|
 The Miscellaneous Tools menu consists of a
number of tools that provide various shortcuts to perform AutoCAD editing
tasks of varied nature.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools 
Miscellaneous Tools
Scan selected image files and build image boundary list
Command
line : GT_IMAGESCAN
GT_IMAGESCAN will scan multiple image files and their corresponding world files and build an in-memory list of image, position and extents information.
 Select
image to search...: Clicking on this button pops up the select image
dialog box for choosing the .tif image file
(Note: you can select multiple files by pressing shift key) Remove
All : Checking this box removes all the image files selected Draw
image extents :
Clicking on this button draws a rectangle on AutoCAD
screen with the lower left and upper right corner of the image.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Insert geo-referenced image corresponding to selected AOI
Command
line : GT_IMAGESEARCH
GT_IMAGESEARCH asks the user to specify an area of interest (rectangular boundary) and will search the scanned images and attach the image corresponding to the specified AOI.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Import (read) ARC ASCII DEM files
Command
line : GT_READDEM The
GT_READDEM command is used to read ARC ASCII DEM files. The command has the following
syntax and command sequence:
Enter DEM ASCII file name to read:(~ for list) <>:
Enter filename path or type ? for dialog box
Total number of rows : 1245
Total number of columns : 2929
Enter starting row <1>: press
ENTER or a new row number here
Enter ending row <1245>: press
ENTER or a new row number here
Reading DEM data can be extremely time consuming depending on the file
size. The specification of start row and end row enables only a portion
of the DEM to be read into the drawing. This helps to split up the
drawing creation process such that multiple computers can be employed to
speed up the job. For instance, a HUGE DEM dataset having 1500 rows of
DEM data can be set up on three computers and merged later. Each
computer will process, 1-499, 500-999 and 1000-1499 rows only and the
job can be finished three times faster than employing one computer
alone.
See
Also: GT_WRITEDEM
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous
Tools
Export (write) ARC ASCII DEM files
Command
line : GT_WRITEDEM The
GT_WriteDEM command is used to create ARC ASCII DEM files from AutoCAD
data. Although you can create ARC ASCII DEM files from any set of 3d
polyline data which have the required resolution (distance between
vertices) in X direction, spacing in Y direction and snapped to the
correct location, this command has been specifically designed for working
with AutoCAD Land Development desktop. The description that follows shows
how AutoCAD Land Development desktop can be used to create the necessary
data which can then be used by the GT_WriteDEM command to create ARC ASCII
DEM files. Once you understand the final format of the polylines created,
you can then use any method you desire to create such polylines and GT_WriteDEM can work directly on them to create DEM files.
1. From the LDDT Terrain menu, Select Terrain
Explorer and choose the terrain that you want to use for your DEM
and make it current.
2. Set the snap value equal to the
resolution of your DEM. For example, if you want a 100-feet DEM, set the
snap value to 100 feet. This is to ensure that the grid corners fall on a
multiple of this value.
3. Now mark the lower left and upper
right corners of your desired DEM area with two POINT objects. These points
also must lie on a snap point which was set earlier in (2) above.
4. From the Terrain menu, Select Terrain
Display, go to the sub-menu and choose Grid of 3d Polylines.
Answer the command-line prompts about the terrain parameters. Un-check the
"Draw in M (x) direction" as we only need the horizontal lines
which go by default into the 3D-SCTM direction. The selected
options in the box must look like this as shown below:
4. Select Ok. This will take some time
depending on the size of your DTM and the resolution selected. Finally,
you will get a set of horizontal lines in the 3D-SCTM layer as shown
below.
6. Freeze all other layers other that the
3D-SCTM layer and the two POINT objects that you just created to mark
the DEM limits. This is
important because the program will work on all visible objects on screen
and may snap to wrong elevations if other layers are left turned on. If
the drawing is big, it is recommended that you create a separate drawing
out of the 3D-SCTM layer and the two corner marker points using the
WBLOCK command and work on this drawing. This may improve the
performance.
7. Now, you can start the GT_WriteDEM
command to create the DEM files.
Command:
Command: GT_WriteDEM
Enter source coordinate system identification string <CAHP-VIF>:
Enter a CS
string here or ENTER
Source CS set successfully to CAHP-VIF
Enter destination coordinate system identification string <LL-HPGN>:
Enter a CS
string here or ENTER
Destination CS set successfully to LL-HPGN
This example accepts
the default source coordinate systems of CAHP-VIF (HPGN California
State Planes - Zone VI, US Foot ) and destination coordinate system of
LL-HPGN ( Lat-Longs on HPGN datum). The destination coordinate system
is used as the coordinate system in WCS. We have done most of our work
in WCS using a geographic coordinate system. Geographic coordinate
systems work best in WCS. We faced numerous problems with other
coordinate systems like UTM etc but we must also admit that these
problems may have been fixed in newer versions of WCS. You can specify
any coordinate system you need by specifying the correct coordinate
system code in response to the above two questions. If you need the
ARC ASCII file in the same system as in AutoCAD, enter the same
coordinate system for destination also.
