How to Use Civil Point Symbols and Labels in BricsCAD

Quick answer: Civil Point Label Styles and Symbol Styles are both created and managed from the Civil Explorer panel’s Settings tab, then assigned to individual points via the Properties panel. Existing Civil point attributes can be shown in a label directly; new attributes are added with CIVILPOINTATTRIBUTES.

Creating a User-Defined Label Style

1. Open a drawing with Civil points, or create/import them with CIVILPOINT.
2. In the Civil Explorer panel’s Settings tab, under Civil Points, right-click Label Styles and choose Create (Edit, Copy, and Delete are also available for existing styles).
3. The Label Style Editor dialog opens.
4. On the Info tab, enter a name and description.
5. On the General tab, define text style, label visibility, layer, orientation reference, forced insertion, plan readable, readability bias, and whether to flip anchors with text.
6. On the Components tab, add Text, Block, Line, and/or Arrow components.
7. For a Text component, define its text and border style, then click Edit to open the Text Content Editor:
   • Click Add property to bring in attributes like Point Full Description, Point Easting, Point Northing, or Point Elevation, or toggle “Use property from other objects” on to pull in properties from a Surface, Horizontal Alignment, or Vertical Alignment instead.
   • Click an attribute in the editor to set its font, colour, style, and position; clicking an individual property reveals further settings on the right.
   • Reorder properties by copying and pasting their lines into the order you want.
   • Add a prefix by typing it before the < character, or a suffix by typing it after the > character. For example, z=<[PointElevation(Um|P2|RN|AP|GS|UN|SN|OF)]>m displays the point’s elevation with a “z=” prefix and an “m” suffix.
8. On the Dragged state tab, define the dragged state leader and its components.
9. Click OK to confirm.
10. Select the Civil points you want to style, then choose the new label style from the dropdown in the Properties panel.

Creating a User-Defined Symbol Style

1. In the Civil Explorer panel’s Settings tab, under General settings, right-click Symbol Styles and choose Create (Edit, Copy, and Delete are also available).
2. The Symbol Style Editor dialog opens.
3. On the Info tab, enter a name and description.
4. On the Symbol tab, choose how the symbol is defined:
   • Point object: uses a CAD point entity as the basis, with rotation (in degrees) and orientation (based on object, view, or world coordinates).
   • Custom symbol: choose from None, Dot, Plus, X Mark, or Line, optionally inside a circle or square frame, with its own size type, size, rotation, and orientation settings.
   • Block: choose from any point symbol (marker) already defined by a block in the drawing, with size type options of Absolute scale, Drawing scale, Fixed scale, Absolute units, or Relative to screen.
5. Define the symbol style’s settings (these vary by symbol type):
   • Symbol rotation: the point symbol’s rotation angle.
   • Symbol orientation: based on Object, View, or To World Coordinates.
   • Symbol size type: Drawing units (size set directly by the Symbol size parameter), Fixed scale (the symbol block’s actual dimensions multiplied by Symbol size), Absolute units (Symbol size multiplied by the viewport’s Custom Scale), or Relative to screen (a percentage of the drawing screen size, with a defined maximum).

   Note: this general settings list uses slightly different naming than the Block symbol type’s own size options above (five listed there, four here), which looks like an inconsistency between the two lists in Octave’s own documentation rather than two genuinely distinct sets of choices.

   Symbol size type and Size aren’t available for the Point object type; use PDMODE to set that point’s style instead, the same variable covered on the drawing points page.

6. On the Display tab, specify layer settings for Plan and Model view.
7. Click OK to confirm.
8. Select the Civil points you want to style, then choose the new symbol style from the dropdown in the Properties panel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I manage Civil Point Label and Symbol Styles? Both live in the Civil Explorer panel’s Settings tab, Label Styles under Civil Points, Symbol Styles under General settings.

How do I add a prefix or suffix to a label’s displayed value? Type the prefix directly before the < character, or the suffix directly after the > character, in the Text Content Editor.

Can I pull in properties from something other than the Civil Point itself for a label? Yes, toggle “Use property from other objects” on in the Add property dialog to pull in properties from a Surface, Horizontal Alignment, or Vertical Alignment.

Why can’t I set a size type for a Point object symbol style? That option isn’t available for Point object symbols; use the PDMODE system variable to control that point’s style instead.