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Everything Backsight does, written for somebody with a job to finish. Ask below, search in the sidebar, or start with one of the doors.
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Answers come from these help articles, with links to read more.
New to Backsight
From a new account to a plotted PDF in ten minutes.
Looking something up
Every command and alias, the linetype and symbol catalogues, file formats.
Something is not working
What a message means and what to do about it.
Start here
Set up your account, learn the workspace, and get your first project moving.
- Quick start: your first drawing in ten minutesFrom a new account to points on a drawing, a surface, and a plotted PDF, the short version.6 min read
- The workspace, part by partOne frame for the whole job: modes, ribbon, explorer, properties, command line and data panels.5 min read
- Projects: what they hold and how to set one upA project is a grid, a vertical reference and everything measured on them. Here is how to start one properly.4 min read
Coordinates & heights
Choosing a grid, vertical references, geoid models, and checking a project is set up right.
Survey points
Importing field data, description keys, editing points, groups and COGO.
- Importing survey pointsGet a points file in, map the columns, and know exactly what was accepted.5 min read
- Editing points, one or a thousandChange a description, an elevation or how a point looks, for one point or every point you have selected.4 min read
- Description keys: symbols from field codesA shot coded 460 draws as a hydrant before anybody opens a picker. Here is how that works and how to override it.4 min read
- Field-to-finish: linework from point codesTurn coded shots into figures: curbs, fences, edges of pavement: without drawing them by hand.4 min read
- COGO: traverse, inverse, intersections and adjustmentCoordinate geometry with answers you can check, and a least-squares adjustment that reports every residual.5 min read
Drawing
The CAD canvas: tools, the command line, snaps, layers, styles, blocks and annotation.
- Drawing: tools, the command line and snapsHow to draw, how to be quick about it, and how to make things land exactly where you mean.6 min read
- LayersMake them, set their defaults, and control what is visible, locked or plotted.3 min read
- Linetypes and line stylesFifty linetypes named in plain words, how to apply them, and how to change a line's style without touching its layer.5 min read
- Point styles and labelsChoose a symbol, size it in millimetres, and arrange the labels the way your office wants them.5 min read
- Blocks, text, dimensions and leadersSurvey symbols at real ground size, and the annotation that makes a plan readable.4 min read
- Importing and exporting drawingsDXF and LandXML in and out, and what a format can honestly carry.4 min read
Surfaces & volumes
Triangulation, breaklines, contours, spot elevations, volumes, alignments and sections.
- Building a surfaceTriangulate points into ground you can contour, measure and stake from.5 min read
- Contours, spot elevations and slope labelsGet contours onto the drawing, label them, and read elevations off the surface.4 min read
- Volumes: against a datum and between two surfacesExact prismatic volumes, with the method and the area stated so the number can be checked.6 min read
- Alignments, profiles and cross sectionsCentrelines with stationing, existing ground and design profiles, and sections across them.5 min read
Imagery, drone & point clouds
Orthophotos, drone reconstruction, LAS, LAZ, E57, PLY and XYZ/PTS clouds, ground classification.
- Orthophotos and background imageryBring a georeferenced image in, place it under the drawing, clip it and drape it.4 min read
- Drone flights: from photos to productsUpload a flight, choose how it should be processed, and know what it costs before it starts.8 min read
- Ground control: marking targets in the imagesPut a reconstruction on your own survey instead of the drone's GPS, by pointing at each target in the photos.7 min read
- Point clouds: reading, clipping and thinningUpload LAS, LAZ, E57, PLY or XYZ/PTS, see what is in it, and cut it down to the part you care about.5 min read
- Ground classification: keeping the file's, or classifying it hereThree ways to get ground points out of a cloud, what the classifier actually does, and how to set it.7 min read
Utility locates
Sketching, the report package, issuing, and the client portal.
Plotting & deliverables
Sheets, templates, typography, your logo, legends, exports and cut sheets.
- Sheets: setting one up and plotting itA sheet at a real scale, with a title block, a legend and your logo: then a PDF you can prove.6 min read
- Sheet templates and your office standardFive compositions to start from, and how to save your own as the default.3 min read
- Typography on a sheetFourteen faces, sizes in real millimetres, and a sample of every one as you set it.4 min read
- Your logo and a legend on the sheetPut your artwork where you want it, and add a legend that lists only what the drawing uses.4 min read
- Construction layout and cut sheetsStakeout points and a cut sheet the crew can work from.3 min read
Account & billing
Subscription, processing credits, your team, and organization branding.
- Subscription, processing credits and invoicesWhat $99 a seat covers, the yearly option, how processing credits work, and where to find your invoices.4 min read
- Your team, roles and organization brandingInvite people, decide what they can do, and put your logo and colours on everything you issue.4 min read
Reference
Commands, linetypes, point styles, file formats and a glossary.
- Command referenceEvery command, its alias, and what it does: the list to keep open while you learn.5 min read
- Linetype catalogueAll fifty, by group, with what each one is for.4 min read
- Point style catalogueThe thirty built-in symbols, by group.2 min read
- File formats Backsight reads and writesWhat you can bring in, what you can take out, and what each format carries.3 min read
- GlossaryThe terms Backsight uses, in plain words.4 min read
Troubleshooting
What a message means and what to do about it.
Still stuck?
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