Enter resolution of DEM <5.0>:100.0
Enter the
resolution of the DEM here. For accurate results, the resolution value
entered here must be the same as the DEM resolution you specified in
the grid above (Grid M Size).
Enter nodata value <-9999>: press
ENTER here
Enter the nodata
value here. It is the usual practice to leave this default value of
-9999 untouched.
Enter DEM ASCII file name:(~ for list) <D:\Projects\GolfCourse\dwg\100ft_poly.txt>: Press ENTER
or ? to select a different file
This is the
name of the output ARC ASCII file. If you wish to browse to a new
folder, type ? to bring up the file-folder selection dialog box.
Enter rubber-sheeting script file name(~ for list) <D:\Projects\GolfCourse\dwg\100ft_poly.scr>:
Press ENTER or ? to select a different file
This is the name of
the rubber-sheeting script file. If you wish to browse to a new
folder, type ? to bring up the file-folder selection dialog box. The
rubber-sheeting script file is generated to help you rubber sheet and
transform other features in your map. The other features may
represent roads, rivers, railway, construction limits,
topography features, lots boundaries, environmental zones etc. Using
the script file generated during this process, these other features
can also be transformed from the source coordinate system to the
destination coordinate system. The resulting transformed objects can
then be imported into WCS as DXF files. By doing so, you will be
guaranteed that the ARC ASCII DEM file and the DXF file of other
features will super-impose correctly in WCS.
Note: While creating DXF files for WCS, please ensure that the
entities in the DXF be limited to AutoCAD POINT, LINE or POLYLINE
objects and that the DXF file is AutoCAD Release 12 compatible. If you
create a AutoCAD 2000 compatible DXF file, it will not import into
WCS.
Enter minimum elevation <0.0>:250.0
Enter maximum elevation <0.0>:800.0
Before creating
your DEM file, it would be better to know the maximum and minimum
elevation in your project area. This can be easily found out in the
LDDT Terrain Modeler by clicking on the surface name. Enter a minimum
and maximum elevation values here so that the WriteDEM program can
safely label all elevation values that are outside these values with
the nodata value. For example, knowing the valid limits of the
elevation can help mark an erroneously generated elevation value with
a nodata thus eliminating any spike data that would have
occurred because of an illegal elevation.
Pick lower left corner: nod
of
Pick upper right corner: nod of
When prompted to
pick the lower left and upper right corners, pick the two POINT
objects using the NODe object snap so that the snapping is correct.
Do you want to include the header info in the output file? [ Yes/No ] <Yes>:
type Yes or No
Answer this question with a Yes
or No depending on whether you need the header or not. You may
wonder why the header could not be required. While working with huge
data sets, the GT_WriteDEM program allows the data to be split up
into smaller areas such that each can be processed separately on
different computers and merged later to speed up the process. In such
a case, the header needs to be created only on the first area being
processed. For example, if you have a huge area to process and this
requires splitting up of the data, then the header will be required
only on the first data file. As an illustration, if you wish to create
a 5-feet DEM data of a project area that is 6400 ft wide and 9200 ft
high, this would mean 1841 rows and 1281 columns of DEM information.
This would probably take a few hours to process depending on your
processor speed. It would, therefore, be beneficial here to split up
the data such that Rows 1 to 500 could be processed on one computer,
501 to 999 on another and probably 1000 to 1841 on the third. It is
easy to setup such a distributed system for faster processing.
Total number of rows : 93
Total number of columns : 65
The two lines above state
the number of rows and columns in the entire project area.
Enter starting row <1>: press
ENTER or a new row number here
Enter ending row <93>: press
ENTER or a new row number here
Enter the starting
row and ending row. By default, this covers the entire project area
but, as discussed above, you may want to split up the areas if the
data is too large.
Do you want to export the selection as a WBLOCKed drawing? [ Yes/No ]
<No>: Type
Yes or No
Type Yes if you
wish to WBLOCK the selected rows into a new drawing. The two project
limits control points are also included in the WBLOCKed drawing file.
This will only result in the new drawing file to be created and no DEM
files will be created. The purpose of creating separate drawing files
is to further reduce the time taken to process each drawing.
Type No if you wish to go ahead and create the output DEM file.
9. At the end of this command, you should
have the Arc ASCII DEM file in your output folder that you specified
above.
