n4ce 4.20c Release Notes

n4ce 4.20c Release Notes

New

Improvements

Bugs

3D - Viewer (Changes and Updates)

New  

1. The code prefix dialog now has the ability to multi-select code prefixes for multiple changes. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360004135958
2. When querying points and features from surveys and co-ordinate blocks, the multiple found dialog is now displayed when you select multiple points at one time.
3. Text macros can now be used within the prefix strings for height, code and number annotation, including blank fields box. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360013320812-Text-Text-String-Macros
4. New option to create a model from the Select List of points from the current model. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360004777857
5. New option to project the list of points onto a long feature and point sections for section symbols. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360021894612
6. A new dialog box for line styles allows you to create new line styles, load from system files and unload from projects. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360023254131
7. n4ce will now automatically work out user shading intervals from a minimum and maximum height. 
8. An option has been added to create a report of code prefixes from the survey code prefix dialog box. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360004135958
9. A new option to specify a cursor scale when using 4K screens and also the current cursor size is remembered. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360004771978
10. We can now import data from an XPad raw file directly rather than using their EXP export using the normal import process. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360025936591.
11. A new option when plotting height shading key using user ranges to have all key blocks the same height. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360005071952
12. New options to transform a model by selecting a coordinate block and automatically matching points in the model.
13. Options to transform by selecting a coordinate extended to coordinate blocks and station.
14. Help Button now opens the web browser from within n4ce. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us
15. When measuring distances n4ce can now use "mm". However, if the distance is below 0.001mm it will assume zero.
16. New option to form triangles across a hole in a DTM, but doesn't include any points in the hole yet! https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360007452178
17. You can now use the "PD", "PSD" and "pdz" in the simple text macro calculations. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360013320812-Text-Text-String-Macros
18. There are new options in the DTM and Grid Model views to enable you to set the model attributes.
19. When importing AutoCAD files, if duplicate symbols are found, a report of the duplicated symbols is displayed. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360007293557-Importing-files-into-Cad
20. New options when plotting groups to plot the group depths and the group span widths.
21. New option to import Google Earth KML files into a CAD model, layered by element type. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360007293557-Importing-files-into-Cad
22. New option to commit the boundary of a grid model to its dedicated CAD backcloth.
23. Exporting codes to Trimble FXL without using the Trimble Line Engine now available. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360004135958
24. New option to create a multi-centre line feature between two other line features with the same number of points. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360007520458
25. When creating thread contours, you now have the option to ignore loop contours less than a user-defined length.
26. New option to crop a grid model where it overlays with another grid model.
27. New option to export beach sections where all the sections go into one file.
28. Improvements to CSV import where latitude and longitude coordinates can be read in and converted to OS Grid. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360005513997-Importing-and-Exporting-a-CSV-Model-
29. The ribbon bar version now has an option to define the size of the windows at startup. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360007873357
30. New options on the context menus for the tree on Survey Data which allow the whole tree to be expanded or collapsed in one go.
31. A new checkbox for symbol code prefixes "X & Y Scales" looks for SX= and SY= to scale symbols.
32. When creating symbols, a new dialog is displayed giving various creation options.

