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Chapter 19 Plotting

This chapter shows you how to produce plotted drawings using HighRoad. You will learn how to interface your computer with a plotter and how to set up the layout of the plotted drawing.

 

Connecting a plotter

You can plot drawings on Hewlett-Packard or Houston Instrument plotters (or other plotters which emulate these plotters using the graphics languages HPGL and DMPL) Select Choose Plotter... from the File menu to tell HighRoad which plotter you have connected to your computer. A dialog box will appear in which you can select the appropriate plotter. Once you have chosen your plotter, HighRoad will remember this.

You should connect the plotter to the modem port of your computer. Plotting from the printer port is not currently available. HighRoad expects the plotter to be set up to communicate in accordance with the following protocol.

 

Houston Instrument

Baud Rate 2400

Data Bits 7

Stop bits 2

Parity None

These are the default values used by a DMP-42 plotter at start-up.

 

Hewlett-Packard

Baud Rate 9600

Parity checking Off

For the HP DraftPro plotter, make sure the plotters rear-panel switches are set as shown in Figure 19-1.

 

Figure 19-1

 

Changing the communication settings

If you wish to use different settings to communicate with your plotter, choose Communication Settings... from the Edit menu. A dialog box as shown in Figure 19-2 will appear.

 

Figure 19-2

 

Use this dialog box to adjust the settings used by HighRoad to match the settings on your plotter. Click on the serial port pop-up list to select the type of serial port you have on your computer. (See the note regarding serial ports.)

Plotting the plan

The plan can be plotted when the Plan window is the active window. (Choose Plan from the Window menu.) Contours, triangles and feature strings may be shown in addition to the plan of the road. Choose Show contours, Show triangulation, Show features as required from the Plan menu.

Select Plot Plan... from the File menu. A dialog box will appear as shown in Figure 19-3. The name of the plotter you have chosen will appear in the top left hand side of the dialog box.

Figure 19-3

 

Pen sizes and speeds

HighRoad will use 0.18mm, 0.35mm, and 0.70mm pens if available. The pens can be placed in any pen stall and can be set to plot at whatever speed is appropriate. The best speed at which to plot depends on the types of pen and plotting media you are using. You should consult your plotter manual and/or pen data sheet for this information. Click the appropriate boxes to select the pen size and speed.

For example, to plot with a 0.35 mm pen in stall 1 at 40 cm/sec and a 0.70 mm pen in stall 2 at 40 cm/sec you would need to complete the following steps:

* Click pen numbers 1 and 2 in the row marked Active Pens to show which pens are active. (Ensure that no other pens are shown as active.)

* Click pen number 1 in the row labelled Pen# and then click the appropriate button for size and speed.

* Click pen number 2 and the appropriate button for size and speed.

The dialog box should look similar to Figure 19-3.

 

Plotting the plan

Once you have selected the pen size and speed required, click OK. The following dialog box will appear. You can choose to show a north point, border, curve data, grid and right of way on the plan.

 

Figure 19-4

 

When the Grid option is checked, the Grid button will be active. Click the Grid button. A dialog box, as shown in Figure 19-5 will appear and you can specify the spacing and labelling of the co-ordinate grid system.

The grid can be shown using crosses at grid intersections and/or where the grid lines cross the edge of the drawings. The grid markers can be labelled.

 

Figure 19-5

When the Curve Data option is checked, the Curve Data button will be active. Click the Curve Data button and the plan layout dialog box as shown in Figure 19-6 will appear. You can select the horizontal curve data (radius, arc length, spiral length, co-ordinates etc) which will be listed on Plan view. Items are listed in the order you choose and a box is drawn around these items.

 

Figure 19-6

 

When the Right of Way (R.O.W.) option is checked, the R.O.W. will be drawn on the plan. The R.O.W. width that you specify will only be used if it is larger than the width between the batters plus 3 metres. If not HighRoad will use the width between the batters plus 3 metres.

The Current View option (shown in Figure 19-4 previously) will position the plan on the drawing sheet such that the point which is in the centre of the screen will be in the centre of the drawing. It will be clipped according to the margin settings that you select.

