Data for Construction - Design Surface Data Extractor

Last updated: 2024-06-27

Total video time: 9:11

 

Overview

This utility is used to extract the breaklines that define the design surface. The breaklines are inserted into a new drawing and are assigned a unique layer based on its source using the naming convention SourceFile.SourceObject.ObjectType. The exported lines are validated and the valid breakline segments are joined to create 3D polylines.

Using the Command

WisDOT Design tab > Output panel > Data for Construction dropdown > Design Surface Data Extractor

The tool can also be accessed from the command line: ACEXTRACTDESIGNSURFACEDATA.

Before running the Design Surface Data Extractor

Make sure all data shortcuts are correct and valid. The utility will not run if it is not able to locate any object data references used to define the design surface.

  1. Toolspace > Right-click Data shortcuts (active projects) > Validate Data Shortcuts will validate the available data shortcuts for the project.
  2. Orphaned or broken data shortcuts may need to be fixed with the Data Shortcuts Editor Windows Start > Autodesk Civil 3D 20XX > Data Shortcuts Editor
  3. Manage tab > Data Shortcuts panel > Manage Data Shortcuts allows you to repair broken data shortcut references in the active file.
  4. Manage tab > Data Shortcuts panel > Validate Data Shortcuts will validate consumed data shortcut references in the active file.
  5. Manage tab > Data Shortcuts panel > Synchronize References will synchronize consumed data shortcut references in the active file.
  6. See Repairing data shortcuts and data references for additional information.

outpt-dsn-srfc-data-xtrct-01.mp4 5:21

The tool uses a 2-step process to extract breaklines.

During the first step, the utility systematically follows through each of the surface definition operations and extracts the breaklines that were contributed by that operation. The extracted breaklines are inserted into a new base AutoCAD drawing, as indicated in the Select a drawing template input.

Settings

  1. Set the extraction settings based on preference.
  2. In most cases, keep Validate New Drawing After Data Extraction checked. This will validate the data automatically immediately following data extraction. Unchecking this can sometimes be useful for troubleshooting.
  3. Sometimes it is helpful to set the colors so they look similar to their source colors. For example, a common color for corridor feature lines in the WisDOT template is magenta. Therefore, it would make sense to use magenta as the color for breaklines originating from a corridor feature line.

Object and file selections

Select design surface:

  1. The utility must be run directly on the design refinement surface in the file that it exists in.

    1. Example: File = dsgn\srfc\Srfc-Rfnt-All-Top.dwg; Surface = Rfnt-All-Top

  2. It cannot be run on a data shortcut of a surface.

  3. It cannot be directly run on a corridor surface.

  4. The utility can only work on one level of pasted surfaces (i.e. corridor and grading surfaces combined in a refinement surface). Multiple pasted surfaces must all be directly in the refinement surface and priority managed by the build order of the refinement surface.

Select a drawing template:

  • Civil 3D 2020 and later: C:\WisDOT\Stnd\C3D20XX\Templates\Begin\dwg\x-wisdot.dwt

  • Civil 3D 2018 and earlier: C:Users<username>\AppData\Local\Autodesk\C3D 20XX\enu\Template\acad.dwt

Specify a new drawing:

  1. The extracted breaklines are inserted into this new file.
  2. Example file location and name: <Project ID>\dsgn\srfc\Srfc-Rfnt-All-Datum-RawData.dwg

outpt-dsn-srfc-data-xtrct-02.mp4 3:49

Once all the source breaklines have been extracted and consolidated into a single dwg file, the second step is to proceed with the validation phase. The tool can be setup to proceed to the validation phase automatically, or it can be triggered manually. At this stage, the breaklines are in the form of line segments.

Settings

  1. Review the data validation settings. These are the tolerance values used in the validation process. Every project is unique and these setting can vary. However, we suggest starting with the default values. If the desired results are not achieved, these settings can be adjusted.

File selection

Specify a drawing created from extracting design surface data:

  1. This field is automatically populated with the Extract design surface data > Specify a new drawing file.

The validation phase included four processes that analyze each line segment:

  1. Duplicate removal: All line segments that are redundant with another line segment within a specified tolerance are deleted.
  2. Surface Paste: All breakline segments from contributing sources are added to the dwg file. If a surface paste occurs in the surface definitions, any breakline segments that are within the surface paste boundary are removed and replaced with the breakline segments of the pasted surfaces. For example: The Rfnt-All-Datum surface has the Rfnt-All-Top surface pasted into it. Then, the Crdr-Datum surface is pasted over the Rfnt-All-Top surface. The utility will extract breakline segments from both the Rfnt-All-Top surface and the Crdr-Datum surface. During the validation phase, the utility will removal all line segments from the Rfnt-All-Top surface that fall within the boundary of the Crdr-Datum surface.
  3. Line Segment Validation: Each breakline segment is compared to the TIN edges of the design surface. If the midpoint of a breakline segment does not fall on a TIN edge within the specified tolerance, it is moved to a new layer with the prefix LINE_NO_MATCH. If the midpoint of the breakline segment falls on a TIN edge, but its end vertices do not match the TIN edge vertices within the specified tolerance, it is moved to a new layer with the prefix LINE_NO_MATCH.
  4. Breakline Segment Join: The utility joins the breakline segments if their end vertices are within a specified tolerance. The result is a series of 3D Polylines.