Epson Large Format Printers

Did you know I can copy and paste? I know it’s kind of hard to believe that I can, but it’s true. To prove it to you I present you some information I received recently from Epson about their new next generation large format printers. This is a product I don’t have room for, nor is it in my budget to get one but it would be nice to have one.

Catering directly to the printing needs of CAD/engineering/GIS, Epson today launched its next-generation family of large-format color printers – the Epson^® SureColor^® T3270, T5270, T7270, T5270D, and T7270D.

The Epson® SureColor® T-Series is available in both single- and now dual-roll models, and incorporates the latest in printing technology to provide technical, corporate, marketing, and educational professionals with unparalleled precision, performance and brilliance.

In addition, the SureColor T-Series 36- and 44-inch printer models offer an optional multifunction (MFP) module, enabling PC-free full color scan and copy capabilities – up to 36-inches wide – at best-in-class speeds for added convenience.

Some additional highlights are:

There printer widths, my favorite is the 36 width and my nemesis is the evil 44 inch width that I sometimes get from Architects.

There is an optional upgrade for a scanner for the 36 and 44 inch sizes.

An option for an internal print server.

Product	Max Width & Mode	Square Feet per Hour Print Speeds1	Optional MFP Module	Price*
SureColor T3270	24-inch single-roll	660	No	$2,995
SureColor T5270	36- inch single-roll	740	Yes	$3,995
SureColor T7270	44-inch single-roll	780	Yes	$4,995
SureColor T5270D	36-inch dual-roll	740	Yes	$5,995
SureColor T7270D	44-inch dual-roll	780	Yes	$6,995

If you notice the above table, I also am showing of my awe inspiring html editing skills by changing the color of the header cells.

Alignments, Offset Alignments, and Profiles From Polylines

Do you design parking lots in Civil 3D? Are you looking for possibly a better way. Well I’m not quite sure if this is the bestest way, but here is a workflow that I heard from Joe Bouza. It’s a way to utilize surfaces, alignments, profiles, and autofeature lines to model curbs and gutters for a parking lot from a grading surface.

The first step is to create a baseline featureline(s) and then create grading from them representing how you want the parking lot to be graded.

Next create a surface from those gradings or feature lines.

Create surfaces for the lip, flowline, top of curb, and if necessary back of curb. Then paste your previously created surface into it. Then adjust the surfaces the correct elevations to get the distances required to model the appropriate location on the curb and gutter.

Next you can create alignments, offset alignments, and profiles for each of your curb islands. The profiles should be created on the appropriate alignment, or offset alignments. This may be a laborious step which may be reduced greatly by using a command in the SincPac called CreateAlignmentsFromPolylines. The comand will create the source alignment plus up to 3 offset alignments and profiles.

Make sure the polylines are going in the correct direction to create the appropriate offsets. Sometimes it will go the opposite way that we want. Don’t forget about the reverse command on the Modify tab to quickly reverse the polylines.

Next create autofeaturelines from the alignments and profiles. Utilize the profiles from surface for the appropriate surface.

Then add those autofeaturelines to a surface to model the parking lot.

The benefit of this method is that any changes to the original surface will be propogated through to the autofeaturelines. This makes it easier, once set up, then adjusting a bunch of regular feature lines.

Profile Stationing

Have you ever wanted to show actual pipe lengths as the stationing values? This is usually done on long pipe work where the contractor and owner is more concerned about the total length of pipe rather then the length of pipe in the plan view. On large pipe line projects this may cause quite the discrepancy in the station values. There are new commands in the SincPac called the ProfileStationing comma ProfileStationingReplaceLabels to address this request.

The first step is to run the Profile Stationing command. This will take a profile and do station values based on the length of the profile as a function of station values. It takes into account vertical curves and tangents to figure out what the profile elevation should be to represent the station values. This profile may then be used as a reference in plan view labels in other profile labels.

As you attempt to adjust the or add the profile reference to the profile labels you might quickly recognize it is a major pain in the butt. Luckily the SincPac has a quicker way to populate the station values by utilizing the ProfileStationingReplaceLabels command. This will look into profile labels and replace what ever text is specified in the Text to Replace text box. The default is <Station>. You then create profile labels that contain the text to replace. When the command is run any instance of the value will be replaced with the referenced profile created in the ProfileStationing command.

Since you might have pipes as a reference as control you might want to use the PipeProfiles command to get a profile.

Pipe Profiles

There is a new command in the SincPac called the PipeProfiles command. This command takes a profile view and creates a profile at the requested elevation point along the pipes a tolerance value away from the alignment. This command is useful to create profiles for use in output to a data collector. The command is not dynamic, so will need to be run at a design change. This shouldn’t be that big of an issue since the surveying hopefully occurs after the design is complete.

The command may also be utilized to produce bands that show pipe invert elevations along the pipes at major or minor station values. Some jurisdictions require this. This command would require you to update the bands after each time the command is run.