10. Conversely, you can read back the ARC
ASCII DEM data into AutoCAD as points using the GT_ReadDEM command.
This command is also defined by the ReadWriteDEM.VLX / ARX applications.
The Arc ASCII DEM file
format:
The Arc ASCII DEM file format is a
regular grid of DEM elevation values. The cellsize viz the DEM
resolution or the x and y spacing must be the same for this format. It
does not support unequal x-y grid spacing.
A sample Arc ASCII file is shown below:
1. ncols 39
2. nrows 32
3. xllcorner -117.16547162
4. yllcorner 33.06499970
5. cellsize 0.00032643
6. NODATA_value -9999
7. 117.05 399.39 386.25....................
8. 412.87 400.14 393.90....................
9. <..................................................>
10. <.................................................>
11. <.................................................>
Line 1: "ncols 39"
indicates that the DEM contains 39 columns of elevation data.
Line 2: "nrows 32" indicates that the DEM
contains 32 rows of elevation data.
Line 3: "xllcorner -117.16547162" indicates the position of
the easting of the lower left corner of the DEM area. This value is the
longitude if geographic coordinates are used or Eastings if
non-geographic coordinates are used.
Line 4: "yllcorner 33.06499970" indicates the position of
the northing of the lower left corner of the DEM area. This value is the
latitude if geographic coordinates are used or Northings if
non-geographic coordinates are used.
Line 5: cellsize 0.00032643 (in decimal degrees if geographical
co-ordinates are used or in meters or feet for other other co-ordinate
systems)
Line 6: NODATA_value -9999
Line 7: <.......> row-wise elevation values starting from top left
corner going downwards.
Line 8: <.......>
Line 9: <.......>
See Also: GT_READDEM
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous
Tools
Import (read) a MINEX coal reserves data file
Command
line : GT_MINEX2DWG
The GT_MINEX2DWG command allows to import coal bed reserves data from MINEX, the popular
stratified mining program from GemCom software.
MINEX data filename... -> Clicking on this button pops up the
dialog box to select the .asc file for importing into AutoCAD.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous
Tools
Insert GEO-Referenced images
Command
line : GT_GEO_INS
The GT_GEO_INS command can be used to insert
geo-referenced image files. These image files can be either in the TIF,
BMP or JPG format and they MUST be accompanied by their world files as
well. The World files have an extension of TFW, BPW or JGW respectively.
This command DOES NOT import GeoTIFF files in which the geo-referencing
information is stored in the file header. Instead, this is a command
designed to work with the normal TIF, JPG and BMP files only which have
their world files also available in the same folder.
Upon starting this command, GT_GEO_INS displays a multiple file
selection dialog box which allows multiple image files from the same
folder to be selected. All the selected image files will be attached
with geo-referencing.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Chop objects into equal
linear divisions or segments
Command
line : GT_CHOP
The CHOP command chops lines and polylines into a specified number of divisions or creates chops of a specified length by splitting the object into equally sized segments.
Tech Info: CHOP only works with line and polylines objects. They can be 2d or 3d. For polylines to be chopped, they must be
de-curved (not fitted or splined) and must not have any arc segments in them. Such polylines will be ignored by the CHOP command and must be pre-processed using other tools in this command before they can be chopped.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Automatic Dimensions
Command
line : GT_AUTODIM
Draw a line and then automatically create inclined dimensions between all intersections of this line and other lines along them.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Create drawings for every layers.
Command
line : GT_LYRS2DWG
This program exports the contents of each layer into a drawing by WBLOCKing them. This is useful if you have a drawing containing different facilities in different layers and you want to extract them into individual drawings.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Match object properties
Command
line : GT_MATCH
Pick source and target objects and match object properties. The following properties can be matched: Layer, Color, Linetype,
Style (for TEXT and MTEXT objects), Elevation and Thickness. The
properties of Style, Elevation and Thickness will be applicable only to
those objects in which the property can be set. If not applicable, it will
be ignored. Selection can be individual or multiple.
AutoCAD command: MATCH (for setting properties), MA (to start the command)
GT_MATCH Tutorial
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Roughen a linear object
Command
line : GT_ROUGHEN
Pick a linear object (line or polyline) and roughen it. The roughened line contains zig-zags on either side of the center line created randomly as a percentage of reference zig-zag length.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Compute surface area of 3DFaces
Command
line : GT_SURFAREA
Computes the surface area as well as horizontally projected area of selected 3DFACE objects. This is useful in many land development projects where the terrain may be represented in the form of 3DFACE objects.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Align objects to a justification
Command
line : GT_OBJALIGN
The GT_OBJALIGN command helps to align a selection of objects to a
justification. GeoTools applies an "extents" computation of the
objects and based on these extents, the objects are moved (aligned) to
share a common datum. The justification that can be applied are the nine
positions of text alignment viz, Top Left/Center/Right, Middle
Left/Center/Right and Bottom Left/Center/Right.
