Section Defaults

The Section Defaults option allows you to define the various settings that control the creation of section plots.  When section plots are created, you are always given the option to change these defaults for any given section.  When selected, the Section Plot Defaults property dialog is displayed.   

Note that this option is also available from a number of the Settings menus in the graphic views.  

• General Tab

We can now add \n for multi-line titles within the Annotation. Double-click on the Annotation to start editing.  

Justification allows users to align the Annotation to the Left, Centred or Right when plotting the section.   

Section plots are created within a section frame that consists of three areas and a simple example of a section plot is given below.  To the top right of the plot, outlined in blue, is an area where the section profiles and any associated drop lines are drawn.  To the top left of the plot, outlined in red, is an area where additional information, such as scales, is displayed.  Along the bottom of the plot, outlined in green, is an area where some or all of the section profile annotation is placed.

The Section Frame group of the General Property page defines the basic settings for the section frame.
The Pen field defines the pen to use with all frame lines being drawn in a solid line. 
The Text Style field defines the text style that is used for all of the text associated with the frame, such as scale values and annotation titles. 
The Date Text Style is the text style that is used to display the date that the section plot was created.  It will be displayed in the form DD/MM/YYYY below the bottom left of the section.  If you do not wish to plot the date, you should set this field to None. 
The Plot Top check box allows you to plot the section frame without a full rectangle.
The last check box Trim Ends is used to trim cross sections so that each individual section is only as long as the data it contains.

• Annotations
  In the General property page from the Section Plot Defaults property dialog, you are given the tools to select the section drop line annotation that you wish to be plotted.  These are contained in the Annotation group on that page.  The list box shows the annotation that is currently selected for plotting.  If you double-click one of the items in this list, a dialog box will be displayed showing you the settings for that item of annotation.  The order of this annotation is the same as the order in which it will appear on the section plot. If you wish to add more items of annotation or remove some of those that are in the list, use the Define button.  This displays the Section Annotation dialog box.

The Available list to the left shows which items of annotation have been set up for use.  The Selected list to the right shows which items of annotation have been selected for plotting.  Use the arrow buttons in the middle to add items to or remove items from the selected annotation. The Create button below the list of available items allows you to create a new item of section annotation.  When selected, a blank version Section Annotation Item dialog box will be displayed.  The Delete button allows you to remove an item from the available list. The Up and Down buttons can be used to change the order of the selected items. If you double-click on an item in either of these lists, the Section Annotation Item dialog will be displayed allowing you to make any necessary changes.

The Section Annotation Item dialog box allows you to create or modify section annotation.  The Title field is the text string that is displayed in the section plot frame.  The Data field is a drop list which allows you to define which item of annotation is to be displayed.  The Decimals field is a drop list allowing you to define the number of decimal places, if relevant, for the item of annotation.  The Height field defines the height of the annotation box at the bottom of the section plot.

To the bottom left, a number of checkboxes will appear depending upon which item of data you elect to plot.  Two are relatively common whilst others are more specific.  The Plot on Profile is available for a number of items and enables you to plot that annotation item in the section profile area of the section plot rather than in the annotation area.  However, plotting more than one item on the profile will lead to overwriting text.  Normally, section profile drop lines pass all the way through the section plot annotation area.  The Drop Line Skip check box allows you to gap the drop line so that it does not pass that item of annotation.

Some annotation items are plotted as spans which are represented by a horizontal line which has arrowheads at either end.  The item of annotation is then plotted above and/or below the centre of the line.

• The section items that can be added to a section plot are as follows.
  • None: This setting creates an empty box in the section plot.  This can be used if you wish to add further information or notes to the section plot.
    
    
  • Height: This setting will plot the heights of the section profiles in the annotation boxes and can be plotted above the section profile.  If the section comprises more than one profile, an annotation box for each profile will be created if the Multiple Annotation check box is checked.  If this check box is not checked, only one annotation box for all height annotations will be created.  The Multiple Skip check box will be displayed so that the drop line will only be drawn through the appropriate annotation box and skip those boxes for the other profiles.  This check button is only available if the Multiple Annotation check box is checked.
    
