I am a surveyor that is creating the TOPORD01, UTEXRD01 and DREXRD01 DGNs from field collected survey data in EFB. I have noticed that the fdot_ss2.smd file that governs all our survey point cells brings in all cells at a 1 scale regardless of the Plot Scale in the Project Preferences/Visualization menu. FDOT2010.smd would allow our survey points to come in at the correct size appropriate to the Plot Scale. I heard this may be because SS2 is going to annotative Cells, however our survey cells brought in through the SMD files are NOT annotative best I can tell. I have tried several different ways to make them annotative, but with no success. I have also searched the forums looking for this issue, but didn't find anything that applied to survey point cells.
Is this a problem that is being looked into currently? This is delaying our project, because we were specifically told to use SS2 and our survey cells are preventing us from having a completed drawing.
Proposed FDOT CAiCE CDG to V8i Annotation Scale Design Survey Workflow
The concept of annotation scale is to draw elements and text at a 1”=1’ scale and be able to change the drawing scale to change the scale of those elements and text. Some cell elements and text will need to be fixed in size. Others will need to be able to change with the drawing scale. At this point only the BL & CL point cells will scale and only the desired text that needs to increase/decrease in size with the drawing scale should have the attribute “Is Annotation” set to “True”. All other cells and text are fixed and will/should not change. To achieve this in the CAiCE CDG to V8i workflow a few concepts need to be understood and implemented.
CAiCE point display settings: Text size should be set based on the desired size when plotted. For example if at a 1”=100’ scale the desired size/height is to be 10’ then the CAiCE text size should be set to 0.10 (100x.1=10). This is true for any scale (50x.1=5). Think of the text size of being = to the pitch in a Microsoft WORD document. 8 pitch = 0.08, 10 pitch = 0.10, 12 pitch =0.12, etc. and set the CAiCE Point Display Settings accordingly. The cell scaling factors built into the CAiCE CDG to MicroStation V8i Converter requires that the Cell size be set to 8.0 to keep the MicroStation cells from increasing or decreasing in size from the original size set in the SYENG MicroStation cell library. The intent of the ECSO is to have the MicroStation cells in the SYENG cell library be fixed in size. No matter what the final drawing scale these cells should not change in size. Below are recommended CAiCE Point Display Settings if the text is going to be at a 10 pitch and you wish it to change with the drawing scale. The minimum text size for most roadway design sheets is 0.075 for right of way it is 0.08.
MicroStation Drawing Scale and Model Properties Settings: Before the CDG is brought into MicroStation the drawing scale and model properties must be set. To open the Drawing Scale dialogue box go to Settings>Drawing Scale.
Change the drawing scale to 1=1. This will bring in all line styles at a 1.000 scale which is desired. Custom line styles will automatically change in scale later when this drawing scale is changed either in this file or when this file is reference.
Set the model properties:
Be sure that “Propagate Annotation Scale” is checked on. This option is not in earlier versions of MicroStation.
At this point some decisions have to be made on text. Below are some concepts that will help with this decision.
Definition: an “Annotation Cell” is a cell in the cell library that has its properties set to annotation cell = true. At this time only the BL and CL in the SYENG are annotation cells (can change with the drawing scale).
When a CDG file is converted:
If the “A” is on: All text and “Annotation Cells” are set to annotation scale = true.
If the “A” is off: All text and “Annotation Cells” are set to annotation scale = false.
The highlighted “A” is VERY IMPORTANT for CDG data brought into MicroStation. To turn off annotation scale, click on the “A” to un-highlight it. To turn on annotation scale, click on the “A” to highlight it.
Before a CDG is converted into MicroStation the “A” must be turned off or ALL text will scale with the drawing scale. Conversely if you want ALL text to scale with the drawing scale turn on the “A” before you convert the CDG file.
There are two ways to approach the text issue so below are two examples:
1) If point names, elevations and bulk comments/descriptions are being brought over then turn off the “A” to keep this text sized fixed. The down side of this is that any text or the BL/CL symbol that you want to change with the drawing scale will have to be manually selected and “Is Annotation” set to “True” in the properties dialogue box.
2) If the text in the CDG is only labeling that you wish to change with the drawing scale then turn on the “A”. The down side of this is that you may have a lot of text cluttering the screen and this may be counter-productive.
The best way may be a combination of both, bringing over multiple CDG files.
In the following example the first “1)” method will be used to show various functionalities.
Turn the “A” in the drawing scale dialogue box off and convert the CDG file. Manually select the BL/CL symbols if any and set “Is Annotation” to “True” in the properties dialogue box.
Manually select any text that you wish to scale with the drawing scale and set “Is Annotation” to “True” in the properties dialogue box.
Once the text and BL/CL symbols are set to “Is Annotation” = “True” changing the drawing scale will change the line styles, annotation cells, and annotation text that is set to true.
The final delivery will need to have the Drawing Scale set back to 1=1. Make sure the “A” is turned on in the final delivery. Design will reference in this file and will control the drawing scale from the master design file.
We are not using CAICE. We import the EFB segments directly into Geopak by setting up a project, then creating and importing new datasets using the "Dataset" pulldown menu in the Geopak/Survey menu.
With the FDOT2010.SMD file and FDOT2010 software we had no problems with scale size. All lines and cells came in at the appropriate size for whatever plot scale we set in our Project preferences (which govern all visualization of survey points and lines). With FDOT_SS2 software and SMD file, the lines still come in at whatever Plot scale we set, however the cells come in at a size 1, which is equivalent to a 1"=10' scale no matter what the Plot Scale is.
The annotation scale is not our problem. I only mentioned it as a possible reason as to why our cells only come in at a size of 1. I was thinking maybe the software was trying to be designed so that all cells could be annotative, but at this point they are not and cannot be changed to annotative through Geopak.
I am trying to point out a problem with SS2 and to try and figure out whether or not this problem has been addressed, or if I am perhaps the first to notice it.