Quick Profile

This command allows you to create a profile in one step. The alignment for the profile can be defined using picked points, a centerline file or a polyline. The surface for the profile can be defined by 3D screen entities, 3D polyline or surface files (grid or triangulation).
Screen Entities: The program creates the profile by finding the intersections of the centerline with 3D linework entities in the drawing. There's an option for whether to ignore entities at zero elevation.
3D Polyline: Creates a profile using a selected 3D polyline. The polyline vertex elevations are used for the profile elevations and the profile stations are from the lengths of the polyline segments.
Surface File: This option allows you to use one or two grid or triangulation surfaces. There's also an option to Show Pipe Crossings which will find and display pipe crossings from sewer networks and 3D polylines tagged as pipes. The sewer network can be created in the Hydrology module. To tag a 3D polyline as a pipe, use the Assign Pipe Data To Polyline command.

Since picked points are the default for the horizontal alignment, the command is as quick as select surface type (screen or file), then Pick, Pick, Enter and view. The resulting profile is displayed in a graphic dialog box with real time data reporting. As the crosshairs are moved across the profile in the window, the station, elevation and slope data corresponding to the current crosshair location appear in the lower right of the window. A second crosshair on the plan view corresponds to crosshair movement along the profile so the user knows exactly where the current profile point is on the plan view. Also the Adjust Alignment function allows you to drag a horizontal alignment point and update the profile in real-time.

Quick Profile

Vertical Exaggeration: Determines the amount of vertical exaggeration for the profile in the window.
Drag Action: Determines whether the right mouse button functions as "Zoom" or "Pan" in the profile window.
Grid Ticks Only: Instead of the full graph as shown above, Grid Ticks only plots only ticks along the horizontal and vertical axis near the station and elevation text.
Adjust Alignment: Allows you to pick a horizontal alignment point and while moving it, the profiles are updated in real-time. You can also select a horizontal alignment segment and move the whole alignment position. The Adjust Alignment function is only available when surface files are used as the source of the surface model.
Save: Writes the current profile data to a .PRO file.
Draw: This draws the profile with grid in the drawing. The user has options for horizontal and vertical scales and the layer of the profile. The Draw Profile command includes more options for drawing the profile. In order to use this command, you must first create a .PRO file using the Save command described above.
Print: This makes a graphic report of the profile in either PDF or DWF format as selected under Settings->Configure.
Exit: Exits this command.
Help: Opens on-line help.

Note that the Draw option will exit the Quick Profile command after the drawing is complete. A typical completed drawing, in this case with two surfaces, is shown below. Note also that the horizontal stationing text offset follows the setting in the Draw Profile command itself.

Quick Profile Plot

Prompts

Pick starting point (CL-Centerline, P-Polyline): screen pick alignment points for profile
Pick second point: pick next point
Pick next point (Enter to end): press enter to end
Tested 58 of 58 Entities Intersects found> 33
Dialog Box

Pulldown Menu Location: Profiles
Keyboard Command: quickpro
Prerequisite: 3D screen entities or surface file