Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Aras Symbol
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Clicking on the Preferences allows you to adjust many of the settings within the program. The General
section of Preferences allows you to adjust the Unit System, Velocity Units, and Autosave settings.
The UI (user interface) section allows you to adjust many advanced options. Please insure the Allow
Advanced Material Options and Show Resize Grips on Models boxes are checked.
Mini Menu
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Take a screen Snapshot - Copy Snapshot to Clipboard - New - Save - Open File Undo
Ribbon Menu
The Ribbon Menu is divided into seven sections, depending on what you want to do in the program.
When a ribbon is selected, the appropriate Main Tool Bar will appear just below it.
VIEW Ribbon
When the View ribbon is selected, the Main Tool bar will change, and appropriate buttons will appear.
The Grid button allows you to set a grid both horizontally and vertically. The Skybox button allows you to
show from a variety of different horizon scenes. The Layers button is your access to the layer manager.
(this will also show up in other ribbons) The Lights button allows you to control the lighting of your scene
with shadows and lights. The Weather button allows you to add fog, rain, and snow, to your 3D scenes.
It also has a box to check to Enable Animated Effects. (water texture rippling) There are boxes to check
or uncheck for Showing Ground Plane and Compass. The next series of buttons, a little house, and
various views of a car, are for your viewing angles. The House will get you into the 3D mode. The top
view of the car will get you into a Top Down ortho view (2D), and the other car buttons will give you
front, back, left side, and right side views.
DRAW Ribbon
When the Draw ribbon is selected, the Main Tool bar will change, and appropriate buttons will appear.
This ribbon has all of your drawing tools. There are buttons in this ribbon for Points, Lines, Arcs,
Polylines, Polycurves, Images, Text, Measure and Angle tools, Shapes, Surfaces, Snipping Tool, Snap,
Ortho, and Aspect Ratio cad tools, Area Selection, Layer Manager, and 3D and 2D View Buttons.
Any button where there is a little upside down triangle to right of it indicates a sub-menu. This is where
you can draw dynamic object lines such as fences, walls, guard rails, barricades, etc. in 2d or 3D.
MODELS Ribbon
When the Models ribbon is selected, the Main Tool bar will change, and appropriate buttons will appear.
The Models ribbon will have the Load Model button, for inserting custom models not yet residing in the
program;the Custom Signs button, for creating your own custom signs from images of real signs;the
Animated Traffic Signals button, to create animations with actual timed traffic light sequences, the Search
vehicle specs data base, to locate a particular vehicle from the extensive vehicle data base, and 3D and 2D
view option buttons.
MEASUREMENTS Ribbon
When the Measurements ribbon is selected, the Main Tool bar will change, and appropriate buttons will
appear. The Measurements ribbon will have buttons for the four methods of bringing measurements into
Aras HD.The four methods are: Point Clouds from 3D Laser Scanners, Import Point Logs of measurements
from total stations and data collectors, hand entry of Triangulation log measurements, and hand entry of
Baseline Coordinate log measurements. There are also 3D and 2D view buttons.
Clicking on the Point Cloud button will bring up a dialog box where you can locate and select the point
cloud file you want to bring in.
Clicking on the Import Point log button (button with down arrow) will bring up a dialog box where you can
select the file type, browse your computer to locate the file, or download the file. You can also check a
box if you want to save the raw data, connect the points by common description, or connect the points by
Arass ZX Line coding method. You can also access some advanced features, such as changing the origin
to another point within the log, and swapping columns, in excel type csv files.
Clicking on either the Triangulation or Coordinate buttons will also allow you to hand enter X, Y, and Z
values of hand measurements. It will also allow you to assign a description to each measurement, a point
size, and color. All of the properties of the points are displayed on the left panel. There are also
commands for joining points with lines, either by common description, or by ZX line coding. The printable
measurement log is also accessed in the left panel by clicking on Measurement Report. Other advanced
features are also available in the left panel and we will discuss them in detail later on in this manual.
When the Animation ribbon is selected, the Main Tool bar will change, and appropriate buttons will
appear. The Animation ribbon will have buttons to control the animations which are created in Aras HD.
