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Linework and breaklines

The linework comes through the way it was meant — arcs included. That is where a conversion most often fails in practice, and you only see it when the machine digs to it.

  • Arcs stay arcs: no more spikes where there was a curve
  • Layers and colours are kept, so you can see what is what
  • Breaklines are laid on the terrain model instead of cutting through it
  • Linework in a separate DXF is matched to the right design automatically
MV3D Convertor
Het lijnwerk over het terreinmodel, met de lagen in hun eigen kleur
Linework and breaklines
MV3D Convertor
Het lijnwerk over het terreinmodel, met de lagen in hun eigen kleur
How it works

A design is rarely just a surface. Manhole edges, kerbs, slopes and alignments all live in the linework, and the linework is exactly what a conversion treats worst: arcs swinging the wrong way, lines left at elevation zero, layers losing their colour.

We treat that linework as the main thing rather than an afterthought. Arcs are recomputed and put in the right direction of rotation, every line is laid on the surface it belongs to, and if the linework sits in a separate file, the program finds the right one itself.

This is what it looks like

Screens from the program itself — not a redrawn impression.

Breaklines from a terrain model: the program finds the threshold at which a kink becomes a line by itself.
Breaklines from a terrain model: the program finds the threshold at which a kink becomes a line by itself.
A working platform with the linework over it — the ground in earth tones, the design lines on top, each in its own colour.
A working platform with the linework over it — the ground in earth tones, the design lines on top, each in its own colour.
Natural ground over four hundred by six hundred metres — the contours run through it unbroken, across the breaklines too.
Natural ground over four hundred by six hundred metres — the contours run through it unbroken, across the breaklines too.
Technical specs

Reads (import)

TP3SVDSVLTN3LN3DXFDWGLandXML.pytGPXKMLGeoJSONCSVTXTPDF

Writes (export)

Trimble .svdTrimble .svlTopcon .tp3Leica .dszLandXMLDXF
In detail
1

Why arcs go wrong

A DXF describes an arc as a line with a bulge. If a converter picks the wrong direction of rotation, that arc swings the other way — and in a list of coordinates that looks perfectly normal.

2

Laid on the terrain

Linework from a drawing often sits at elevation zero. We lay every line on the surface it belongs to, with enough intermediate points to follow the ground instead of cutting through it as a straight chord.

3

The right DXF

If the linework sits in a separate file next to the design, the program finds it: it compares the extent against the surface and weighs name and date, so you get the right version and not the oldest one.

In practice
Contractor

Sees from the colours which line is the kerb and which the slope

Surveyor

Passes on surveyed linework without redrawing it

Operator

Digs the pit with the edges shown instead of by feel

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