Create polyline

Owned by Omar Lamrani
Last updated: Mar 28, 2022
3 min read

Version française

Menu: Survey / Create polylines


Main interface

The "create polyline" tool allows the user to draw polylines directly in the project. Polylines may be created freely or on a plane. Polylines may be "Line" or "Arc".



Polylines may be selected or deselected, this will show or hide them. Item colours in the list may be changed by clicking on the color box. The create polylines tool has different options to manage any lines in the item list - see their description below:

IconDescription

Deletes all selected polylines in the item list

Adds a new polyline to the item list

Closes the current polyline and starts a new line. This option will create a closed polyline.

Aligns the view perpendicular to the selected plane. If no plane is selected, the view will not change.

There are also several options at the bottom of the window:

  • Save: Saves the selected polylines to a PLN format.
  • Load: Loads a PLN file to the item list while clearing existing items.
  • Append: Adds a PLN file to the item list. Does not clear existing items.
  • Export: Exports selected polylines to DXF, MID or shapefile format.


It is possible to expand a polyline to view the points contained in the line. Click on Points to expand a polyline and view the list. By right clicking on a point in the list, a contextual menu displays a few extra options.

  • Remove all: Removes the points in the list. The polyline will contain 0 points.
  • Remove current: Removes the current point from the list.
  • Insert: Adds a point in front of the current point and updates the point list.
  • Repick point: Allows the user to repick the selected point. The selected point will be shown in red on the screen.
  • Move up: Changes the order of the current point. May modify the appearance of the polyline.
  • Move down: Changes the order of the current point. May modify the appearance of the polyline.


Creating polylines

To create a polyline, determine whether it will be created on a plane or not. If the polyline is to be created on a plane, this object must exist in the plane object list and it must be selected in the "Create on a plane" drop-down list. Planes may be detected many different ways (see link). If the polyline is to be created freely, leave the "Create on a plane" box unchecked.

To vectorize a polyline, add  an item to the list. Ensure that the "Start pick" mode is activated. Add the points to the polyline by vectorizing points on the screen. Once vectorization is completed, click on  to close the polyline and create a new item or simply click on "Stop pick" to leave the polyline open. During vectorization, leave the mode "Line" for a straight line or change to mode "Arc" to create an arched line. The "Arc" mode requires 2 clicks; the first click is the radius and direction of the arc and the next click is the endpoint of the arc. Arcs are not represented in VisionLidar, for this reason "Max. segment length" represents arcs with small linear elements.

Note: It isn't possible to create an arc if the polyline isn't being created on a plane.