The Strip Map option (shown in Figure 19-7) will rotate the Plan view so that it is generally running from left to right across the sheet.

When the Strip Map option is chosen you can also plot the profile along the bottom of the drawing. When Show Profile is checked, the profile button is enabled and the diagram in the lower right of the dialog box shows the plan and profile and the proportion occupied by the plan. You can nominate the proportion of the drawing occupied by the plan. To set the options for the profile, click the Profile button. A dialog box as shown in Figure 19-10 will appear. Click OK or Cancel and HighRoad will return to the Plan layout dialog box. As many sheets as required will be used to produce the drawings.

 

Figure 19-7

The Manual control (see Figure 19-8) allows you to choose the scale and orientation of the plot. Orientation is the direction of the north point on the sheet zero is north up, 90 is north to the right, and so on. The plan will be rotated about the start point.

 

Figure 19-8

 

Plotting

Click OK when you have selected the required layout. HighRoad will test communications with the plotter and if the plotter is connected correctly the message Please insert the next sheet in the plotter will appear. Click OK and plotting will commence after a short delay while HighRoad positions the plot on the sheet.

Plotting the profile

The profile can be plotted when the Profile window is the front window. Choose Plot Profile... from the File menu when you are ready to plot. A dialog box will appear as shown in Figure 19-9. The name of the plotter you have chosen will appear in the top left hand side of the dialog box.

Pen sizes and speeds

HighRoad will use a 0.35 mm and a 0.70 mm pen if available. The pens can be placed in any pen stall and can be set to plot at whatever speed is appropriate. The best speed at which to plot depends on the types of pen and plotting media you are using. You should consult your plotter manual and/or pen data sheet for this information.

Click the appropriate boxes to select the pen size and speed. For example, to plot with a 0.35 mm pen in stall 1 at 40 cm/sec and a 0.70 mm pen in stall 2 at 40 cm/sec you would need to complete the following steps:

* Click pen numbers 1 and 2 in the row marked Active Pens to show which pens are active. (Ensure that no other pens are shown as active.)

* Click pen number 1 in the row labelled Pen# and then click the appropriate button for size and speed.

* Click pen number 2 and select pen size and speed as above.

The dialog box should look similar to Figure 19-9.

 

Figure 19-9

 

Profile plot

Once you have selected the pen size and speed required, click OK. A dialog box as shown in Figure 19-10 will appear. You can select the scale, vertical exaggeration, drawing size, format and how to display the natural surface information.

 

Plotting the profile

Frequently with a terrain model, the natural surface information on the drawing of the profile can be very cluttered if the elevation at every change of grade is displayed. You can minimise this clutter by limiting the number of points which have an elevation displayed. You can choose to show elevations only at the cross section interval or only opposite points on a particular feature. This would be useful if you have a pegged line which closely parallels the control line and you wish to display elevations at chainages opposite points on this pegged line. The pegged line has to be a named feature which you can then choose from the pop-up menu in the dialog box as shown in Figure 19-10.

 

Figure 19-10

Uphill sideslope will include an entry for slope on the uphill side of the cross section, from the natural surface at road centre line to the natural surface at the batter point.

The Superelevation option (which is available only if superelevation has been specified for this control line) will display a superelevation diagram along the base of the profile.

The Horizontal Alignment option will display a diagrammatic representation of the horizontal alignment along the base of the profile. The Cut and fill depths option will include an entry for the cut depth or fill height at the control line.

 

Plotting cross sections

Cross sections can be plotted when the Cross Section plot window is the front window. To specify the layout of the cross sections, choose Layout... from the Section menu. A dialog box will appear as shown in Figure 19-11.

 

Figure 19-11

 

Layout of cross sections

The top four check boxes are used to select how much information is to be displayed on each cross section. In this example, the cross sections would include the natural surface levels, the finished surface levels, the offsets to these points and the level of the datum line.

