CadTools Reference Manual

CadTools Reference Manual
2008-12-27
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ABOUT CADTOOLS ................................................................................................................................................. 4

ABOUT PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................................................................ 4
GENERAL ................................................................................................................................................................... 4
MODES ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
MODE: SLOPE ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
MODE: TOOLS .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
MODE: COMMAND TREE ...................................................................................................................................... 7
SETTINGS................................................................................................................................................................... 8
SETTINGS FORM FOR SLOPE AND ROAD SIGNS ......................................................................................... 10
SETTINGS FORM FOR COORDINATE GRID .................................................................................................. 11
CONVERT................................................................................................................................................................. 12
TEXT COMMANDS ................................................................................................................................................ 13
MATCH BLOCKS WITH LINES (DRAINAGE EVALUATION) ..................................................................... 14
EXPORT BLOCK COORDINATES/ATTRIBUTES TO EXCEL ...................................................................... 17
ANNOTATE BLOCK ELEVATION ...................................................................................................................... 17
EDIT BLOCK ATTRIBUTE TEXT ....................................................................................................................... 17
MTEXT WITH LEADER ........................................................................................................................................ 20
CREATE COORDINATE GRID ............................................................................................................................ 21
DRAW FROM COORDINATES ............................................................................................................................ 22
REVISION CLOUD ................................................................................................................................................. 27
LAYER COMMANDS ............................................................................................................................................. 27
AREA CALCULATION .......................................................................................................................................... 29
ANNOTATE POLYLINE ELEVATION ............................................................................................................... 30
EXPORT POLYLINE COORDINATES TO EXCEL .......................................................................................... 30
TABLE EDIT 3D POLYLINE ELEVATION ........................................................................................................ 31
DENSIFY POLYLINE ............................................................................................................................................. 32
JOIN 3D POLYLINE ............................................................................................................................................... 32
LINE CALCULATION ............................................................................................................................................ 32
LEVEL OUT 3D POLYLINE .................................................................................................................................. 34
MAKE 3D SOLIDS FROM LINES (PIPES) .......................................................................................................... 35
OFFSET 3D POLYLINE ......................................................................................................................................... 35
MULTI OFFSET 3D POLYLINE ........................................................................................................................... 35
REVERSE POLYLINE ............................................................................................................................................ 37
POINT SECTION/OFFSET FROM POLYLINE.................................................................................................. 37
PROFILE 3D POLYLINE ....................................................................................................................................... 37
SLOPE AND ROAD SIGNS 2D (TOPIC FOR ROAD SIGNS AND MARKINGS) .......................................... 39
SLOPE ARROWS ON 3D POLYLINES ................................................................................................................ 44
SLOPE AND ROAD SIGNS 2D (TOPIC SLOPE SIGNS) ................................................................................... 44
STATIONING ........................................................................................................................................................... 46
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TRANSVERSE 3D LINES BETWEEN 3D POLYLINES .................................................................................... 47

POLYLINE TOOLS ................................................................................................................................................. 50
SEND SINGLE POINT TO CLIPBOARD ............................................................................................................. 52
ANNOTATE POINT ................................................................................................................................................ 52
EXPORT POINT AND CIRCLES TO EXCEL ..................................................................................................... 52
CREATE LONGITUDINAL FEATURES ............................................................................................................. 53
EDIT/VIEW SURFACE ........................................................................................................................................... 55
CREATE SURFACE (TRIANGULATE) ............................................................................................................... 63
TRIANGLE VOLUME ............................................................................................................................................ 66
TRIANGLE VOLUME BY ELEVATION ............................................................................................................. 68
PROFILED MODEL ................................................................................................................................................ 69
SURFACE CROSS SECTIONS .............................................................................................................................. 71
VIEW SLOPE VECTORS ....................................................................................................................................... 75
SURFACE CONTOURS .......................................................................................................................................... 77
SET 2D POLYLINE ELEVATION BY NEAREST TEXT .................................................................................. 80
OPEN XREF BY OBJECT ...................................................................................................................................... 82
DETACH XREF BY OBJECT ................................................................................................................................ 82
MAKE XREF RELATIVE PATH........................................................................................................................... 82
SAVE XREF SETTINGS TO FILE ........................................................................................................................ 83
LOAD XREF SETTINGS FROM FILE ................................................................................................................. 83
CREATE EPANET INP-FILE FROM DWG ........................................................................................................ 84
IMAGE OF PIPE NETWORK IN DWG................................................................................................................ 84
IMAGE OF IMPORTED NETWORK IN EPANET............................................................................................. 85
HOW TO BECOME A REGISTERED USER ...................................................................................................... 86
HOW TO USE CADTOOLS TO SPEED UP YOUR WORK .............................................................................. 86
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About CadTools
CadTools is developed by Glamsen Software (www.glamsen.se) and is distributed free. Some
commands and features are limited for unregistered user. To become a registered user and get
access to all commands you must donate. There are no limits for donations, the result is the
same (full access).
About performance
All commands in CadTools are based on basic geometric formulas with no optimizing
techniques. Surface triangles are saved in a very simple way with no information of related
triangles (nearest neighbours). A very time consuming part is plotting to Autocad, as result of
all this many commands can be very slow, you could divide huge surfaces in smaller to
improve performance. I myself prefer to grab a cup of coffee and let CadTools do the work.
General
CadTools (ToolBox) is developed for Civil Engineers using AutoCAD. There is a number of
great software on the market that supports the design process for roads, rails etc.The final
design of the drawing is often left for the user without any support other than AutoCAD’s usual
tools and commands. In the beginning CadTools was designed to support slope calculation
(drainage). Since the first version, over 50 useful commands have been added. Some
commands have extra functionality limited for unregistered users, to become a registered user
and get access to all you must donate.
Almost all commands are developed for 3D, the main reason for this is that it's fun to create
design models in real 3D. Using Autocads Orbit command to examine the final design gives a
god idea of how it's going to look when it's built. I've seen some software doing the job in 2D
but I never understood why. I work as a civil engineer with special knowledge in pavement
design and evaluation, through the years I've developed software to make my work easier. I've
spent thousands of hours developing software to do what I want, my conclusion is that software
developed by users can be a good complement to more sophisticated software.
CadTools provides several other useful commands. The most common commands can be
reached by a toolbar placed at the top.
The software runs in two modes, Slope or Tools. If mode is set to Tools all input-boxes and
toolbars for drainage support are hidden.
• Decimal separator for input values in CadTools should be same as operating

system settings (Control panel).
• All commands are developed for use in ModelSpace, some might even work in
PaperSpace.
• This software is distributed "as is", use it at your own risk.
For information and latest updates: www.glamsen.se/CadTools.htm

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Modes
Mode: slope
<Commands>, <Slope>
(Only accessible if mode is set to "Slope")

The Main Form is always placed down to the right when starting. CadTools is placed above all
other applications and can bee minimized when needed. This Form is designed for drainage
support. All commands can be activated by buttons in the toolbar. Other commands for Text,
Lines and Points can be reached through menus.
ToolBar (Slope Mode)

Seven buttons (second row) which makes it easy and swift to calculate and annotate direct in
drawings. These buttons are designed for shortcuts to commands that are necessary when
working with slope. Four boxes for input data from user or active AutoCAD drawing are
designed to work with the numeric part of your keyboard. Comma-sign is converted to point-
sign by the software. Hitting Enter at any point makes calculations.
Buttons from Left to right

1. Pick length from active AutoCAD drawing.
2. Annotate selected response to active AutoCAD drawing. Output string is formatted
according to user settings.
3. Toggle Z on/off. When picking lengths from drawing this setting will prevent (if off) the
software from applying Z-coordinates to the input box. This is important if you want to input
heights by yourself. Working with drawings made in 2D where the height is presented by text
is one of the occasions you want have this toggle off.
4. Calculate. CadTools calculate selected response and formats the output string according to
user settings.
5. Pick length and annotate in one command.
6. Pick scaled length. Length is scaled based on user settings.
7. Toggles line on/off. Draw a line between picked points. Draw arrow in slope direction (if
on in user settings)
How it works
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CadTools always calculate all values to get balance. You can change response and then press
enter for a new calculation. By doing this a new response value is in memory ready for
annotation.
Plans
If you have a center-line with heights in a plan and wants to calculate a height near the curb.
First of all toggle Z-coordinates off. Select response EndHeight by clicking the radio-button
below. Input desired Slope (in Percent).
Click button 1 (pick length). Snap to centerline where the height is. Snap to curb near where
you want the calculated height. Click on button 2 (Annotate) and select position for annotation
text.
Cross-sections
Working in cross-sections you can set slope to 100% and toggle z-coordinates of. Input height
from nearest legend in the StartHeight box. Select EndHeight as your response and pick
length by pressing button 1. Now snap start point to the legend with perpendicular in AutoCAD
and endpoint to desired point in the cross-section. Annotate the calculated height in the
drawing.
Profiles
Working with drawings that have different vertical and horizontal scales must be treated
different according to picked lengths. Therefore the user can set a scale factor for picked
lengths. Using button 6 will scale the lengths before calculation. The Status Bar at bottom in
the software gives you information about original and scaled length.
Mode: tools
When mode is set to Tools the slope input-boxes are gone and a couple of new toolbars are
visible.
ToolBar (ToolBox Mode)

A number of buttons for rapid access to different commands are visible in ToolBox mode.
Buttons, first row

1. Set current layer by object.
2. Move to layer by object.
3. Layer off by object
4. All layer off but selected
5. All layer off but current
6. All layers on
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7. Insert trailing/ending text

8. Area calculation
9. Length calculation
10. Reverse polyline
11. Draw slopesigns from polyline (Road signs)
12. Delete Layer
13. Send point coordinates to clipboard
14. Evaluate a points relation to a polyline, results is station and offset.
15. Buttons, second row
16. Export polyline coordinates to Microsoft Excel.
17. Insert trailing/ending text to single line text.
18. Remove trailing/ending text from single line text.
19. Edit characters in block attribute text.
20. Layer freeze by single objects (xref).
21. Align text to UCS and scale it.
22. Offset 3D polyline
23. Create pipes from polylines
24. Create surface
25. Edit/view surface
26. Draw from coordinates
27. Create Grid
28. Transverse features between 3D polylnes (3D slopesigns)
Mode: Command Tree
This mode provides access to all commands of

