Sections from Polylines on Section Grids

This command allows the user to select a polyline that represents a section in cross section view and writes it to a .SCT file. This can be useful for revising sections or for defining a new one. For example, let's say you have extracted sections from a surface model of the existing ground on a site, and have plotted them using the Draw Section File command. Next, the Polyline by Slope Ratio command is used to draw the proposed or final grade sections. Now use this command to send the sections to a Section file and compute the earthworks using the Calculate Sections Volume command. After selecting the command, the Polyline to Section File dialog appears.
The first time this command is selected, the output Section file is set to the same name as the current drawing. Select the Specify Section File Name button to specify a different name. The Station Interval edit box allows you to specify the amount that the default station number will be incremented as the station prompt shown below appears. The Interpolate Zero Offset toggle, if on, causes the program to output the elevation of the zero offset to the output .SCT file. A second and a third section file can be specified to process three sections at a time for each station. This allows you to handle both existing and final grades at once. The Prompt for Subgrades option will prompt for selecting subgrade polylines after the surface polyline for that section. For Source Polylines, the Complete Polylines method works with a single polyline that completely define the section for the station. The Separate Polylines methods allows you to select multiple polylines per section in case the section polylines are broken up into separate polyline entities. After selecting the OK button, the prompts below appear.

Prompts

Exit/Pick text/<Station <0.00>>: press Enter
Exit/Pick text/<Starting elevation of grid <100.00>> 440 This supplies the drawing coordinate to translate the grid from.
[int on] Pick point at starting elevation and zero offset of section ([Enter] for none): press Enter
Select station 0.00 1st section polyline: select a polyline
Select station 0.00 2nd section polyline: select another polyline
Exit/Pick text/<Station <0.00>>: E

Pulldown Menu Location: Sections
Keyboard Command: sctfpl
Prerequisite: Plot the section or profile to write to the .SCT file.