If you do a Feature coded survey in SCS900 / Siteworks using an FXL file for your Feature Code Library, you can set up the collection of attribute data on points. In TBC those points come in from the SPJ file and get drawn and coded with the attributes.
When you export the data to a DWG file, you should select the following options
Note that the feature code attributes can include text, numerical values, images, documents, dates, times, wav files etc. The attribute data will be written into an Extended Data field on the point object that you can access on all points in AutoCAD.
Note that the image files associated with the point data need to be provided with the DWG file for them to be available to the AutoCAD user. They should be placed in the same folder as the DWG file.
The Feature Code in TBC can be associated with either a Block or a Symbol in TBC. Both symbols and blocks are written out to AutoCAD as a Block Reference along with position, rotation and scale parameters that can be adjusted as needed by the AutoCAD user.
Blocks can be located using a single measure point or from 2 points (e.g. a Gateway) or 3 points e.g. a rectangular feature (e.g. a Manhole). Blocks will be exported as a Block.
Point Labels that you define in TBC using Label Styles will be exported as MText (Multiline Text objects to AutoCAD. The symbols placed on points as point markers using the Point Labeling routines or the feature code processing will be exported as Text in the Symbol text font. In order for AutoCAD to read these correctly, the AutoCAD system needs to be able to find the Symbol.SHX font file in the installation folder of AutoCAD. Copies of all of the SHX font files used by TBC can be downloaded from this link.
Link Here
Text styles in TBC fall into two types
-
Stroke Fonts - these are simple fonts that are vectorized for clean drawing production. They are efficient graphically. In TBC all the stroke fonts are derived from SHX files that can be downloaded at the above link. All of these SHX files need to be placed in the AutoCAD font folder in the AutoCAD installation folder of the installation. If the font files are not found by AutoCAD during the opening of the DWG file, AutoCAD substitutes a font of its own for the TBC defined font. The AutoCAD font may not be identical in look or in font character definition (width, spacing etc.) and can result in discrepancies between the look of the text in the AutoCAD system as well as the space that it occupies and the way that the text wraps within the space allocated for the text block.
-
True Type fonts - these are high resolution raster fonts that are managed by Windows. Raster fonts can be downloaded from the Internet and installed in Windows, and should be 100% compatible between TBC, AutoCAD and other applications including Microsoft Word / Office and Google Docs / G-Suite etc. TBC v5.6 includes big improvements in True Type and MText compatibility between TBC and AutoCAD for both Import and Export - providing a more seamless interface between the two systems for Plan / Model Space information and Sheet / Paper Space information.
To a large extent TBC Objects should be compatible with AutoCAD and to a large extent vice versa, however there are issues that you should be aware of and some object types that do not map at all / partially or mostly between the systems.
AutoCAD Incompatibilities and Work Arounds
AutoCAD has Multleader line objects. TBC only has a single leader line object. These objects from AutoCAD do not map to a TBC object. In AutoCAD if the user explodes multileaders then they become single leaders which are compatible with TBC and can be transferred by DWG file. AutoCAD Users often use MultiLeaders even when they only need a Single Leader object, and this creates an incompatibility with TBC.
TBC Incompatibilities and Work Arounds
TBC has the Linestring object. These lines can contain straight and arc segments horizontally and vertical parabolic curves (symmetrical) in the vertical profile. They can also contain VPIs that make 2D curvilinear geometry into 3D curvilinear geometry. All of these TBC benefits are not supported by any AutoCAD object type. To export the correct horizontal geometry you should export the linestrings as 2D polylines that can carry the line and arc segment geometry. For 3D lines, if you export as 3D lines, the lines have to be chorded to eliminate the vertical curves and 3D locations along the line and make a 3D chorded line that only approximates the horizontal geometry. You are effectively dumbing down the data to pass it in the best way possible to AutoCAD.
TBC has the Alignment object. These lines have Horizontal geometry that can include Spirals (Clothoid or other spiral geometry), and vertical curves (symmetrical and asymmetrical vertical curves and vertical arcs) all of which are not supported in AutoCAD. Also a TBC alignment can have embedded station equations and superelevation information that is also not supported in AutoCAD. On export to DWH, alignments have to be chorded to faciliate the passing of an approximate geometry to AutoCAD. If the AutoCAD user has Civil 3D plus AutoCAD then the alignments can be exported as a LandXML file and that can pass the Horizontal and Vertical geometry and the Station Equations but not the Superelevation data.