by Dent Cermak » Tue Feb 15, 2011 1:54 pm
When you process the raw (RW5) file, Carlson creates a .CRD file. Carlson works with the .CRD file. All coding is read from the .CRD file by Field To Finish. Using Field To Finish and the coding features in Carlson, the attribute date for items such as tree sizes and culvert invert data can be extracted as text directly into your drawing.
In the project mentioned by BHART, bringing in all of the trees as blocks and independent text would take less than 2 minutes. He would spend more time moving text to clear up overprints than anything else.
Specifically, if he were to code his tree descriptors as OAK /8 for an 8 inch oak , his symbol in the drawing would come in as a tree block of his choice and a line of text that says 8"OAK. (Thats tree Type space forward slash size)
If you go to the Field To Finish pull down menu, at the bottom left you will see the "Edit codes/points" bar. Click on that. Go to the OAK symbol definition (If you do not have one, make one). On the left of the edit page you will see an "Attribute Format" line. Set it to "BOTH", then push the "SET" button.
There is a list of all of the items that you can pick to be displayed as text in the drawing. Check the "DESCRIPTION" box and in the "SUFFIX" tab type in "OAK (inch mark OAK). Pick the desired text position and set the layer that you wish the text to appear on.
Save that setting and exit.
Now when you run Field To Finish, if you Have coded the trees as I showed earlier, all if the trees with the descriptor text will appear.
The same methodolligy will work for pipe inverts shot in the field, control point labels, Finish Floor Elevations and a host of other goodies.
The field To Finish routine is the power tool of Carlson. It is a combination of AutoCad's Figure Prefix Library and the Descriptor Key Manager. It is where you set up the auto-linework and the block insertion in Carlson. Set up properly it will do things that used to take hours in just a very few minutes.
If you are still in the "draw from node to node" methodollogy, this one feature will pay for itself in the very first use.[/i]