    
  • dHeight: This setting will calculate the difference in height between each pair of section profiles.  If displayed on the section profile, the text will be placed somewhere between the two surfaces.  If the section comprises more than two profiles, an annotation box for each height difference will be between profiles will be created.  The Multiple Skip check box will be displayed so that the drop line will only be drawn through the appropriate annotation box and skip other height difference annotation boxes.  The Datum Deltas check box will be displayed forcing the height differences from the second and subsequent profiles to be calculated relative to the first profile.  The Don’t Plot Zeros check will be displayed meaning that any zero height differences will not be plotted.
    
    
  • Chainage: This setting will plot the chainage of the section profile point along the section and can be plotted above the section profile.  A further check box, Slope Measurement, will force the display of slope distance chainages rather than the normal plan chainages.
    
    
  • Easting: This setting will plot the easting of the section profile point.
    
    
  • Northing: This setting will plot the northing of the section profile point.
  • Code: This setting will extract the code of the section profile point which can be plotted on the section profile.  Note that comma codes will not be added to the point codes that are plotted.  Also, if code annotation is plotted, drop lines will always be plotted for those profile points with a code.
    
    
  • Group: This setting will plot the DTM group between section profile points and where more than one profile is being plotted, an annotation box will be given for each profile.  Group names are plotted in spans with the name of the group plotted above the centre of the horizontal line and if set, the depth of the group plotted below.  To simplify the spans, the group names assigned to the section profile elements are compared along the section and the spans are combined where the same group name is used on adjacent elements.
    
    
  • Distance: This setting will calculate the plan distance between section profile points which can be plotted on the section profile.  If plotted in the annotation boxes, the distances are plotted as spans.  An additional check box is visible for this option called Slope Measurement.  This allows the display of the slope distance between section profile points.  This item of annotation is intended for fairly simple sections where there is a good distance between points.
    
    
  • Dimension: This setting will extract a dimension from a section profile point which can be plotted on the section profile.  To define the dimension to extract, the name of the required dimension should be added to the end of the title after a comma.  For example, a title of Depth,D would extract a dimension called D and place it in an annotation box with the title Depth.  If the number of decimals is set to a value of 0, the dimension will be plotted without formatting.  If the number of decimals is set to anything else, it will be assumed that the dimension is a number and it will be formatted accordingly.
    
    
  • Remark: This setting will extract the remark from a section profile point which can be plotted on the section profile.  If the remark is a multi-line remark, only the first line of the remark will be plotted.

• Plot Tab
  

  The Plot property page allows you to further refine the plotting of the section frame.  The Hz & Vt Scales check boxes allow you to specify whether you wish to plot the horizontal and vertical scale values on the section plot.  The Section Datum check box allows you to specify whether a section datum value, which is the top of the annotation boxes, is plotted.  If this is ticked, the drop list below allows you to define the number of decimal places to use.

The Title group allows you to specify the position of the section title if it is required.  The section title is defined during the actual section plot process which will be described later in this chapter.  There are three possible settings for the title position.

None: This option specifies that no title is required and whatever title was entered in the section plot process will not be remembered.

Top Left: This option specifies that the title will be placed in the top left corner of the section plot frame.  Care should be taken to ensure that the section title is short enough so that it does not overwrite any other part of the section plot.

Underneath: This option specifies that the title will be placed underneath the section plot.  It will be positioned in the centre and offset from the bottom of the section annotation boxes by the height of the section frame text.

The Coordinates section check box allows you to plot the coordinates of the section cut line various user-defined locations relative to the section box.  A coordinate will be displayed at each change in direction of the section.  If this is ticked, the drop list below allows you to define the number of decimal places used for these coordinates. 