CadTools without using ordinary menus.
Using this mode can speed up your work, every

command can be executed with one click.
Compared to navigating along windy menu paths this is

much easier. Use the right button to expand or collapse
all tree nodes.
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Settings
There are three types of settings in CadTools. First we have the general settings that stores
settings for the main form and some other commands. The other type od saved settings are for
Coordinate Grid and Road Signs.
The general settings form is activated through the Settings menu in Main Form.
Description goes from top left down to right bottom
Save response to Clipboard copies the formatted response-string to Windows clipboard and
can be pasted in to any other Windows application
Draw picked line draws a line from picked start point to picked endpoint. (current layer)
Arrow Draws an arrow sign indicating slope direction. (current layer)
Color Set color for line and arrow
Show history Toggles history list on/off. All previous calculated values in this session is
presented in a list, most recent is shown first.
Absolute values for slope annotation leading negative sign is removed from slope annotation
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Always return focus to Toolbox If selected cursor focus is removed from AutoCAD to
CadTools (ToolBox) after picking lengths or annotation in the drawing. This can be useful if
you plan to input values by keyboard frequently. If you plan to do something else immediately
in the drawing after picking or annotation this checkbox should be off. This setting only works
in Slope mode
Scale factor when picking length with scale Using CadTools with profiles with different
horizontal or vertical scale this factor is multiplied to picked length.
Leading/Ending Characters Calculated responses are formatted after this setting. Useful for
percent sign etc.
Decimals Calculated strings ready for annotation are rounded according these settings.
Annotation Color Annotations is always placed at current layer, colors applies this setting
Text Height Text height for annotated values
Layers Settings Uncheck this if you have many layers in the drawing and want to speed up
loading forms. You can always use CTRL+R to read layers from the current drawing to the
listbox at any time, or use the object picker (button with hair-cross)
Autocad version Set appropriate Autocad version by selecting version from the list.
The first option in the list is "Manually (type in self)", this option is useful
if by any reasons development of CadTools is halted and there are newer versions
of AutCAD on the market. It would be nice if you could continue to use CadTools on
coming AutoCAD versions. What shall i type in? The string (reference to COM object)
used by CadTools depends on AutoCAD versions. Generally you need to change the three
last digits so it match your AutoCAD version, the list below may be useful along
with some "try and error".
AutoCAD version Reference string

2000 AutoCad.Application.15
2002 AutoCad.Application.15.1
Chord Height Specifies the largest distance between a chord and the arc. This parameter is
used to control the number of points along a curve that are added when converted to 3D
polyline. If your value is to small no converting is performed. The default value is 0,05 (if you
use meter that results in a accuracy of 5 cm)
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Settings form for Slope and road signs

<Commands>, <Lines>, <Slope and roadsigns (2D)>
User settings are specially designed for two commands. The first is "Create Coordinate Grid"
the second is "Slope and road signs 2D".
The settings can be accessed throw the menu "Settings" for each form. These settings are not
stored in the Windows registry instead they are stored in a file. You can share your settings to
others by copying the file "Cadtoolssettings.uds" that's located in same directory as CadTools
executable file. Pasting (overwriting) the file to same location at another computer gives that
user same saved settings for booth "Cordinate grid" and "Slope and road signs 2D"
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Settings form for Coordinate grid

Convert
<Commands>, <Convert>
Arcs > 3D Polylines

Replaces Arcs with 3Dpolyline segments. The segment length is calculated using Chord Height
settings (settings form)
Circles > 3D Polylines

Replaces Circles with 3Dpolyline segments. The segment length is calculated using Chord
Height settings (settings form)
Lines > 3D Polylines

Replaces lines with 3Dpolyline segments.
3Dpolylines > Polylines

Flattens out 3D Polylines to 2DPolylines
3DFaces > 3D Polylines

Some triangulation software cant read 3Dfaces, this can help but beware, very slow on huge
selections.
Polylines > 3D Polylines

Replaces Polylines with 3Dpolyline segments. If there are arcs in the Polyline they will be
replaced by several small elements. The segment length is calculated using Chord Height
settings (settings form)
Text commands
<Commands>, <Text>
Align text to UCS and scale it.

Selects all single line text or multi-line text and align it to current UCS.
Align text to left

Selected text is left aligned to a point provided by the user.
Insert character to single line text.

Selects all single line text and inputs trailing or ending text.
Insert line-aligned text

This command places text along a line. Two methods can be used, the first is to place user
defined text along the line. The second method is to place line length along the line. The
position of the text is based on a percent value, 50% is at the middle of the line 100% at the end
and 0% at the start. A negative value will place the text outside the beginning of the line,
Values over 100% will not place text outside the end of the line.
Remove character from single line text.

Selects all single line text and removes characters from the beginning and end of the text.
Export text to Excel

Selected multi- or single line text in the drawing is exported to Microsoft Excel
Text capitalize
All selected text in the drawing is capitalized.
Text uncapitalize
You will get two questions, the first is "Make first letter capital?" Answering Yes on this
makes the first letter in the text uncapitalized.
Answering No will result in another question "Make first letter of word capital?" Answering
Yes on this makes every first letter in every word capitalized. Answering No has No effect on
the text.
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Match blocks with lines (Drainage Evaluation)

<Commands>, <Block>
With this command you can evaluate drainage network drawings. Sometimes you need to
transfer drawing data to other software for further design. The idea with this command is that
you never more should spend time correcting "bad" drawings. The result from this command
will be exported to Excel and contain information about possible pipe connections and
dimensions.
Unregistered user can test the function, the result is limited to five rows in the Excel-file.
First of all, make a copy of the drawing and work with the copy. Delete or freeze all unwanted
objects except manhole (blocks), pipes (lines/polylines) and dimensions (text). You should end
up with something like the picture below. Lines don't need to intersect with blocks, CadTools
evaluates closest solution, that’s the whole idea!
Tip!
If you don’t have manholes as block you must create these. Make the block with an attribute
(ID). Insert the block at all manhole positions. Use the CadTools command "Edit block
attribute text" to make a counter for all attributes (ID)
If the manhole elevation is in a single line text you can use the command earlier to fetch the
text to another attribute in the same block
In the first section you select a block (manhole), use the button "Pick" and select a block in the
drawing. CadTools lists all attributes in the block in two DropDowns. Select attribute for
identification (ID) and if you have a attribute with elevation you can select it as an optional
attribute. Elevation value will not be processed just passed to the Excel-file as it is so you can
use it for other purposes. Blocks that not contain the tag for Identification value will be
ignored (filtered out). You can process much different kind of blocks at the same time, the
only demand is that they must have the specific attribute that you selected. The name of the
block is not important, the tag is.
Tip!
If your block doesn't have a tag for elevation, then make one. If the elevation of the block itself
is the correct one you can use other commands in CadTools to annotate block elevations to the
drawing and then use the CadTools command "Block Attribute Text Edit" to fill the attribute
with the annotated elevation. Using the optional attribute as an elevation will make it easy to
calculate slopes in the resulting Excel file.
Next section describes the maximum distance from the lines end or start point to nearest block
(picture 2, value A). If possible block is at a longer distance it will be excluded. You can
change color for lines and attributes that have been found and used, this may help if something
seems to strange. A very high value can give the result that a block is reported in many places,
the software always calculate the nearest block.
The third section is used for pipe dimensions. You can set up a maximum perpendicular length
for the text (picture 2, value C). To prevent text that is closer to the line but also closer to the
endpoints you set a percentage value of the total line length (picture 2, value B). If the total
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length of the line is 100 units the value 10% will make text at a range of 10-90 units inside the
line possible (the point where the perpendicular line from the text insertion point to the line
must be at the range 10-90% of total line length)
You can exclude polylines based on vertices, this might help to filter other lines than pipes.
You can change the color for text that has been found and used
Picture 2
After you pressed Execute, use a crossing to select all objects. Unwanted objects will be
filtered out. CadTools calculates the most likely solution for all blocks (nearest block relative
endpoints) and then starts Excel with the results. The resulting Excel Worksheet contains
columns with values. Attribute 1 and 2 are blocks with attribute tags according to your settings,
the line text is the text along the line and theoretical distance (shortest) between the blocks.
After you figured out how this function works it's easy to use it in many other ways.
Export block coordinates/attributes to Excel
<Commands>, <Block>
Export block information to Microsoft Excel. Attributes with values are also exported. If you
want to do the reverse se "Draw from coordinates"
Annotate block elevation

<Commands>, <Block>
Use this command to insert single line text with the elevation of blocks in the drawing. Position
of text relative block insertion point and annotation height are optional.
Edit Block Attribute Text

<Commands>, <Block>
CadTools provides a simple method for editing Block attribute Text. This method changes all
selected blocks individually based on your settings. First you select one of the blocks you are
interested in, do this by pressing the Pick button. All attribute Tags from that block is then
extracted into a Attribute list. Select tag in the attribute list and change appropriated settings as
you please on the form. Remember, in this function only blocks with selected name and tag
are processed.
Adding a counter to a block attribute

This is a handy command if the block are manholes and you want to add a unique id to an ID-
tag. If you planning to use "Drainage Network Evaluation" this command can help you to
insert elevation. The elevation option is developed for situations when the elevation is placed in
a attribute value. Beware! Don't add or remove any text to same attribute that contains
elevation when using "Set Block elevation to selected block attribute value", that will
result in wrong elevation.
The counter is inserted in the same order as the block was selected.
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Before
After
Inserting text within distance to block attribute

Use this command to insert text to an attribute within a distance from blocks. You can change
settings so that blocks that found a text change color. You can also prevent text to be inserted
multiple times (in more than one block). Furthermore you can move used text to current layer
and exclude text outside a given range. CadTools evaluates all blocks and text to find the
closest text to every block.
The "Block Attribute Text Edit" function can be used in many ways to manipulate attributes
values with coordinate based text. You could combine this with other functions in CadTools to
accomplish what you need.
I.e. Exporting block values to Excel, manipulating them with formulas and then paste them
back to the drawing with CadTools "Draw from Coordinates". Then using this function to
insert the value in a attribute.
Before
After
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Mtext with leader

<Commands>, <Draw>
This is a easy way to insert text with leaders to the drawing.

