Cave Illustrator

Digital methodologies for creating maps have come a long way over the last few years, but I noticed that there was still large room for improvement in many areas. I was working on an ongoing survey project, and desired to have an 'up to the minute' map. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to follow somewhat of a convoluted process.

First, I would need to type the data into Compass software for processing. Next, I would have to create a bitmap image of the plot to import into Adobe Illustrator. This plot bitmap would then have to be correctly placed and scaled inside of Illustrator. Every time I added any new survey, this would need to be performed. It was getting a bit cumbersome to say the least!

So I decided to create a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator (v9) that would import Compass format data files directly into the artwork. This plug-in is named Cave Illustrator, and runs natively inside the window of Illustrator. I allows the plotting and selection of survey information of both plan and profile views. Further, you can update the plot without having to reposition or rescale the rest of the data. This speeds the time to create digital maps significantly.

Features

Cave Illustrator has a variety of available features, and I will add more over time. For now, they include:

	Works with standard Compass '.dat' files

	Plots all survey shots as native artwork lines. These can be manipulated as standard adobe artwork objects

	Plots station names as normal Adobe text objects

	Allows station management and survey selection through its window interface. This allows for rapid selection of individual shots, or entire surveys

	Simple update of survey with one click of a button

	Manages both plan and profile plots on the same page

	Full rotation of plot and/or north of plan

	Can manage multiple caves on the same art board

This version is a beta version, and still has some known bugs, and no documentation. It is pretty straightforward to use, however, and shouldn't be too hard to figure out. It will only work on Windows platforms, and requires version 9 of Illustrator.

Download Cave Illustrator.

Installation Instructions

First, you must shutdown Adobe Illustrator so it is not currently running. Next, simply copy the file 'CaveIllustrator.aip' into the directory 'Program Files\Adobe\Illustrator 9.0\Plug-ins'. That is all there is to it! Next time you start Adobe Illustrator, you should see the Cave Illustrator window. If you do not, simply go to the menu option 'Window->Show Cave Survey'. This should cause the window to appear.