1.      Open a drawing with the key plan to be Trazed. If the drawing is not saved, save it to disk.

2.      Run TRAZE.

3.      Provide Maximum and minimum wall thickness in drafting units [defaults to 9 and 4.5].

4.      Provide linear and angular errors [preferably 1.33(max-wall-thick) and 1 degree respectively].

5.      Select a sample line on the key plan so that Traze understands what layer, line-type and line color should it consider as walls in key plan.

6.      Select the key plan by corners of a rectangular window, so that Traze finds the lines and polylines of specified type.

7.      Select the base point and target points for displacing the removed, discarded and unwanted lines during inspection. This helps to reverse the changes made by Traze, if so desired.

8.      Run any Traze command on the selected key plan. See App Description for description of buttons.

Notes:

1.      KILL ZERO LENGTH:

• [Explode All] will be executed along with [Kill Zero Length]

2.      OVERKILL:

• [Explode All] will be executed along with [Overkill]

3.      NON-WALL LINES:

• [Explode All] + [Kill Zero Length] + [Overkill] will be executed along with [Non-Wall Lines]

4.      WALL ENDS:

• [Explode All] + [Kill Zero Length] + [Overkill] + [Non-wall Lines] will be executed along with [Wall Ends]

5.      END JOINTS:

• [Explode All] + [Kill Zero Length] + [Overkill] will be executed along with [End Joints]

6.      ODD JOINTS:

• [Explode All] + [Kill Zero Length] + [Overkill] + [End Joints] will be executed along with [Odd Joints]

7.      RUN TRAZE ALL:

• Runs all above error correction routines in the sequential order: 

[Explode All] > [Kill Zero length] > [Overkill] > [Non-wall lines] > [Wall Ends] > [End Joints] > [Odd Joints]

• Run Traze All gives the best results for most key plans.

8.      BREAK @ ALTERNATE INTERSECTIONS:

• Lines with odd number of intersections cannot be broken and shall be highlighted with increased line-weight for manual inspection - Run [Traze All] before [Break] to handle this case.
• [Explode All] + [Kill Zero Length] + [Overkill] may be executed along with [Break]

9.      BREAK ONLY @ WALL INTERSECTIONS:

• Lines with odd number of intersections cannot be broken and shall be highlighted with increased line-weight for manual inspection - Run [Traze All] before [Break] to handle this case.
• [Explode All] + [Kill Zero Length] + [Overkill] may be executed along with [Break]

10.    BREAK @ ALL INTERSECTIONS:

• Lines with one or no intersection cannot be broken and shall be highlighted with increased line-weight for manual inspection - Run [Traze All] before [Break] to handle this case.
• [Explode All] + [Kill Zero Length] + [Overkill] may be executed along with [Break]

11.    JOIN AS POLYLINE:

• [Join as Polylines] after [Break @ Alternate Intersections] forms different wall blocks as closed figures with wall lines and jamb lines.
• [Join as Polylines] after [Break Only @ Wall Intersections] the operation forms one (or few) wall blocks for the key-plan as a whole. Jamb lines remain as cross connecting polylines.
• [Join as Polylines] after [Break @ All Intersections] the operation forms one polyline along building outer line, open polylines along inner wall line. Jamb lines remain as cross connecting polylines. No wall blocks are formed.
• [Explode All] + [Kill Zero Length] + [Overkill] may be executed along with [Join as Polyline].
• To optimize polylines, use [Traze All] >> [Break] >> [Join As Polyline]

The installer that ran when you downloaded this plug-in from Autodesk Exchange Apps has already installed the plug-in. You may need to restart the Autodesk product to activate the plug-in. To uninstall this plug-in, click Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features (Windows 7/8/8.1) or Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs (Windows XP), and uninstall as you would any other application from your system.

For most key plans, optimized sequence is as follows:

[Select Sample Line] >> [Select Key Plan] >> [Select Base & Target Points] >> [Run Traze All] >> Manually correct highlighted errors >> [Break only @ Wall Intersections] >> [Join As PolyLines]

Traze operates successfully, irrespective of your drafting standards, as following assumptions are made regarding drafting standards:

• Traze believes that you have placed your walls on a particular layer or line-type or color.

• If you have non-wall lines on the same layer/line-type/color, it will be moved by Traze.

• If you have wall lines placed in another layer/line-type/color, Traze would either correct the error or notify the error.

• Jamb lines on either side of doors may/may not be on same layer/line-type/color as walls.

• Jamb lines on either side of windows may/may not be on same layer/line-type/color as walls. 

• It is advised to Traze before placing RC columns on key plans. You may or may not trim the wall lines once columns are placed.

Traze is developed on following assumptions:

• In reality, all lines enclose a closed figure. No line can end abruptly.

• The enclosed figure is such that the figure has maximum area (like the AutoCAD revision cloud).

• A set of lines enclosing a figure may meet with another such set only in pairs. All lines should have even intersections.

• Walls are defined as accompanying parallel lines separated by a distance – maximum and minimum thickness specified by user.
• If start/end points of lines do not have any intersection or has multiple intersections, it is advised to run  [Traze All] before [Break]

Notes:

• Do not close Traze dialog box until you are finished with all Traze commands, as all selections, input and output information will be closed.

• Remember to keep a copy of the key plan before Trazing.

• Traze rotates your key-plan slightly to facilitate trigonometric calculations. It will be rotated back to original position automatically after execution.
• A circle will be drawn with target point as its center, so that target point can be used to reverse the changes made by Traze.

• For more info, please see  www.civilengineer.in.

Does not cater to arcs, circles and other curves in key-plans.