Input sequence as below
1. Input insertion point for the annotation (MText).
2. Type of arrow
3. Number of lines
4. Text for line 1, confirm text input with enter
5. Text for line 2.....etc
6. Point for leader arrow
7.
Create coordinate grid
<Commands>, <Draw>
This function draws a coordinate grid with coordinate cross and annotations. You can select
two types of grid, Mathematical or Geographic. The difference between them are the
annotation, for Geographical the X coordinates are read as Y coordinates and Y coordinates are
read as X coordinates.
Annotate columns or rows

Select where annotation should be placed by using the check-boxes to the right. Checking the
middle box gives the result of annotation for all Coordinate-cross. Settings In the picture results
in annotation of left column and top row.
All last used settings but Layer name will be saved when the form is unloaded. Saved user
settings can be selected from the dropdown list. You can prepare your own settings for
different drawing scales.
You build your own library of settings for coordinate grids. In the left bottom there is a drop
down list with all your saved settings. Selecting any of these settings will change all input
values in the form.
Edit or add new settings by using the menu "Settings" in the form. You can share your settings
to others by copying the file "Cadtoolssettings.uds" that's located in same directory as
CadTools executable file. Pasting (overwriting) the file to same location at another computer
gives that user same saved settings for booth coordinate grid and slope (road markings)
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Resulting Grid in AutoCad with settings above.
Draw from coordinates

<Commands>, <Draw>
A simple but extremely useful command, get same result as a Autocad expert would get with
scripting.
With this command you can let CadTools draw Polylines, Circles, Blocks and Text from a grid.
You can cut and paste ranges between Microsoft Excel and CadTools. All cells are editable but
none of the cells can bee empty. Selecting type from the dropdown list makes the grid change
number of columns needed for the input.
This command is very helpful if you have done the "Drainage Network Evaluation" and
looking at the result in Ecxel. Perhaps CadTools had difficulties to find the dimension text
along lines and therefore you may need to evaluate them once again. If there are a big number
of lines it can be time-consuming to evaluate the whole network.
If you sort out the coordinates for those pipes or manholes that didn't worked as expected it’s
easy to draw them in a different color or at another layer and run the evaluation again but now
at the newly drawn lines. This can be done by selecting pipes, manholes and dimension (text)
one by one instead of using a crossing.
By running the evaluation again with other parameters and with fewer objects it’s easy to catch
the correct text along the lines.
How to edit values in grid

The grid is mainly designed for pasting from Excel but you can edit rows and cells like any
other standard grids. To edit a cell, place cursor at the cell and press Enter. You can also double
click on the cell to get into edit mode. To update the cell press Enter again or place the cursor
elsewhere in the grid. After you are done editing you can change cell or row using the arrow
keys.
How to sort values

Sort columns by clicking the column caption, click again to alter sort order (ascending,
descending)
Tip! When you paste from Excel you might end up with no values in one or more column.
Insert zeros in these columns by right-click at any cell in a column and select "Fill empty
cells with zeros"
Six types of features can be plotted to the drawing, all types are described with images of input
and result below.
1. Polylines, point to point
2. Polyline vertex
3. Circle at point
4. Block at point
5. Text at point
6. Block at section/offset from polyline
1. Polylines, point to point creates polyline segments between two coordinates (XYZ - XYZ)
2. Polyline vertex creates one polyline from the vertices in the list
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3. Circle at point creates circles from the vertices in the list
4. Block at point creates blocks at points in list. Blocks insertion point is used. When the form
is loaded all block information is red from the active drawing, if you change drawing the
information block information needs to be updated. You can do this by placing the mouse
pointer in the block list and press CTRL + R, all block names from current drawing will then
be accessible from the list. A quicker method to get a block name is to use the pointer button to
the right of the block list and then pick a block in the drawing.
5. Text at point
6. Block at section/offset from polyline
If type is block and the selected block contains attributes the grid adds extra rows for attribute
values. You can type in your own values in attribute columns. These values will be inserted in
the block attributes by CadTools.
Pressing ctrl+R in one of the dropdown-list forces CadTools to reload Layer and Block
information, this is handy if you added layers or blocks during the process. If you type in a
layer that doesn't exist, CadTools creates that layer in current drawing.
If you chose to plot blocks along a Polyline you get a question to rotate the block to match the
Polyline tangent. If answering with Yes, blocks are rotated relative the blocks X-axel as shown
in picture below.
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Revision cloud
<Commands>, <Draw>
Draw old fashion revision cloud. Works in both model and paper space, Points are anti
clockwise
1. Specify cloud starting point

2. Pick next point
3. Pick next point.....
4. Close cloud
Layer commands
<Commands>, <Layer>
Layer commands commonly used to speed up work. These commands can also be found in the
topmost toolbar
All layers of but selected

Select objects in the drawing to turn all layer of but the selected objects layers. Up to 5
different layers are allowed.
All layers off but current

Turns of all layer off except current layer.
Layer off by objects

Select objects in drawing, all layers other selected objects layers will be turned off.
Layer freeze by single object (Xref)

Select a single object in a drawing and get layer information. You can then decide to freeze that
layer. Works fine with External references. This command even works in layouts (PaperSpace)
if they are activated.
Move to layer by object

Change layer for selected objects to layer by selected object.
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All layers on
Turns all layers on.
Set current layer by object

Change current layer by selecting a object. That objects layer becomes current layer.
Delete layer
Deletes selected layer, included entities will also be deleted.
Layer report to Excel

Sends layer properties to Excel, layers are sorted by name.
Area Calculation
<Commands>, <Lines>
This function calculates Polyline areas based on user selections. Area annotation is placed at
the first vertex of each polyline. If Annotate Total Area is checked CadTools ask user to pick
annotation point in for total in the drawing. After calculation the results can be exported to
Excel (message box asking user). Closed status of calculated lines are in third column.
You can filter polylines based on display color and layers, i.e. only calculate yellow lines on a
specified layer.
Tip! When calculating areas in cross-sections, use Autocad's BPoly to create closed polylines
of areas. To create end area volumes you can export all values to Excel and create your own
formula.
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Annotate polyline elevation

<Commands>, <Lines>
Annotates vertex elevation of 3D polyline. Text height and number of decimals are optional.
Vertex to be annotated is also optional, First, Last or All (default)
If you are looking for a command to annotate at given interval use "Transverse 3D lines
between 3D polylines"
Export polyline coordinates to Excel

<Commands>, <Lines>
Export polyline vertices to excel. You can use this command together with "Draw
object/text/polyline from coordinates" to draw blocks etc at vertices.
Table Edit 3D polyline elevation
<Commands>, <Lines>
This command is used to edit polyline vertices elevation. Editing vertices elevation in Autocad
is rather tedious, this command might speed up that kind of work.
In the list there are three columns, the first contains accumulated length (blue) and vertex lengt,
this column can not be edited. Second column contains vertex elevations and third slope in
percent. You can choose to display true or horizontal vertex length, it doesn't affect the
calculations.
Press Read Line and select a 3Dpolyline in current drawing, all lengths (3D length), elevations
and slope are loaded into the list. Use arrow key to position in list, change elevation or slope as
needed. The slope is calculated and updated immediately, changing slope recalculates
following vertex elevation.
Pressing Update Line updates the 3D polyline in the drawing. Trying to quit without updating
the line or selecting another line still with unsaved data in the table generates a message to the
user.
32
Densify polyline
<Commands>, <Lines>
Use this command to interpolate new vertices at given interval. This can be useful when
triangulating surfaces, if a constrained triangulation fails this sometimes can help.
Before After
Join 3D polyline
<Commands>, <Lines>
Joins 3Dpolylines. The first line becomes the master line, lines selected after the first line
inherits colors and layer properties.
All lines must have exactly the same coordinates (startpoint-endpoint) otherwise they will not
be joined.
Line calculation
<Commands>, <Lines>
Calculate line lengths and radius on active AutoCAD drawing.
First you select the layer for the lines to be calculated. Layers can be selected from the drop
down list. Lines on frozen or hidden layers are not in the list. Lines from external references
will not be calculated.
If you want to select lines by color (visible color) you select a color from the color drop down
list. The filtering process will exclude all lines with a different visible color than the one
selected.
You can put annotating for Arc radius on current layer. When calculating curbs etc you may
want annotations only for arcs with radios below a given value. In some cases arcs that are
almost straight can be treated as lines and therefore this feature is handy. The annotation is
placed at the midpoint of the arc.
Pressing Execute will start the process. First you will be asked to select lines, use AutoCAD’s
commands (crossing, all etc.) After selection the software will calculate line lengths and
showing a grand total. You then will get a question if you want to export values to Microsoft
Excel.
Answering yes will start up Excel with all line properties sorted on radius.
Annotation of radius
Excel output
Tip! If your drawing has polylines with arcs you may save it as a copy and explode all lines.
Then run CadTools LineCalculation to extract radius.
34
Level out 3D polyline

<Commands>, <Lines>
This command levels out elevation for a 3Dpolyline, it was developed mainly to solve
problems when working in 3D with simple intersections but it's useful in many other situations.
The command first calculates difference between start- and end elevation. The difference is
equally distributed along the line so all other vertices gets same slope as if there was only one
single line. There must be at least three vertices, lines with less vertices will not be processed,
one or more Polylines can be processed at the same time.
Sample for adding a "3D curve" between two 3D polylines.
1. Picture to below show two 2. Use CadTools command "Convert arc

3Dpolylines and a arc. There is nothing to 3D polyline"
like a 3D arc so we haft to convert it to a
3D polyline.
3. Use Autcad's 3D Orbit to rotate up 4. Snap first and last points of the
front converted arc to line ends
5. Use CadTools "Level out 3D

polyline" on the converted arc to get a
smooth transition between the lines.
Tip!
The "level out" command works with
multiple selections. You can put all arcs
on a unique layer and turn off all layer
but that before using "level out". Do this
before picture 5 and then select all in
the drawing.
Make 3D solids from lines (pipes)
<Commands>, <Lines>
This command generates 3DSolids (cylinders) from lines. The line remains inside the solid, it’s
not deleted. This command can be used to generate a model of a network of pipes.
Offset 3D polyline
<Commands>, <Lines>
This command offsets a 3DPolyline. Input parameters are Horizontal offset distance and
vertical offset distance. If there are duplicate points in the line they will be removed. If you
offset lines to the concave side on narrow corners you might end up with loops in the resulting
line.
Multi offset 3D polyline

