I am a Civil 3D guy trying to make the switch to Carlson. I'm not liking it very much, mainly because I don't get the same product every time I am processing field data. I just sent the following email to Carlson support, but as I have not had much luck with their support I am posting this here also.
On the last two projects I have worked on, I have noticed that not all of my 3D polylines are being drawn during the field-to-finish process. I have checked my field codes to make sure they are still set to draw both 2D and 3D polylines, and I have checked to make sure that I don’t have any segments that exceed the maximum length for line work set in the f2f file. Those both checked out okay. I realized that the maximum length could not be exceeded, as my 2D polylines are all getting drawn. That got me to wondering if the maximum length setting is a horizontal distance or a slope distance. I double checked my elevations and there is no bust that would cause a slope distance to factor in to the equation.
On this current project, there are two codes that had issues with the 3D polylines. One, the back of curb, had none of the 3D polylines getting drawn. The other, the edge of asphalt, had 3D polylines drawn for the driveways, but not for the main street. This was constant for the entire length of the project, which is about 1,800 feet.
Attached is an image which shows the situation. The 3D polylines are all in blue. You will notice that they are all showing except for the back of curb and the edge of asphalt, which have only 2D polylines that are gray and dashed. You can also see that there are three driveways labeled as hma, which use the same coding as the edge of asphalt.
This issue has only occurred on the last two project. I have gone back to check other projects I have done and they are fine. I haven’t changed anything that would cause this to happen. As a side note, someone else processed this same project using the same field code library and had all the 3D polylines drawn. I would appreciate any assistance you can provide.
I am using Carlson Civil Suite 2015 on AutoCAD Map 2013. I have had other inconsistencies that pop up from time to time, but these latest two projects are the first time I have noticed this issue. I process about 99% of the projects we do, and I do 100% of the surfaces, so I'm pretty sure I would have noticed if it had happened previously. Has anyone else experienced anything similar?
>I realized that the maximum length could not be exceeded, as my 2D polylines are all getting drawn. That got me to wondering if the maximum length setting is a horizontal distance or a slope distance. I double checked my elevations and there is no bust that would cause a slope distance to factor in to the equation.
There are two "Max Length" limits found under Code Table Settings that control what kinds of lines should be drawn and lines not drawn due to either constraint being violated would be summarized in either of the following alerts:
Horizontal Lengths
(This is checked first, horizontal distance only. Line lengths failing this test are not drawn and are reported):
Elevation Differences:
(This is checked second, elevation differences only. Elevation differences failing this test are not drawn and are reported):
If you're getting 2D polylines for a given code and not 3D polylines, I would inspect the Entity Type for the particular code and see if it is (or has been) set to 2D Polyline as opposed to the "2D and 3D Polyline" option.
Another item to examine would be to see if the layer that is to get the 3D polyline is locked and/or defined in the drawing (the routine should define the layer if it is not already there but it might be worth examining). An AUDIT on the DWG might also bear some fruit.
To have any chance at accurately diagnosing the problem, Tech Support would need the following:
- Your coordinate (e.g. *.CRD) file.
- Your feature code library (e.g. *.FLD) file.
- Your Field-to-Finish code settings (e.g. *.F2F) file (available via Draw Field-to-Finish -- Edit Codes -- Code Table Settings -- Save As).
- The shots or codes that are not producing the expected linework.
- The target DWG if at all possible.
If you want to send me the information (lnelsonATcarlsonswDOTcom), I'll see if I can figure out what might be happening.
Ladd is probably correct, but I have noticed that when my F2F starts going stupid what I need to do is delete file fld2fin.ini. )Look for it under the Carlson directory under USERS/YOUR NAME/APPDATA/ROAMING/CARLSON SOFTWARE/CARLSON SURVEY 20**/R****/ENU/USER.)
That file can get corrupted. Erase it. it will rebuild when you open the next drawing, so no harm is done in erasing it.