The Ends Only check box also allows you to restrict the cut line coordinates to only the start and end positions of the section.

The Centre Line check box allows you to plot a centre line on the section plot.  This is only appropriate for cross-sections.  If ticked, a line will be created in the section profile area from the top of the section down to the top of the annotation boxes and will be in the same colour as the section frame using the Centre line style.

Datum & Top of Box allows you to now round the Datum and Top of Box to an interval.

• Areas Tab
  The Areas property page defines whether the cut and fill areas of the section are to be plotted and, if so, the calculations that are to be carried out and displayed.  There are four settings for the calculations as follows.

None: No areas are displayed on the section plot.

Second Surface: The area between the first two profiles on the section is displayed.  If there are gaps in either profile, no area is calculated.

Closed Ends: The area of the polygon created by closing the start point on the first section profile to the endpoint.  Each element in the section profile is projected down to the closing line and the resulting quadrilateral is used.  Gaps in the section profile are ignored.

Datum Level: Each element of the section profile is projected to a datum level, specified in the Datum field, and the resulting quadrilateral is used.  Gaps in the section profile are ignored.

The Group Depths check box allows you to take any group depths in the first profile into account.  Before the calculations take place, the elements that are part of groups with a depth will be lowered accordingly.  The Double Depths check box allows you to take account of any group depths relating to the second profile.

• Sizing Tab
  The Sizing property page allows you to specify a default for vertical scale exaggeration and to size parts of the section frame.  The Vt Exaggeration field allows you to define the denominator by which the horizontal scale is divided to calculate the vertical scale.  If the CAD model on which you are plotting the section has a scale of 1:500 and the vertical exaggeration is set to 5.0, the default vertical scale for the section plot will be 1:100.  This logic also follows for any Section Previews which are displayed after actually taking a section. 

The Widths group allows you to define some basic defaults for the section pot frame.  These are all defined in millimetres when plotted.  The Title Box field defines the width of the title box to the left of the section frame.  The Before Profile and After Profile fields define the gaps left between the section frame and the start and end of the section profile.  These values help separate the section profiles from the frame and also stop annotation from being plotted in the title box area.

• Grid Tab
  Over the area of the section plot where the profiles are created, n4ce allows you to display a grid showing chainages and heights.  The settings for this grid are set using the Grid property page from the Section Plot Defaults property sheet.  You can select which grid lines to display using the Lines drop list.  There are four available selections. 

None: No grid lines or annotations will be plotted.  If this option is set, all of the other fields on the property page are disabled.

Horizontal: Only horizontal grid lines and annotation will be plotted illustrating profile heights.

Vertical: Only vertical grid lines and annotation will be plotted illustrating profile chainages.

Both: Horizontal and vertical grid lines and annotations will be displayed.

The Hz Spacing and Vt Spacing fields are enabled if required and define the appropriate spacing of grid lines.  Note that if only horizontal lines are to be plotted, the field defining the vertical spacing is enabled.  Conversely, if only vertical lines are to be plotted, the field defining the horizontal spacing is enabled.

The Pen and Line Style fields in the Parameters group define the settings for the grid lines.  The Flick Lines check box allows you to specify that only short lines at each end of the grid line are created.  If this is checked, the Flick Length field is enabled defining the length of the required flick lines.  Note that flick lines will always be drawn using the solid line style.

The defaults for the grid line annotation text is set by the remaining fields.  The Annotate check box allows you to turn annotation on or off.  If turned on, the Text Style field defines the style used to create the text.  If the Text Both Ends check box is ticked, text annotation will be created at both ends of grid lines.  If not, the text will only be created to the left of horizontal lines and at the bottom of vertical lines.  The Text to Left check box only controls the positioning of annotation to the left of horizontal lines.  If ticked, the text will be placed to the left of the section profile area, in the section plot information area.