<Commands>, <Lines>
This command offsets a 3DPolyline to more than one position relative the source line. Input
parameters are Horizontal offset distance and vertical offset distance and layer name. If layer
name is omitted the offset line will have same layer and color as the origin line, that means
there is no need for layer information.
If there are duplicate points in the line they will be removed. If you offset lines to the concave
side on narrow corners you might end up with loops in the resulting line.
Totally empty rows will be ignored so you don't need to remove them. Before processing
CadTools does a check of decimal separator, if mismatch with computer settings (localized)
then the user gets a warning. You can paste data from other software into the grid, use mouse
right click or the menu "Edit". A similar procedure evaluating decimal separator is performed if
you paste into the grid.
You can save grid values to a file for later use by using "File, Save settings"
36
Above the grid there is a graphic view of current settings, the red circle in center is the source
line, yellow circles represent offset results. You can Hoover the mouse over the graphic view to
get a tooltip with horizontal and vertical position.
Horisontal value can not be zero! If so you should use Autcads Move command.
Image below showing result in drawing. The middle line is the source line, you can see that the
two outer lines has same properties as the target line. By leaving layer name empty the target
line inherits these properties. Offsets with layer name gets color by layer.
Reverse polyline
<Commands>, <Lines>
This command reverses a polyline. The polyline must be on current layer. This command is
also useful if you have different linetypeson based on direction. Guardrail lines in plans often
have a symbol for the upright, one linetype for each side. Instead of changing linetype if
uprights are on wrong side you could reverse the line.
This command is also useful when using "Stationing" if the direction of the line is wrong.
1. Before reverse 2. After reverse
Point section/offset from polyline

<Commands>, <Lines>
Select a line and any point in the drawing, get perpendicular line with section (station) and
offset from the line.
Profile 3D polyline
<Commands>, <Lines>
If you created a simple terrain model by using "triangulate" and then draped the surface with a
3Dpolyline you can use this command for profiling the 3Dpolyline. Select insertion point and
vertical scale to plot the profile to current drawing. The start height is placed as a single line
text at the beginning of the profile.
38
This command can be useful when profiling the terrain, by check out the annotation checkbox
you can add more profile lines to the frame. Beware! Minimum value must be the same in the
existing profile and the line that you plan to add.
First you press "Select line" to let CadTools evaluate the line and suggest min and max
elevation for the vertical axis. You can change these values before pressing "Execute". Pressing
"Execute" start the profiling, first place the cursor at insertion point in the drawing. The
insertion point of the profile frame will be at the intersection of X and Y axis. Add more lines
to same frame by repeating the command from beginning; remember to set annotation
unchecked to avoid any more annotations to the frame. It’s important to set exact same min
elevation and scale to add lines otherwise the elevation will mismatch. Setting same min
elevation and scale makes it easy to use same insertion point (intersection of X and Y axes) for
added lines.
For more information about draping objects to surface, see Drape Lines in section Edit Surface
As alternative to this function you could use "Surface profile"
Result in drawing
Slope and Road signs 2D (topic for road signs and
markings)
<Commands>, <Lines>
It’s easy to draw road markings and signs with CadTools. Pedestrian crossings, bicycle paths,
give-way and chevrons will be described in this section. Surely there are more types of lines
and signs that can be drawn with CadTools Slope mark function.
The Slope sign command was one of the first commands in CadTools. This was a powerful
function from the beginning. By extending it with the possibility to draw other than
perpendicular lines it now can be helpful when constructing Road markings. You can prepare
your own settings for different drawing types of tasks. Use the menu "Settings" on this form to
load the user settings form. You also have the option to create road marks as closed hatched
Polylines. Creating signs as Polyline gives a better result than using solid lines.
Many design manuals for road signs describes width and space between road signs. Mark the
checkbox "Keep interval as free space" to obtain same space between signs as in input interval.
If you tilt signs by providing an angle, CadTools always plots the Polyline correct width. One
benefit of using ordinary Polylines is that they easily can be edited in AutoCad. Other software
might do this more user-friendly by calculating drawing scale and filling arrows but it can't be
edited unless you have the software that created them.
The typical flow of creating road signs with CadTools is:

1. Create supporting 2D polylines by offsetting design lines with Autocad's offset. As
an alternative you could convert 3D lines to 2D with CadTools "Convert"
command.
2. Set up your desired input values in Cadtools, press Execute
3. Pick top line (first line)
4. Pick bottom line (second line)
5. Erase or hide supporting lines
Important!
40
If you have set hatched properties and the result is empty polygons, try to change hatch scale.
(Use appropriate decimal separator! Same as your operating system)
You can not save intersections to tempfile when using the "Draw as Polylines" command.
Remember to set max length when creating markings for shoulders and other thin lines,
otherwise there might be unwanted lines.
The possibility to change angle in SlopeMarks is only available for registered users!
Tip!
• You can use this command to create parking lot markings. Set interval to the
parking space for one car, set Minor tick size to 100%. Draw two parallel lines
for the front and the back of the parking space. Run the command! Consider
the opportunity to set an angle here, that would also create another type of
parking lot.
• Use CadTools command "Area calculation" to get road sign areas to Excel
Save commonly used type of markings (settings)

You build your own library of settings for any type of markings or what ever. In the left bottom
there is a drop down list with all your saved settings. Selecting any of these settings will
change all input values in the form.
Edit or add new settings by using the menu "Settings" in the form. You can share your settings
to others by copying the file "Cadtoolssettings.uds" that's located in same directory as
CadTools executable file. Pasting (overwriting) the file to same location at another computer
gives that user same saved settings for booth "Cordinate grid" and slope (road markings)
Samples
Images below shows settings and result for some types of common markings, depending on
country the settings might be different.
Chevrons
First you draw a couple of Polylines (reference line in

the middle and two lines for the traffic). Draw Slope
marks from the centerline towards the outer lines,
toggle the negative sign of in the angle before
executing the second line.
Now change the global width of the two outer lines in
Autocad and it beginning to look familiar. The arrow
can be done in same way, draw a Polyline and change
start width in Autocad.
Steps to create Chevrons

42
Give Way signs
Draw a Polyline and use

AutoCad’s offset to get
two Polylines. Set Start
and End Width in
cadTools, draw slope
marks between the lines.
Remember to set Interval
to twice the Start Width.
Steps to create Give Way

signs
Pedestrian crossings
Draw a Polyline and use

AutoCad’s offset to offset
the line to desired width of
the crossing. Set Start and
End Width in cadTools,
draw slope marks between
the lines.
Steps to create Pedestrian

crossings
Bicycle paths
Draw a Polyline and use AutoCad’s

offset the line. Set Start and End
Width in cadTools, draw slope marks
between the lines.
Steps to create Bicycle paths

44
Slope arrows on 3D polylines

<Commands>, <Lines>
Creates slope arrows on 3D polylines. Interval and arrow size are optional. You can create
arrows as solid or as polylines.
If the 3D polyline has flat elements no arrow will be created for that element. Arrows will point
in downhill direction. This command works with multiple line selections.
Slope and Road signs 2D (topic slope signs)

<Commands>, <Lines>
This command was developed to draw slope signs (ticker marks, batter ticks) but I discovered
that with a few minor changes it could extend to support all kinds of road signs.
These methods are described in a separate topic, see "Road Signs".
To draw ordinary slope lines you first select top and bottom polylines and slopesigns will be
drawn at current layer. You can prepare your own settings for different types of tasks. Use the
menu "Settings" to load the user settings form.
The settings are:

• Set interval for lines between polylines.
• Max length is useful when intersections are found at not desired points.
• Minor Tick Size adjusts every second line length, a value of 50 results in half distance.
• Start and End Width can be used to create slope lines shaped like triangles.
• Layer for the slope lines
• Color for slope lines
• Angle for slope lines
• Tick-marks in reverse direction (draws tick-marks from Toe to Top)
TIP!
You can use this command to find the centerline between two irregular polylines. Sometimes
it’s a good supplement to AutoCad’s Hatch command.
If the checkbox "Save intersections to tmp-file" is marked CadTools writes all intersection
coordinates to a file in the application directory. The name of the file is "SlopemarkTemp.txt" if
there is a previous file it will be overwritten.
Manipulate this file with Excel and use the command "Draw from coordinates" to plot a
Polyline between the minor ticks.
TIP!
As you know CadTools uses the first picked line (Top) as reference line to create tick-marks. In
fill conditions you pick the shoulder line first and the tick-marks will be created towards the
terrain. In cut conditions there might be some problems, picking the terrain line first will
generate correct but not so nice result. To fix this you should use the “Tick-marks in reverse
direction” option (draws tick-marks from Toe to Top).
This feature is not accessible when “Plot as closed polylines” is enabled.

46
Stationing
<Commands>, <Lines>
Use this command to stationing 2DPolylines or 3DPolylines. Annotations for Major stations
and end station are optional by using the checkbox. Length for major and minor perpendicular
lines can be set. Offset for annotations are calculated from the outer point of the major
perpendicular point, negative values will bring annotations closer to line. Stationing values are
horizontal values of the line.
User can set value for start station, which means that the first station on the line get same value
as typed in. You can not station parts of the line if that is needed, break the line before
stationing.
Image below shows stationing with checkbox "Skip end annotation" marked and a plus-sign as
delimiter.
Transverse 3D lines Between 3D Polylines
<Commands>, <Lines>
This is a very powerful command! Works similar to Slope marks in 2D but with this command
you create real 3D slope marks.
Use this command to draw perpendicular lines between two 3D polylines. This command is
first of all designed for use with "Create longitudinal features" command. After generating
longitudinal polylines you often want to get some tick marks for the ditch slope etc. If you
prefer to add slopemarks in one command the "Create longitudinal features" has an option for
that but sometimes it's more convenient to draw them after the design is done.
You can annotate Reference line or Target line Elevation at every major interval. If you want to
check slope between lines you can chose to annotate slope as well. The slope is always relative
the Source line, negative values indicates that the slope is downhill.
This command can also be used to annotate a single line elevation, use CadTools command
"Offset 3D" do create a reference line before executing this command.
Examples of use
• Annotating elevation at given interval of a road or ditch.
• Annotating superelevation (%) at given interval to check if all is as it should be.
• Prepare data for triangulation, minor lines that will be triangulated can make the
triangulated surface more accurate.
• You want to draw a parallel line between two 3D polylines, for this you must set then
intervall to small value andset minor to 50%. Then us the "Save intersection to tmp-file"
option and then paste the minor coordinates back to CadTools and draw a new polyline (vertex)
• Use "Save to tempfile" for grabbing the data and use it Excel or paste back portions to
CadTools "Draw from Coordinates" command.
Tip! When creating transverse features (tick marks) for fore slope in cut sections, pick the ditch
bottom line nearest the polyline first. When creating the back slope features pick second ditch
bottom line first. For the fill sections pick main line first. Doing this gives neat transverse
features at exact same station.
If working with pads there might be problems with uncontrolled tickmark crossings, set max
length to avoid this behavior.
48
This form is built in three parts.
Upper part
The upper part has input fields for
horizontal interval, max length and minor
tick size. Max length is used to prevent
creating unwanted tick marks, if set to 10
no tick marks will be created if length is
above 10.
If minor tick size is set to 100% the
minor line is full length between
polylines.
Notice!
Normally the "Use first..." should be
on! It's important for the behaviour of
all tickmarks. If on, the decision of
where minor ticks should start (based
on elevation) is handed over to
CadTools, the result is always correct.
Note This is a very important setting,
If Minor ticksize is set to 100% and "Save therefore the setting always is on as
intersections to tmp-file" is off the text above default.
is irrelevant. If this option is unmarked minor
tickmarks start point is drawn from
the first selected line, the real slope
direction is not evaluated. This might
result in wrong directions, its up to the
user to decide.
Image of left line picked as top (reference) results Image of right line picked as top
in nice tickmarks. (reference) results in ugly tickmarks.
By using this option you are guarantied that minor
tickmarks are created correct. (based on elevation
of perpendicular start and end elevation). Minor
tick marks starts at the polyline with highest
elevation
Middle part
The middle part of the form has settings for annotations. This is useful for annotating
transverse slope or annotating reference/target line elevation at given interval.
• Ditch bottom elevations at given interval
• Centerlines elevations at given interval
• Backbones elevations at given interval
In image below transverse slope is