The option to clip the width of the existing surface is useful to minimise the space taken up on plotted and printed drawings by showing only the natural surface within the design width. Any part of the natural surface outside the limits of the batter points is removed. Space savings can be worthwhile when the surveyed cross sections are significantly wider than the width of the finished surface. The option for setting the minimum spacing between natural surface offsets is useful to minimise clutter on a cross section drawing. Set this to zero if you wish to display the offset and elevation at every change of grade on the existing surface.

You can plot cross sections in sequence or individually at specific chainages. Choose Plot Cross Sections... from the File menu when you are ready to plot the cross sections. A dialog box will appear as shown in Figure 19-12. The name of the plotter you have chosen will appear in the top left hand side of the dialog box.

Figure 19-12

 

Pen sizes and speeds

HighRoad will use a 0.35 mm and a 0.70 mm pen if available. The pens can be placed in any pen stall and can be set to plot at whatever speed is appropriate. The best speed at which to plot depends on the types of pen and plotting media you are using. You should consult your plotter manual and/or pen data sheet for this information.

Click the appropriate boxes to select the pen size and speed. For example, to plot with a 0.35 mm pen in stall 1 at 40 cm/sec and a 0.70 mm pen in stall 2 at 40 cm/sec you would need to complete the following steps:

* Click pen numbers 1 and 2 in the row marked Active Pens to show which pens are active. (Ensure that no other pens are shown as active.)

* Click pen number 1 in the row labelled Pen# and then click the appropriate button for size and speed.

* Click pen number 2 and the appropriate button for size and speed.

The dialog box should look similar to Figure 19-12.

 

Cross section plot

Once you have selected the pen size and speed required, click OK. A dialog box, as shown in Figure 19-13 will appear.

Figure 19-13

Enter the chainage range of the cross sections you wish to plot in the appropriate boxes. You can also specify the spacing between sections. The interval between plotted cross sections can be either at a nominated interval or at locations opposite points on a pegged line.

To plot cross sections at points on a pegged line you need to have nominated the pegged line as a feature string of type Pegged line (see chapter 4 for details). The pegged line must also be approximately parallel to the control line. The cross sections that will be plotted are those that pass through the nominated points on the pegged line feature.

Additional cross sections at tangent points, transition points and at user selected chainages can also be plotted. Sections at tangent points will have the postscript TC (tangent/curve) and CT (curve/tangent) and those at transition points will have TS (tangent/spiral), SC (spiral/curve), CS (curve/spiral), ST (spiral/tangent), SS (start of superelevation) and ES (end of superelevation). If User specified chainages is checked, the Extras button will be enabled. Click Extras and you can add up to 49 extra cross sections. Type in the chainages of the extra cross sections that you require. The extra sections will be plotted in the correct sequence.

You can also specify whether you require the pavements and other surfaces to be filled with a pattern on the plots of the cross section. Pattern fills are available only when plotting with a Hewlett-Packard or HPGL compatible plotter.

The cross sections will be spaced out to fit as many as possible on the drawing. They will be plotted in columns with their centre lines aligned and spaced evenly to utilise the vertical space available. The columns of cross sections will also be spaced evenly across the sheet. The Clip to Design option is useful to minimise the space taken up on plotted drawings by showing only the natural surface within the design width. Any part of the natural surface outside the limits of the batter points is not shown. Significant space savings are achieved in projects where the surveyed cross sections are much wider than the width of the finished surface. Choose Cross Sections... from the Layout menu to use this option.

You can choose to plot a border around the sheet by clicking the Border check box. Space for a title block at the bottom or side of the sheet can be allowed for by specifying a wider margin as appropriate. This is useful when using sheets preprinted with a title block along the bottom.

 

Plotting drawings

When the drawing window is active you can plot a drawing which is a composite of plan, profile and cross sections as well as lines and text.

The layout and content of the printed drawing is controlled in the Drawing window where you have control over the size of the drawing sheet and its contents. See Chapter 17, Drawing production for details.

If the drawing is larger than the size of paper in the plotter, the bottom left corner of the drawing will be matched to the sheet in the plotter and content that is off the top or right edge of the sheet will not be plotted.

 

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