Write 3DD MAF File

This option will Write a 3DD data file.

Output File
Enter the output filename, the default extension will be .3dd.

Browse
Browse the disk to select the directory for the output file and the output filename. If you select an existing file, you will be warned and allowed to append the data to the existing file or you can overwrite the existing file.

Select Points/Layers
You can select individual layers and ranges of points to be written to the file, enter the starting and ending point numbers of the range of points required. See Select Points/Layers for more details.

If multiple options are used only those points which fulfil all the checks will be written to the output file.

Layer Code Translation
This option allows layer names and codes to be converted to different (Customer specified) layer names and codes when writing an output file.

The ACS objects are all output according to their current display parameters. Attributes such as layer, string type, string name, point code and colour are used to look up a translation entry in the translation table, the 3dd parameters for that table entry are then used to write the output string or point.

If you choose not to use the layer/code translation file, be very careful with layer names. Other packages are not as flexible with their layer naming conventions as. Some packages do not appear to allow punctuation or spaces in its layer names. If you get errors when importing the file into the target package, it may be because a layer name does not meet the packages layer naming convention.

Points: The point code is not written to the 3dd file. Any (selected) points which have not been included in a string will be written to the output file as FP spot height records.

Strings: The string name is translated via the translation file. Selected String/Line features will be inserted into the job as ‘F’ feature codes with a list of points which define the string.

Contours: The contour layer will be used to lookup the translation file to derive a new string code. If no translation entry can be found, the contour layer name will be used as the 3dd string code.

Include Heights (3d)
Check this box to include heights on the points written to the 3dd file (X,Y,Z).

Include Contours
Check this box to write the contours(polylines) to the 3dd file.

Increment
When writing contours, which form a smoothed line you can enter the interval between the points along the contour. This is the distance between successive points along the contour in metres.

A sample translation file is shown here.

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!-- 3dd to acsp translation file -->
<config>

    <tdd_format width="" decimals="4" />
    <tdd_translation>
        <tdd type="FP" code="3 1 1 0" Descr="Ground pt."/>
        <ACSP Layer="Gro" String_Name="Gro" Point_Code="Gro" Colour="#00ff00" String_Type="Traverse" Style="1" />
    </tdd_translation>
    <tdd_translation>
        <tdd type="FP" code="3 1 2 0" Descr="A/T pt." />
        <ACSP Layer="ATp" String_Name="ATp" Point_Code="ATp" Colour="#00ff00" String_Type="Traverse"  Style="1" />
    </tdd_translation>

    <tdd_translation>
        <tdd type="F2" code="2 1 2 0" Descr="Contour" />
        <ACSP Layer="Ctr" String_Name="Ctr" Point_Code="Ctr" Colour="#ffff00" String_Type="Traverse"/>
    </tdd_translation>

    <tdd_translation>
        <tdd type="F" code="3 2 3 1" Descr="Embankment - Top" />
        <ACSP Layer="BT" String_Name="Ctr" Point_Code="Ctr" Colour="#ff0000" String_Type="Discon"  Style="2" />
    </tdd_translation>

</config>

Number Field in 3dd File
You can set the number format in the output file by setting the field width and number of decimals with the following command in the .xml file.

    <tdd_format width=”12” decimals=”4” />

The number format is used for string co-ordinate values, point co-ordinate values, text values and contour values. If the width is an empty string, the program will make the number field with just wide enough to accommodate the number being printed with no leading spaces. This is the default for 3dd files.

Note that the program inserts at least one space between each number.