The “Road by sections” window (shown here) includes many sections: the alignment, the cross-section dimensions, the stations, the active template and exporting tools.
The top section of the interface is dedicated to the alignment selection; there is a dropdown list of all available alignments in the current Vision database. If there aren’t any alignments present in the database, the user will not be able to use the function. After selecting a valid alignment, the start and end values will automatically be set to the beginning and end of the alignment. These values may be modified to truncate the alignment used.
Underneath the alignment selection is the “Dimensions of the sections” area, where the user specifies the dimensions for the cross-section view which will be extracted along the alignment center. It’s possible to change the dimensions of the cross-section without impacting results; the dimensions are not linked to the sections or the template. The field “Dimensions of the sections” may be clicked and will be minimized afterwards. The different fields are explained here:
Offset left, right: Distance on each side of the alignment to define the width of the section.
Height, height down: Distance from the alignment to define the height of the section.
Interval: Distance between each section along the alignment.
- Thickness: Thickness of the section. This value is normally kept relatively small.
Two other options are shown here:
Draw in cloud: When this option is checked the template will not be redrawn every time a change is made to the section. This option is used to reduce processing time when redrawing sections.
Apply template: The “Apply template” check box is used to automatically apply the current template on the right grid to any empty station (a station which does not contain any points) when the station is edited. This option replaces the “Apply to section” button in the template section.
Below the “Dimensions” section in the “Road by sections” interface are two grids; one is a list of the stations while the other is the template definition.
The left grid represents each station with different elements: each station’s distance along the alignment, how many points are picked in it and a button to edit the cross-section. Many stations can be selected at once to be deleted. Other options are also available:
“Create all sections” button: This button creates stations along the alignment using the interval value in the “Dimensions” section to determine the distance between each station. If a template exists in the template grid, “Create all sections” will use the template to populate the station list. Using this method will apply the template to all stations with one click.
“Set perpendicular view” icon: Positions the secondary view perpendicular to the alignment axis.
“Pick new section” button: The user must pick a point in the point cloud and the tool will create a station at that point, along the selected alignment, regardless of the offset.
“Edit points” check box: When this option is activated, vectorized points in a section (picked points in the secondary window) can be displaced by using CTRL+Click.
“Previous” button: Switches the secondary view to the previous station. CTRL+1 is also available as a shortcut.
“Next” button: Switches the secondary view to the next station. CTRL+2 is also available as a shortcut.
Text box between “Previous” and “Next”: This text box presents the station value of the current selection. If this value is changed to a value which isn’t present in the station list, a new station will be created, just as the “Pick new section” function would.
The right grid displays the current template. It shows the most recently modified template; not necessarily the template of the selected station. The current station will be updated only if the “Recreate template” or “Edit station” (while “Apply template” is checked) functions are used.
The PCode for every point of the template may be determined by inscribing them in the text box or by selecting them in the dropdown list. Points in the template list may be edited or deleted and attributes may be set.
“Open” icon: Replaces the current template with a previously saved one
“Save” icon: Saves the current template
“Insert before/after” icons: Inserts an empty point or a copied part of a template into the current template.
“Copy” button: Opens a previously saved template, allowing the user to select points to be copied into the current template. The points must be selected in the list and the “Copy to clipboard” button is clicked. The user may then insert copied points with the “Insert before/after” icons.
“Pick points” check box: When this option is activated, points will be created in the template when picked in the secondary view.
“Sort by offset” check box: This option sorts the template points by their offset value, which is measured by the distance from the alignment. This lets the user pick points randomly and have them sorted automatically. On the other hand, overhangs and tunnels can’t be vectorized this way; to do so, the option must be unchecked.
“Apply to section” button: Sets the current template to the selected station on the left grid. Note that the “Apply template” check box fills the selected station the same way if no points were already present in the selected station.
- “Recreate template” button: Clicking here displays the template of the selected section in the template grid.
Finally, the bottom section of the “Road by sections” tool presents options to import and export results. Seven options are available:
“Create chains” button: Creates chains and points on the Vision database that connects every station points together by their PCodes.
“Draw chains” button: Draws the sections in the main view, allowing the user to view the results before exporting.
“Create surface” button: Adds a surface in the Explorer / Objects tab. The surface will be sent to the list of surfaces in VisionLidar.
“Export DXF” button: Exports the results to a DXF file.
“Save” button: Exports the results to a CSV text file that may be reused by the software. Can be useful if two different templates are to be used on the same alignment for distinct parts of the project.
“Load” button: Loads a CSV text file to replace the current stations.
“Close” button: Closes the function and its windows.
