There may be a more clever way to do this, so I thought I would throw it out there to see if this is a me/training problem or an enhancement request.
Corridor surface linework, whether exploded in the olden days or dynamic in the properties now, includes perpendicular lines for several reasons including: template changes, offset tables go to 0, side slopes do not catch, and more. There are also zero-length lines that do nothing more than take up space. .VCL designs are humongous, so anything we can do to strip out the valueless junk and keep selections in the field software to the minimum number of lines is ideal.
I seek a way to select linework perpendicular to the alignment, maybe within a user-defined parameter like +/-1°, which could then be deleted, moved to a different layer, or simply de-selected for a design map export to the field.
My method now is to use Advanced Select and choose lines by name, adding them to my selection one at a time until I have the complete design map. This takes the number of lines from the thousands to hundreds on a long corridor. Since the linework is dynamic, I have to repeat this process over and over for each revision.
(Related to this, Smart Edit - Join lines that have the same name, within a user-defined parameter to not join large distances, has been awesome!)
Maybe when I get an chance to update my TBC license, I will be able to use the new version of corridor linework. But for now I enjoy using the “side slope” tool. Not to get confused with the corridor side slope isntruction. This is the actual tool which is set up just like the corridor but only creates 3D linestrings. and then you have to explode them. If you dont explode them anything you do to the lines can change since its dynamic to any chances in 'side slope"
I stopped using corridor years ago since I can modify tie in such as exit and entrance ramps, cross street and at the constuction limit tie ins.
can you expound on the last sentence? Side slope is corridor…without the surface creation and the material layers? seems limiting, why are you only using side slope?
Francisco, I think you should try corridors again, and not only for the dynamic linework.
Intersections are great when you are given simple design criteria. A complex design with provided CAD linework for islands, turn pockets, curb elevations, etc will need to be modeled manually.
Most of the small roads and highways I do get TBC intersections with great success. The side slope command has its uses, including a job like this where the intersection stops at the shoulder and I had to carry it down to to a hinge point and then tie to OG. So this screenshot shows 2 corridors, 1 intersection, and 3 side slope commands tied together in a composite surface.
If you use a table for an offset for the initial offset/slope instruction to the shoulder you can cut off a intersection with a driveway/approach using a ? at the start station and resume the slopes at the end station. Then the corridor works where it can, and you model in the details to fill in the blanks.
I can suggest a slight improvement over using the advanced select, instead you could use the Selection explorer…select all the lines generated by the corridor, click selection snapshot to list all the selected items, then sort the list by name and select only the lines with names.
Everything I mentioned would work fine on corridors going back well before v5.60, with the exception of Composite Surface. Use a regular surface instead, just make sure it’s clean where they overlap.
Corridor line-work resides on its own specific layer, associated to whatever material name you have given it. Isolate layer > Select Feature lines > done. This works exceedingly well if you table your instructions as the feature lines are continuous. I may have to go chase down the occasional “previous node” feature line but i never advance select corridor lines. why does a simple method such as the above not work?
TBC corridors are full of zero-length lines where Side Slopes don’t catch. These are the problem I have now with the Selection Explorer. Something I will whine about to my Trimble dealer…
But yes, the selection explorer is a timesaver vs what I did before, by a few clicks.
