5.5 | Plane Projects & Surface Creation

Plane Project allows you to create simple flat surfaces without surveying the entire area. This Level COMMAND feature supports the creation of up to four plane surfaces that can quickly be swapped between. These four surfaces can be used to define different aspects of a project. For example, a series of pads, various sides of a hill, or even batters of a drain.

Getting Started

Navigate to the Change Project page and click the "New Plane" button (see left). Once the new plane project is created, the Plane button will appear on the main page (see right). Once a plane is created, it will show the name of the selected plane here instead.

Select/Define a plane surface

Start by clicking the "Planes" button on the right sidebar. All four plane slots are then shown on the right. Tap an empty slot to create a plane there, or tap an existing plane to select it or edit its values. Each plane has slopes, an offset, a name and a size that you can edit.

To swap to another planes tap on it. The selected plane has a yellow outline.

To edit an existing plane, select it first, then tap on it again. That is, tap the Plane from the main view, click "Plane 1", then it will swap to "Plane 1". Tap "Plane" from the main view again and then tap "Plane 1" again. Now you will see the edit screen.

To define a new plane click on any unused slot (it will be labeled as "Create") and you will be taken to the edit screen.

Plane Editor

On the right you can set the Origin (aka anchor point), the Slope (primary slope and direction) and X-Slope (the slope at right angles to the primary slope). Alternatively, you can tap 'Survey' to collect a small survey and use that to set a best-fit plane.

'Settings' lets you change the size of the generated plane, and also set the plane's name.

'Delete' will delete the current plane, allowing it's slot to be reused.

'Ok' will close the editor and allow the plane to be controlled to.

In the top right, a Help button will allow you to quickly reference this help page.

 

 

Plane Editor: Origin

This allows one to define where the plane's height and where it is pivoting around when setting Slope and X-Slope.

'Use GPS' Will take the current position of the implement and use that as the origin.

'Use Marker' Will allow you to select a marker to use as the origin

'Elevation/Latitude/Longitude' Defines the position of the origin. Can be set via GPS or a marker by clicking on "Use GPS" or "Use Marker". The "Coordinates Format" will allow one to specify the latitude/longitude in various formats - ie it's only a visual change.

'Elevation Offset' Allows the shifting of the plane up or down relative to the GPS position. Separate from Elevation so it can be clearly adjusted as required - changing the main elevation value would do the same thing but make it harder to reconstruct what was done when reviewing the defined plane after the fact.

'Okay' Will take you back out to the main Plane editor page.

Plane Editor: Slope

'Direction' Which way the slope value will affect the plane.

'Slope' How steep the grade of the plane will be. It uses percentage notation - i.e. 100 × rise / run.

'Elevation Offset' Only shown after using GPS or a marker. Allows the changing of the slope by a fixed elevation. Ie if you know you need to cut 10cm at the current location, enter 10cm here and it will calculate the appropriate slope.

'Use GPS' Will take the current position of the implement, and calculate the heading/slope between that and the Origin. These values can then be edited afterwards if the values aren't quite as desired.

'Use Marker' Will allow the selection of a marker, and calculate the heading/slope between that and the Origin. These values can then be edited afterwards if the values aren't quite as desired.

'Okay' Will take you back out to the main Plane editor page.

Plane Editor: X-Slope

The X Slope is the slope at right angles/90° to the primary slope. It shares a similar behavior to the primary slope UI except doesn't allow specifying direction.

'Slope' How steep the grade of the plane will be. It uses percentage notation - i.e. 100 × rise / run.

'Elevation Offset' Only shown after using GPS or a marker. Allows the changing of the slope by a fixed elevation. Ie if you know you need to cut 10cm at the current location, enter 10cm here and it will calculate the appropriate slope.

'Use GPS' Will take the current position of the implement, and calculate the heading/slope between that and the Origin. These values can then be edited afterwards if the values aren't quite as desired.

'Use Marker' Will allow the selection of a marker, and calculate the heading/slope between that and the Origin. These values can then be edited afterwards if the values aren't quite as desired.

'Okay' Will take you back out to the main Plane editor page.

Plane Editor: Survey

When you are not sure about the slope and heading, you can survey to create a plane of best fit. Once you have your bucket raised, tap the 'Start' button and survey an area. The heading and slope should stabilize as more GPS points are collected. The buttons mentioned below become visible once you have started surveying.

Tap 'Pause' and 'Resume' to exclude unwanted GPS points from your survey.

Tap 'Stop' when you're done, and the plane will be ready to zero against.

To check the heading and slope values of the plane, simply tap on the plane when it is already selected.