Before I get into the real meat and potatoes (how corny is
that) of this post, let me first throw a "plug" out for the WAUG
(Wasatch Area User's Group). A Civil 3D User Group located in
Salt Lake City, Utah. Their next meeting is scheduled for
July 14th and is to be held at
1225 E Fort Union Blvd, Suite 300 Cottonwood Heights, UT, USA
84047. So, if you haven't attended any WAUG meetings lately
or at all and you're actually using Civil 3D, well now is your
chance. If you need more information, you can contact Wendy
Miller at
wendyloui@yahoo.com or Paul Halladay at 801-944-0607x103,
they'll be happy to get you going in the right direction.
Ok, now for the meat and potatoes... This goes out to all of
you
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009 users out there. There is a new
Update 3 that became available just a few short days ago. A good
number of issues have been resolved thanks to all of you that
used the Customer Error Reporting Utility to your advantage. And
you thought they didn't listen.
So download and install the new
Update 3 to take advantage of fixes, and take a look at the readme
file for installation instructions and for a list of many of the
issues resolved.
Note: you must install Update 2.1 before installing Update
3.
For those of you that have moved over to
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2010 and are reaping the benefits of some totally awesome new
tools (you have to admit that the new Intersection tools are just
WAY
#@C$ing COOL and the QTO Manager is something that we, as
Civil people, have been wanting and needing for years). Well, it
is here!
However, whether you're using 2009 or 2010, performance seems
to be... well, how can I say in accordance with the PC crowd...
hmm. OK, it sucks, but just a little unless you've been
neglecting your hardware, then it probably sucks a lot. So what
do you do? Here are few things that you can try:
The tried and true...
-PURGE for regapps (2010 allows us to purge
Zero-length geometry and
Empty text objects).
AUDIT, and do it regularly.
PURGE it! You know why.
ERASE it! Yes you can and you know how and why. And to the
biggest offenders... we know who you are.
Now for some newbie's...
DYNAMIC INPUT off, it may cool in AutoCAD, but in Civil 3D
it puts a strain on your workstation's resources (though it's not
much, but it all adds up... then you CRASH!)
Adjust the
WHIPTHREAD system variable for all of you multi-core
users.
GRAPHIC CARD DRIVERS. Get the latest and greatest for your
machine. I've heard that
NVIDEA has some new ones out there that have been created
with AutoCAD in mind. However, if you are running a DELL
computer, you'll have to wait until DELL makes them available.
That is what I've heard anyway.
VTOPTIONS... off, off and off.
Set the
LARGEOBJECTSUPPORT system variable to use AutoCAD 2010
object size limits.
But hey! Let's not put all of the
performance problems on the shoulders of Civil 3D. I know all of
you are going to find this hard to believe, but someone at
Microsoft thought that we would just love to have every possible
resource sucking option turned on. Well, they thought wrong. Go
to Start>Control Panel>System>Advanced
(tab)>Performance/Settings>Visual Effects and toggle on
Adjust for best performance...
Call me crazy, but I unchecked them all! Now, I am still
running XP, if you are running Vista you may find one or two that
you'd like to leave on. You'll have to decide that when you get
to it.
And how about some Undocumented stuff...
AeccFindSiteOverlaps: this will check for overlapping alignments, feature lines,
and lot lines in a Site.
AeccRemoveDupLotLines: this performs the same function as
AeccRemoveDupFeatureLines command above, except it will move
overlapping parcel lot lines to separate Sites.
Well, I think that is enough for today. It's a nice day, and I
think my bobber just went down!
Before I dive into today's topic, I would like to take a
moment and mention the
Greater Boston Autodesk Users Group. They meet the second Tuesday of every month and discuss
many of the products available from Autodesk. Even though you
just missed the last meeting, no worries, you can easily attend
the next one. So, check out the
GBAUG's website for times and topics and show your support of your
local Users Group. Not only are local Users Group meetings a good
place to hear about the latest and greatest tools, but they are a
good place to get and share information that may help you with
your day-to-day work related tasks. Your local Users Groups are
there for you, so why don't you at least check them out. You'll be
glad you did.
Alright, on to the next item of business...
Below I have vertical sag curve, created in
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2010, that has been assigned a default label style. This label
style places the low point, or high point, information below the
leader. Not a bad label overall, but at the current drawing
scale, the low point information encroaches on the "
begin" and "
end" vertical curve information. Not good.
