quick profile from a 3d polyline?

[MKH-VB]

yes I know I can do profiles in c3d, but ocassionally I need to just show a quick profile, based on some 3dpoints that my surveyors take. I have in the past drawn a 3dpoly between these points and had  3d part lisp that would profile for me. This program is no longer supported and I was hoping someone might have something similar. It doesn't have to be c3d profile, just line and polyline entities will work. ANy ideas would be  greatly appreciate.

MKH

[Anonymous]

Under profile view pull down, go to "project objects to profile view". I use this all the time for feature lines and not sure if it will work for 3d poly lines. To convert 3d poly to feature line, go to feature line pull down menu and select "create feature lines from objects"

[MKH-VB]

thanks for the reply and the great tip,

but still looking for something i can use in Autocad (not C3D)

MKH

[jwhite]

Maybe this will suit your needs.

https://lispbox.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/quick-profile-creator/

[dbroad]

You would need a program that could, from a selected 3dpoly, extract the Z coordinate and convert the x and y coordinates to stationing (distances from POB for others following the thread), put those in a list and then draw a 2d polyline in X,Y plane, exaggerating the elevation by a selected factor.  I don't have a program but you would need to buy one, commission one, or find a freebie.

[MKH-VB]

yup...thats just what I'm looking for. Anybody know of one to buy?

[murray-clack]

Back-in-the-day before I had Civil 3D, I had to do the same thing, and this is what I used to do manually:

1. Enter the command UCS, enter the Z option, and pick an angle that roughly matches the alignment of the 3D Polyline
2. Enter the command UCS again, enter the X option, and enter a value of 90 (for 90 degrees)
3. Click on the 3D Poly to activate its grips, right-click and select "Copy with a Base Point", and select the first grip (press Esc.)
4. Enter the command UCS again, and enter W option for "World" which will put the UCS back to world orientation
5. Right-click your mouse and select "Paste" from the clipboard, you will now see the "profile" of your 3D poly, and then paste it accordingly.
6. You may need to use the FLATTEN command to turn it into a 2D polyline

Hope this helps

[dbroad]

@murray-clack  Flatten would project the geometry. It only works with 3d geometry.  A profile program, essentially unfolds the geometry.  This can be done manually but must be programmed or offered built-in for competitive production prices.

@MKH-VB  I have one for unfolding a surface but not for profile development.  I teach the manual profile development and Civil3d automated methods, which work very well.  I am pretty sure that hiring me to develop the program would cost more than you want to spend. If you visit, the customization newsgroup, you might find someone to do it for you for free.  Virtual chili donuts don't pay the bills around here though. 🙂

[john.vellek]

Hi @MKH-VB,

It sounds like you once had a routine that did this for you in AutoCAD. Perhaps if you post it in the Customization forum you will find some solutions to make it current and usable.