annotated, no transverse lines are drawn.
Could be used to check super elevations.
Image to left shows the different with

Elevation text placement. Elevation text
placement has no other effect than rotaing
when text rotating is set to other than 0. If
you want text placement in a different manner
you can create a supporting line by offsetting
the polylineline first.
50
Image showing annotations of reference

line elevation.
Bottom part
Here you set layer for annotations and features, useobject picker button to get layer from any
object in the drawing. Another handy thing is that you can save all calculated intersections to a
temp-file. This file can be opened with Excel (as textfile, CSV-file) and imported to Excel
directly. Do your own calculations in Excel and then paste the result back to CadTools with the
"Draw from coordinates".
Polyline Tools
<Commands>, <Lines>, <Polyline Tools>
Here you will find some other handy polyline commands.
Best fit
Use this command to replace a 3D-polyline with a linear regression of all vertices (X,Y and Z).
This is done in the same manner as you would do in a Excel chart when creating a “Trend-
line”. The result is a straight line with two vertices. The linear regression algorithm uses the X
(eastings) to adjust the Y (northings).
Tip! If you want to use this method on points you can export the points to Excel with CadTools
point command (Export to Excel) an then draw a line with the "Draw" command.
It the polyline is a 2D-polyline, convert it to 3D-polyline using CadTools Convert command

and then use this command.
Remove duplicate polyline vertices

Use this command to remove duplicate polyline vertices. The line must be open and not
contain any bulges (arcs)
Simplify 3D-polyline
This command uses the Douglas-Peucker algorithm to reduce vertices in a 3D polyline.
The Douglas-Peucker (DP) algorithm uses the closeness of a vertex to an edge segment. This
algorithm works from the top down by starting with a crude initial guess at a simplified polyline,
namely the single edge joining the first and last vertices of the polyline. Then the remaining
vertices are tested for closeness to that edge.
If there are vertices further than a specified tolerance, ε > 0, away from the edge, then the vertex
furthest from it is added the simplification. This creates a new guess for the simplified polyline.
Using recursion, this process continues for each edge of the current guess until all vertices of the
original polyline are within tolerance of the simplification. More specifically, in the Douglas-
Peucker algorithm, the two extreme endpoints of a polyline are connected with a straight line as
the initial rough approximation of the polyline. Then, how well it approximates the whole polyline
is determined by computing the distances from all intermediate polyline vertices to that (finite)
line segment. If all these distances are less than the specified tolerance ε, then the approximation
is good, the endpoints are retained, and the other vertices are eliminated. However, if any of these
distances exceeds the ε tolerance, then the approximation is not good enough. In this case, we
choose the point that is furthest away as a new vertex subdividing the original polyline into two
(shorter) polylines, as illustrated in the following diagram.
This procedure is repeated recursively on these two shorter polylines. If at any time, all of the
intermediate distances are less than the ε threshold (tolerance), then all the intermediate points
are eliminated. The routine continues until all possible points have been eliminated.
Successive stages of this process are shown in the following example.
52
Send single point to clipboard

<Commands>, <Points/Circles>
Send single point to clipboard does exactly what it says, it sends point coordinates to Windows
Clipboard. User gets a question if X and Y coordinates should be switched. The reason to this
question is that you might want to send a geographical (North East) coordinate instead of a
mathematical.
You can paste the points coordinates back to many windows software by using paste or
CTRL+V
Annotate Point
Annotates a single point in the drawing. The annotation is a Multiline Text (MText)
with text height from Settings (CadTools Settings). User gets a question if X and Y coordinates
should
be switched. The reason to this question is that you might want to send a geographical
(North East) coordinate instead of a mathematical.
Export point and circles to Excel

Export all selected points and circle coordinates to Excel. You can select entire drawing with a
crossing points and circles will filtered. After coordinate are read CadTools starts Excel with
the results.
Image of result
Create Longitudinal Features
<Commands>, <Surface>
This command generates longitudinal 3D Polylines between 3D Polylines and a surface or

elevation. The surface must be triangulated by CadTools and saved to file before using this
command. If you plan to intercept an elevation no surface is needed, otherwise a surface must
be loaded. To load a surface, use the menu Load Surface. Change parameters for Cut, Fill and
Ditch bottom to preferred values. All slopes should be input as -0.25% or as -1:4. If you use
type"1:4" CadTools convert the expression to slope percent when you move focus to another
textbox or button.
Preview you current settings and typical

result with the preview window. This
window floats and updates when settings
are changed.
Image of resulting features created by

this command
To draw transverse features (slope signs, tickmarks) automatically after creating longitudinal
features select the Tick Marks checkbox. If you want to do it later, use Transverse 3D lines
between 3D Polylines. This command is located in the top menu and in CadTools main form
under lines. Remember to check the option "Use first line as…..", it’s a smart choice.
Image to left showing longitudinal features created with "Tick marks" unchecked. Image to
right showing tick marks created in one commands.
54
How it works
At every station based on the density value CadTools evaluates the cut section. If no solution is
found it then evaluates the fill section. If booth cut and fill fails no feature will be created for
that station (gap in the line) Density interval sets stationing for the calculation, a small value
increases accuracy but slows down the process. This value should not be bigger then 0,5 to get
any useful results. If you got plenty of time a smaller value results in more accurate result.
After processing check transitions between cut and fill by using the orbit command in Autocad.
Rotate the model to revel any bad transitions.
If working with pads there might be problems with uncontrolled tickmark crossings, set max
length to avoid this behavior. If cut foreslope distance is set to 0 (zero) no features for the first
cut line is created, if ditch bottom is set to 0 (zero) no feature for second ditch line is created.
Tip! When manually creating transverse features (tick marks) for fore slope in cut sections,
pick the ditch bottom line nearest the polyline first. When creating the back slope features pick
second ditch bottom line first. For the fill sections pick main line first. Doing this gives neat
transverse features at exact same station.
Destination layers and colors for output are selected from drop-down list, to get newly added
layers into list use "ctrl + R" to refresh list. If you type in a layer that doesn't’t exist, CadTools
creates that layer in current drawing. Use the "Hair-Cross" buttons to pick layers in the drawing
to the drop-down list.
Remove loops
Removes the loops that may appear at concave corners. This option allows the longitudinal
feature to more accurately represent the original feature. If loops are stacked or to complex
CadTools can have problems to solve them completely, some manual work in the drawing
might bee needed.
The first example graphic shows a longitudinal feature that was generated with this option
turned off. The second graphic was generated with this option turned on.
Speeding up the process

If you find this command to slow there is at least one thing you can do to speed up the process.
As you probably know, computers are stupid but quick. To calculate interception between a
line and a plane (triangle) all triangles in a surface must be evaluated. If the surface is big and
you plan to work on a small area it’s smarter to create a smaller surface around the design area.
Use the Edit surface command to delete triangles outside the desired area.
Related topics: Triangulate, Edit surface
Advanced use
Use offset 3D polyline or Multi Offset to create references lines for more complicated
structures. Use this command to finally generate longitudinal features for end conditions.
Triangulate all longitudinal lines with constrained triangulation to create a design surface. That
design surface can be plotted with the existing surface as cross-sections or profiles. You can
also create surfaces for other types (rock, foundations)
You could think of this like a method to create end conditions, if you are heading for more
complex structures you can use "Offset 3D polyline" to build your lines before using this
command. It's possible to build a set of 3D polylines and finally create intersections with
surface, triangulate the 3D polylines as constrained triangulation and end up with a real 3D
model.
Image below shows sample of result.
Tip! Think of this function as a laser beam that is pointed perpendicular from a 3D polyline. By
setting slope and some other values to 0 (zero) you can accomplish many cool things, like
horizontal projecting a 3Dline to a raised road or any other surface.
Edit/View surface
First of all you must load a saved CadTool’s surface. Surfaces can be saved when triangulated
by checking the box "Save to File" before triangulating. After all triangles are created you can
specify path and a filename for the surface file. After this surfaces can be loaded and edited.
Load the surface file by using the command "Surface", "Load".

