Profiles

This command allows you to digitize profile lines and store the profile data into the profile file (.pro) you have specified. The command first prompts you the Digitize Profile Dialog. Enter the profile file name and determine if you want to digitize up to five profiles from the same grid. Next, determine the Profile Type: Ground, Road, or Pipe. Selecting Road will prompt you for a "Vertical Curve" to be applied between the current point and previous profile point. If no Vertical Curve exists, type "0"; entering without specifying any Vertical Curve will turn off the VC prompt on subsequent profile points. Selecting Pipe will prompt you for a "Step up for the pipe" and "Enter the Pipe size" at each profile point. With Ground, there are no additional prompts.

Towards the bottom half of the dialog, there are toggles for Prompt for Station and Prompt for Elevation. These will show you a preview value for the Station and Elevation based on the point that you picked. Press Enter to except or type in a new value in manually. This is most useful for accurate import of Road and Pipe data. Also at the bottom, Preview Method offers 2 ways to view the profiles as you digitize. "Graphic Dialog" displays the profile data in a grid dialog and is best when digitizing from paper plans. "Draw on Drawing" draws 2D polylines in your CAD drawing and is best when digitizing over an Image in your drawing. "Keep Drawing Preview" will leave the 2D polylines in your CAD drawing (having this checked off will erase the 2D polylines after each station).

After clicking OK in the main dialog, Takeoff prompts you to calibrate the profile sheet before you digitize the profile lines. You will pick three points and specify their station and elevations in order to determine the horizontal and vertical scales. Corners on the profile grid are preferred reference points. Once calibrated, place your cursor at one end of the profile line and begin digitizing the line. While digitizing a line, you can remove a mistake by pressing A on the puck or entering Undo on the keyboard. At the end of the profile line, press Enter on your puck or keyboard. The command then prompts you to digitize the next profile. You can press A on the puck or enter Exit on the keyboard to finish digitizing. After you digitize the profile lines on your drawing, all the profile data would be saved in a profile file (.pro).

Prompts

Calibrate profile sheet
Pick First profile sheet reference point:   pick a grid point of a station on your drawing
Enter station <0.0>: 1000   press Enter to accept the station or enter a new station value
Enter elevation: 95 (enter the Elevation of the reference point)
Pick Second profile reference point:   pick a second grid point
Enter station:  1200 (enter the grid's station) 
Enter elevation:    110 (enter the Elevation of the reference point)
Pick Third profile reference point:   pick a third grid  point
Enter station:    1500 (enter the grid's station) 
Enter elevation:    105 (enter the Elevation of the reference point)
3 calibration points
Transformation type:            Orthogonal            Affine        Projective
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Outcome of fit:                        Success              Exact        Impossible
RMS Error:                            11.49
Standard deviation:                 2.38
Largest residual:                     14.08
At point:                                 2
Second-largest residual:          14.08
At point:                                 1
Digitize break point/ (Enter to end):   pick a point on the profile line
Station: 1000 Elev: 106.77
Digitize break point (Undo[A],Enter to end):   pick a point on the profile line
Station: 1145 Elev: 101.18
Digitize break point  (Undo[A],Enter to end):   pick a point on the profile line
Station: 1440 Elev: 100.49
Digitize break point  (Undo[A],Enter to end):   press Enter to finish

Keyboard Command: digprof
Prerequisite: For "on-screen" digitizing, have an image loaded and Digitizer Settings set to "Use Mouse". For paper plans, have a digitizer board and a puck connected to your computer, and have Wintab driver installed. The digitizer has been correctly set up. Have done tablet calibration for current drawing.