Draw Cross-Section

Use the following procedure to draw cross-sections of Road, Terrain Surface, Rock Surfaces, other Sub-Surface Layer, and Construction Cross-Section in AutoCAD.

Find the function here:

Ribbon: Bridge > Cross-Section > Cross Section Draw Cross Section

Command prompts for:

Pick a reference point for the road:

Select a point in the middle of the screen as a reference point for the road. This point is identical to the point in the centerline from the road project.

The program draws the first profile from the road project on the screen if no construction is defined. If you have already defined a construction, the first defined section in the construction is drawn. It is important to note that before you press ENTER the cross-section is only previewed on the screen, it is not drawn in the drawing as AutoCAD entities.

Cross-Section when Bridge Cross-Section is not defined

Cross-Section when Bridge Cross-Section is defined

Scroll mode

When you have drawn up the cross-section, the Novapoint Bridge Professional is in the so-called 'Scroll mode', i.e., you can move to the desired station along the alignment.

When you are in scroll mode, it is not possible to draw or use other standard AutoCAD commands. You will therefore not see the cross-wires on the screen when you are in this mode. You will only have access to those functions, which are included in the command field. These are described below.

On entering the function, the following lines will be displayed in the command field:

Select a key: F (First)/ENTER (draw the section)/ESC (escape)/S (Section no)/I (interval)/N (Next)/P (Previous)/T (poinT)/O (cOpy)/C (Config)/Z (Zoom):

Note: The current station number and the elevation are displayed on the AutoCAD status line.

You can then select any of the capital letters F, S, I, N, P, T, O, C and Z, as well as ESC and ENTER. ; the meaning of the selections is:

Option

Explanation

F (First)

First is selected for viewing the first road station of the bridge structure if it is defined or the first station of the road.

ENTER (draw the section)

Enter is selected when you wish to leave scroll mode to draw a new bridge structure cross-section in a station or to change an existing station. When Enter is selected the relevant cross-section will be drawn on your current drawing using AutoCAD commands and the cross-wires will re-appear on the screen.

ESC (escape)

ESC cancels scroll mode without drawing anything on the screen, in other words, it cancels the function. The cross-wires will re-appear on the screen.

S (Section No.)

When S (Station No.) is selected, Command prompts for:

Enter the station of the road <100.000>:

You must then enter the station no., which you wish to have drawn up. The program will then jump to the selected station and will draw it. The program will still be in scroll mode.

I (Interval)

You can select an interval between the stations you are going to scroll through along the centreline by means of selecting I (Interval). Command prompts for:

Enter Interval <10.000>:

Enter the desired interval.

N (Next)

Using N (Next), you can scroll to the next station in order of ascending station number with a set interval. The program will always show the key cross-sections in addition to the indicated stations at the given interval. Points at the key cross-sections will be indicated by having red circles drawn around them.

P (Previous)

P functions in a similar way to N, but you scroll to the previous station in order of decreasing profile number.

T (poinT)

T (poinT) is used to draw an AutoCAD point with a given distance from the centreline horizontally and with an absolute elevation height. Command prompts for:

Horizontal distance from the road point:

The horizontal distance is positive on the right side and will be entered either in meters or millimeters dependent on what you have selected in the configuration.

Elevation for the point (in m):

The contour height will be entered in meters regardless.

O (cOpy)

O (cOpy) can be used if you have already saved in the database one or more key cross-sections. You can copy a key cross-section from one station to the current station by using Copy. The structure cross-section will change in relation to changes to the road and which point types and link points have been selected for the saved cross-section. Command prompts for:

Copy the cross-section from <100.000>:

After having selected the key cross-section, which you want to copy from, scroll mode will end, the cross-wires will re-appear on the screen and you can edit or save the new cross-section.

C (Config)

C (Configure) for configure can be used if you wish to change the configuration while you are in scroll mode.

Z (Zoom)

You can Zoom a relevant cross-section in four different ways. Normal zoom commands in AutoCAD will not work in scroll mode. When you opted Zoom, command prompts for:

D/(Dynamic)/E(Extents)/W(Window)/P(Previous):

Dynamic: You can zoom dynamically by means of a box on the screen. This function works almost like zoom dynamic in AutoCAD. Command prompts for:

Select 2 corner points and 1 point for the window:

Select the diagonal corners of the window and then center point of the window.

Extents: Zoom extents zoom everything, which is currently onscreen.

Window: Zoom to a user-defined window. Command prompts for:

Select 2 corner points for the window:

Select the diagonal corners of the window.

Previous: Shows the extract of the screen before the previous zoom. Note: The default layer for cross-sections that originate from the cross-section library is B_BRU.

Erase and Draw Current Bridge Section

Draws a cross-section at the station number where the last cross-section was drawn. The function erases the last drawn section from the drawing before it draws the section again at the same position. The options are explained above under the function Draw Cross Section. The function can be accessed from the menu Bridge Cross Section Erase and Draw Current Bridge Section or from the toolbar Cross Section Erase and Draw Current Bridge Section.

DEFINING THE START KEY SECTION

Run the function 'Draw Cross-Section'. The tool can be accessed from the following locations:

MOUS_ICO Menu:: Bridge Cross Section Draw Cross Section

MOUS_ICO Toolbar:: Cross Section Draw Cross Section

Command prompts for:

Pick a reference point for the road:

Select a point in the middle of the screen as a reference point for the road. This point is identical to the point in the centerline from the road project.

Note: The blue line in the above graphical illustration represents the road surface. Later while operating Bridge Professional tools, this road surface line is to be picked.

All the options are explained in the topic 'Draw Cross Section'.

Scroll down to the start station number for your construction and choose ENTER to exit the scroll mode. The roads cross-section is drawn. You are now ready to define the first key section of your construction.