They are typical VCR type controls, such as STOP, BACK, PLAY, FORWARD, and RECORD. The next
button is for setting animation cameras to provide views from different locations. (view from driver, view
from witness location) You can also set the animation speed, and recording frame per second rate. There
is a check box for enabling the animation to continuously loop, and ability to set the loop delay time.
There are also 3D and 2D view buttons.
PRINT Ribbon
When the Print ribbon is selected, the Main Tool bar will change, and appropriate buttons will appear. The
Print Ribbon will have three printing options. The first button is for vector printing of diagrams. This will
always be a top down, ortho view, and because it is vector printing, it will consistently be very sharp and
clear, no matter what the size. The second button is for printing a particular area of a diagram. It will
also be a top down, ortho view, and you will set the scale before you print. The third button is for printing
3D views of diagrams. This will be an image of whatever is on your screen. There are also 3D and 2D
view buttons.
When the Analysis ribbon is selected, the Main Tool bar will change, and appropriate buttons will appear.
The Analysis ribbon will have the button for the Momentum Tool. This area is also reserved for future
analysis tools. There are also 3D and 2D view Buttons.
Main Screen
The Main Screen is where the drawing canvas is. There will be a drawing canvas in the Main Screen
where all the drawing is done. This can be viewed in either 2D or 3D. The Properties Section panel will
show all the properties of the Main Screen whenever there is nothing on the Main Screen that is activated.
Aras Symbol - Mini Menu - Ribbon Menu - Main Toolbar - Properties Section - Main Screen
Class Projects
Project 1 Drawing with lines
Open Aras HD and click on the top down, 2D view button.
Draw a line.
1. Click on DRAW ribbon to get to the drawing tools.
2. Click on the Line tool button, this will put the program in the line draw command.
3. Click somewhere on the left portion of your drawing canvas, then simply move the mouse to the
right (without any mouse buttons pressed) and click again somewhere on the right portion of the
drawing canvas. The line will now be drawn on the drawing canvas. You will see the line, it will
be activated and you will see some different colored grips. You will also see the length and
angle values of the line.
4. Click anywhere off the line and the line will become de-activated, and you will no longer see the
grips or the line length and angle values.
5. Click on the line again, to activate it. The gripsand line values will re-appear, and also you will
see all the properties of the line in the Properties Section panel on the left portion of your screen.
The grips are used to move, rotate, and extend the line.
6. Hover the mouse cursor over each grip, the cursor will change shape, now hold the left mouse
button down and move the mouse around to see what each grip does. The end grips can change
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9.
10.
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12.
the length and angle of the line. (The intermediate grips can lengthen or shorten the line without
changing the angle. The round grips will rotate the line, and the center grip will move the line.)
Make the line color Black by clicking on the color box in the top portion of the PropertiesSection
panel on the left, choose black, and click OK.
Make the line Length 150 feet by clicking on the Length button in the Properties Section panel and
type in 150. (You may also have to use your mouse wheel to zoom in or out to center the line.
You can also hold the left mouse button down and move the mouse around to move the drawing
canvas to assist in centering the line.)
Make the line thickness 6 inches by clickingon the Thickness button in the Properties Section
panel, and type in .5 as Aras units are feet and tenths.
Make the line color Red, by clicking on the color box in the top portion of the Properties Section
panel, choose red, and click OK.
Make line angle 45 degrees by clicking on the Horizontal Angle button, and type in 45. (You may
also have to use your mouse wheel to zoom in or out to center the line. You can also hold the left
mouse button down and move the mouse to move the drawing canvas to assist in centering the
line.)
Add a parallel lineby clicking on the line to insure it is activated, and right click and select Add
Parallel. A new dialog box will pop up, enter 12 feet and click ADD. A new line will be added 12
away from the previous line and it will have the same properties.
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19.
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see the length and angle values of the arc, and all the properties of the arc in the Properties
Section.
Click anywhere off the arc and the arc will become de-activated, and you will no longer see the
grips or the arc length and angle values, or the properties in the Properties Section.
