Creating a New Polyline

You can create a polyline either by placing polyline vertices to create connected polyline segments or by drawing freehand.

Drawing a Polyline

To draw a polyline:

1. On the Objects tab, in the 2D Objects group, click Polyline. The Polyline property sheet opens.

2. Set the parameters of the polyline. See “Polyline Property Sheet Parameters” in this chapter for information.

3. If you want to position the polyline based on where the mouse is pointing in the 3D Window, on the top bar of the label’s property sheet, click Set Position Based on Mouse . See “Moving an Object Based on Where the Mouse is Pointing in the 3D Window” in the “Working with Objects” chapter for more information.

4. If you want to position the polyline based on where the mouse is pointing in the 3D Window and snap it to another object, on the top bar of the polyline’s property sheet, click Snap Based on Snapping Options . See “Moving an Object Based on Where the Mouse is Pointing in the 3D Window” and "Setting Snapping Options" in the “Working with Objects” chapter for more information.

5. If you want to position the polyline in the XY plane, on the top bar of the object’s property sheet, click XY Plane . See “Moving an Object in the XY Plane” in the “Working with Objects” chapter for more information.

6. If you want to position the polyline in the Z plane, on the top bar of the object’s property sheet, click Z Plane . See “Moving an Object in the Z Plane” in the “Working with Objects” chapter for more information.

7. Place the polyline points in the 3D Window by clicking in the desired locations. You must place at least two points.

8. Finish the polyline insertion by right-clicking.

Note: If you want to display the length of each polyline segment while creating and editing the polyline, select the “Show segments distance while editing a polygon/polyline” check box in the Options dialog. See “View” in the “Options” chapter for more information.

9. Continue to edit the polyline’s parameters, or close the property sheet to finish the operation.

Drawing a Freehand Line

You can draw freeform lines that follow the movement of your pointer. This is useful for drawing curves.

To draw a freehand line:

1. On the Objects tab, in the 2D Objects group, click the arrow below Polyline, and then click Freehand Drawing. The cursor changes to a brush icon.

2. Drag the brush in the 3D Window in the shape you want while holding down the mouse button. Release the mouse button when the freehand line is complete. The Polyline property sheet opens.

