topic Re: Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression in Civil 3D Forum

Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression

cwr001 — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 14:14:14 GMT

Hey!

Unfortunately I think there isn't a way but I'll give it a shot:

I've used expressions to created spot-elevation labels that give back the slope value of my profile. The label should rotate according to the slope.

My problem is that the rotation must change with vertical exaggeration. If the VE is 2x, the rotation shouldn't be 45° but 63°, if the VE is 10x, the rotation should be 84°.

Unfortunately, Profile View Vertical Exaggeration isn't a value that's selectable in the expression editor. Therefore I have to create 3 different expressions and 3 different label styles. It would be neat if there was a way to get the VE-value dynamically in my expression to make my label change accordingly.

Does anyone know some kind of workaround?

Cheers!

Re: Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression

MMcCall402 — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 15:01:56 GMT

If its a profile, I'm curious as to why you're not using profile line labels.

I don't know of a way to access the vertical exaggeration of a profile view.

An option would be to use a Depth profile view label. This label can align with the two locations chosen in a profile view and return the slope and a slope arrow. The slope takes into account for the vertical exaggeration of the view. The direction of the slope arrow can be controlled with an expression.

Re: Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression

cwr001 — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 15:15:04 GMT

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough: I want to label surface profiles with this method. Since every edge of every triangle of my suface counts as a breakpoint, the labels tend to get overwhelming and are hard to controll. Using this compelling method, I can drop one or two station-elevation labels that are dynamically linked to my profile.
The Depth profile view label-method would work as long as I manually pick points on my profile. If the profile changes, I have to ajust them, which sucks.

Re: Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression

MMcCall402 — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 15:38:58 GMT

I see in the expressions for Profile view Station Elevation labels that there are values available for Profile 1 (& Profile 2). Placing the label never prompts you for a Profile 1 (or Profile 2), but after they're placed the labels have entries available in the property window for specifying those objects. I'm thinking there should be a way to access the instantaneous slope of Profile 1 and return it as an angle to use as a rotation for a text component in the label style.

Re: Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression

cwr001 — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 15:59:13 GMT

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly but what you describe is precisely my problem:
Let's say the slope of a profile is 100% in an 1xVE profile view. The instantaneous slope of Profile 1 returns 100%.

If the profile view is changed to 2xVE, the instantenouse slope of Profile 1 still returns 100% (rightfully so) but the profile in the profile view is drawn with 200%.
The slope/angel always stays the same because it is returned by the object (the slope of the profile) but drawn with vertical exaggeration.

To make sure the "additional" rotation is accounted for when drawn with vertical exaggeration I currently have an expression for each VE, e.g.:

Blockrotation_1VE = ATAN{Instantaneous slope of Profile 1}

Blockrotation _2VE= ATAN{Instantaneous slope of Profile 1} * 2

Blockrotation_10VE = ATAN{Instantaneous slope of Profile 1} * 10

what I'd love to have is:

Blockrotation= ATAN{Instantaneous slope of Profile 1}*{Vertical Exaggeration}

Re: Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression

MMcCall402 — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 16:17:26 GMT

Hmm ... my thought was flawed. Rethinking the issue ...

Re: Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression

jae.kwon — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 16:28:58 GMT

Use a depth label instead. Property you would use is "grade between point 1 and point 2".

It will adjust itself to exaggeration changes.

Re: Get vertical exaggeration of a profile view into an expression

lynn_zhang — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 07:20:43 GMT

Hello @cwr001 ,

Just checking to see if your problem has been solved. Did the response from @jae.kwon help answer your question? If yes, please click on the "Accept as Solution" button in his reply so this helps other users in the community find the solution too. Thanks!