Improvements  

1. Improvement in speed when selecting a CAD model in the Ribbon Bar version where layers etc always updated.
2. When selecting the view scale in a model or dedicated CAD backcloth, the sibling view is also updated.
3. Numerous ribbon bar categories in the CAD model view now contain the Modes group for Pick, Lock and Draw.
4. When importing DWG files, if duplicate symbols are found, n4ce now says press cancel to continue with no more reports.
5. When importing Distance Offset readings from Trimble JXL, a remark is added showing the offsets applied.
6. When inserting or generating points from CAD, the Trend option can still be used even if a DTM has not been formed.
7. Could not import a JXL file that only contained points and not observations.
8. Line Apex Append in CAD with "Shift" for 45 degrees, etc, now uses the angle of the indicated end segment of the line.
9. Extracting height values from strings is now improved to allow more conditions.
10. Line feature Apex Free Append now uses the "Shift" for 45 degrees, similar to CAD Line Apex Append above.
11. When indicating text strings for heights, the height is now extracted from the string.
12. Ribbon bar icons updated for various tools and for horizontal and vertical alignments.
13. When locking to CAD lines, the Point Lock (O) will now also lock any vertex on a line and endpoints of arcs.
14. The section view needed to be resized before Grid overlay, scale bar and any kind of picking would work.
15. When creating an isopachyte from a grid model in the model view, the height extents are now reset.
16. When adding a new code prefix, the list control selection is cleared apart from the new prefix.
17. The option to turn the CAD move/copy preview on or off in the Ribbon Bar version has been implemented.
18. Options to create formation models and extract group models from DTMs added in Pro.
19. The options to make line segments perpendicular or parallel to another segment now allows the selection of multiple segments. 
20. The option to make a segment parallel to another about its midpoint now has an icon in the toolbar version.
21. Improvement in speed when deleting or cropping grid models using polygons, polylines or corridors.
22. When plotting multiple sections in CAD, the creation of the layers and the elements should be quicker.
23. Improvements and corrections to the shading display and shading keys.
24. Importing attributes from codes in JXL now improved to include choice lists, ranging and defaults.
25. When taking feature sections, new option to extract remark and default code for section points is copied.
26. Must Load settings in Road Markings style confused, also Load All option to reset must load for all line styles.
27. When creating an Isopachyte DTM, if the Simple Projection option is selected, the Group Depth controls disabled.
28. When creating CAD elements, the option to assign heights has now had a toggle added to elect not to.
29. You can no longer rename a section profile so that the name is an empty string.
30. Importing comma codes and dimensions now implemented in notes for XPad RAW files.
31. The creation of a merged grid model for export to ASC or simplification has been speeded up substantially.
32. When creating EACSD files, the names of the sections and references to them in the long-sections are now in capitals.
33. The Mirror copy option for model points is now available even if a modelled formed.
34. When importing a grid DTM, a check is made to ensure that n4ce does not try to allocate too much memory causing a crash.
35. Various options added to the Grid DTM menus when using professional such as contours and sections.
36. When querying points in co-ordinates, if the dialog was exited with no changes or by cancel, the feature would still redraw itself.
37. When moving a point using Point and 3D Lock, sometimes n4ce locked to the same feature if inside search radius.
38. When copying points from a backcloth by rectangle, the copied points were not shown.
39. When importing DWGs that have a UCS applied, to create the correct co-ordinates, this is now recognised.
40. If a default for a code prefix is a "!" character, it will be ignored if the dimension is not defined. Ignored when imported from loggers.

Bug Fixes

1. The options to set the autosave settings in the ribbon bar version did not work.
2. When creating materials and constructions, the materials were not remembered unless you selected the Save button from the Construction Defaults dialog.
3. Extents were not being updated when plotting a section in a dedicated CAD backcloth.
4. Export of text strings that only contain \n to AutoCAD DWG caused a crash.
5. When digitising points from a point cloud into a model, the extents were not updated.
6. Inserting points into a DTM using model interpolation where there was not "formed" model caused a crash.
7. The "No Upload" button in the points property page of the codes dialog was not set to tri-state.
8. When finishing the editing of height text, the entered prefix was also copied to the suffix.
9. When exporting code files, the extensions and file descriptions were all to wrong.
10. The Line feature Apex Append Free option did not work correctly in Rectangle or List mode.
11. The model interpolation option was greyed out but remained set in point insert if the model's triangles deleted.
12. Pressing Ctrl+Shift and left-click to start a fast zoom in the model view caused a crash.
13. The height shading key in the 3D view did not have the correct shaded rectangles.
14. The shading keys were incorrect when the user scheme or intervals used the minimum or maximum option.
15. When defining the DTM shading key, if an interval of 0.2 was entered, on returning this showed as 0.25.
16. Measure attribute graphics stay on screen when deselected.
17. Opacity fades out the colour instead of the transparency.
18. When re-opening a model the camera is moved to a different place.
19. If you have a section and do "Section from Feature". Selecting yes to removing all points will cause n4ce to hang and become unresponsive.
20. Grouping by DTM distance is affecting the incorrect points.
21. Commit solid hatch boundary is greyed out in designer.
22. When creating an elevation from a survey or co-ordinate data, if you select export straight away, n4ce crashes.
23. When extending the end of a CAD line perpendicularly to a reference, if a reference was not indicated, crash.
24. When trying to import a Leica DBX file with no jobs, a crash will have occurred if OK was selected.
25. The options to make a line segment parallel to another had an issue when the two lines straddled due north.
26. The option to generate points using the closest text as the height was not working.
27. Memory leaks in some functions when appending strings to the end of the points list.
28. When exporting to DWG, if a 2-point line has the same start and end coordinates, a crash would have occurred.
29. When inserting points, the four-point intersection option did not work.
30. When defining DTM shading, user shading ranges for pre-defined shading may not have been enabled when changing shading type.
31. When assigning numbers from CAD to points by closest text border to point, the wrong number gets assigned.
32. When defining codes, the Prefix of text annotation was also set in the Suffix when querying points.
33. When generating a report of points from a DTM, the attributes contained all the information relating to the 3D view.
34. When defining code annotation, the defaults for some of the checkboxes were not initialised correctly.
35. The "On First Point" checkbox was missing from the heights and numbers annotation property pages.
36. When committing a grid over a model, if you define a new layer for the grid and select it, a crash occurred.
37. The option to delete a viewport from the right-click pop-up menu is disabled.
38. When exporting stations in a layout, the station elements may not have taken the correct attributes and layer.
39. When copying features from a backcloth model, the extents of the current model not updated.
40. When using CAD Hatch -> Solid -> Elements, the MRU command list also has hatch elements added.
41. In the code prefix dialog, if you select a code and then select Clear All, a crash occurred.
42. When extracting EACSD files, if more than one hard bed string, new hard bed points between added to export.
43. In the code prefix dialog, if you select all the codes and press Remove, a crash occurred.
44. When entering points including attributes, if the edit window is full, the user cannot enter data.
45. When exporting to DWG, if a shape with no type is set by code, a line is exported to 0.0,0.0.
46. When smoothing thread contours, if a line has a gapped apex at the end, a crash occurs.
47. When loading old projects, the road line styles were not correctly read in.
48. When creating a grid inside a viewport, the text style defined in the grid settings was not used.
49. When breaking lines, the height of the new line is set and then cannot be undone.
50. When creating thread contours using the height shading, if the shading was limited, a crash may have occurred.
51. AutoSave not automatically turning on. May have to set it each time n4ce starts.
52. When importing DWG symbols with regions, they were not exploded correctly.
53. When importing DWG symbols, an incorrect error could have been displayed when importing symbols within symbols.
54. The current DTM was not displayed if the Display Groups in Background option was checked and backcloths turned off.
55. When importing AutoCAD DWG/DXF files, if a spline is included and the units are mm, too many points created.
56. When importing DWG where block references have extrusions, the angle of symbols created was not correct. 