Click on the arc again, to activate it. The grips and arc values will re-appear, and also you will
see all the properties of the arc in the Properties Section panel. The grips are used to move,
rotate, and extend the arc, and change its radius.
Hover the mouse cursor over each grip, the cursor icon will change shape.
Hold the left mouse button down and move the mouse around to see what each grip does.
Make the line color Black
Make the line thickness .3
Make the cord 125 feet.
Make the middle ordinate 20 feet. (The radius is now 107.66 feet.)
Make the Final Z 20 feet. This will elevate one end of the arc.
Add a parallel 24 feet away
Create a surface between the to two parallel arcs by clicking on the Surface Tool button in the
Draw ribbon, and then click on one of the arcs. You will see it change color slightly when you are
hovering over it. This indication lets you know you are in fact close enough to click on it.
Click on the other arc. You will see a surface appear between the two arcs.
Make the surface texture Worn Asphalt byclicking on the surface to activate it.
Click on the texture box, scroll down to Worn Asphalt, and click on it. The surface will now be
Worn Asphalt.(You will have to click somewhere off the new surface to de-activate it in order to
see the new Worn Asphalt surface.)
View this scene in 3D by clicking on the little house button in the tool bar. You can now navigate
around by using different combinations of moving your mouse and holding down either the right
or left mouse buttons.Holding the right mouse button down while moving the mouse will move the
scene up and down and back and forth; holding the left button down while moving the mouse will
rotate and tilt the scene. The mouse wheel will zoom the scene in and out.
Convert the arcs to Jersey Barricades the same way you created the railroad tracks earlier.
Set the model spacing to 0. You have now built a ramp.
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1. Type an address location in the address section of the dialog box, and click the Search button. An
overhead view of that address will appear in the dialog box.
2. To zoom in or out, use the mouse wheel.
3. Zoom in to an appropriate level and click the OK button. The overhead view is now the ground
plane of your diagram on the Main screen. You can draw on it, place models on it, measure
distances on it, and import measurement point logs. By using the Aras Earth integration to
Google Earth Maps, the maps come into the program to scale. There is no need to further scale
the map.
4. To delete unwanted cars in the map photo, click on the photo anywhere to activate the Aras Earth
ground plane. You will notice when the ground plane is activated as you will see faint triangles
throughout the photo and you will also notice the Properties Section will change.
5. In the Properties Section click on Delete Cars. A Remove Vehicle dialog box will appear. You can
use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out and can pan the photo by holding the right mouse
button down and moving the mouse.
6. Once an unwanted car is in good view, hold the left mouse button down and circle the car by
moving the mouse. It will appear you are drawing a line around the car. Once you release the
left mouse button, the car will disappear. Whatever color or texture was outside of the line you
drew, will now be duplicatedinside the line you drew, making the car disappear. You can remove
as many vehicles or items as you want.
7. Once you are through deleting unwanted vehicles from the Aras Earth photo, it is a good idea to
Lock the Google Map layer by clicking on the Layer Manager button and clicking on the padlock
next to the Google Map layer. This will lock down the Google Map layer and prevent you from
inadvertently selecting the Google Map layer.
Do this several times at several locations.
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Type 80 here.
Now you have imported the GIS image and scaled it property. You can also delete cars the same way you
did for Google Earth photos.
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Now, getting back to our exercise, you have 10 points on your screen with various elevations. These
points need to part of a measurement log in order to be joined automatically with a line. We must first
create a measurement log. To do this;
1. Click the Coordinate Log button under the Measurements ribbon.
2. A new measurement log will drop down on the Main screen. In the Measurements ribbon, you will
now see a button for the new measurement log, in the Select Logs section of the tool bar.
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6. Name all the points EP1, then click Join by Common Descriptions. The line will automatically be
drawn. You can also use the ZX Coding method as described above. Just follow the rules for
using the Z and X prefixes.