You can edit any triangle in the drawing, delete triangles or move any point. When done the
surface can be saved back to file by using "Surface", "Save". Only CadTools triangles will be
saved therefore you can use a crossing and select all objects in the drawing.
You can't create new triangles because CadTools has marked plotted triangles as "CadTools
triangles", when saving back to file CadTools checks if the triangle is a valid one. You can
copy a triangle in the drawing and then edit and save all triangles. Beware, copied triangles
must not be mirrored, points must be clockwise.
56
The menu "Tools" contains other surface tools, the first one is "Trickle". This command
traces the path of a drop of water down a selected surface. Note! The path ends when all
surrounding triangles forms a pond no matter the size of the pond or when the
path reach the surface perimeter.
Tip!
You can plot several surfaces to a drawing and then save them to a single surface (file). Make
sure there are no overlapping triangles, draping and annotating won't be accurate if there are
overlapping triangles. This is useful when creating design surfaces, Offset 3D polylines to
create structures beneath the ground. Use "Create longitudinal features" to create end
conditions (target surface), then you have all you need for creating design surfaces.
Load existing ground and additional surfaces (design, rock) in the "Surface Cross Sections"
and plot them in drawing. You could then Use "Calculate polyline area" and export text to
Excel to calculate end area volumes. As an alternative you can use "Triangle volume"
Import surface (triangles)

Save triangulated surfaces from other software and use them in CadTools. Importing triangles
from other softwares is a simple process, as mentioned above CadTools do a check to test if the
triangles are plotted by CadTools. Using the "Import" command located in the "surface" menu
overrides this check, triangles must be 3D polylines or 3D faces.
Surface preview on Tab 3 and surface preview

Plot triangles
This command plots all triangles to drawing. Select output style, 3DFaces or 3DPolylines. This
is the same command that can be used when triangulating a surface. There is no need for
plotting triangles unless you planning to edit and save them. All commands works with the
surface loaded in memory. (plotting triangles to Autocad is a slow process)
Plot perimeter
This command plots boundaries of the surface. If there are holes in the surface these will be
treated as boundaries. You can filter the plot to only include triangles within a given range of
slope. The result of this might be a set of isolated perimeters, you can also set a minimum
horizontal area to be displayd. This is handy for i.e. identifying flat areas larger than a given
area. As an option you can plot boundaries for areas with specified slope, you can omit small
areas
Image showing resulting

perimeters where red
areas has slope between
0% and 0,5 %, areas
smaller than 10 are
omitted.
Create Wireframe Surface

58
Divides surface into equal squares with corners at elevation from surface. The squares are
plotted to Autocad as 3D Polylines or 3Dfaces. Beware, this process is very slow on huge
triangle sets with small squares
As an alternative you can use "Profiled Model"
Drape loaded Surface (Objects)

Drapes objects to loaded surface. Supported objects are: Circles, Points, Single line text, Multi
line text, Blocks
Tip!
If you have a list of coordinates without elevation (z) and wants to get elevation from a surface.
Use the "Draw from Coordinate" function, select "Circle at point" and paste your coordinates
into the list. Insert a small circle at all coordinates and then drape the circles to the surface
with the "Drape Loaded Surface (Objects, not lines).
Now you can export the coordinates to Excel with the command "Point/Circles" export
command.
Drape loaded Surface (3Dpolylines)

When you drape a 3Dpolyline, the portions of the original 3Dpolyline that lie outside the
perimeter of the destination surface remain unmodified, at their original elevations. You will
not lose points from your feature just because they do not drape to the surface.
The draped 3Dpolyline, even if they are originally flat, assume the elevation of the surface. The
elevation of the draped 3Dpolyline is derived from the surface at every vertex in the original
3Dpolyline. Furthermore, the elevation is also taken at every point where the 3Dpolyline
crosses a triangle edge. This means that even if you are draping a simple line segment
consisting only two points, the resulting draped entity could consist of numerous points, based
on the triangles in the destination surface. This means that you may end up with many more
points than you started with.
However, you may use the option of draping only the vertices of a 3Dpolyline and not deriving
any additional points.
Single point
Annotate elevations from Surface
With this command you can annotate any point on the surface. Use "ESC" to cancel and return
to CadTools. Change Text properties before executing. If you must change settings during
execution, press "ESC" and change text settings and proceed by execute again. If no triangle is
found under the selected location nothing is annotated.
Annotate surface slope and direktion
With this command you can annotate slope and direction for any point on the surface. Use
"ESC" to cancel and return to CadTools. Change Text properties before executing. If you must
change settings during execution, press "ESC" and change text settings and proceed by
execute. For surface slope of entire surface se "View slope vectors".
Tools
Trickle
This command traces the path of a drop of water down a selected surface. Note! The path ends
when all surrounding triangles forms a pond no matter the size of the pond or when the path
reach the surface boundary. When the path gets to the border of the surface, it stops even if the
outer most triangle has a slope that would allow the drop to follow the rim of the surface.
This command does exactly the same as above but for a complete surface in one command. A
drop of water falls on every triangle center and then CadTools calculates the path towards the
lowest point. When all triangles has been evaluated CadTools sums all involved triangles
planar area and annotates the area to every corresponding pond. Elevations of annotations are
set to same as surface and can easily be exported to Excel with CadTools command: Text,
Export to Excel. The Trickle All command can be useful in the designing process of pipe
dimensions.
Delete triangles with centroid outside polygon

This command is very useful for cleaning design surfaces from unwanted triangles. The
triangulation of design surfaces often results in many triangles outside the outermost feature.
Cross-sections of a surface of this type will look funny and therefore the extra triangles must be
removed. This can be done using AutoCAD's command deleting triangle by triangle and finally
you save the edited surface.
60
This command does this time consuming task for you. First you select CadTools triangles,
because all CadTools triangles will be filtered you can use a crossing over all objects. Next step
is to select a polygon, it's not necessary that the polyline is closed as long as first and last
vertex has same coordinates. All triangles that have their centroid outside the polygon will be
deleted.
A smart way to create the polygon is to add extra 3D-lines to the outmost features that is
included in a triangulation. For design surfaces this could be the features created with the
"Longitudinal features" command. The extra 3D lines can be joined with these features and
together act as an exterior boundary. Images below show steps to perform a perfect design
surface.
Features created with "Create Longitudinal Extra 3D-polylines created at ends

features" command
Triangulated design surface with unwanted Result of the "Delete triangles with centroid
extra triangles. The red polyline is the outside polygon" command.
joined boundary cretaed from outermost
features and the extra two lines.
Delete triangles with centroid inside polygon
This command is similar to the previous command but it does the opposite, deleting triangles
with centroid inside polygon. This command can be useful if you want to create a hole in the
existing ground where the design surface will be placed. To get best result there are some thing
that need to be taken care of.
Typical steps to get a nice hole
1. Plot design surface perimeter.
2. Plot existing ground triangles.
3. Drape design surface perimeter onto the existing ground (Answer no to question "Keep
original line...").
4. Re-triangulate existing ground triangles and the draped design perimeter to get aligned
triangles near the perimeter.
5. Plot design perimeter.

6. Use "Delete triangles with centroid inside polygon" to delete all triangles inside the
perimeter.
7. Now you have a existing ground surface with a hole If you want you can plot design
surface triangles in the hole or save the new surface with a different name
Design surface perimeter plotted Triangles inside polygon are deleted.
Design surface plotted in same position as deleted triangles.

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Create Surface (Triangulate)
This command creates triangles from the selected objects coordinates. This function is not
suitable for huge sets of point or objects. To speed up the process only use "Save to file",
plotting triangles to Autocad is a slow process. Select objects by crossing or other suitable
select command, only selected type of object are included in the triangulation. Click
"Triangulate" to start triangulation and plotting.
For text strings the insertion point of the text is used as X- and Y coordinates. As an option
user can let CadTools evaluate strings for any value that can be used as elevation. There is no
need for editing the strings, CadTools search for the first number or negative sign in the string
and then evaluates the remaining part of the string.
Coordinates used from Lines are start and end coordinates. For Polylines every vertex
coordinates is included. For Circle the center point is used, insertion point coordinates is used
for Block
Output type of triangles can be 3Dfaces or 3Dpolylines. Select layer and color for triangles
from drop-down list, to get newly added layers into list use "ctrl + R" to refresh list. If you type
in a layer that doesn't’ exist, CadTools creates that layer in current drawing
Maximum triangle side can be set by user, if omitted all triangles will be plotted.
Note! Plotted triangles can be edited directly in the drawing and then saved to file by using the
"File, Save triangles to file". There is no need retriangulate if you forgott to set output to file.
Plotted triangles are recognised by CatTools when saving, you can select entire drawing all
other objects will be filtered out.
Constrained triangulations (breaklines)

Breaklines must be triangulated together with all other objects, this is necessary because
the breakline vertices must be included in the triangulation. The option to only use lines
on specified layer as breaklines doesn't mean that are included automatically, they need
to be included in the ordinary object selection (select objects). The option to use lines
from a specified layer means that only lines on this layer will be treated as breaklines.
If "Use as breaklines" is checked the triangulation will be constrained, none of the input lines
will be crossed by any triangle. This is performed by plane subdivision technique which
sometimes results in unwanted long triangles with small angles. Probably there are much better
methods for constrained triangulations but I liked this because it was easy to understand and
reasonable simply to implement. If you have problems with long triangles you could try to
manipulate 3D polylines by using the command "Densify polylines" before triangulating.
You can specify layer for lines that should be treated as breaklines, vertices from these lines
will be included in the triangulation along with other points but when it's time to add breaklines
to the surface only lines from specified layer will be used.
Subdivision technique
1. All crossing triangles 2. Crossing triangles are
are identified removed
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3. Intersections of the line 4. resulting triangles are

and remaining points on added to the surface
each side are triangulated
During the process you might get some messages about problems with the triangulation
process, often when triangulating dense data I.e. design models. It's a god idea to continue
anyway and examine the result. Its rather easy to delete or correct triangles using Autocad's
Shade command (and Orbit)
Tip!
If you have problems triangulating long parallel polyline structures, try to explode them to
lines and triangulate segements or triangulate a couple of lines at time. You can always save
plotted triangles from drawing to same surface file using "File, Save triangles to file". Another
tool to use if problems with triangulated result is "Densify 3D polyline"
Image below showing triangulated design model that's been corrected (triangles outside cut and
fill lines has been deleted)
Steps to triangulate
1. Select types of input data by checking appropriate check boxes.

Press "Select objects" button. And select objects for triangulation. Only checked
object types will be used by CadTools so you can select by crossing.
2. Set maximum triangle side, omit if not relevant.
3. Select triangle output, to file or drawing and as 3D faces or polylines.

