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I'm having serious reservations about purchasing TBC for field to finish line code processing.  I cannot seem to make heads nor tails out of how the line processing works.

I have asked this question previously on other forums.  How do you create acutal curves in TBC with line codes?  From what I can see, you can create curves during line processing as long as the elevations of the points are all the same.  If the elevations of the points used in the curve are different (as they would be in the real world) TBC generates short line segments to approximate the curve.

I also need a way to process all the linework in TBC and have this linework all be at 0 elevation.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks,

Todd

Todd,

You can create 3D curves using codes in TBC.  You first need to set up a Feature Code Library or use one that Trimble has already made.  This is where you would tell the software what codes you want to use and what codes you want to use as control codes that have special functions like creating curves or closing a rectangle.

Once you have your linework you can export it to a 2D line drawing or you can make all your points at elevation 0 and process them that way.

Here are some screen shots of how curve codes would look and how to export the lines in 2D.

Codes:

EP (Edge of Pavement)

PC (Stat Tangent Curve)

PCNT (Start Non-tangent Curve)

PT (End Curve)

Hope this helps!

This is exactly what I was looking for.  Only problem is it does not work for me. 

I have the settings as you are showing above in TBC.  Line control codes are STC - Start Tangent Curve and ETC - End Tangent Curve.  The elevation of the line segments are 0, but this is not a curve.  How do I make TBC create a curve?  I have also tried the Non Tangent Curve codes, but they also generate line segments not curves.  This screen shot is from AutoCAD C3D after I have exported the lines from TBC.

Todd,

I see what you mean, when you export to CAD it does create multiple small segments around most types of curves.  It looks like Civil 3D does the same thing.  I don't think CAD can handle a 3D polyline with curves.  I know it can handle a feature line with curves but when you explode it into a 3D polyline Civil 3D also creates multiple small segments.  Same thing happens if you try to convert a 2D polyline with curves into a 3D polyline.   

It is absolutely unbelievable to me that TBC can not create a 2D arc.  This has to be a software problem.  There has to be other people out there that need real arcs in their CAD drawings and not line segments. 

Since you already have and use Civil3D, you could just use that to create your linework (Figures) using the line coding commands in it.  I use TBC mainly for data management and point clouds, but C3D for base mapping and auto linework.

I do not use figures in C3D because it is so cumbersome to get 2d and 3d

lines out of it. If you have a streamlined process and would like to share

it, that would be great.

On Fri, Feb 7, 2020, 8:50 AM robert.hoy@arcadis.com <trimble@jiveon.com>

Why do you need 2 or 3D lines out of its figures? I leave as figures and have never had an issue with internal design folks.

All the design people that we deal with request that all the line work have a zero elevation.  The only line work that has an elevation are the breaklines.

TBC can create an arc and it will export that type of curve out to CAD properly but it segments all other type of curves like best fit curves or smooth curves.  So you would have to do some testing and set up your feature library to use those types of curves while avoiding smooth curves or non tagent curves.

I am in the process of testing this issue right now.  The only way that I can get TBC to process an arc is by creating a separate .csv import format that skips the elevation field.  Once this is done then TBC will create the arc.  It's time consuming to then go back and import the same .csv file again with a format including the elevation and reprocess the line work to get 3D lines that I will use for breaklines in C3D.

TBC has an option to "Export linework as 2D polylines", but when this is set to "Yes" it still creates short line segments.