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North(Y)
0
0
0
24
24
24
24
24
75
24
75
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12
12
12
12
23
17
17
23
20.5
East(X)
0
0
100
0
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62
100
38
38
62
62
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10
20
65
75
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35
49
49
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Elevation(Z)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Description
RP
EP1
EP1
EP2
EP2
EP3
EP3
EP4
EP4
EP5
EP5
SS
LL1
LL1
LL2
LL2
RFC
LFC
LRC
RRC
PED
4. After all of the values and descriptions are entered, click on Join by Common Description. The
drawing will appear as shown. The road edges and lane lines will be automatically drawn. The
four corners of the vehicle, location of the stop sign, and the location of the pedestrian, will all be
shown.
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East(X)
0
-1.809
-3.438
-0.845
4.288
10.520
44.508
-0.852
4.610
10.328
44.315
-24.498
-26.544
-27.779
Elevation(Z)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Description
RP
EP1
EP1
DW1
DW1
DW1
DW1
DW2
DW2
DW2
DW2
EP2
EP2
EP2
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-94.277
-101.438
-101.814
1.969
-85.748
-92.091
-102.965
-1.934
-101.251
-1.117
-53.609
-63.241
-78.865
-79.293
-26.174
-67.162
-67.226
-26.567
-55.635
-55.343
-61.231
-61.413
-66.668
-66.616
-83.740
-83.790
-25.761
-50.257
-63.833
-67.872
-67.768
-65.106
-86.086
-27.434
-30.161
-51.214
-52.249
-55.824
-57.232
-54.480
-56.909
-59.491
-64.533
-65.255
-31.564
-38.214
-42.920
-25.971
-28.871
-32.677
-43.188
-0.068
-1.336
12.438
10.700
10.272
9.951
76.516
44.599
44.430
74.182
75.204
24.633
39.191
39.350
24.472
-8.433
-2.546
-2.492
-8.593
-4.486
-20.242
-15.526
-10.151
-6.019
-1.293
-27.415
-28.027
-26.482
-2.034
1.946
3.336
1.614
-3.204
4.981
24.303
26.824
27.885
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2.4
1.3
EP2
EP2
EP2
EP3
EP3
EP3
EP3
EP4
EP4
F1
F1
F2
F2
F2
H
H
H
H
V1
V1
V1
V1
V2
V2
V2
V2
SC1
SC2
SC3
SC4
SC5
SC6
SC7
BK
BK
VMLF
VMLH
VMH
VMRH
VMRF
BCAP
BSENTER
BSEXIT
ROUND
4. After all of the values and descriptions are entered, click on Join by Common Description. The
drawing will appear as shown below. The road edges and driveway lines will be automatically
drawn. The four corners of the vehicles, location of the evidence, and the location of the victim,
will all be shown.
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Click on the Globe button on the left panel, and select Google Maps.
In the Address line, type 500 Biggin Pond Road, Midlothian, VA and click Search.
Zoom in using your mouse wheel until you see just the intersection.
Pan to the right a short distance until you are over a curved section of the road, with a series of
drainage ditches on both sides of the road.
5. Zoom so that you see just all of the ditches and the road, and click OK.
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16. Click anywhere off the photo to de-activate the point log. Now click on the Create 3D Terrain
button on the left panel.
Now your photo has been joined with the total station points to create a 3D surface. Jump into 3D and
explore.
As an alternative: If you are not sure where the total station was setup, you can choose to connect the
points by whichever point connection method was used (In this case Join by ZX) first. Then lock the
Google Map layer by clicking on the padlock in the Properties Section next to Google Map. Then press the
Control and A keys on your keyboard. This will select the point log and all the lines that were connected.
In this case, the road edges, and drainage ditches points will be connected with lines. There will be a
brown star movement grip and a round green rotation grip showing. You can now move these grips to
properly align the lines with the road edges and draining ditches.
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Animations
Aras HD can create realistic animations in minutes. The animations will show positional relationships of
moving objects in real time. Your animations will be based on real facts, and measurements. To be
successful getting your animations admitted into courts of law, you need to base your animations on your
analysis. Therefore, if you are allowed to testify as to your expert opinion of an event in a court of law,
then you should also be able to show a visual representation of that expert opinion.