The justification and positioning of grid annotation text will vary depending on whether flick lines are being used and also two of the settings for drop line annotation.  The first setting specifies that drop line annotation is to be plotted to the right of each drop line.  If this is set, the grid annotation for vertical grid lines will also be moved to the right.  The second setting specifies that drop line annotation should be read from the left of the section rather than the default right.  If this is set, the grid annotation for vertical lines will also be read from the left.   If flick lines are used, the annotation text will be justified about either the middle left or middle right points on the text string and ignore the setting to position drop line annotation to the right.  It will, however, obey the setting to read drop line annotation from the left.

• Profile Tab
  Section profile lines are plotted on the section to show the changes surface levels.  Whilst you have options to reduce the number of section profile drop lines, the profiles will always be displayed in their entirety with no apexes removed.  The Profile page from the Section Plot Defaults property sheet allows you to specify the defaults that are used to plot the profile lines.  The Pen fields defines the default pen used for the profile.  There is an extra item in the drop list called Model Pen which enables you to plot profiles in the same pen as that used to display it graphically on the screen.  The Line Style field defines the line style that will be used for the profile.  The selection of line styles that can be used is limited to simple line styles.  The Profile Key check box allows the plotting of a key to the profiles in the information area to the top left of the section plot.  This key will comprise a short line in the pen and line style of the profile followed by the name of the profile.  The No Profile Flicks will turn off the short flicks lines that are plotted on a profile when an item of annotation is plotted next to the profile rather than in the annotation area.

• Drop Lines Tab
  The Drop Lines page from the Section Plot Defaults property sheet allows you to define the frequency and format of section profile drop lines.  These are vertical lines that usually start at the section profile and drop down through the section annotation boxes along the bottom of the section plot.  Associated with each drop line will be a number of items of annotation text.

  The number of drop lines that are plotted is defined in the Definition group.  The Frequency field is a drop list specifying the initial number of drop lines before any filtering takes place and can be set to one of four settings.

  • None: This option allows you to specify no drop lines are plotted in the section profile area of the section plot.  The portion of the drop line that passes through the annotation is still created.

  • Features: This option allows you to specify that only section profile points with a code assigned to them will have a drop line created.  This code is assigned during the section calculation process and comes from an intersection with a line feature.

  • Interval: This option allows you to specify that drop lines will only be plotted at a fixed interval along the section, which is defined in the Interval field.  Heights are interpolated from the section profiles at the required interval.  If the code of section points is being plotted as annotation, this option will also plot drop lines where a point has a code.

  • Feature and Interval: This option is a combination of the previous two.  Drop lines will be plotted for all points on the section profile and then additional drop lines will be added at fixed intervals along the section profile.

  • No Cut Line Points: This option specifies that drop lines are not plotted at the feature cut line points.  Drop lines will only be plotted at DTM intersections.

  • All: This option specifies that drop lines should be created for every point in the profile.

A new option to automatically bend drop lines when plotting sections is now available in n4ce v4.30. Under the Drop lines tab, set the AutoBend to Minimum to start bending at the lowest height of the section, or Halfway which bends between the lowest height, and the lowest datum value for the section. 

When section drop lines are plotted, there are often times when there are too many leading to situations where the annotation text items from different drop lines overlap each other.  There are tools which can be used to edit the section drop lines after they have been plotted and these tools will be described later in this chapter.  The Filtering field allows you to tell n4ce to try and remove some of the superfluous drop lines and to try and deal with overlapping annotation.  Note that if you are plotting multiple profiles on a section plot, drop lines from different profiles are not compared for filtering purposes.  There are four settings for filtering.

The Flick Lines check box allows you to specify that the portion of the section drop line in the section plot annotation area is not continuous but a series of flick lines next to the relevant item of annotation text.  The Remove Duplicates check box allows you to compare all the drop lines and merge any that are at exactly the same chainage along the section.  This is the only situation where the drop lines from different profiles are compared.  If a duplicate is found, the drop line that extends to the highest level is retained and it adopts all the annotation associated with its duplicates before they are removed.  Normally, the change points of a section cut line are always represented by a drop line.  The Ignore Change Points check box allows you to remove the change points pf profiles where the calculated profile point at that location does not have a valid height.

