Sign Post Placement
As a function of a larger road sign program built for a state transportation department, the post placement command represents a good example of how we might automate the placement of a CAD entity based on existing data and drawing entities.
Imagine if we could place a block (cell in OpenRoads) by specifying station and offset, then automatically rotate it to match the direction of travel along the highway. Further, consider appending xdata to the block. If we did this, we can use it to automate label placement, and later generate estimates based on pay items that are also stored on the sign post block.
This is exactly what we have been able to accomplish in our signs program. And, we have replicated the work flow in both Civil 3D and OpenRoads designer. Below are some images from the program. Demonstrating placement along an alignment and post labels.
Figure 1: Program GUI for Post Selection – Pay Item is discovered automatically based on user input.
Figure 2: Placement is dynamic and post rotates to match direction of travel.
Figure 3: Mouse over post to see xdata. Also (not shown) the post is rotated during placement to match the direction of travel.
Figure 4: Place Post Label Command Automatically Extracts XData from Entity and Configures Label
Technologies: C#, MicroStation, OpenRoads, AutoCAD, Civil 3D