The alignment operation can be applied on the whole selection as a single
unit or on each object in the selection set individually.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Control direction of 3DFace normals
Command
line : GT_FACENORMAL
The GT_FACENORMAL command allows control of direction of 3dface normals. If
the vertices of the 3dface are in clockwise direction, then the normal is
pointing downwards from the plane of the 3dface else if they are in
counter-clockwise direction, the normal is pointing upwards from the plane
of the 3dface. This command helps to control the normal direction in three
ways:
Flip:
Flips (reverses) the direction of the face normal
Align to an elevation:
Aligns the face normals such as to point in the direction of a specified Z
value. What this means is that if the target Z value specified is greater
than the maximum Z of all 3dface vertices, the normal will be flipped if
necessary so as to point towards the target elevation. This option can be
used to make all normals of selected 3dfaces point to a common high or low
elevation so that all faces can be made to point inwards or outwards.
Draw:
Draws the face normal as it is. No flipping or checking is done. The face
normal starts from a point in the plane of the 3dface at the centroid
position and is drawn to the specified length in the direction of the
normal.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Extract from Xrefs and Blocks
Command
line : GT_XTRACT
Use this command to extract an object from an XREF and import it into the current drawing. This is a quick tool to just pick one small thing from XREF and use in your current drawing. This command simplifies the task of sharing data between drawings very easily without having to open the drawing and bring in the object by WBLOCK/INSERT or other indirect
means like copy/paste etc. The GT_XTRACT command works correctly only in XREFs which are inserted at 0.0,0.0,0.0. Other insertion points may produce incorrect results.
The GT_XTRACT command will only allow the extraction of LINE, POINT, ARC,
SHAPE, POLYLINE and ATTRIBUTE objects.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Multiple drawings Xref
Command
line : GT_MXREF
 The GT_MXREF command is used to attach multiple
DWG files at once as external reference.
Type: Select the type of Xref. The drawings can be xref'ed in
either Attach Mode or Overlay Mode.
Select drawings to Xref: Clicking this option causes a dialog box to
appear that will allow multiple selection of AutoCAD drawing files from a
folder.
Selected DWG files: Displays the currently selected drawing files.
Remove All: Removes all selected drawings
XREF Layer: Specifies the layer in which each XREF object should be
placed.
Same as DWG name: Enabling this option causes each xref object to
be placed in a layer that has the same name as the drawing name
Select: This button brings up a dialog box which will allow a lyer
to be picked from the list of available layers in the drawing.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Sort ASCII text files
Command
line : GT_FILESORT
Allows Numeric, Character or reverse order sort of ASCII files. The
sorting can be done either by field number, column number or reversed.
Sort Type can either be numeric or character.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Draw embankment hatch slope pattern
Command
line : GT_EMBHATCH
Use this command to draw an hatch pattern of alternating long and short
lines of the kind shown in the figures below to represent an embankment
slope pattern.
The GT_EMBHATCH command requires two boundaries represented as lines or
polylines. The hatch pattern is created as a series of long and short
lines with the specified spacing in between them. The ratio of the long
and short lines is expressed as a percentage length.
The boundary lines can either be AutoCAD LINE objects or POLYLINE objects.
The GT_EMBHATCH command works on linear straight line segments only. If the
boundary lines are splined polylines or polylines with arcs, they must be
converted to linear segments polyline before using the GT_EMBHATCH command.
To do so, use the PLARC2PL or
SPL2PL
GeoTools command.
Command: GT_EmbHatch
Enter or pick spacing between hatch lines <1.00>: 15
Enter percentage length for alternate hatch lines <50.00>: 50.00
Select first side of embankment: <do so>
Select second side of embankment: <do so>
Select middle path between embankment sides [ENTER to use first side]:
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Create vegetation cover line
pattern
Command
line : GT_VEGLINE
The GT_VEGLINE command is used to create vegetation cover line patterns.
Included Angle: This is the angle at the center of each arc in the
vegetation cover pattern
Minimum Radius: This is the minimum radius to use in the random
sampling of arcs
Maximum Radius: This is the maximum radius to use in the random
sampling of arcs
Flip Arc Direction: Clicking this option reverses the direction of
the arc segments. Use this option if the arc appears in the wrong side
Radius Control:
Use random values in range: Uses randomly selected radius values in
between the specified minimum radius and maximum radius.
Use min and max radius values only: Uses only the minimum and
maximum radius values in alternating sequence.