The following projects are intended to allow you to learn and understand how to create basic animations
in minutes. Training and practice will take you beyond that level and allow you to create multi-event
animations with complex yaw, pitch and roll over three dimensional terrains.
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7. Click on the red line. (path) You will notice a timeline along the bottom of the Main screen. In the
Initial Velocity box, type in 45, and in the Final Velocity box, type in 45. This sets the start speed
to 45 miles per hour, and the end speed to 45 miles per hour. You will also notice the time,
distance, and acceleration rate shown.
8. Click on the Animation ribbon and click the Start button. The animation will now play and your
vehicle will proceed down the road at 45 miles per hour constant speed.
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You have just created a single vehicle, single speed, and single segment animation.
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5. In the Initial Velocity box of the top timeline, type in 45, and in the Final Velocity box, type in 45.
This sets the start speed to 45 miles per hour, and the end speed to 45 miles per hour, for that
segment. You will also notice the time, distance, and acceleration rate shown.
6. In the Initial Velocity box of the bottom timeline, type in 45, and in the Final Velocity box, type in
0. This sets the start speed to 45 miles per hour, and the end speed to 0 miles per hour, for that
bottom segment.
7. Click on the last vehicle position and rotate it slightly.
8. Click on the Animation ribbon and then click Start button. The animation will now play and your
vehicle will proceed down the road at 45 miles per hour constant speed for the first segment, and
slow from 45 miles per to 0 miles per hour during the second segment. The vehicle will rotate
slightly during the second segment, as if it were skidding.
9. Now click on the Advanced Animation Properties, in the left panel, and check all the Show Skid
Mark boxes. This will allow the model to create its own skid marks as it goes through it second
segment.
10. Play the animation again and notice the skid marks being created during the second segment.
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7. You will also notice that the animation path is straight and not curved like the roadway is.
8. To make the animation path curved, simply click on the path, and drag the small square green
grips located at 1/3 and 2/3 distances along the path. Drag those green grips so that the path is
in the center of the right line of the curved roadway. By moving these green grips, you can create
just about any curvilinear path as needed.
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9. Now Click on the Animation ribbon, and the Start button. The animation will now play and your
vehicle will proceed down the road at 45 miles per hour constant speed, and will travel along the
curved path in the center of the right lane.
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3. Play the animation and the vehicle will travel through the scene at the specified speeds along the
specified segments.
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5. For the first animation segment, set the start speed at 65 miles per hour and the end speed at 50
miles per hour.
6. For the second animation segment, set the start speed at 50 miles per hour and the end speed at
35 miles per hour.
7. For the third and final animation segment, set the start speed at 35 miles per hour, and the end
speed at 0 miles per hour.
8. Adjust the animation paths as shown below. This will have the vehicle losing control, going into a
yaw, striking the road edge curb and flipping over on to its roof, and sliding on its roof to a stop.
9. Click on the second animation segment to activate it and then click on Advanced Animation
Properties on the left Properties Panel.
10. Set the Final Roll at -180. This will allow the vehicle to start the segment on its wheels, then roll
over 180 degrees on to its roof.
11. Click on the third animation segment to activate it and then click on the Advanced Animation
Properties on the left Properties Panel.
12. Set the Initial Roll to -180 and the Final Roll to -180. This will allow the vehicle to continue on its
roof, and come to a stop, still on its roof.
13. Play the animation a view from several different 2D and 3D angles.
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7. Now add a second vehicle. Choose a vehicle from the Models ribbon and click where you want it
to come from, click again where you want it to impact, and click where you want it to come to
rest.
8. Set the speeds the same as you did for the other vehicle, and be sure to set the sync position to
1, the same as the other vehicle. This will insure these two vehicles will arrive at impact at the
right instant.
9. Zoom in and refine the impact positions as needed.
10. Play the animation and view from several 2D and 3D angles
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This articulation can be done with any models, including Doubles, Triples, pick-ups towing trailers or
boats, and/or campers.
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