I finally realized a main culprit responsible making my lines 3d:
drawing a line: if you just pick a pt in space, then use 'PO to snap to a Cogo Point, the resulting line will be at z=0 at the beginning, and z='cogo pt elev' at the end.
Anyone know how to use 'PO in just a 2d mode (without the z)?
Thanks,
Steve (C3d 2010)
from the HELP screen:
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Using a Point Object to Specify a Point Location
You can specify a point location by selecting an existing point.
Points are highlighted as you move the cursor over them.
The northing and easting value from the point are read from the selected drawing point. If you are prompted to enter an elevation, the default choice is the elevation value of the point. You can use the point’s elevation value or you can enter another value.
A transparent command can only be used within a running command.
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There is a nice little check box under Options, drafting, __x__ replace z elevation with current elevation. I keep this checked when I need to draft in 2d only, and uncheck it when I need to draft 3d. With it checked it will always snap to a 0 elevation.
Additionally, I believe there is a simply way to adjust the point label style to be at actual elevation or 0 elevation. I will have to find that tomorrow.
I get the impression that Autodesk created the 'PO command after they decided to add the "Flatten Elevations" option to the Point Styles. Since you can force the point symbols to always display at Z=0, I think they decided to add a way to pick Cogo Points and always get the Elevation of the Cogo Point, even if it was flattened to Z=0 for display purposes. Thus the 'PO transparent command.
Unfortunately, you're trying to use the 'PO command for a different reason, and you want the opposite. My guess is Autodesk never thought of that. The 'PO command was designed to ALWAYS return the Elevation of the Cogo Point, and it appears that behavior trumps OSNAPZ.
So it doesn't look like there's any way to do what you want. The only real way around the issue I can think of is to play with the scale in the lower-right, "temporarily" changing it to different values so you can see all Cogo Points, with minimal overtyping, and use the NOD osnap instead of 'PO. In my experience, the NOD osnap is flaky if you hover over the Point Label, but it works fine if you hover over the Point Marker. And if you set the scale small enough so you can read everything, it's easy to pick the point you want by hovering over the Point Marker.
I had never used the 'PO command so I just tried it out and looks like a great way to create a 3d polyline. If you want to create a 2D line you could use 'PO and change the ending elevation in the properties dialog or easier still (like Sinc said) use snap to nod "_NOD" instead of snap to point "'PO". I do have the point styles set to flatten to 0.
When I used snap to nod "_nod" and selected the point object it snapped to the correct nod.
Thanks y'all for the responces.
Picking a pt object with "osnap nod" does work for me, as long as the pt has not been dragged, then no workee.
I will look into the polyline method.
Thanks again,
Steve
The NOD osnap should work on dragged points, but you must hover over the Point Marker, not the Label.