Pushing the Limits of AccuDraw

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Pushing the Limits of AccuDraw
Stephen Herrick Kansas Dept. Trans
Sherrick_at_ksdot.org.
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Starting AccuDraw
To start AccuDraw simply seleict the Icon on the
Primary Toolbar, OR keyin accudraw activate
You have the choice of either Rectangular or
Polar input
Rectangular
Polar
X , Y and Z Fields are displayed
Distance and Angle display
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AccuDraw Settings Quick Overview
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AccuDraw Settings Quick Overview
Unit Roundoff
Distance Locks distance increment Angle Locks
the angle increment
Coordinate System
Rotation When working in a 2D design file the
drawing plane portion of the compass functions
simply as an indicator of the current coordinate
system. However, in 3D, the drawing plane becomes
a much more valuable tool. Because the AccuDraw
drawing plane can be oriented along any plane in
3D space, AccuDraw's drawing plane indicator
determines where your data points will appear
with respect to the rest of the drawing. Type
Rectangular and Polar
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AccuDraw Settings Quick Overview
Controls
Floating Origin If on (the default), the origin
moves to the last point placed. Context
Sensitivity If on (the default), enables tools
to provide hints to AccuDraw to override its
default behavior for smoother operation. This may
include setting custom Context rotations,
setting the origin, locking values, or setting
the coordinate system type. Smart Keyins If on
(the default), AccuDraw interprets a number as
positive or negative, depending on the direction
of the pointer. In rectangular mode only, Smart
Keyins cause AccuDraw to move the focus to either
the x or the y field depending on pointer
position. Auto Point Placement If on, places
data points automatically when they have been
fully constrained (if you have locked both the X
and Y values, or if you have locked one or the
other while the pointer is indexed to zero). The
default is off (this feature is recommended for
experienced users). Sticky Z Lock With Sticky Z
lock toggled on, the z axis will remain locked
through consecutive operations instead of
unlocking after you enter a data point. It is
nice when you want to draw a line at one
elevation but your snap points may vary in
elevation.
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AccuDraw Settings Quick Overview
Display
X axis Color Change the color of the X axis of
the compass Y axis Color Change the color of the
Y axis of the compass Coordinate Readout
Displays the coordinate readout dialog Shortcuts
Displays the shortcuts avaiable
AccuDraw keyboard shortcuts are stored in a text
file so they can be edited using any word
processor or text editor as well as by using the
AccuDraw Shortcuts window. The configuration
variable AccuDraw Shortcuts (MS_ACCUDRAWKEYS) in
the Operation category of the Configuration
Variables dialog box identifies the name and
location of the shortcuts file. In the as
delivered Default workspace, the configuration
variable points to the file "shortcut.txt" in
Bentley's "Workspace\system\data"
directory. Manually editing the shortcuts file is
the only way to delete a shortcut, identify a
shortcut as 2D or 3D only, or rearrange the
ordering of the shortcuts. To read a shortcut
file keyin accudraw shortcuts readfile file
name
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AccuDraw Settings Quick Overview MORE
Indexing
Used to choose indexing settings for AccuDraw.
Sometimes when you are working in tight areas,
indexing can get in the way. These toggles allow
you to either turn off axis or distance indexing,
or both. In most cases, the L shortcut may be
more effective for temporarily turning off an
individual index. Axis Allows you to turn Axis
indexing on or off. Distance Allows you to turn
Distance indexing on or off. Tolerance Sets how
close the pointer must be to an element to snap a
tentative point. The default is 10 (pixels). This
can also be set in the Operation category of the
Preferences dialog box ( Locate Tolerance).
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AccuDraw Settings Quick Overview MORE
Display
This group box contains controls that allow you
to select the display color of AccuDraw's
highlight and compass frame. Hilite Opens the
Modify Axis Color dialog box, which is used to
