The big difference from CAD to TPC is that in Drawing View you select the options you want and TPC's Quick View™ Technology draws the survey for you. No more tedious connecting the dots or adding text one line at a time.
Here are some other basic differences.
Other differences make Drawing View a better tool for survey drawings than CAD. You'll discover them as you read more about Drawing View and begin using it on your own drawings.
Text Height
CAD - Test height, symbol size and line widths change with scale
TPC - Remain fixed, independent of scale.
Text Height, Symbols Size and Line Width (3:26) - You can change drawing size and scale any time you want, and your labels, symbols and lines retain their proper sizes.
Creating Objects (entities)
CAD - Time consuming to draw a survey for the first time.
TPC - Quick View™ Technology draws it for you.
Scale, Position, Rotate the Survey on a Page
CAD - Moving the survey changes its coordinates.
TPC - Rotate, position and scale the survey on the page without affecting its coordinates.
One Instance of any Point, Line or Symbol
CAD - Multiple lines and symbols on top of each other.
TPC - Creates only one instance of a line, point, symbol, etc.
Border & Page Layout
CAD - Changing page size means you have to size and position a border.
TPC - Automatic border.
Changing Page Size
CAD - Changing page sizes means moving entities to fit.
TPC - Automatic placement with paper space vs survey space.
Data Association
CAD - Drawing entities not associated with survey data.
TPC - Complete integration of survey and drawing.
Editing Multiple Objects
CAD - Have to select multiple entities and/or layers to edit each time.
TPC - Just change traverse and surface drawing settings.
Multiple Drawings
You can have any number of drawings in a survey. Each drawing remembers which traverses, settings and drawing objects belong to it. You can open a drawing, work on it, then open a different drawing. You can make a copy of an existing drawing and then add more information to the copy without affecting the original drawing. Keep track of your drawings in the Drawings Manager.
This is a very powerful feature of TPC Desktop. Because each drawing references the survey data, each one remains current as you add or modify traverses and survey points. This is a welcome feature that typical CAD packages can't offer.
