point styles

[lambertb]

Looking for comments.

In description keys, we currently have the point styles for all the codes. While many of our codes are random point type survey shots, some are shots as part of a survey figure (ie. water hydrant is a point displayed with a block, water main is a survey figure displayed with a line).

Has anyone made a generic point style for all the "points that are lines" codes? Can I have Survey Figure be the style for all points which are actually survey figures? Or is it best to have the ability to manage the points of a survey figure through multiple styles?

Thanks.

[rl_jackson]

You should only use description keys for points that need a block inserted (i.e. water valve, fire hydrant etc.....). Otherwise you just creating a bunch of codes that control the points with layers when you can simply control them with point groups and having them display or not display based on there hierarchy above/below a No Display point group (style and label = none). With respect to the survey figure. You can control the layer the figure goes on in the style, and even create different styles for your linetypes. For instance I have about five different fence linetypes that all go on a single layer but the figure style (field code) controls what type of line it is.

HTH

[BrianHailey]

I take the opposite approach (somewhat) from the way Rick does it. I like all my points on different layers depending on what they represent (I still use the No Display point group and think it's a great tool). A lot of times, you want the display of the point to be the same as pretty much all the other points (I just want to see X) but I want them to be different colors. Create one point style, call it Basic or ByBlock or something along those lines, set all the properties to ByBlock. That way if the point is on a red layer, the point is red. If it's on a blue layer, it's blue.

The same holds true for my survey figures. I typically create one style with it's display properties all set to ByBlock and use my Figure Prefix Database to put the figure on the correct layer. It's much easier to create a layer (and almost all CAD users understand how layers control display) then it is to create a style for each display purpose.

To be clear here, I'm not saying Rick is doing it wrong, it's just that we have different approaches to achieve the same result. I would recommend trying them both out and seeing which one fits your workflow best.

[lambertb]

I have survey figures set with one style, byblock and multiple layers in the prefix database. We found that when you explode survey figures to cad linework, the figure prefix layer properties controls, not the style properties.

I do like the thought of the byblock point for all the linetype description keys.

Time to experiment. Thanks.

[jefflambert9091]

Hear, Hear! I don't think point groups were ever setup to organize points. I think of them as buckets to sort for information, not the main way to control points. Good for certain circumstances, but I don't think they would have named them "Overrides". 

All line work from the field has a Figure Style setup and the lines go into that layer and setup bylayer. Even our fences go into different layers. V-SITE-FENC-WIRE, V-STIE-FENC-LINK and so on. If there is no home then the default goes into V-TINN-FIGR. We point to the same layer in the the Survey Prefix database. A little more work upfront, but everything stays where you put it. Even when we convert the survey figures to regular line work. (another buzz topic)