Feature Sections

The Calculate Feature option allows you to take a line feature and create a section from it.  You will be asked to indicate the feature to use.  Note that this feature is used to calculate the profile and so the triangles and features of the current model are not considered.  You can create profiles from other models in the normal way.

When selected, the property sheet asking you to define the section will be displayed. 

The Definition page allows you to control the calculations for the section.  The two data groups to the right of the page are empty when calculating feature sections

The Chainage field allows you to define the start chainage of the section.  When sections are calculated, only the offset along the cut line is stored.  When plotting the section, you may wish to specify a chainage value which will be added to the offsets.  If the indicated feature has a chainage dimension on the first point, CHN=, this value will be used to override any value in this field.

When taking sections along features, there are situations where you wish to see another feature that is close by.  For instance, when showing a section along the centre line of a road, you may wish to superimpose the channel lines on either side.  The Project Features check box allows you to do this.  After you have indicated the initial feature, you will be asked to indicate one or more other features you wish to project.  You may also be only interested in the projected feature if it is within a certain corridor and the Max Projection check box allows you to control this.  Once this is enabled, the field below is also enabled and you can enter the maximum projection distance here.  Any point that must be projected by more than the specified distance will be ignored.

The Code Pen check box allows you to control the colour of the feature profiles.  If checked, the colour that is used to display the line feature in plan will be copied into the colour that will be used for the profile of the feature.  If not checked, the profile colour will be the same as that for the section defaults.

Each point on a section profile has a code.  The Extract Code combo box allows you to specify what string is assigned to these codes.  If left blank, the code will simply be that of the feature.  There are two pre-set settings for this field.

Number - The number of the point on the feature will be assigned to the corresponding point on the profile.

CODE= - If a dimension called CODE exists on a point, the value of this dimension will be assigned to the corresponding point on the profile.  If no dimension is found, no code is assigned.

Any dimension can be extracted by entering a string of the form A= into this field where A is the name of the dimension to be extracted.  This is useful for sections along pipelines where you wish to highlight certain objects along the pipeline, such as valves.