Save: This button open
a file save dialog which allows the current GT_VEGLINE operating
parameters to be stored in an ASCII text file. These may be later
retrieved using the Retrieve option. Retrieve:
This button opens the file open dialog which reads a previously saved
GT_VEGLINE parameter file. Upon reading the file, the parameters in that
file become current.
Tech Info: The GT_VEGLINE command creates an arced polyline in which
each arc is randomly chosen to be of a radius value in between the Minimum
radius value and Maximum radius value. If you want a uniform
size for the arcs, enter the same value for both min and max radius. 
Layer to
place
Source:
Explodes the polyline and places the result in the layer in which it was
created (source layer) Current:
Explodes the polyline and places the result in the layer which is current Specify:
Explodes the polyline and places the result in the layer selected by the
user Layer-name:
Displays the name of the layer selected Select:
Clicking on Select button pops up the select layer dialog
box Delete
original objects: Checking this box deletes the original source object after exploding
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Fix objects with different
[non-parallel] UCS
Command
line : GT_FIXUCS
The
GT_FIXUCS command allows lines and polyline which have been created in a
different UCS to be brought back to the WCS at the same position.
The polylines created by the GT_FIXUCS commands are always 3d polylines.
This is because when polylines are converted from a UCS to WCS, they are
almost certainly likely to have differing Z elevations. To accommodate
this, the polylines are always made 3d.
Layer
to place
Source:
Creates
the new polyline and places it in the layer in which it was created
(source layer)
Current:
Creates
the new polyline and places it in the current layer
Specify:
Creates
the new polyline and places it in the layer specified by the user
Layer-name:
Displays
the name of the layer selected
Select:
Clicking
on Select button pops up the select layer dialog box
Delete
original objects:
Checking
this box deletes the original source object
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Round off values from object
co-ordinates
Command
line : GT_ROUNDOFF
The GT_ROUNDOFF command allows
points, lines, polylines, blocks, text and shape objects to have their
co-ordinates rounded off to the desired number of decimal places.
 Rounding
Off options:
Decimal places precision:
Choosing
this option causes the co-ordinates to be changed based on the number of
decimal places. Enter the number of decimal places desired. This option is
good for changing setting precision values under 1 AutoCAD unit.
Round Off to multiple of: Choosing
this option causes the rounding off to take place based on the multiple of
a number.
What to round off?
X: Checking this causes only the X co-ordinate to be rounded off.
Y: Checking this causes only the Y co-ordinate to be rounded off.
Z: Checking this causes only the Z co-ordinate to be rounded off.
XY: Checking this causes only the X and Y co-ordinate to be rounded off.
XYZ: Checking this causes the X, Y and Z co-ordinates to be rounded off. See
Also: GT_SCALE_Z under Conversion Tools
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Multiple DWG inserts
Command
line : GT_MULTINS
See Under
Build Tools
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Split a drawing into smaller parts
Command
line : GT_DWGSPLIT
 The
GT_DWGSPLIT command uses the WBLOCK command to split a given selection of
objects into smaller drawing units.
Split Method:
Number of parts: Divides the selection set into equal number of parts.
Each part becomes a separate DWG file that is wblocked.
Number of objects: Divides the selection set into a number of equal
parts each containing a given number of objects.
Select DWG folder: Specifies the folder where the WBLOCKed drawings
are to be created.
Number of parts: Enter the number of parts into which the selection is
to be divided.
Objects in each part: Enter number of objects in each part
Drawing Name prefix: Enter drawing name prefix. The drawing count 1,
2, 3, 4..... will be appended to it for each wblock.
Start Count: Enter the first count (defaults to 1).
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Re-Create hatch boundaries from HATCH
object.
Command
line : GT_HATCHBOUND
The GT_HATCHBOUND re-creates the component boundaries from a HATCH object.
A HATCH object may comprise of various bounded figures which are hatched
according to different styles and patterns. These are stored internally
within the HATCH object. The GT_HATCHBOUND command reads them from the
database and draws them at location. This can be used as a handy tool to
modify the hatch when the comprising boundary objects are not available.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Layer names editor
Command
line : GT_LAYERMAN
The GT_LAYERMAN command is used to global edit layer names in the current
drawing.
Select layer names(s):
Select the
names of the layers in the list box you whose name you want to edit.
Select All Layers: Checking this box selects all layers for
renaming names.
Merge into existing layers: If the new resulting layer name already
exists in the drawing, the program can either copy all objects from source
layer and merge to destination layer or just abort the operation and do
nothing. This behavior is controlled by checking this option.
Operation:
Choosing the program operation mode:
Add prefix: Adds
a prefix string to the layer name. The prefix string should be entered in
the edit box provided labeled Prefix/Suffix
Add suffix: Adds
a suffix string to the layer name. The prefix string should be entered in
the edit box provided labeled Prefix/Suffix
Strip beginning: Strips
'n' number of characters from the beginning of the layer name. The number
of characters is to be entered in the edit box provided for this purpose.