To resolve this we can simply change the drawing scale. What's
that... not an option. Hmmm... ok, we can apply a different label
style to all vertical curve labels, one that may or may not be in
accordance with your company's standards. Don't like that one
either... huh? Well, what if we were to "swap" out just the label
needed? Might that not make everyone all warm and fuzzy inside?
Yes that is an option, and it is a very simple one at that.
The first thing that we need to do is isolate just the
vertical curve label that is causing us great annoyance and
displeasure. A very easy task, simply hold the
Ctrl button down and your crosshairs will change...
...to a "
pick box" as shown.
With the
Ctrl button depressed, sashay over and "
pick" the label you would like to change. You must sashay
over, otherwise it won't work. JUST KIDDING! Now that the label
has been selected, right click to display the shortcut menu, and
pick the
Edit Label Style option.
Then in the
Profile Curve Label Style dialog box, pick the appropriate
label style.
Pick Ok to continue, and...
Ta Da! How easy was that? And, we didn't even have to relocate
the label. It stayed put just like we expected it to.
Oh, and by the way, using the Ctrl > Left Click works in
other places as well, and the above technique works in
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009 and both of the
AutoCAD® Civil products.
Thanks and Enjoy!
PS - I had a mental picture of some of you sashaying over and
picking the label... it wasn't pretty.
;^)
Did you know that you can "Zoom to" any
Civil 3D object by selecting it in the Item View pane of the
Prospector tab, right clicking and picking Zoom to? I thought you
did. However, did you know that when it comes to points, you can
select multiple points, and then use the Zoom to option?
Here is something that I am sure that you run into on daily...
even on an hourly basis when using
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and the other
AutoCAD® based products. It's one of those silly little balloons that
pop up in the lower right corner informing you of something that
you've just done or need to do. You know, it displays every time
you plot, you Xref in another drawing file (unless LAYEREVAL has
been disabled), you need to synchronize a data shortcut... do I
need to go on? It also stays open until you close it or run the
feature it is prompting you about.
Would you like to set it up so that it closed automatically?
Well, who wouldn't? I wish I could tell you, but then we'd all
know, and what fun would that be.
Just kidding... it is actually very easy. Simply left click on
the little black triangle/arrow in the lower right corner of
Civil 3D.
Doing so will display the
Tray Settings dialogue box, where you can select the
Display time option and set the time to
1 to
10 seconds.
Before I start... I hope some or all of you got a chance to
check out IMAGINiT's Virtual Tradeshow
last week. If not, you missed out on a great
international, yes it was that big, show and an enormous amount
of information.
I was able to sit in on Andy Parr's Wednesday night
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2010 seminar on the new stuff
coming our way. All I've got to say is... TOTALLY (insert color
adjective of your choice here) AWESOME! Andy was fantastic (as
smooth as silk) and accomplished it all on beta software. And
speaking of software, beta or not, all I can say is WOW! Autodesk
really hit one out of the park this time! I believe "
At-a-boys" are in order for all on Autodesk's Civil 3D
Development Team!
Ok, on to today's topic...
I received an email a month or two ago asking if there was a
way to get AutoCAD ® Civil 3D® 2009 to calculate
topsoil/sod quantities in their boulevard areas especially along
the daylight subassemblies. My first response was that it sure
can; however, I wasn't sure if the way I had in mind (let's call
it Plan A) would work since it didn't in C3D 2008. So, I tried it
and I even check with Autodesk Tech Support, and what didn't work
in 2008, doesn't work in 2009 either. I was also informed that it
is not destined to be fixed any time soon. After adding 2 cents
worth of my thoughts on the whole "it won't be fixed" thing, I
moved to Plan B.
My second option was to put the new "ConditionalCutOrFill"
subassembly to use. And, it
worked pretty darn cool.
Note: For Civil 3D 2009 the "ConditionalCutOrFill" subassembly
is only available from the Autodesk Subscription website. So, if
you are not on subscription, you will have to wait.
In the example below, each side of the Assembly included the
following Subassemblies:
Note to self... Crashing is never fun, so use the "Esc" key to
escape out of the ConditionalCutOrFill subassembly vs.
right-clicking. Will I ever learn? :-)
The completed Assembly is as follows after mirroring one side
to the other.
After setting up the assembly, create the corridor. From the
corridor, generate 3DPLINES from daylight corridor feature lines
(
Corridors > Utilities > