Surface construction audit trail and manipulation

• US 20050068315A1
• Filed: 09/29/2004
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Inventors: Connor, Edward James, Todd, Robert Bruce Jr., Putnam, Christopher Eric, Lewis, John M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,523,396 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2021 Shape modification
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/964 CAD or CAM, e.g. interactive design tools

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide the ability to manipulate a drawing surface in a CAD/GIS computer application. A drawing surface is displayed in a CAD/GIS application followed by the performance of a surface edit operation on the drawing surface. The surface edit operation is stored/saved as an atomic property in a list of surface edit operations. The list of surface edit operations is displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI). Each surface edit operation may be independently toggled on/off in the GUI and such toggling is reflected in the CAD/GIS application by displaying an effect of executing the surface edit operation if toggled on and displaying the drawing surface without execution of the surface edit operation if toggled off.

Claims

1. A method for manipulating a drawing surface in a CAD/GIS computer application, comprising:

displaying a drawing surface in a CAD/GIS application;

performing a surface edit operation on the drawing surface;

saving the surface edit operation as an atomic property in a list of surface edit operations; and

displaying the list of surface edit operations in a graphical user interface, wherein each surface edit operation may be independently toggled on/off in the graphical user interface and such toggling is reflected in the CAD/GIS application by displaying an effect of executing the surface edit operation if toggled on and displaying the drawing surface without execution of the surface edit operation if toggled off.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the toggling is reflected in the CAD/GIS application by dynamically and automatically updating the drawing surface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of surface edit operations are sorted sequentially in an order in which each surface edit operation is performed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing the surface edit operation from the list of surface edit operations wherein such removal causes the surface edit operation to be permanently removed from the drawing surface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein if the surface edit operation is toggled off, the drawing surface maintains a reference to the surface edit operation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a surface edit operations in the list may be toggled on/off by group by surface data type.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a graphical icon adjacent to a surface edit operation in the list identifies a status of the surface edit operation.

8. An apparatus for manipulating a drawing surface in a CAD/GIS computer application comprising:

(a) a computer system having a memory and a data storage device coupled thereto; and

(b) a GIS/CAD application executing on the computer, wherein the application is configured to;

(i) display a drawing surface in a CAD/GIS application;

(ii) perform a surface edit operation on the drawing surface;

(iii) save the surface edit operation as an atomic property in a list of surface edit operations; and

(iv) display the list of surface edit operations in a graphical user interface, wherein each surface edit operation may be independently toggled on/off in the graphical user interface and such toggling is reflected in the CAD/GIS application by displaying an effect of executing the surface edit operation if toggled on and displaying the drawing surface without execution of the surface edit operation if toggled off.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein application is configured to reflect the toggling by dynamically and automatically updating the drawing surface.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the list of surface edit operations are sorted sequentially in an order in which each surface edit operation is performed.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the application is further configured to remove the surface edit operation from the list of surface edit operations wherein such removal causes the surface edit operation to be permanently removed from the drawing surface.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein if the surface edit operation is toggled off, the drawing surface maintains a reference to the surface edit operation.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein a surface edit operations in the list may be toggled on/off by group by surface data type.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein a graphical icon adjacent to a surface edit operation in the list identifies a status of the surface edit operation.

15. An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer and embodying one or more instructions executable by the computer to perform a method for manipulating a drawing surface in an GIS/CAD computer system, the method comprising:

displaying a drawing surface in a CAD/GIS application;

performing a surface edit operation on the drawing surface;

saving the surface edit operation as an atomic property in a list of surface edit operations; and

displaying the list of surface edit operations in a graphical user interface, wherein each surface edit operation may be independently toggled on/off in the graphical user interface and such toggling is reflected in the CAD/GIS application by displaying an effect of executing the surface edit operation if toggled on and displaying the drawing surface without execution of the surface edit operation if toggled off.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the toggling is reflected in the CAD/GIS application by dynamically and automatically updating the drawing surface.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the list of surface edit operations are sorted sequentially in an order in which each surface edit operation is performed.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises removing the surface edit operation from the list of surface edit operations wherein such removal causes the surface edit operation to be permanently removed from the drawing surface.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein if the surface edit operation is toggled off, the drawing surface maintains a reference to the surface edit operation.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein a surface edit operations in the list may be toggled on/off by group by surface data type.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein a graphical icon adjacent to a surface edit operation in the list identifies a status of the surface edit operation.