Version 6.5 is TPC’s first implementation of .NET and GDI+, the graphics engine built into Windows XP. GDI+ provides true device independence to Windows. As a result, objects appear on the screen exactly as they are printed or plotted. For survey drawings, this is a real plus.
Microsoft is ‘betting the farm’ on .NET technology and so far, it looks good. In addition to true device independence, .NET technology fixes lots of little annoying things in Windows - like tool bars that jumped around when you docked them.
Version 6.5 greatly improves the DWG files you write for AutoCAD. Most drawing will appear in AutoCAD just like they do in TPC - right down to the way the text wraps in the text box. We’ve made some real strides in converting True Type fonts, line types and polylines to DWG. If you write DWG files from TPC, you’ll love this one.
Position the cursor anywhere over the survey (the cursor changes to a + symbol), then press and hold the Ctrl key to drag the survey anywhere on the page (new feature).
WYSIWYG -
- Text and text boxes appear on the screen exactly as they are printed. If the user zooms way out, the text gets small and looks broken up (unreadable), because it is choosing to retain its exact size and shape regardless of the pixel resolution on your screen.
Curves / Circles / Rectangles -
- Most line types are available for most objects.
WYSIWYG -
- Printed lines have the same number of dashes per inch as displayed.
Road types -
- We now have some road and railroad line types available.
WYSIWYG -
- The fill pattern now prints at the same density in which it is displayed.
More line types -
- Currently, all but symbol and text lines can be filled.
User Rotation -
- Rectangles in survey space retain their height and width when the survey is rotated. In previous versions, the height or width changed.
You can tell TPC to draw just the outline of a font.
Displayed during insert -
- Instead of the resize box, you see the picture itself.
Retain aspect ratio on insert -
- But you can change height and width later on.
JPG, GIF, BMP, EMF, WMF, PNG, TIF, ICO -
- We support all the major formats now. EMF files can now be used to bring in a callout.
Crop, Flip, Mirror, Rotate -
- Now you can modify photos and other pictures right inside TPC.
Hit tests are now based on the path of the object. If you put the cursor over a dashed line, it only hits on the dashes, not the spaces. This gives you finer control over what you select and how.
Windows uses something called a 'device context' to display or print to a device. It has a very limited number of these, so you create one, use it and then discard it. Its not very efficient and can degrade your system resources even when used properly. GDI+ doesn't use them.
TPC can now save any drawing as a Windows Enhanced Meta File (EMF). This allows us to archive drawings and distribute them without a viewer plus use them in desktop publishing.
Archived -
- If TPC can draw it, the EMF file can store it. Think of an EMF like a snap shot of the drawing that can be archived, backed up, viewed, printed, etc. Because EMF's are vector files, the user can zoom in on them as much as they want without distortion. There’s even a one button archive in the Drawings menu.
Linked -
- EMF files can be used in most if not all graphics applications. They can be inserted into desktop publishing documents, spreadsheets, MS Word, etc.
Web -
- EMF files are displayed perfectly in a web browser. Because they are vectored, the user can zoom in to see fine resolution or download the file and print out a copy.
Distributed -
- EMF files can be viewed as thumbnails in the Windows file dialog box and viewed / rotated / zoomed / printed with the native viewer in Windows 2K and XP. This means you can send someone the EMF file without the need for a viewer application.
TPC now supports azimuth / bearing computations from solar observations using the Local Hour Angle (LHA) method.
TPC now supports SMI Raw and SMI Coordinate data files and has been tested with SMI V7 data files. TPC also includes a built-in transfer dialog provided by SMI. The dialog includes the setup options you need to communicate with your SMI data collector.
Version 9.0
Version 8.5
Version 8.0
Version 7.0
Version 6.0
Version 5.0
Version 4.5
Version 4.11
Version 4.1
Feature Comparison
Personal Edition
Student Edition
Premium Edition
Professional Edition