Press triangulate.
Sample of triangulate text strings containing elevation text

66
Triangle volume
Use this command to calculate cut and fill volumes. Volumes are calculated between two
surface in two ways, the most accurate method does this by projecting the Original Surface
onto the Design Surface and then computing the volume of each of the resulting prismoids.
Volumes where the design surface is below the Original Surface are cut volumes. Fill volumes
are volumes where the Design Surface is above the Original Surface. The estimated option is
much faster than the exact but less accurate. Results of computed Cut and Fill are displayed as
volume, area and max elevation difference. You can also annotate elevation difference in the
drawing, this can be useful if you want to see where deep cuts or high fill are located.
The Design surface boundaries must be inside Original surface boundaries.
If you wish to plot the resulting triangles (of the design surface) in different color and layer as
3DFaces this can be done by marking the corresponding checkbox. Picture below illustrate a
site where cut are colored red and fill colored green, it's easy to see where cut and fill are
located.
Estimated option
For the estimated option elevation of design triangle vertices and the triangle centre point are
compared with the same spot at the existing surface. If the existing surface is flat this option
gives pretty good accuracy. If the surface has ridges and valleys the volume might be wrong,
imagine that a ridge or valley in the existing surface lies between two or more points of the
design surface.
Note! Only triangle points are evaluated. Having a normal Original surface with rather small
triangles and a Design surface with huge triangles will result in incorrect volumes
Almost Exact option

This command is the most accurate method to compute cut and fill volumes in CadTools. To
accomplish a more exact value for Cut an Fill CadTools adds projected points at evaluated
positions. Usually this will give same result as with constrained triangulating but in some
cases, for example when the design surface includes few and large triangles the result might be
different.
Cut and fill volumes obtained with this command are calculated between two surfaces, by
projecting the triangle-points from the Original Surface onto the Design Surface and then re-
triangle parts that interfere with the projected surface. Finally the volume is computed from
each of the resultant prismoids. Depending on triangle density the result should be about 95%
or better compared with an exact calculation done with other software.
Volumes where the Design Surface is below the Original Surface are cut volumes. Fill volumes
exist where the Design Surface is above the Original Surface.
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Triangle volume by Elevation

This command calculates volumes between triangles and a plane (z-elevation). Volumes
labeled "Cut" are above triangles, volumes labeled "Fill" are below triangles. Image below
show result from a surface with minimum elevation at 593,3 and max elevation at 578,4.
The result shows that there are no fill volumes at elevation 593,3 which is true because there
are no triangles below that elevation. The sample in the image is from a hole in the ground. The
fill volume column tells how much water the hole contains for every interval. For the top
elevations this is only true if there is a complete horizontal rim at the top.
User can select any start and end interval, they don't need to be within min or max elevations.
Partial result may be copied from the result table. The whole result table can be exported to
Excel.
Profiled model
In this topic a method to create profiled model are described. The profiled model is an
alternative method to visualize the relief in a digital terrain model.
The method is to create a set of lines that are draped onto the surface using the "Surface cross
sections" command.
1. Plot outer boundary for 2. Draw a 3D polyline as reference

the actual surface using line
"Edi/View Surface"
Start "Surface Cross-Section" command from the Surface menu.

1. Set Left and Right offset same as Ref. line length to get cross-section lines that covers
the entire surface.
2. Select the 3D-line as reference line and set interval same as desired grid size.
3. Select "All Stations as 3D-sections" and press Execute.
70
Now you should have lines projected Draw a new perpendicular 3D polyline,
onto the surface in one direction. select as reference line and change left
and right offset wider than the
maximum with of the surface in the
perpendicular direction.
Use Autocad's Orbit command to view the result.

Surface cross sections
There are three windows in this form, plan view, profile view and cross-section view. In the
plan view you can see the reference line and a perpendicular line representing your offset
values. Using the mouse in this window positions all other windows at current station, this is
done by clicking near the reference line. The profile view displays profile for major surface,
this window has same function for current station as the plan view.
This command creates surface cross sections from a reference line (3D polyline) and one or
more surfaces. The first loaded surface becomes the major surface. Major surface can be
plotted in a specified color in the drawing. You can set different color for sub-surfaces but not
individual colors for each sub-surface. If you want to change color for a surface in the preview
view, right click on the surface in the surface ist and change color.
Start by loading one or several surfaces and then draw a new or use a existing 3D polyline as
reference line. Set left and right offset and interval . Use the station navigator to position at any
station on the line. You can type in a value of your own and press the Refresh button to update
the graphic.
To hide a loaded surface, uncheck the box to the right in the surface list. You also can change
display color for any surface by right click on the surface in the surface list and select color.
Current station or all stations can be plotted as traditional cross-section or as 3D-section. You
can also plot range of stations by provide start and stop section.
72
Result can be plotted as ordinary cross-sections or as true 3Dsections. The latter option is
useful if you want to create profiled surface models, read more about "Profiled model".
Image below shows a surface of existing ground as major surface and a design surface as
subsurface, left offset is -30, right offset is 30.
Customize Cross-Section layout (in drawing)

The menu "Settings" provides you with some useful printout settings. You can try different
settings and press "Save" without closing the form, print cross-sections and decide if current
setting works ok for you and finally close the form.
Advanced use of Surface Cross Sections
If you want to display complex features in cross-sections you need to understand how the code
works. In this section I try to explain the simple technique behind the scene.
The cross section line is build as a perpendicular line to the reference line. The line is created
from left to right with the reference line at the zero station, if your settings are -10 and 10 the
total length of the line is 20. Every crossing between the line and triangle legs are stored in
memory and sorted by station (-10 to 10). A surface is built by connecting points with
triangles, every triangle has three legs. All triangles except the outermost share triangle legs
with other triangles, therefore there are duplicate crossings when draping a line.
The easiest way to deal with this is to only use one of the crossing points for draping, since the
legs are connected to same points there can not be any difference in elevation. This is what
CadTools do, only the first crossing point that occurs will be used for that station. The resulting
draped line will be a polyline built by all crossing points, if there are holes in the surface these
will be ignored and the line will pass as if there where no holes.
How about vertical triangles? Well, vertical triangles can't be created with ordinary
triangulations algorithms so that shouldn't happen. If you want to create vertical or more
complex surfaces without triangulation that can easily be done by copying a CadTools triangle
in Autocad and place it manually in the drawing as long as you don't mirror it. When you are
satisfied you can save it by using "Save Surface" in the "Edit Surface". With the description
above I hope you understand that a surface like that can't be displayed correct with CadTools
cross-section command. However, if you tilt the vertical surface slightly i might work,
duplicate crossing are evaluated at the third decimal so you don't need to tilt it a lot.
Why can't the developer fix this? For sure I have thought about this and even have some
blueprints stacked in my brain but I'm lazy by nature. I consider CadTools as a simple software
that can do wonderful things as it is. Changing cross-section to support vertical triangles is a
major task, probably there are only a couple of users that would benefit from it.
74
Surface profile
This function creates Surface profiles of a surface and a 3DPolyline as alignment. If you prefer
to create profile along a 2D polyline you can use other CadTools line commands to first
convert the polyline to a 3DPolyline.
The first selected (Loaded) surface is treated as Major surface, you can't deactivate the major
surface. Additional surfaces can be loaded and displayed in the profile window. By altering the
checkbox surfaces can be hidden (deactivated). You can change color for all surfaces by right
click on the surface name in the list.
Profiles can be plotted to Autocad drawing.
Image of result plotted in drawing
View slope vectors

This command creates slope vectors for surface triangles. There is a similar command for
single points slope in "Edit/View Surface". This command is more powerful and is well suited
for evaluation of drainage. It's easy to check if a design model meets its demands regarding
drainage.
76
Image of slope vectors in display mode "Grid

point"
Surface
Specifies the surface you want to use to display slope vectors. Surface must be a CadTools
Surface, use Surface import for other surfaces (triangles). Surface import is located in
"Edit/View Surface"
Display Mode
Determines how to define the locations where the software generates and displays slope
vectors. You can specify that the vectors be located at triangle centers or in a grid pattern.
Triangle Center automatically places slope vectors at the center of each triangle. Use this
option with care when your surface contains a large number of triangles. If it does, it will be
difficult to read each individual slope vector annotation.
Grid Point places slope vectors in a grid-like pattern. You define the grid-cell size using the X-
Interval and Y-Interval parameters. This parameter is active only when Grid Point is the active
Display Mode.
Annotation
Booth vector and slope can be annotated on different layer and with it's own color. If factor is
set to 0 (zero) CadTools creates a static vector (equal length despite slope value). Setting the
factor value to other values results in vectors with length based on slope value multiplied with
the factor.
Note, setting the value to 1 does not results in slope vectors with exact same length as the
slope, however setting factor to other values than 0 will result in longer vectors for steep slope.
If slope is 10% for one vector and 20% for another the steepest vector will be twice as long,
every vector length is proportional to the slope.
Advanced
Use these settings for overriding color for "Flat Areas" or other intervals as you please.
You can exclude small triangles by setting a value of minimum triangle area. This option is not
available when Grid Point is the active Display Mode.
Surface Contours
Use this command to generate surface contours of a triangulated surface.
Interval
Controls the difference in elevation between each major contour line. For example, you can
display major contour lines at 1-meter intervals. The Interval must be greater than zero (0).
Minors per Major

Defines the number of minor contours that display between neighbouring major contours. For
example, if you set this interval to 4, there are four minor contour lines between each major
contour line. Usually, this value is set to 4 or 9. If you use a zero value, no minor contours
display.
Single contour
Use this for contouring a single elevation. The contour and annotation properties are set same
as for major Contours.
Annotations
Annotations text color and layer can be set for booth major and minor. To omit minor or major
annotations you can set Textheight to 0 (zero)
78
No Automatic Annotations
This option omits all annotations. You can set text height to zero for both major and minor to
get same result but then you have to set them back if you want to annotate by fence. If you
planning to annotate by fence it's smarter to use this option to turn all annotations off.
Annotate by Fence
This command annotates contours by a fence line from the user. Click on the command in the
menu and point out a start point for fence line in the drawing. Position endpoint so that the line
cross one or several contours. The software annotates all crossing points whit elevation
annotations based on the settings.(color, text height). To make the process faster the Annotate
command sustains until the user hits ESC key. You don't need to load a surface for this
command all data needed is stored in the drawing.
Note! Only contours generated by CadTools can be annotated by this command.
Random factor
The random factor is used to manage population of annotations. The contour algorithm
evaluates every possible contour for each surface triangle step by step. For that reason the
contours will contain line segments representing the triangle intersection with the plane
(current elevation).For every contour line segment that's generated the software checks if a
randomize value from 1 to the random factor is equal with 1. If so the annotation will be
plotted between that segments start and endpoint.
Setting Random factor to 1 will result in annotations at every contour segment, increasing the
value decreases the number of annotations.
How to smooth the contour lines