select the display color of AccuDraw's highlight
frame. The dialog box controls are analogous to
those in the Modify Color dialog box. Frame
Opens the Modify Axis Color dialog box, which is
used to select the display color of AccuDraw's
compass frame. The dialog box controls are
analogous to those in the Modify Color dialog
box. Delayed Update If on, AccuDraws readout
displays when the cursor is still Show Negative
Angles If on, AccuDraw displays negative angles.
Shortcut Popups If on, AccuDraw displays
shortcut popups.
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Using AccuDraw PopCalc
The Popup Calculator allows you to perform basic
mathematical operations on values and then have
them entered into the AccuDraw coordinate input
box. The Popup Calculator also functions when
working in any of the Active Angle input fields.
You can perform addition, subtraction, division,
multiplication's, trigonometric functions COS(),
SIN(), TAN(), ASIN(), SQRT() etc and scientific
notations (5e2) While suing AccuDraw, enter one
of the four mathematical symbols in the AccuDraw
coordinate input box (,-,/,) and the Popup
Calculator appears. You can hold down your mouse
button on the symbol to change it to another
mathematical function. Select the proper
function and input the value you wish to use to
complete your equation. Below the Popup
Calculator input box, you will see the results of
the equation. Click ltEntergt to send these results
to the AccuDraw coordinate input box. You can
also create variables to store commonly used
vales POPCALC VARIABLE SHOW List the current
variables and their values POPCALC VARIABLE
DELETED ltvariablegt Deletes the variable POPCALC
VARIABLE SAVE ltvariablegt ltvaluegt Creates and
saves the variable There is not a text file that
saves your variables, the only variable that is
saved is pi. Also there is a special variable
which represents the starting value, whether
measured or typed into AccuDraws field. For
instance if you measured a distance and then want
twice that you can type 2 In addition to
AccuDraws input fields, the calculator works on
the active angle and the active scale fields.
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Using AccuDraw PopCalc Saving Variables
Since there is no text file that saves your
variables I have done the following. 1) Add them
to the file that MS_INIT variable points to. The
MS_INIT variable points to a usercommand that is
read when starting MicroStation Example KEY
'popcalc variable save mm 0.0254
KEY 'popcalc variable save m 0.3048
KEY 'popcalc variable save s .016
KEY 'popcalc variable save es
0.015625' 2)Created a ASCII text file and access
it through the _at_ command. The reason for
creating a file is that you can get around
the limitations of 255 characters for a
keyin keyingt _at_ltfull path and file namegt
Example of file POPCALC VARIABLE SAVE S
45 POPCALC VARIABLE SAVE F 90 3) Put them in
a function key using the semi-colon to separate
each variable. This is fine if you have less
than 255 characters in your keyin Example
POPCALC VARIABLE SAVE S 45POPCALC VARIABLE SAVE
F 90 NOTE The variables ARE case sensitive.
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Using AccuDraw PopCalc Handy Variables
keyin inches to mm popcalc variable save mm
0.0254 5mm Converts 5 inches to
millimeters keyin feet to meters popcalc
variable save m 0.3048 1.5m Converts 1.5
feet to meters keyin normal roadway slope
(Metric) 1.6 popcacl variable save s
0.0160 7.4s Keyin this in your Y distance to
get the RISE keyin normal roadway slope
(English) 3/16 popcacl variable save es
0.015625 12es Keyin this in your Y
distance to get the RISE Given percent of slope
to put in as a angle atan(percent of
slope/100 atan(5/100 If you have a 5
slope Given Radius and Length of curve your sweep
angle is L180/(piR) 1.52180/(pi15 NOTE
You do not have to put the CLOSING ) PopCalc
knows to do it
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SmartLine
With a name like that how could you NOT use it
!!!!!

• What can it do?
• Line Strings
• Arcs
• Shapes
• Complex shapes
• smartline arcbylength dialog gtgt Place a arc by
  Length and Radius REALLY COOL STUFF

Segment Type Lines or Arc Vertex Type Sharp,
Rounded and Chamfered Rounding Radius Radius
for Vertex Type Join Elements Creates a line
string or complex shape/string. When Join
Elements is on upon snapping to the start of your
line segment it will prompt you for what type of
shape attributes you want.