TPC Desktop 2020 R0: February 26, 2020 Brochure | TPC Desktop 2020 R1: June 24, 2020 Brochure | TPC Desktop 2020 R2: September 3, 2020 Brochure
This release is all about tools you’ve requested to streamline some of your most common workflows.
Editing Drawings
We don’t know of any other software that provides a tool like our Drawing Data Manager (DDM).
Our goal was to turn this little gem into a real workhorse. We succeeded! The power of the TPC’s workflows strikes again. The DDM provides an efficient, consolidated tools to manage your drawing data. You can do things in the DDM you either can’t do in a drawing or would take you way to much hunt-n-peck time.
Meeting Project CAD Requirements
Our new Control Polylines tab lets you draw any traverse as a 3D polyline which can then be exported to CAD if required by the project.
Plus the new [x] Create separate labels lets you create separate point label and put them on their own layers.
Includes the latest CAD drivers, ODA Platform 2020 Update 2, released December 2019.
Reconciling Deeds
We get lots of questions about reconciling deeds with different basis-of-bearings. This shows up all the time in records research, plotting deeds on coordinate projections like State Plane and using GPS/GNSS data.
We’ve added something we call a Traverse Direction Modifier that addresses and streamlines every one of these conundrums.
Creating Natural Looking Boundaries
Smooth any traverse so it better fits a natural boundary like a wetland or vegetation edge without any coding. Pretty sweet!
Plus, you can update the traverse data and the smoothing updates right with it.
Quick Search
The DDM has received a series of upgrades, most important of which let you quickly find drawing objects both in the DDM and the Drawing View. The new Quick Search control in the DDM lets you use search terms to find drawing objects, surfaces, traverses, fonts, etc. Simply type and press enter and let TPC do the searching for you.
Zoom to Object in Drawing View
Once you find the object in the DDM you can now right click it and choose Zoom to Object in Drawing View and TPC will gracefully locate it in the Drawing View, zoom closer to it and delineate it so you can’t miss it!
Select in Drawing Data Manager
This workflow wouldn’t be complete without the ability to locate an object in the DDM from an object in sight in the Drawing View. You can now right click a drawing object in the Drawing View and instantly locate it in the DDM with handy command, Select in Drawing Data Manager via a right click menu. It will automatically expand all the necessary nodes and then select the object for you!
Search and Find Workflow
Using the Zoom to Object and Select in Drawing Data Manager together creates a seamless workflow between the Drawing View and the DDM. Once you figure these out, you’ll be impressed with how efficiently you can identify the drawing objects you want.
This Full Circle workflow lets you start with an object in the DDM, helps you find that same object in the Drawing View and from the Drawing View you can get back to that same object in the DDM with a simple command.
Context Menu
New context menu upgrades have solidified the options available for all the nodes in the DDM. Right clicking on the Traverses node will only give you options for traverses, right clicking the Fonts node will provide you with font related commands, etc. You’ll find new context commands for calibrations, page setup, drawing properties, layer management and more.
Drawing Order
What you see is what you get! (WYSIWYG) Traverses and layers will order themselves in the DDM based on their drawing order. You have options to view all the traverses or just tagged traverses, view all layers or layers without objects on them, etc. We want you to look at the DDM, and see the drawing in a way which is intuitive and clear.
Finding, Managing, Modifying
The whole idea of the DDM is to make finding, managing and modifying drawing objects easy. You have access to everything in the drawing via a slick interface where you can expand the nodes for the data you want when you want it. Right-click pretty much anything and choose Properties to edit it.
We get lots of questions about reconciling deed with different basis-of-bearings. This shows up all the time in records research, plotting deeds on coordinate projections like State Plane and using GPS/GNSS data.
We’ve added something we call a Traverse Direction Modifier that addresses and streamlines everyone of these conundrums.
Traverse Direction Modifier
A Traverse Direction Modifier is a +/- angle that can be added to all the direction labels of that traverse. This allows you to rotate a deed traverse to your survey’s basis of bearing and still display the original deed bearings.
Enter the angle modifier you want, or use the From and To fields to compute it.
In the example shown here, we’ve modified an original deed bearing of due north to N5°30’15″W creating a direction modifier of -5°30’15”.
[divider]
Modify bearings in a drawing
Here, we’ve applied the direction modifier computed above to the lot 2 deed we have rotated to our basis of bearing. When we position the cursor over a modified direction label for Lot 2, the tooltip tells us that direction label has been modified.
[divider]
Modify bearings in a legal description
Direction modifiers can also be applied to any legal description. So even after you have rotated a parcel to your survey’s basis of bearing, you can create a legal description based on the original deed.
The legal style shown here, is displaying the Direction Modifier for the Lot 2 traverse, providing you an easy way to verify what the Direction Modifier of this traverse is, or even to edit it. But the setting to [x] Apply Direction Modifier just tells this style to apply the direction modifier of any traverse this style is used for. So each traverse will apply it’s own Direction Modifier to its own legal description.