3. Edit the polyline’s parameters or close the property sheet to finish the operation.

Example of a Polyline Object

Polyline Property Sheet Parameters

Object Parameter	Activity
Appearance
Name	Type the description or name of the polyline. This text appears in the Project Tree as the name of the object.
Activation Action	Select the action to perform when selecting the object from the Project Tree.
Line Color	Sets the color of the polyline. Click the Edit button to open the Color dialog, or type the color code in hexadecimal BBGGRR format (B = Blue channel 00-ff, G = Green channel 00-ff, R = Red channel 00-ff).
Line Opacity	Enter the opacity for the object’s lines. The opacity is defined as a percentage, where 100% is opaque and 0% is transparent.
Fill Color	Select the fill color for the object created by the Extend Polyline. Click the Edit button to open the Color dialog, or type the color code in hexadecimal BBGGRR format (B = Blue channel 00-ff, G = Green channel 00-ff, R = Red channel 00-ff). Note: This field is only enabled when the polyline’s Extend to Ground field is set to Yes in the property sheet.
Fill Opacity	Enter the opacity for the object’s fill. The opacity is defined as a percentage, where 100% is opaque and 0% is transparent. Note: This field is only enabled when the polyline’s Extend to Ground field is set to Yes in the property sheet.
Line Style
Line Width	Enter the polyline width. Use positive values to indicate the width in meters, and negative values to indicate the value in pixels (width>-6). This field is not enabled when the polyline’s Extend to Ground field is set to Yes in the property sheet.
Line Back Color	Sets the polyline back color. This field is only available when Altitude Method is set to On Terrain. The line back color is visible when the Line Pattern property field is set to non-solid pattern values, or when the Line Width property field is set to a value that is larger than 1. The Line Back Color property is only enabled when the Altitude Method property in the Position group (See Position Group below) is set to On Terrain value. Click the Edit button to open the Color dialog, or type the color code in hexadecimal BBGGRR format (B = Blue channel 00-ff, G = Green channel 00-ff, R = Red channel 00-ff).
Line Back Opacity	Enter the opacity of the polyline back. This field is only available when Altitude Method is set to On Terrain. The opacity is defined as a percentage, where 100% is opaque and 0% is transparent.
Line Pattern	Select the line pattern for the polyline, e.g., solid, dashed, dotted or a combination of those patterns.
Line Spline	Determines if the polyline is drawn as a curve based on its nodes.
Extend to Ground	Extend the polyline vertically to the ground (to create a partition such as a fence). Select Yes from the dropdown list to extend the selected polygon. Note: The Extend to Ground parameter is not enabled if the “On Terrain” Altitude method was selected.
Timespan
Start Time	Click Edit and select the date and time when the polyline should first become visible.
End Time	Click Edit and select the date and time when the polyline should stop being visible.
Position
Altitude Method	Sets the altitude method to be used by the polyline: § Select Relative to Terrain to place each point of the polyline at a specified altitude above the ground, defined by its Point Altitude. § Select Absolute to place each point at a specified altitude above the terrain database vertical datum base ellipsoid. You can use this feature to create polylines with known absolute altitude values that are not dependent on the terrain elevation values. § Select Relative to Pivot to place each point of the polyline at a specified altitude above the pivot point altitude, defined by its Point Altitude. The pivot is located at the center of the polyline. You can use this feature to create horizontal polylines in mountainous terrain. § Select On Terrain to create the polyline on the terrain itself. This selection also changes the drawing method of the polyline. Instead of straight lines between the polyline’s points, it paints the terrain in the selected color. It is recommended to use this feature to improve performance.
Altitude	Enter the altitude, as defined in Altitude Method, for the pivot point. The pivot’s altitude is the average altitude of all the points. This value is used as the initial altitude of the points when you create a new polyline. Changing the pivot altitude to an existing polyline adjusts all the points according to the offset from the previous value.
X	Enter the X-coordinate for the polyline’s pivot point. The pivot is located at the center of the polyline. Change this value to move the entire polyline.
Y	Enter the Y-coordinate for the polyline’s pivot point. The pivot is located at the center of the polyline. Change this value to move the entire polyline.
MGRS	The coordinates of the polyline’s pivot point in Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) coordinates. This field is only available if Show MGRS Coordinates was selected in the Options dialog. See “View” in the “Using TerraExplorer Options” chapter for more information.
Points Position
The parameters in this group are enabled only when Edit Nodes on the top bar of the property sheet is selected.
Selected Point	Select the point you wish to edit. The selected point is highlighted on the 3D Window.
Point X	Enter the X-coordinate for the selected point.
Point Y	Enter the Y-coordinate for the selected point.
Point MGRS	The coordinates of the selected point in Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) coordinates. This field is only available if Show MGRS Coordinates was selected in the Options dialog. See “View” in the “Using TerraExplorer Options” chapter for more information.
Point Altitude	Enter the altitude above ground (when the Altitude Method is set to Relative to Terrain), above the pivot altitude (when Altitude Method is set to Relative to Pivot), or absolute altitude (when the Altitude Method is set to Absolute) for the selected point.
Segment Yaw	Enter the direction from the selected point to the following point.
Segment Pitch	Enter the slope angle from the selected point to the following point.
Segment Length	Enter the distance between the selected point and the following point.
Texture
The parameters in this group are enabled only when Terrain Method is set to Relative to Terrain, Absolute, or Relative to Pivot.
Texture File	Type the full path of the file, or use the Edit button, for a BMP, GIF or JPEG texture file to provide the texture for the object. Note: You can set a transparent color for GIF and BMP files. Pixels with this color appear as holes in the texture. With GIF files, you can assign any color as the transparent color by using the GIF transparent color feature. With BMP files, the total-black color (RGB = 0, 0, 0) is used as the transparent color. Note: You can load textures from the Data Library(.\Program Files\Skyline\TerraExplorer Pro\Tools\Data-Library).
Tiling Method	Determines how the texture image file is applied to the polygon (extended polyline). The options are: § Tiles per axis – Designate a set number of tiles (repeats of the texture file) for the x and y axes of the polygon. The image file will be sized to enable the set number of tiles per axis. § Meters per tile – Designate a size in meters for each tile.
Scale X	Determines the scaling for the texture according to the Tiling Method setting: § If Tiling Method is Tiles per axis: Determines the number of repeats of the image file in the X-axis. § If Tiling Method is Meters per Tile: Determines the size, in meters, of each tile in the X-axis.
Scale Y	Determines the scaling for the texture according to the Tiling Method setting: § If Tiling Method is Tiles per axis: Determines the number of repeats of the image file in the Y-axis. § If Tiling Method is Meters per Tile: Determines the size, in meters, of each tile in the Y-axis.
Rotate	Determines the angular rotation of the image used for the texture.
Texture X Scroll Rate	Number of times per second, texture scrolls completely on its x axis. If a negative value is entered, the texture scrolls in the reverse direction.
Texture Y Scroll Rate	Number of times per second, texture scrolls completely on its y axis. If a negative value is entered, the texture scrolls in the reverse direction.
Visibility
Default Viewing Distance	Determines the viewing distance of the camera from the polyline. This distance is used as a stop mark for any “Fly-to” or “View Object” operation. It is also used when selecting to edit the object from the Project Tree. When this value is set to the default of -1, TerraExplorer calculates and sets the ideal viewing distance for the polyline based on its size.
Max. Visibility Distance	Sets the maximal distance from the camera above which the polyline disappears.
Min. Visibility Distance	Sets the minimal distance from the camera below which the polyline disappears.
Max. Show-Through Dist.	Sets the maximum distance of object's pivot from camera, in meters, beyond which it will not show through terrain, mesh layers, or objects that are hiding it. Set to -1 to enable show-through at any distance when editing the object. The polyline's outline and fill will both show through. When an object is showing through terrain, mesh or objects, it can be selected, edited, and snapped to other objects.
Visibility	This property is only displayed for polyline features in a polyline feature layer. Set the visibility of features based on their attribute values, by entering a search expression. Type a search expression comprised of one or more conditions, or click the Field by Attribute button to create the search expression using the Attribute Table. See “Using Attribute Fields” in the “Feature Layers” chapter for more information. Note: You can also set visibility based on attribute values directly from the Attribute Table. See “Searching and Performing Operations by Attribute” in the “Feature Layers” chapter for information.
General
Show in Viewer	Determines if the polyline appears in the 3D Window when the file is viewed with the TerraExplorer Basic viewer.
Message	The message associated with the polyline. The number displayed is the number of the message. To create a new message, or update an existing message, open the Create Message dialog by clicking in this field and selecting Edit. See “Using the Create Message Dialog” in the “Working with Objects” chapter for more information.
Tooltip	Type a tooltip text to appear when the mouse cursor is placed over the polyline in the 3D Window.
Ground Object	Determines if the polyline is calculated as part of the terrain’s elevation.
Order	Determines the order of objects with On Terrain altitude method, from back to front. Objects with higher values are displayed on top of objects with lower values.