3D viewer (Changes and Updates)

New

1. When digitising in a section view, if angle snapping is enabled, the angle will be relative to the previous line segment that was just digitised. https://help.appsincadd.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360002256518
2. A new layer status button has been added to the home category within the 3d viewer.
3. A new checkbox has been added in sections category in the ribbon bar version of n4ce (Updated Graphical User Interface).
4. You can now highlight points in the 3d viewer, the point size will increase so it can be identified. 
5. Road markings can now be drawn from within the 3D viewer.
6. Under the section category, there is a new checkbox so strings can be toggled on and off.

Improvements 

1. The n4ce transformations feature can now be used from within the 3D viewer.
2. You now have the ability to digitised scan locations as points in the model.
3. You now have the option to hide strings as string shapes.
4. The camera position can now be saved and loaded from a file.

Bugs

1. 3D Shape Textures are being squashed along the length of the shape when applied.
2. 3D Shape Texture mapping was broken for rectangular shapes.
3. Gradient shader texture mapping issue over steep angles when exporting from 3D.
4. Textures on square string shapes were broken when applying them in the 3D view.
5. Textures seem to be upside down on square strings shapes when being applied.
6. 3ds export with textures was crashing AutoCAD and Meshlab when opening it.
7. When Enable Textures is clicked, the checkbox doesn't update to show this change.
8. When textures are applied to a pipe, the lighting doesn't respond to the change.
9. You couldn't lock to points within the 3D view if heigh performance mode is disabled.
10. If a pane is set to auto-hide, then the 3D Viewer crashes when it is re-opened.
11. When square pipes were being created not all were appearing. 
12. When a Cloud is added to the tree but the file cannot be found, the pointer is still set, therefore meaning that the Cloud isn't reloaded when the file is found.
13. If a clipping box was active with a Point Cloud and a string, turning off the Point Cloud causes the data to be moved and the string to disappear.
14. Intellisphere doesn't use all points within the point cloud.
15. The section along Feature tool sometimes crashes the 3D view, making n4ce unresponsive.
16. Double-clicking the application button, usually after moving the window, causing a crash within the 3D view.
17. Large images weren't showing up in the 3D view when they were selected. 
18. A crash occurred when exporting a Geo-Image from the 3D viewer.
19. If you removed a Point Cloud then added another the 3D viewer would hang causing n4ce to become unresponsive.
20. When a screenshot is taken with the 2D camera it puts a grid overlay even when it's disabled.