After TPC is installed we will launch the program.

We will go under the Settings drop down and select Settings.

In this dialog we need to deal with a few things.   First stop is the Units tab.

We want to set our Distance to either US Feet or Intl Feet, I use Intl Feet if you are using Imperial measurements, stay with Meters if you use metric.  

Always use the X-Y-Z coordinate order.

The others are personal preference.  

The other tab that we need to do something under is the CAD/BIM Program tab.

We need to fill out the Use Program line here with the CAD program you use.   

Hit Ok to that window when those are set.

We are ready to make points now so we can hit the Prepare Points in CAD option.

Click Open and Select the project you would like to open. Once the project is open you will notice a new toolbar that says TPC.

(Click to enlarge)

Notice everything is greyed our except for the settings button. Before you are able to place points you will have set things up. 

 

Click on Settings

1. Select the options you prefer and press OK. So we are all setup and are ready to place points.
2. We will start with Insert Points first. If you hit the arrow you will see several options:

These are the location of the text. Make sure the insertion point is correct either Insert on level or insert on work plane face, and select the group you would like to place them in. To place it just pick where you would like the text to show up and just click where you want to place it. This works like the Custom Points in CAD.

The next option is Over Families, after clicking this button you will have to select an object after selecting it, it will open up in in the editor. Place your point where you want it, you can place multiple points and hit esc to exit out of the command and go into the Wizard.

Select Next

TPC will always pick up the last number used so it is best to keep this how it comes up to keep numbers from being duplicated. Click  Next

Here we recommend to leave the options the way they are you can add the description if you like. Click Next 

 

Here we recommend to leave the options the way they are you can add the description if you like. Click Next 

Here you can select the options you like. Under Annotation you have the options of what you want to show along with the point. You have None, Pointnumber, Description, Height, and Coordinates and different combinations of the 4. You can also add a Prefix here you can either type one in ex: CP for Control Point or HP for Hanger Point or select one from the list. Click Next

*Note: It is not recommended to use the Annotation of None, as it will generate an error message saying ``This field cannot be blank. Enter text to continue” when creating the points that you have to click close to for every single point it is creating or hold down esc. *

This will show you the different elevations of the object selected, you can uncheck any that you do not want a point placed on. This will select the entire project so if you are creating them by level then you can just uncheck all the levels except for the one you want your points for. Click Next

Here you can select your routing preference. We normally just leave the default selected but if you have a preference of how it will place the points you can select it here. Hit Next

Next is your summary this is a list of all the points it found and the coordinates of those points. 

1. Hit Next
   1. *Note: This list is not editable*

1. Now you are at the end of the wizard press Finish to exit out of the wizard. It will start placing all the points.

The next Button I will come back to we will skip over to Over Geometry

1. Select Over Geometry You can then select the items that you would like to place a point on.
2. When you are done selecting them click Finish

You will now be brought back over to the Wizard

1. Select Next
2. Leave the starting number as it is and select Next

In this window you can select where you want to place the point. The most common one is Center Points for hangers and sleeves. Select Next

1. In this Window leave both checked and select  Next
   1. Note: Unchecking either one of them causes some errors in the software, you can select the elevation before finishing in another window.
2. Select your group and press Next
3. Select your settings and press  Next

1. Here is where you can uncheck the elevation that you don’t want, or leave them both checked if you want a point at the top and bottom. Select Next 
2. Select your route and hit Next
3. Review your points and select Next and then Finish

The next option you can use which is Over Grid

After selecting it we will get our wizard

1. Select Next to get started
2. Leave the numbering as is and select  Next 

Now TPC will automatically find all the grid intersections and show you a list of what it found

1. Here you can leave them all checked or just keep the ones where you want your points at and select Next
2. Select the Group you want them in and press Next
3. Select your Options and press Next
4. Select your Route preference and press Next 
5. Review your points and press Next and then Finish

 

 

 

 

The next option you have is to insert a marker inside a .rfa file you can either open the .rfa file or select the object you want to edit and edit the family.

You will see that you still have the Trimble Point Creator toolbar in the ribbon

1. Select Insert marker
2. You can now place the marker where you like. If it isn’t picking up the point you want just go ahead and place it then put some reference lines in that you can use to move it to the point you want
3. After placing your marker go ahead and load back into the project if you were modifying it in the project and make sure to select Overwrite the existing version and its parameter values

Now you will see that the Over Markers icon is available

1. Select it and then select the objects with this option you can window the whole screen and grab everything since it will be looking for the marker it will ignore anything that doesn’t have one.
2. Click Finish when done and the wizard will come up

Just follow the same steps as before to go through the wizard and insert the points.

 

Now that you have your points it is time to extract them to send to the field

You have 2 options here the Export Points and Export Points and Background

The Export Points only exports the points, the Export Background and Points exports points and a background file. We can make backgrounds separately and that process is shown below.  So I will use the Export Points button.

 

After you select it, it will bring the TPC window back up

Now we need to determine what device we are going to send these points to.  There is a setting that will allow you to create the standard file for what type of unit you are going to. The main 2 units are the Trimble Tablet and the Trimble Nomad device.   

Under Settings there is a Total Station Settings, select this.

In this dialog we will not touch anything else, except the drop down for the Communication Device. The Trimble MEP Series is for the Nomad devices. Trimble Field Link Series is for the Tablet devices.

 

1. Select what is appropriate for your application.
2. Now we need to hit the Export to Total Station button to complete the process.

A new dialog box appears and will show your groups, check off the ones that you want in this export.

Hit Next.  

 

This is where it gets odd so pay attention to these next steps.

1. You can give the File the name that you want, go ahead and give that name.   
2. If you want to have a background, check the Include Background File box.
3. After checking the box select and find the location of the background file.

1. At this point we hit the Explore button or the Explore Project Folder, this will bring up windows explorer,
2. What you need to do here is go to the location that you want the file saved to.  
   1. GO there via Windows Explorer
   2. When you are in the location you want the file, use the Windows Paste function.   Your file will be placed in that location.  
3. You can now move that over to the unit and shoot points.  

Note: Explore will take you to Computer 

Explore Project will take you to C:\Users\”User Name”\Documents\Trimble Point Creator 2012 Projects