TBC version 5.90 – What Is New for Contractors
May 30th 2023
Warranty Date for Perpetual License Holders is May 01 2023
(see notes below relating to new commands)
Video Overview of the Top New Functions for Contractors
Overview / Highlights
TBC version 5.90 has several major improvements suited to construction workflows. Key functionality improvements include.
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Reference files are now supported by the Reference File View Filter Manager allowing you to manage what is visible inside the reference file(s) that are associated with the active project. In addition, you can now use the Copy Objects command to copy data from the Reference Files into the Active Project.
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New Create and Edit Composite Surface command. This allows you to create a surface model from a prioritized list of surfaces that are processed in hierarchical order to create the composite surface.
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The New Overexcavation Template Manager allows you to define templates for the design of overexcavation areas. The templates allow for horizontal and vertical or sloping elements as well as a sideslope to daylight. The templates can be used in the Overexcavation command to create Overexcavation for Takeoff but can also be used to create Overexcavation surfaces that can be used outside of the Takeoff processes.
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DWG and DXF CAD File import has been enhanced to support Multi Leader Line and Multi Line objects. The Multileader Lines are exploded into polyline objects during import. The Multiline objects are imported at centerline of the multiline objects. These enhancements reduce the loss of elevation call outs that are associated with multi leader line objects.
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DWG and DXF CAD objects all now have a Layer Group property. This means that when you make a selection in TBC and select any type of CAD object, there will always be the option to regroup the layers of those objects into your layer groups.
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The new Extract Stockpile command provides the ability to extract stockpile boundaries from point clouds and create a stockpile volumes report from any number of stockpiles in a stockyard.
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New Drape Objects on Point Cloud command provides the ability to elevate linework nodes using near points to those nodes in a point cloud. Several methods have been provided to determine the elevation for each node of the selected line (Highest, Lowest, Mean etc.)
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The new Boundary Select command allows you to simply select point cloud data that lies inside a selected boundary line. The selected point cloud data can then be made into a point cloud region or be added to a point cloud region. This command does not require TBC to be in Polygon Select Mode in order to make the selection.
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Alignment properties now include the ability to add a reference alignment to the alignment from which stationing will be defined. This has been added for marine pipe laying contractors so the “actual” pipeline centerline can be referenced to the Design pipeline centerline for the purposes of stationing (KP Markers) and drafting of profiles and cross sections.
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The New Divide Area command can be used to subdivide a bounded area into several equal sized lots or into lots of a specific area or width.
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New / Improved Web Map Services access using the OGC Services manager (Open Geospatial Consortium). This provides access to a host of Web Maps and Web Feature Services that can provide Orthoimagery, Base Maps and Features like Contours and other GIS Features (Roads, Rivers, Streams, Boundaries) that can supplement your project data.
Detailed Overview of the Improvements
Reference File Improvements
The Reference File functionality has been significantly improved in the v5.90 release through the addition of
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Reference File View Filter Manager – this provides the ability to create and modify view filters that are being applied to the reference file(s) that you have associated with the Active Project. The Reference File View Filter Manager docks with the Project Explorer, View Filter Manager and Selection Explorer and allows the user to select the reference File that will have its view filter modified. You can select a predefined view filter from the reference file or modify the My Filter view filter to display the desired information.
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Copy Objects Command – this command has been enhanced to allow the user to copy objects from a reference File into the Active project. The copy objects command will copy CAD data, surface models, alignments and corridor models etc.
Create Composite Surface
The create composite surface command provides a powerful tool for creating surfaces from other surfaces. Through the selection of the surfaces that you want to create and the definition of a surface hierarchy, a new surface is created from the selected surfaces. The command progressively merges the surfaces together based on the hierarchy defined.
Edit Composite Surface
Provides the ability to edit a composite surface model by adding or removing component surfaces or by changing the hierarchy for the merge operations.
Overexcavation Template Manager
The Overexcavation template manager provides the ability to define setback and layback slopes for Overexcavation for buildings and foundation models. Once defined, the Overexcavation templates can be applied to the overexcavation computations in a Takeoff. The Overexcavation command has been extended to utilize the Overexcavation templates and to also allow the creation of Overexcavation surfaces outside the takeoff use case.
CAD Drawing Import Improvements
DXF and DWG File import has been improved to support some of the CAD objects not previously supported including Multi Leader Lines and Multiline objects. Multi Leader Lines are often used for elevation callouts in AutoCAD and in previous TBC versions they were ignored during import thereby losing some or all of the elevation data provided.
In addition, all CAD Object types now have a Layer property after import provided the project has Layer Groups defined. This now means that you can now more easily make object selections and reassign the layers of the selected objects to a Layer Group, making it faster to sort through a CAD file after import.
Extract Stockpile / Stockpile Volumes Reports
After importing a point cloud file for a stockyard containing stockpiles, you can now use this command to rapidly find the boundaries of the stockpiles and add the boundary to a stockpile list that will be computed for volumetric purposes once all piles have been identified. The process generates a simplified earthworks report for the stockpiles providing the volumes and surface areas for each of the piles. The command will find the stockpile boundaries but can also leverage boundaries defined manually by the user.
Drape Objects on Point Cloud
If you have 2D lines that you want to elevate utilizing point data from a point cloud, you can now achieve that using this command. The command processes one line at a time and elevates the nodes of the selected line using point data extracted from the point cloud using a search area tolerance, The elevation derived can be the Highest, Average Highest, Lowest, Average Lowest or the Mean Elevation of the points analyzed in the search area.
Note that you cannot process multiple lines in a single pass, and you cannot compute points along the path of the line unless there is a node in the line to be elevated. In my view this limits the usefulness of the command in this first version.
Reference Alignment for Alignments
When laying underwater pipe, the pipe’s actual alignment can deviate from the design alignment for the pipe. You can now select a reference alignment for an alignment (in the properties pane) after which stationing (KP values) are derived from the reference alignment. The reference alignment is also used for the generation of profiles and cross section drawings.
Web Map Services Support
Significant development effort has been put into the support of Web Map and Web feature Services that are becoming more widely available. These services can provide ortho imagery, lidar and feature lines (Wetlands, Rivers, Roads, Cadastral boundaries, contours etc. that can be used to supplement your survey information.
Divide Area
This command allows you to subdivide polygonal lines into areas – either several equal areas, or areas defined by specified area or width in relation to a specified baseline segment of the polygon.
Boundary Select
The Boundary Select command provides a fast and easy way to select an area of a Point Cloud to add to or create a Point Cloud Region from. This command does not have any dependency on the Polygon Select mode of selection.