?

C3D 2012

[mathewkol · Accepted solution]

Flatten the figures before you explode them. BTW why do you need 2D linework in addition to the figures; duplication of effort and all?

[dgordon]

because survey figures are much more difficult to work with than a 2d polyline.  selecting several survey figures in a drawing to modify is very time consuming.    There aren't as many options to modify survey figures as there are for 2d polylines.

when they first rolled out survey figures, i thought it would be kewl for my linework to be in 3d upon import so i used the fbk import to bring in linework into several drawings.    Then when i went to add some hatching i found out quickly that survey figures are ignored when it comes to pick boundary hatching.   I was like ok i'll flatten this explode it and break it apart, oh wait it's part of my existing ground breaklines.   not to mention when you select one and pick explode it takes like a minute to finish one survey figure explode.   I now avoid bringing survey figures into the drawing.   I went back to our lisp routine that brings in 2d polygon linework.

[Cadguru42]

I use the 3d survey figures for most of my drawings, but I regularly have to draw on top of a few then flatten so that I can snap, trim, extend, etc. to them.  3d figures are nice for surfaces, but they're horrible to work with when you're trying to say, draw an easement.  If the property lines are from the survey database, they'll be in 3d space, but my easement lines will be at 0 elevation.  I have to either flatten the figures or just draw a new line on top of the figure and flatten that so I don't mess with the figure.

2d linework is still very much necessary and I wish Autodesk would realize that.  If they'd make snapping, trimming, and other basic functions work with survey figures and polylines then this wouldn't be necessary.

[Jeff_M]

If you were to consider a 3rd party solution, SincpacC3D's Extract2d command creates 2d polylines from the Figures, keeping the figures intact, and keeping the curves in the polyline. Can be performed one at a time or can be used on all items on a layer. Can even be used through an Xref to place the new linework into a new drawing.

http://www.quuxsoft.com/SincpacC3D_Help/SP_Extract2d.htm

[dgordon]

has anyone used Syncpac to extract 2d polylines and when you select the option for it to assign layers from entity layers no lines are generated. I get this error on each of the survey figures Unable to convert object: AECC_SVFIGURE and at the end of the process it reports this... Extracted 106 items; copied 0 items; ignored 0 items If I tell it to place all the objects on a certain layer or layer zero it generates lines, but not if I tell it to use the entity layer.

[Jeff_M]

@dgordon, I suggest sending a support request to support@quuxsoft.com and include a drawing file which is exhibiting this behavior. I just tested with one of the tutorial files and it extracted all of the selected figures to the correct layers.

[ceethreedee.com]

I think the OP originall mentioned exploding to a 3d polyline with the mid-ordinate distance been terrbile.

Im curious if its possible to actually explode to a 3d polyline and specify the midordiante distance to increase the segments along the line. I have no problem with it been segmented. I jsut wish I could improve the amount of segments?

thoughts?