Does your survey contract require that you submit features like center lines or parcels as polylines?
The new Control Polyline tab in Traverse Drawing Settings lets you draw any traverse as a polyline.
- any traverse can be drawn as a polyline, using its control line type, width and color
- traverse curves become polyline bulges
- you decide if you want to include point symbols, line labels, etc.
- these traverses export to CAD as polylines
- you can force closure of the polyline even if the traverse doesn’t close
- can be used with Open, Closed Loop or Closed Point-to-point traverses
- the polylines are dynamic – so edit the traverses and the polylines updates automatically
Here we see the traverse polyline in the Drawing Data Manager.
We get lots of requests for traverse smoothing so boundaries like wetlands and vegetation look more natural. In the past, we’ve directed users to a number of workable options, but we wanted to give you a tool to streamline this workflow – and here it is.
The new Control Polyline tab in Traverse Drawing Settings lets you draw any traverse as a polyline AND smooth it.
- tell TPC to draw the traverse as a polyline
- tell TPC to smooth it
- pick the smoothing options to get just the look you want
- all smoothed lines pass through the actual traverse points themselves – so they are accurate
- traverses can be smoothed without any coding
- the polylines and smoothing are dynamic – so edit the traverses and the smoothed polylines updates automatically
Traverse Areas
Does smoothing change the traverse area? No – smoothing a traverse does NOT change the traverse area. The traverse still displays the original, un-smoothed area like it should.
However, you also have access to the traverse’s polyline via the drawing, so you can get the area of the smoothed polyline if you want.
Inserting New Traverses
When you create a new traverse, you can now select which existing traverse or traverse group to insert it at. In the example shown here, we are inserting a new traverse, Vegetation 2 after the existing traverse Vegetation 1.
- you can insert the new traverse before or after the existing traverse
- you select traverses by traverse group – expand just one group at a time
- you can add new traverses to existing traverse groups that don’t already have any traverses in them
Default insert traverse
By default, TPC uses the selected traverse in the Traverse Manager as the Insert traverse. But you easily override it by expanding the Insert pull-down and selecting any traverse you want.
Groups
If you organize your traverses by groups, turn on the [x] Include traverse groups option to include groups in the Insert pull-down. Now, select the group you want to add the new traverse to or expand that group and select any traverse within it.
User Selected Properties for Multiple Traverses
You can now selected which properties you want to edit when multiple traverses are selected. Choose from Traverse Modifier, Lot Setbacks and Legal Description Commencement Points.
Just select the traverses in the Traverse Manager, then right-click any one of them and choose Traverse Properties. From the dialog, select just the properties you want to edit.
Centered Stacked Labels
You can now select the alignment (Left, Center, Right or Auto Left / Right) for stacked line, curve and spiral labels in their format dialogs. See Line Format dialog.
All are avaliable in the Traverse Drawing Settings, but you can also set the alignment for any stacked label via right-click and Properties.
In the example below, we’ve centered tangent labels that get stacked because they don’t fit on a short line segment.
In the example below, we’ve centered curve text that we’ve drawn parallel to the curve.
Auto Left / Right
We retained the Auto Left / Right (default) that many of you have come to enjoy. Move the label from one side of a line to the other and the alignment changes automatically so that the text aligns against the labeled object just like you expect.
Separate Point Label Layers
Years ago, TPC put point descriptions and elevations on their own layer. Well, they’re back. A simple [x] Separate Layers option in the Point Label Format dialog tells TPC to create separate layers for point labels.
- TPCPointLabels – the point label itself
- TPCPointElevations – the point elevation
- TPCPointDescriptions – the point descriptions and attributes
- TPCPointLocation – the point coordinates, geodetic position and station
And or course, these labels are exported to CAD.
Separate Fill and Line Colors for Drawing Objects
Drawing objects like polylines, circles, ellipses and rectangles now include a separate color for the fill. Draw the lines in one color and the fill in another.
Here’s the Polyline properties dialog, showing the separate colors for Line and Fill.
NGS Geiods
TPC now supports all NGS Geoids up through Geoid 2012A and Geoid 2012B.
You can download and install additional NGS geoids and they will show up in this list.
Of course, we still include the NGA geoids for global geoid support.
Includes the latest CAD drivers, ODA Platform 2020 Update 2, released December 2019.
Our CAD View is a native CAD viewer. So if it’s in a CAD file, you can see it in the CAD View.
Sales: 800-460-3002
Office Hours: 7 AM to Noon, 1 to 3 PM (US Pacific Time Zone) Monday through Friday (excluding holidays)
Special Offers Try FREE!
© 1987 – 2023 Traverse PC, Inc. – All Rights Reserved