Strip End: Strips
'n' number of characters from the end of the layer name. The number of
characters is to be entered in the edit box provided for this purpose.
Lowercase: Changes
the names of the selected layers to lowercase.
Uppercase: Changes
the names of the selected layers to uppercase.
Titlecase: Changes
the names of the selected layers to titlecase.
Search and replace: Searches
for a part string within the layer name and replaces it with another
string. Both search and replace strings are to be specified in the
provided edit boxes on the right side.
.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Export 3DFace objects as SMS 2DM files
Command
line : GT_3DF2DM
 The Surface Water Modeling System (SMS) is a comprehensive environment for one-, two-, and three-dimensional hydrodynamic
modeling. See http://www.ems-i.com for
more info on this product. The 2DM file format is used by this
software GeoTools provides the GT_3DF2DM command
as a tool to quickly export 3dfaces from AutoCAD into the SMS 2DM file,
which can then be imported into SMS.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Import a 2DM files as 3DFaces
Command
line : GT_IMPORT2DM
The
GT_IMPORT2DM command is used to import an Surface Water Modeling System (SMS)
2DM file into AutoCAD and create 3dfaces out of them.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Compute summed areas of
polylines in selected layers
Command
line : GT_LAYERAREA
See
under Polyline Tool Set 3
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Explode objects - Retain
object table and extended entity data
Command
line : GT_XP_RETDAT
 The
GT_XP_RETDAT command is used to explode AutoCAD entities (polylines, blocks, hatches,
regions and mulitple polygon)
and retain (copy) the extended entity and object table data. REGION
objects in the selection will get exploded into polylines while polyline
objects in the selection will get exploded into lines.
Note: You can also explode unequally scaled blocks.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Select multiple DWG files
for Script processing
Command
line : GT_BATCHPROCESS
Select
AutoCAD Profile:
Lists the available Profiles in Current AutoCAD Session. You can select the
desired profile to work on
BATch File to create:
Pop's Up Dialog Box for selecting ".BAT" file, (Note: you can
select only one .BAT file at a time) Script
Required Box:
When checked allows to select the Script File for
Processing.
SCRipt File to use:
Pop's Up Dialog Box for selecting ".SCR" file, (Note: you can
select only one .SCR file at a time)
Select Drawing Folder: Pop's Up Dialog Box for selecting ".DWG"
file, (Note: you can select multiple .DWG file at a time)
Selected Drawing Files: Lists the ".DWG" files selected
Remove DWG(s): Allows to remove the DWG files from the List.
OK: Generates a .BAT file of the list of Drawings selected with
specified Profile.
(Note: you cannot exit the Dialog Box by pressing "OK" if the
Drawing Files List is empty).
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Break contour at label position
Command
line : GT_CONTDIST
The GT_CONTDIST command is an intra-contour spacing checker and contour
breaking tool. Often, when the distance or spacing between two adjacent
contours is too small, it is difficult to either view the contours clearly
or to create un-cluttered labels to depict the contours. In such
situations, it is useful to break the contours at locations where the
distance between the contour and the adjacent contours on either side is
less than a specified Distance Tolerance.
The GT_CONTDIST command measures from each vertex of the contour
polyline, the distance on either
sides of the contour being processed, and if the distance is less then the
specified Distance Tolerance then that point is marked in memory
for breaking. In this manner, the whole contour polyline is checked and
the segments that are within the Tolerance distance from the adjacent
contours are broken. This process continues till all the selected contours are
processed in multiple mode.
 Sampling
Method:
Select the method that the command uses to perform
distance sampling.
Vertex:
If this option is chosen, distance measurements are taken at
each and every vertex of the contour polyline.
Segment Distance:
If this option is chosen, distance measurements are
taken at specified regular interpolated segment distances along the
contour polyline.
Note:
You will need to choose which
option to use for your processing depending on the density and number of
vertices in the polylines, the size of data you need to process etc.
Increasing the Segment Distance will result in faster processing while
using the "Vertex" is likely to produce a more realistic output. In any
case, the user must exercise his judgement carefully and select the option
that is best suited for their data. It is recommended that you perform a
few trials with different values and options before deciding on the best
option.
Process Method:
Choose the appropriate processing method.
Debug: Allows to select only one contour object and runs the program
in debug mode. In this mode, the program actually draws the perpendicular
lines from each vertex (or measurement) point to the adjacent contours and
also displays the distance measurements by creating text strings next to
the lines. This is purely for testing and debug purposes.
