Converting a 3D polyline to a 2D polyline

[richard.a.stringer]

Hi. I created a section through a DTM The section is orientated looking right. The polyline is in 3D. When I ID a point along the section, it returns an easting, northing and elevation. I what to convert the polyline to 2D or bring the polyline into a new drawing so I can add text, grid lines, etc. If possible, I would like to maintain either the easting, northing or elevation of each point.

Thanks.

[KevinBlakely]

CONVERT3DPOLYS command will do it but the polyline will be at a single elevation, which I usually change to zero.

[richard.a.stringer]

Thank you for the reply. When I use the command, the line becomes a
straight horizontal line. I want to maintain the section view or profile.
Thank you for your reply.

[Pointdump]

Hi Richard,
"When I use the command, the line becomes a
straight horizontal line. I want to maintain the section view or profile."
I don't understand. Your 3D Polyline is a mostly vertical line (Y) with only slight changes in X. More details please on what you'd like to do.
Dave

[ecfernandez · Accepted solution]

Hi guys! interesting question. @richard.a.stringer, here is a workaround.

 1. Go to the view tab and select "View" which will make your current YZ view become your new XY view.

After that you'll notice that the UCS icon will change from this

to this:

Now you will copy (ctrl+shift+c) your 3d polyline. You can use any point as base point. Open a clean new drawing and paste it using the base point coordinates (in my case I used _pasteblock Specify insertion point: 193041.92,410.321,985920.736 - enclosed in red in the following image)

You can now convert the 3D polyline to 2D using _AeccConvert3dPolys command. Then you can report the points.  

Original (3D polyline)

New file

I hope this helps. Best regards!

[AllenJessup]

It looks like CONVERT3DPOLYS will maintain the the vertices. You drawing starts in a Right view. If you keep that view a 2D polyline will look flat.

[richard.a.stringer]

Hi Dave. I would like to maintain the current view of the section looking
right. I would like to have a profile view of the section. When you look at
the line from the right view, it shows a polyline in the
longitudinal section. Thank you for your help.