Creating New Feature Definition

You can create or edit a Feature Definition by right-clicking on the listed Items.

New Feature Definition

Or You can select the Feature Definition Wizard to edit or copy the existing feature definition properties.

Open Feature Definition Wizard

The Feature Definition Wizard is designed for easy and efficient creation of new feature definitions and their associated feature symbology and element templates. The wizard walks you through all the required Symbologies and properties, at each step giving you the capability to point to existing items or create new ones.

Feature Definition Wizard

Accessing the Feature Definition Wizard

You can access the Feature Definition Wizard by right-clicking on the main Feature Definitions category and selecting Open Feature Definition Wizard.

Open Feature Definition Wizard

You can also find the same option by right-clicking on any specific type of feature definition (e.g., Alignment, Terrain, Superelevation, Mesh, etc.) either from within your current DGN or directly from your attached DGNLibs.

Open Feature Definition Wizard

Using Key-in - You can launch the wizard using the following key-in: GEOMETRY FEATURE DEFINITION WIZARD

Copy, Existing, and Creating New Feature Definition Wizard

Throughout the dialog, you will see three different options when creating a feature or an element template as explained below.

• Copy- This option allows you to copy an existing feature definition, feature symbology, or element template to rename it.
• Existing- This option allows you to point to an existing feature symbology or element template.
• New - This option allows you to create a new feature definition, feature symbology, or template "from scratch". In other words, you will define the settings with no pre-population of the dialog.

Example: Creating a New Feature Definition from an Existing Feature Definition

Using the delivered Training Examples > Training-Imperial workspace as an example, right-click on an Alignment feature definition (e.g., Geom_Baseline) from within the DGNLib as shown and select Open Feature Definition Wizard.

Example- Open Feature Definition Wizard

Feature Definition

• Change the name from "Geom_Baseline_Copy" to the name of your choice (e.g., My_Alignment) and select the path where you want the new feature created.
• Use the Right Arrow to move to the next section.

Linear Feature Symbology

The Linear Feature Symbology Name is a pre-populated setting to use the same feature symbology as defined in the copied feature definition. You can choose to do this using this existing feature symbology or create a new Linear Feature Symbology.

Let's create a new Linear Feature Symbology for the Default definition and change one thing (e.g., Color).

• To do that, first, enable the Copy toggle, then enter the desired Name and Path of your new Linear Feature Symbology.
  

  Linear Feature Symbology

• Finally, enable the toggle to the left of the Default Element Template in the Defaults group to copy the Geom_Baseline element template.
• Enter a new name (e.g., My_Element_Template) and set your desired path.
• Change the color.
  

  Change Color Option

  • All other settings in the dialog will remain as "Existing", meaning the new Linear Feature Symbology Name that you created will point to existing element templates.
• Use the Right Arrow to move to the next section.

Linear Feature Symbology Dialog

Profile Feature Symbology

In the Profile Feature Symbology when you select a new template it allows you to select parameters like Name, Path, Level, Color, Line Style, Line Weight, and Points for all the Feature Definitions like Annotation Group, Default, Profile, Profile Intersection, and Profile Projection.

Profile Feature Symbology Dialog

Feature Definition Properties

The properties are pre-populated with the same values as defined in the copied feature definition.

• Change the Description to My_Alignment
• Change the Name Seed to Align
• Click Finish to create the new definitions. In this example, the following new definitions are created.
  • Feature Definition named My_Alignment
  • One Feature Symbology named My_Symbology that has one new Element Template definition and otherwise uses existing Element Templates.
  • One Element Template named My_Element_Template

Feature Definition Properties Dialog