Process: Actually do the processing of multiple selected contours. Exclude
major/special contours from breaking: Checking this box
allows to
exclude Major and specified exclusion contour elevations from breaking. Segment
Sampling Interval:
If the sampling method above is chosen as Segment
Distance, the value you enter here will be taken to determine the
segment distance at which the linear interpolation will take place. Distance
Tolerance (between contours): Enter tolerance distance
to measure in between the two contours. Major
Contour Interval: Enter the major contour
interval here. Minor
Contour Interval: Enter the minor contour
interval here. Contour
intervals to exclude from breaking: Enter
additional elevations of contours
(comma separated) to be excluded from processing. Broken
Contour Layer: Click on the Select button to select the
layer in which the broken contour marks have to be drawn. The name of the
selected layer is shown in the text edit box beside this button.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Break contour at specified boundary
Command
line : GT_CONTBREAK
The GT_CONTBREAK command is a general
purpose command to break a drawing along a boundary. The boundary can be
open or closed and must be defined as a polyline.
It is ideally suited to break up a large
drawing of contours or other geographical features into smaller drawings.
The breaking is performed along the breaking (or cutting) edge. The
objects that can be broken along the cutting edge are a 2d polyline, 2d
line, arcs and splines. After this command has run, the objects will be
split (or broken) on either side of the cutting edge. Nothing is erased
from the drawing.
In the above illustration, you see a
screenshot from a dense contour drawing of 55 MB size. By setting up
appropriate closed polyline cutting edges (blue lines in the figure
above), it is possible to break the contours easily at the boundary of
these polygons. Once that is done, it is easy to export this to another
drawing using the GeoTools
GT_ESELECT command.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Convert to 0.0 elevation
Command
line : GT_FLATTEN
See
under Conversion Tools
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Zoom to extent of selected object(s) (with 5%
margin)
Command
line : GT_ZOOMENT
The GT_ZOOMENT command zooms to the extent of selected
objects with a margin of 5% border on the sides of the screen.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Scale objects (unequally) in X, Y and Z
directions
Command
line : GT_XYZSCL
The GT_XYZSCL command performs
non-uniform scaling of objects with specified X, Y and Z scale factors and
a user-specified base point. This is similar to the AutoCAD SCALE command
except that you can specify unequal scale factors in X, Y and Z
directions.
Tech Info:
The command can be used to
scale 2D as well as 3D objects. The only exception is the AutoCAD 3DSOLID
entity. If the selection contains 3DSOLID objects, the command cannot
function correctly because, internally, the program creates an AutoCAD
block out of the selected objects and inserts it with the specified X, Y
and Z scale factors and then explodes it. But, AutoCAD does not allow
exploding unequally scaled blocks which contain a 3DSOLID object. This is
an AutoCAD limitation.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Create a mean (averaged)
point from cluster of points.
Command
line : GT_MEANPOINT
The GT_MEANPOINT command creates a
mean point from selected multiple points and provides an option of
connecting each point with the mean point by a line
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Enter the co-ordinates of point in geographic format [Lat-Long].
Command
line : (GEO)
(geo) is not a GeoTools command that can be run off the AutoCAD command line. Instead, it is a transparent function which
can be called at any point when AutoCAD is expecting a point input. The (geo) function helps to input coordinates in geographic
coordinates (Latitudes and Longitudes) in degree-minute-second format (for example, 33° 01' 53.8739",18° 01' 11.2246",480.0
is a Latitude of 33° 01' 53.8739" and a Longitude of 18° 01' 11.2246" and a height of 480.0
Note: 1) You have to run (GEO) function by typing in PARENTHESES
without which it will not run.
2) The (geo) function can be called ONLY when an AutoCAD command (and not a GeoTools command) is expecting for a point entry.
Toolbar
: Miscellaneous Tools 
Menu
: GeoTools
Miscellaneous Tools
Flip (reverse) elevations (z) from selected objects.
Command
line : GT_FLIPZ
The GT_FLIPZ command will reverse the z value sign of selected lines, polylines, point, text, 3dfaces, solids etc. So, an elevation of +2 would become -2 and vice-versa
Command
line : GT_LD
Menu
: GeoTools
Load AutoLISP program
Loads an AutoLisp program. The program name can be typed at the prompt or can be browsed through by typing "?" or the "~".
Note: GT_LD command is by default not enabled, for making
it enable type GT_Defmacros at the command prompt.
Command
line : GT_LDX
Menu
: GeoTools
Load an ARX program
Loads an Object ARX application. The program name can be typed at the prompt or can be browsed through by typing "?" or the "~".
Note: GT_LDX command is by default not enabled, for
making it enable type GT_Defmacros at the command prompt.