The Parameters group from the Drop Lines property page define the settings for the creation of each individual drop line.  The Pen field defines the pen that will be used for the drop line with the drop line always being drawn in a solid line style.  There is an extra item in the drop list called Profile Pen which means that the same pen as used for the section profile will be used for its associated drop lines.  The Text Pen is the pen that will be used for the text annotation associated with a drop line.  There are two extra items in the drop list.  The first is Drop Line Pen which means that the annotation will use the same pen as that assigned to its drop line.  The second is Profile Pen which means that the annotation will use the same pen as that assigned to its section profile.  The Text Style field defines that used by the annotation for a drop line.

Normally, section drop line annotation is placed to the left of the drop line and read from the right.  The Annotate on Right check box allows you to place the annotation to the right of its drop line.  The Read from Left check box allows you to ensure that section annotation text is read from the left of the section. 

When plotting chainages for a cross-section, the normal convention is that the drop lines to the left of the centre line have a negative chainage.  The Positive Chainages check box allows you to make all chainages on cross sections positive, whether left or right.

• Multi Tab
  The option to plot several sections in one go is available in n4ce for multiple section models, such as; cross, radial and river sections.  The Multi property page from the Section Plot Defaults property sheet allows you to specify some basic defaults for such plots.

  Multiple section plots are plotted in a user-indicated rectangle and spaced horizontally and vertically.  The Around group defines an area around the inside of this rectangle where no plotting will take place.  The Left & Right field defines the horizontal restriction and the Above & Below field defines the vertical.

If the 'No Empty Sections' check box allows is checked, any sections that do not contain any profile data will be ignored and not plotted.

The 'Spacings' group defines the maximum and minimum spacing between sections in the horizontal and vertical directions.  The calculated spacing between two adjacent sections will never be less than the minimum nor greater than the maximum in the appropriate direction.

• Lines Tab
  The 'Lines' property page defines the line and symbol of any section cut lines that are plotted to show where a section was taken.  The pen used and the layer on which the cut line is plotted can be defined in the usual Pen and Layer fields.  The Symbol field defines the shape of the pointer that you wish to create at each end of the cut line.  The Fill Symbol check button allows you to fill polygons in the pointer with a solid fill of the same colour

The Length and Size fields define the size of the pointer.  There are six possible symbols that can be created.

None: No symbol will be created.

Triangle: An isosceles triangle will be created.  The Length field defines the height of the triangle and the Size field defines the base width of the triangle.

Open Arrow: A line with an open arrowhead on the end will be created.  The Length field defines the length of the line and the Size field defines the size of the arrowhead.

Closed Arrow: A line with a closed arrowhead on the end will be created.  The Length field defines the length of the line and the Size field defines the size of the arrowhead.

Line: A simple line will be created.  The Length field defines the length of the line whilst the Size field is ignored.

Rectangle: A rectangle will be created.  The Length field defines the height of the rectangle and the Size field defines its width.

• Line Labels
  The Line Labels property page defines the format in which the text label that is plotted at each end of a section cut line.  The pen and text style used are defined by the Pen and Style fields.  The positioning of the text is controlled by the two groups of radio buttons to the right of the page.  The Angle group defines the angle of the text.

Parallel: The text will be created parallel to the section line as shown in the examples above.

Horizontal: The text will always be horizontal.

The Position group defines where the text should appear in relation to the section line symbol.

Outside: The text will be placed outside the section line symbols, as shown in the examples above, with bottom left justification.

Inside: The text will be placed inside the section line symbols with bottom right justification.

Above: The text will be placed above the section line symbols with bottom middle justification.