[OpenRoads SS3] Civil AccuDraw set origin

I think what you are seeing is a misinterpretation of either the function of Civil Accudraw or the feedback from the commands.

In the examples you listed, Civil Accudraw is not even in play because it is not relevant to the described tasks. Civil Accudraw does ONLY one thing. It feeds point information to other commands.

So, when you measure area using the points method the measure area command needs a series of points which CA can feed. Likewise the flood method needs a point which CA can feed. But the other methods of measure area are picking elements not feeding points. If, CA was running in floating dialog mode then you would never even see it because no points are being prompted. I assume you must be in fixed dialog mode or triggered the origin input from the CA toolbox

So, is CA dependent on what the tool can accept? Yes. It is only used when the tool is needing a point input.

Unknown said:

In the examples you listed, Civil Accudraw is not even in play because it is not relevant to the described tasks. Civil Accudraw does ONLY one thing. It feeds point information to other commands.

This response boggles the mind. Yes, you're right: CA does only one thing. It feeds point information to other commands. But I'm not talking about what CA reports as much as I'm talking about how you set the origin baseline. In my view, however, it shouldn't matter what tool I'm working with. When setting the origin, I should be able to select any element that could be selected if any other tool had been selected. The selection of the CA baseline should be 100% independent of any tool that you're currently working with. 

Allow me to present my workflow more concisely:

1. The next task I was set to do is to measure areas for estimated quantities, so I selected the Measure Area tool.
2. After measuring one of several areas, I realized that I needed the station at the beginning of the area and at the end of the area, so I opened Civil AccuDraw, and since the baseline hadn't been selected already.
3. I clicked to set the origin, and I attempted to select the appropriate chain. When I clicked it, it gave me some bogus information that wasn't going to be useful.
4. At this point it became clear to me that I could (would have to) switch to the Selection tool or many other tools and set the origin baseline.

Try these steps on any file and I'm confident you'll see the same. I don't believe this workflow is especially out of the ordinary. In fact, I go through similar steps all the time when I'm at quantities stage.

Perhaps you should send a video clip. Civil Accudraw will not even be active when Measure Area by Element is active.

Unknown said:

Perhaps you should send a video clip. Civil Accudraw will not even be active when Measure Area by Element is active.

The HUD won't be rendered, sure, but it does work if you use the hard display. (And by the way, I think this is a very important drawback to the HUD: this is just one reason that a user might need station and offset coordinates when not actively constructing new linework. Hence, I have little interest in the HUD and would rather have a setting available that would either disable it altogether or have it so that as soon as I open CA, the hard window comes up.)

A couple notes but you may need to schedule some time with one of our support team to walk thru the process.  Or you can contact me directly Robert.Garrett@bentley.com.

• The HUD can be recorded but this is a function of the recording software, most of which are configured by default to ignore overlays.
• The fixed window ("hard window") can be set as default in the preferences and should then startup that way every time 
• As for the workflow you are showing in the video, Civil Accudraw is not doing anything here because the measure command is not needing any point data.  The fixed dialog sort of gives you an indication that it wants to do something but that is an illusion. Here's why:
  • The Microstation measure command has no capability to compute based on an element plus station limits.
  • In other words, there is no way to input a start here and end there parameter to the command
  • Thus, there is nothing for CA to do

I see the goal you want to reach, but the measure area command would not accomplish what you want with or without CA.  You could draw in some construction elements of course and thus make a new area for a shape or flood fill but the wiring for Civil Accudraw to feed start and stop is just not there.  At the risk of beating a dead horse, Civil Accudraw (also Microstation Accudraw) feed points to other commands. XY, DXDY, StationOffset, Distance-Distance are all point functions thus when a command needs an area or volume there is no role for Accudraw to play.