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu
: GeoTools
Load GeoTools command macros
(shortcuts)
Command
line : GT_DEFMACROS
The GT_DEFMACROS command is Used for loading the defined shortcuts
of GeoTools commands.
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu
: GeoTools
Settings
Command
line : GT_GENSET
Text Height:
All TEXT created by Polyline Specialist will having the text height
defined here unless explicitly set and changed by the specific application
or command.
Default Value: 5.0 (AutoCAD units)
Rotation Angle for blocks/TEXT: All TEXT and blocks created
by Polyline Specialist will have the rotation angle as defined here unless
explicitly set and changed by the specific application or command.
Default Value: 0.0 degrees
Annotation
units:
Select
the Linear and Area annotation units to be used for display
and computations.
Default Value:
feet
Text Justification: Select the default text justification to
be used for new default text created by Polyline Specialist.
Default Value: Left
X Scale Factor for blocks: Set the default X Scale factor
for blocks inserted by Polyline Specialist.
Default Value: 1.0
Y Scale Factor for blocks: Set the default Y Scale factor
for blocks inserted by Polyline Specialist.
Default Value: 1.0
X (Eastings) precision: Sets the precision of X (Eastings)
coordinate display and output in reports.
Default Value: 2
Y (Northing) precision: Sets the precision of Y (Northing)
coordinate display and output in reports.
Default Value: 2
Z (Elevation) precision: Sets the precision of Z
(Elevations) coordinate display and output in reports.
Default Value: 2
Distance measurement precision: Sets the precision of linear
distance measurements.
Default Value: 2
Angle measurement precision: Sets the precision of angular
measurements.
Default Value: 2
Fuzzy search tolerance around points of interest: This
is a generic tolerance value that Polyline Specialist will use while
searching around a point of interest for neighborhood objects.
Default Value:
0.0
Maximum Selection set length to store: Specify
the maximum number of objects of a processed selection set to store in
memory
Default Value:
1000
Progress Indicator interval: Specify the interval (number of
objects processed) after which the progress status indicator is displayed.
A value of 1 indicates the progress status is updated after each processed
object.
Default Value:
1
Display command line options: Toggles the operational mode of
Polyline Specialist from command line to dialog box and vice-versa.
Default Value:
Disabled
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu
: GeoTools
Help
Command
line : HELP
Displays GeoTools on-line help in your currently configured browser.
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu
: GeoTools
Load GeoTools
Command
line : GT_LOAD
If GeoTools has not been automatically loaded during startup, use this command to load GeoTools in your current AutoCAD drawing.
Note: In AutoCAD 2000, this would result in GeoTools being loaded in the current AutoCAD document only. If you have multiple drawings open, you have to load GeoTools individually in each document where you want to use it. This is because the current version of GeoTools is designed to operate on separate memory namespaces.
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu : GeoTools
Unload-
GeoTools
Command
line : GT_UNLOAD
Unload the copy of GeoTools that is loaded in the current drawing. Unloading GeoTools frees up your memory used by GeoTools. Unloading GeoTools is also sometimes necessary if you find that there is a command conflict with other third party applications.
Note: In AutoCAD 2000, this would result in GeoTools being unloaded in the current AutoCAD document only. If you have multiple drawings open, you have to unload GeoTools individually in each document where you have loaded it. This is because the current version of GeoTools is designed to operate on separate memory namespaces.
Command
line : GT_REGRESET - Reset GeoTools command
defaults in registry
The GT_REGRESET command is a maintenance
command that can be used to reset or clear the registry entry that is made
for each GeoTools command. Each
GeoTools command stores its operating parameters in unique location in the
Windows registry. In normal operating mode, there would be situation that
would need the user to reset or clear this information. This command is
only provided as a maintenance or debugging tool to selectively or
collectively clear the registry entry for selected GeoTools commands. In
the unlikely event of an error occurring in a GeoTools command due to a
corrupted registry entry for that command, the GT_REGRESET command can be
used to remove the offending entries from the registry.
Tech Info: All GeoTools operating defaults are stored in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Four Dimension Technologies\GeoTools
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu
: GeoTools
About GeoTools
Command
line : GT_ABOUTGEOT
Displays information about the GeoTools software.
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu
: GeoTools
ReadMe and Installation
Command
line : READMEINS
Displays information from the GeoToolsReadMe.txt file which displays last minute breaking information as well as installation instructions for GeoTools.
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu : GeoTools
Display
GeoTools license information
Command
line : DISPLAYLICENSEINFO
Displays the GeoTools end-user-license agreement.
Toolbar
: Other Functions 
Menu : GeoTools
Information
about purchasing GeoTools
Command
line : ORDERGEOTOOLS
Displays information from the file GeoToolsOrderForm.Txt about GeoTools ordering and purchase information.
|