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QuickSurf Specifications |
QuickSurf is the fastest modeling package available running inside of Auto CAD or as standalone in Windows, triangulating 50,000 points or more in 30 seconds. All of the three dimensional models produced by QuickSurf are completely compatible with 3D Studio and other three dimensional visualization packages.
There is no limitation on the number of points or the number of surfaces which may be manipulated simultaneously. QuickSurf utilizes virtual memory, so the size of your project is limited only by the available hard disk space. Some QuickSurf users have built maps containing over 10 million control points on the PC platform. One first time user to QuickSurf for Windows immediately loaded a 3.5 million point aerial data set and proceeded to produce contours in minutes. He was so astonished that he immediately called in disbelief of the speed!
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| Input |
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Data may be input from a wide variety of sources to QuickSurf including:
- ASCII files of X,Y,Z point data (delimited and columnar)
- ASCII files of X,Y,Z polyline (break line) data
- Extracted from any Auto CAD drawing entities
- Direct import of digital elevation model (DEM) data
X,Y,Z point information may be extracted from Auto CAD points, vertices, 2D polylines representing contours or break lines, vertices of 3D polylines representing break lines or profiles, as well as most other drawing entities.
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| Output |
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Data generated within QuickSurf may be saved as Auto CAD drawing entities, such as polylines or polyface meshes, or in non-Auto CAD formats including ASCII text point or polyline files, 3D Studio mesh files or binary QSB and QSP surface and polygon files. |
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| QuickSurf Surfaces |
A surface is a mathematical description of a three dimensional surface based on original point or break line data. Surfaces are maintained in surface memory, which is part of Auto CAD controlled memory, separate from the drawing database. This speeds computation and keeps your drawing file small. Mathematically, a QuickSurf surface is a single-valued function of the independent variables x and y. This means that no part of a surface may be over-hanging or exactly vertical, since it would have more than one elevation (z value) at an x,y, point.
A new surface may be created with just points as a result of loading X,Y,Z triplets from an ASCII file or extracting points from entities in the drawing. Breaks may be incrementally added to a surface by extracting polyline entities as break lines. The surface model is built using the TIN, grid, triangulated grid (TGRD), or contour commands.
QuickSurf also has the ability to manage an unlimited number of surfaces with each having any combination of these elements. Multiple surfaces allow you to perform algebraic operations between surfaces resulting in surfaces representing thicknesses, cut and fill volumes, exaggerated surfaces, slopes and many other possibilities. |
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| Surface Models |
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Starting from points and/or break line data, QuickSurf can generate the following basic model types:
- Triangulated Irregular Networks (TIN)
- Grids
- Triangulated Grids (TGRD)
Contours may then be generated from the TIN, TGRD or grid surface model. Any Auto CAD entity may then be draped onto the surface so it lies on and follows the surface exactly. In this way you may turn 2D map data into 3D maps or solve for the surface elevation at any point(s) by draping.
Break line data, representing 3D polylines where surface slopes are discontinuous, may be used without limitation on number or complexity. Both smooth surface curvature and break line slope discontinuities may be combined in the TGRD surface model.
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| Surface Estimation Methods |
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TIN models are created using highly optimized Delauney triangulation which optimally connects all of the data points. TIN models linearly connect the control points with planar triangular faces. Grid models provide surface estimation between control points and may be created using several different methods including:
- Linear interpolation
- Continuous curvature
- Kriging
Six different variogram types and interactive variogram design are available. Kriging is an excellent approach for clustered concentration data sets.
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| Surface Editing |
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Any surface may be edited to change its shape to honor your design or interpretation. The edited surface may then be used like any other for volume, slope, or surface to surface computation. |
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| Surface Manipulation |
QuickSurf can maintain multiple surfaces in memory simultaneously. Surface algebra may be performed between surfaces, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, logarithms, relational comparisons, slope calculation and more. Two simple examples of surface algebra are subtracting an existing topography from a proposed topography to calculate a cut and fill surface to be used in volume calculation, or subtracting the top of a geologic horizon from the base of the same horizon to calculate thickness.
Surface algebra and surface manipulation is performed within the surface operations subsystem of QuickSurf. Polynomial trend surface analysis and automatic residual calculation are also available in surface operations. |
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| Volumetrics |
Fast, accurate volumes may be calculated on one thickness surface, between two different surfaces or between a surface and a constant. The volumes may be computed for the entire surface or separately on one or more arbitrary sub-areas. Determining a cut/fill volume is as simple as selecting a closed polyline define the area in question.
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| Construction Tools |
A broad suite of construction utilities are included to help with your design process. Intersect slope projects a given slope up or down from a 3D control line until it intersects the specified surface, then draws a 3D polyline representing the intersection in space. Daylight lines in site planning, fault traces in geology and bench edges in mine design are determined painlessly.
Apply section applies a cross-section template of any complexity to a 3D polyline (centerline) path to automatically create all of the breaklines for a roadway, including the daylight lines at the head of the cuts and base of the fills. Points on the original topographic surface are automatically moved to a different layer within the disturbed design area.
3D Offset offsets a 3D polyline normal to itself a user-specified horizontal and vertical distance.
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| Open Architecture |
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QuickSurf is a not restricted to a specific discipline. We have attempted to give you the fastest, most flexible surface modeler available. All QuickSurf functions may be called from AutoLISP or C. You may customize and streamline your application using QuickSurf as a modeling engine. This may be as simple as using a macro or as complex as an entire application. |
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