Active Chain Control
This tool has many practical uses, among them are:
- It may be used similar to 3 port viewer, as far as managing the 3 views (plan/profile/cross section) simultaneously.
- It may be used similar to DP Sta. Offset (in all 3 views).
- It may be used "dynamically" to obtain station/offset or station/elevation information from the 3 views.
- It may be used to place MicroStation elements (such as cells) at user defined increments and/or offsets.
- It must be used in order to use the new Component Based Vertical Alignment Tool.
The tool may invoked via the pulldowns, Applications > GEOPAK Road > Active Chain Control or via the Tools icon as shown below:
The Active Chain Control dialog appears, as shown below:
The far left side of the dialog provides Job list box for selecting the GPK file (job number) and 2 methods for identifying the active chain to be used with this tool:
- A Chain list box, where the user can select the active chain from of a list of all the chains stored in the GPK file.
- An ID icon, (Identify Curvilinear Reference) where the user can select the chain from a COGO "visualized" chain.
Note: This currently cannot identify a chain using a graphical element drawn with D&C Manager.... only a visualized chain.
The next icon opens the Curvilinear Coordinates tool:
This tool will be explained later in more detail once the remainder of the Active Chain Control dialog is reviewed.
The next icon is the Profile Cell Status tool. If the icon is "grayed out" it means that there are no profile cells active. If a profile cell is active (explained below) ... this icon will be in color. When right clicked, 2 options are available:
Place Profile Cell
Use these fields to create a new profile cell, (if necessary) instructing the software where to anchor the Reference Station and Elevation of the cell as well as the distortion Scale values and Top & Bottom elevation range for the data within the cell.
Note: When designing, always use the No Gap setting.
By default, the Profile Cell is placed on level number X_Geopak_Cell). The text node format is determined by the MicroStation Text settings.
Profile Cell Control
This option allows the user to manipulate profile cells that are drawn in, or referenced to, the current opened MicroStation file. When Profile Cell Control is selected from the option toggle (shown below) the Profile Cell Control dialog opens. A combo box is available for selecting a chain from the GPK file. Once a chain is selected, all of the associated profile cells are shown within the dialog. The easiest way to designate the active profile cell is to simply double click on it.
In addition, there are 3 icons located at the far right on the dialog... from top to bottom they are:
- Place Profile Cell
- Activate Profile Cell
- Delete Profile Cell
Note: Under the heading "MicroStation File" (shown above) there are 3 profile cells shown.
- In the first line of the dialog above, the "A" tells the user that this profile is located within the current opened MicroStation file. Rather than display the name of the opened file, the dialog simply displays, "Active Design". The large dot that precedes this cell (illustrated above) simply means that this is the active profile cell.
- The other 2 "MicroStation Files" shown above are reference files that have profiles drawn in them.
The next icon is the Cross Section Cell Status tool. If the icon is "grayed out" it means that there are no cross section cells drawn in, or referenced to, the current opened MicroStation file. If cross section cells do exist... this icon will be in color. The current purpose of this icon is to simply be able to easily see if any cross section cells exist.
The remaining 8 icons represent the 8 views available with MicroStation:
These icons allow the user to set what graphical data is to be viewed within the selected view, whether it be:
- Plan view, (where the view is automatically fitted to display the active chain in it's entirety.
- Profile view, (where the view is automatically fitted to display the active Profile and it's cell in it's entirety.
- Cross Section view, (where the user may eventually navigate through the sections).
Once a view is set to Cross Section, (as is the case in view 8 below) and the view icon is "right clicked", an additional option, (Cross Section Navigate) is available.
When the Cross Section Navigate option is "left clicked" it opens a stream lined version of the cross section navigator (shown below) that simply allows easy navigation between sections when using the Active Chain Control tools. The functionality of the "VCR" buttons on the XS Navigate tool are very similar to the Cross Section Navigator.
NOW... back to the Curvilinear Coordinates tool:
Before attempting to explain the use of this tool, let's assume (as shown in all the graphics above) the Active Chain Control dialog is set to:
View 1 is set to Cross Section view
View 2 is set to Plan view
View 3 is set to Profile view
The fields for the dialog are explained as follows:
- The < and > buttons... Since the Active Chain has been set, clicking on these buttons simply sets the S: field to the beginning or ending station of the active chain.
- S: ... Stands for "Station". This field is used to manually enter a station along the active chain. As mentioned previously, by using the < and > buttons, this field can be populated automatically with either the beginning or ending station of the chain. The optional left toggle locks the entered value.
- Ext: ... Stands for "Extension". This field is used to enter an extension to the beginning or ending of the chain. A negative value means the extension is before the beginning of the chain.
- O: ... Stands for "Offset". This field is used to manually enter an offset for the station. The optional left toggle locks the entered value.
- Z: ... Stands for "Elevation"This field is used to manually enter an elevation for the station. The optional left toggle locks the entered value.
- DS: ... Stands for "Delta Station". As far as I can tell... one use for these "Delta fields" is to sort of measure between data points on a specific view. Move the cursor in a view and DP the view. Notice that all appropriate "Delta fields" get reset to Zero. Now data point another place in the view. The appropriate "Delta fields" will be populated with station/offset/elevation differences between the 2 data points. It also works dynamically when you don't data point the second time. I will give a practical example of how to use this below. The optional left toggle locks the entered value.
- DO: ... Stands for "Delta Offset". (See DS: above.)
- DZ: ... Stands for "Delta Elevation". (See DS: above.)
- Permanent Lock ... The help file says, "When this toggle is checked, coordinates locks remain active, even after a data point is issued". One use for it is explained below.
- Apply ... Once again, the help file says, "Press this toggle to send a data point to the input queue". An application for this would be similar to DP Sta. Offset, where you could enter a station and offset (Plan View) or station and elevation (Profile View) or station elevation and offset (Cross Section view). The user could then select (for example) place line or place cell and the element would be placed.
"Practical use" examples for using the Delta fields:
Delta Station:
Let's say the user wants to place a cell at an offset of -10 meters and at 100 meter increments beginning at 11+000.
- Set and lock the Station field to 11+000. Set and lock the Offset field to -10. Click on Apply. This places the first cell.
- With the Offset still locked at -10, unlock the Station field, set and lock the Delta Station to 100. Also lock the Permanent Lock toggle.
- With the active cell still selected, click on Apply again and again............it will incrementally adjust the station by the Delta Station value.
Delta Offset:
Let's say the user wants to place a cell at station 12+000 and at offsets of -5, -10, -15 etc.............
- Set and lock the Station field to 12+000. Set and lock the Offset field to -5. Click on Apply. This places the first cell.
- With the Station still locked at 12+000, unlock the Offset, set and lock in the Delta Offset (not Offset) to -5.
- With the active cell still selected, click on Apply again and again.......... it will increment the offset.
Delta Elevation:
The Delta Elevation works the same way, only in Profile and Cross Section views.
NOTE: The above examples were using "Place Cell". Any MicroStation tool that requires a DP will be able to work with this tool.