CadTools doesn't support any functions to join the segments to polylines the contour segments
are therefore built as 2Dpolylines at correct elevation, this makes it possible for AutoCAD to
process the segments. You can use AutoCAD to make smooth contours by using "PEDIT".
Type PEDIT on the command line and select "multiple". Select all contours by crossing (never
mind if text is included in the selection). Select "Join", and wait for AutoCAD to finish joining.
Now we have joined all contour segments to polylines. Select "Spline" on the command row to
smooth the contours.
Now you should have nice smooth contours that also can be decurved with the "PEDIT"
command.
Note! You can't annotate by Fence if the contours are splined.
Image below showing before and after smoothing with AutoCAD

80
Set 2D polyline elevation by nearest text

<Commands>, <Lines>
This command can be useful if you receive a drawing

with contours where elevation is zero and you need to
create a surface. Often there are some elevation
annotations near the contour lines, these text-strings are
used by this command to change elevations for the
closest contour line.
It's important to understand how this command works,

by knowing this you can get better results so please
read this section carefully.
The command can process 2D-plylines, and single line

text, polylines containing arcs are not supported. You
can convert polylines with arcs to 3D polylines and
then convert back to 2D polyline to get arcs converted
to polylines.
If polylines are in 3D with bad elevation you can

convert them to 2D-polylines with CadTools Convert
commands before running this command. Cleaning up
lines by using simplify will speed up the process,
CadTools provide a simplify command for 3D-
polylines, you can convert 2D-lines to 3D-polylines before using the simplify command and
convert them back to 2D after.
The user selects text and 2D-polylines or in the drawing by using the "Select objects" button
and then use AutoCAD's crossing or select objects one by one. In the section "Status" amount
of selected lines and text are presented.
Pressing "Execute" button starts the process. The first line is compared with every text, the
perpendicular distance between the text and all polyline segments is calculated. In this process
all vertices except the first and the last also is evaluated against the text , the nearest text value
is then used for elevation of the line.........and so on. (the text itself is also moved to that
elevation)
Same text can be used as elevation for more than one line, you can prevent bad elevations by
setting the max value to a small value.This command is extremely time-consuming 100 text
and 100 lines gives 10 000 solutions to process. You should always use this command with a
backup copy of the original drawing. After completion lines can be triangulated with CadTools
"Create Surface" command.
Max-value
What if the max value is set to high? Well, think of the value as a seek perimeter to the line. A
huge valu can get bad results
Color for successful lines

Polylines and text that gets elevation from text can be colored.
Move successful lines to layer

Polylines and text that gets elevation from text can be moved to a layer. Use layers in the
drawing or type in a new layer. Using Ctrl + R in the layer dropdown refreshes layer
information.
Add result lines to layer

Draws a line between line and the text that was used to set elevation. This is useful when
looking for errors, you should place the result lines on a different layer than the lines.
Sample of input data
Sample of result below, green objects was successful. If you look closer you can see the white
result lines between the text and the line.
82
Open Xref by object

<Commands>, <XRef>
Use this command to open or activate already open drawing that is attached to current drawing
as an Xref. This is command correspond to Autocad's REFEDIT. The selected External
Reference is opened in a new window (if already opened the drawing will be activated)
This command also works in paper space if your Mview is in model mode
Detach Xref by object

<Commands>, <XRef>
Use this command to detach a Xref by selecting a object.

This command also works in paper space if your Mview is in model mode.
Make Xref relative path

<Commands>, <XRef>
Use this command to make current drawings external references path to relative.
Relative Path gives AutoCAD a partial folder structure that is relative to the current
drawing location.
Let's say that your current drawing is in folder P:\Proj\CAD\A, then:

Xref location Relative Path What is happening
P:\Proj\CAD\xref.dwg ..\xref.dwg ACAD looks back one folder from the
current drawing folder (..\ means back up
one
folder)
P:\Proj\CAD\A\Det\xref.dwg .\Det\xref.dwg ACAD looks forward into Det from the
or current drawing folder (.\ means start from
Det\xref.dwg the current folder, or simply leave this off
and the current folder is assumed)
P:\Proj\CAD\S\Det\xref.dwg ..\S\Det\xref.dwg ACAD backs up one folder to CAD, then
goes forward into S\Det
Save Xref settings to file

<Commands>, <XRef>
This command saves Xref settings from current active drawing to a txt-file.
Load Xref settings from file

<Commands>, <XRef>
This command loads Xrefs based on the settings in the file. Xrefs are inserted as
"Overlay".
You can open the saved file with Notepad and use it for documentation of the X-ref
settings
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Create EPANET Inp-file from DWG

<Commands>, <EPANET>
This command creates an EPANET input file that can be imported to EPANET. There are three
types of lines that are supported by this command, Polylines, 3D-polylines and lines. ID:s for
pipes and junctions are created by CadTools.
Pipes within the snap tolerance are merged to nearest junction.
Image of pipe network in DWG

Image of imported network in EPANET
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How to become a registered user

Registered users have full access to all commands in CadTools. To become a registered user
you first must make a donation. Donators will receive information from me personally by email
on how to unlock restricted commands in CadTools.
How much should I donate? There is no right answer to this, the result is always the same no
mater how much or little you donate. Ask your self how useful CadTools is and donate with
your heart.
How to use CadTools to speed up your work

In this topic I will give some hints about using the software in Plans, Cross-sections and
Profiles.
The main purpose during development was to supply support for calculation of slopes and
heights in drainage design. The slope calculations is also useful in other situations, it’s up to
the user to explore these possibilities. In these simple walkthrough’s the "Draw line and arrow"
is set on, you can turn this off under settings. To speed up your work you can both pick and
annotate in one command.
Drainage support in plans

If a drawing in 2D (objects in drawing are not in same elevation as annotated) is used you
should turn off "Pick 3D" and use "Pick 2D". This will prevent CadTools from using elevations
objects in the drawing when picking start points. Instead you type in the start elevation and
only pick the distance from the drawing.
In this picture the "Pick3D/2D" button is toggled to 2D, the start height 50,07 and end height is
50,01 are typed in and the distance is picked from the drawing. The resulting slope -1,168 is
the slope between 50,07 and 50,01 with the picked length and is calculated by the software. If
you press the "Annotate" button you can insert calculated slope direct into desired point in the
drawing.
If you in this moment change response by checking one of the other "Radiobuttons" that are
placed under the response fields, you can easily calculate another response based on same
relation. It could be the height of any point on the extended blue line if calculate slope is
accurate. To accomplish that you simply click on the "Radiobutton" under "End Height" and
picks a new start point at 50,07 and endpoint on desired point. Clicking "Annotate" inserts the
end height in the drawing.
By using this method you can very easy extend heights in a drawing. You can also check if
rainwater will flow in desired directions and with enough slopes.
Tip! Hitting ENTER at any time will execute a new calculation and a fresh response.
Working with cross-sections and profiles

Have you ever been left with a couple of cross-section that are complex and therefore need
some extra height-annotations? With CadTools that’s no big problem!
In this picture of a simple section we have the ground as the cyan line at the top. The green line
is the line that represents the level 50. As you can see, the ground is above the 50 line. For that
reason we can set the slope to 100% and then pick any point at the ground line as the start
height and then pick the end height at a perpendicular point at the 50 line. Of course we have to
check the "Radiobutton" under End Height because we are looking for the height.
Beware! If the end height we are looking for is under our 50 line we must set slope to -
100%
By using AutoCAD’s OSNAP in a smart way this method can be very fast and accurate.
For profiles the method above will work if you have a drawing with same scale horizontal and
vertical. If that’s not the case you can set a scale under settings. This scale factor is used when
you pick lengths with the scale button. Hovering over the button will show present scale factor
in the statusbar of CadTools.
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Index
About, 4
Area Calculation, 29
Create Coordinate Grid, 21
Create Longitudinal Features, 53
Drainage Evaluation, 14
Draw from Coordinates, 22
Edit Block Attribute Text, 17
Edit Surface, 55
General, 4
How to become a registered user, 86
How to use CadTools, 86
Line Calculation, 32
Profile 3D Polyline, 37
Road Signs and Marking, 39
Settings, 8
Slope Signs, 44
Transverse 3D lines Between 3D Polylines, 47
Triangle Volume, 66
Triangulate, 63

CadTools Reference Manual

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CadTools Reference Manual

ABOUT CADTOOLS ................................................................................................................................................. 4

TRANSVERSE 3D LINES BETWEEN 3D POLYLINES .................................................................................... 47

• Decimal separator for input values in CadTools should be same as operating

For information and latest updates: www.glamsen.se/CadTools.htm

(Only accessible if mode is set to "Slope")

ToolBar (Slope Mode)

Buttons from Left to right

ToolBar (ToolBox Mode)

Buttons, first row

7. Insert trailing/ending text

Mode: Command Tree

This mode provides access to all commands of

Using this mode can speed up your work, every

Compared to navigating along windy menu paths this is

Description goes from top left down to right bottom

Arrow Draws an arrow sign indicating slope direction. (current layer)

Color Set color for line and arrow

Text Height Text height for annotated values

AutoCAD version Reference string

Settings form for Slope and road signs

Settings form for Coordinate grid

Arcs > 3D Polylines

Circles > 3D Polylines

Lines > 3D Polylines

3Dpolylines > Polylines

3DFaces > 3D Polylines

Polylines > 3D Polylines

Align text to UCS and scale it.

Align text to left

Insert character to single line text.

Insert line-aligned text

Remove character from single line text.

Export text to Excel

Match blocks with lines (Drainage Evaluation)

Annotate block elevation

Edit Block Attribute Text

Adding a counter to a block attribute

Inserting text within distance to block attribute

Mtext with leader

This is a easy way to insert text with leaders to the drawing.

Annotate columns or rows

Resulting Grid in AutoCad with settings above.

Draw from coordinates

How to edit values in grid

How to sort values

3. Circle at point creates circles from the vertices in the list

6. Block at section/offset from polyline

1. Specify cloud starting point

All layers of but selected

All layers off but current

Layer off by objects

Layer freeze by single object (Xref)

Move to layer by object

Set current layer by object

Layer report to Excel

Annotate polyline elevation

Export polyline coordinates to Excel

Calculate line lengths and radius on active AutoCAD drawing.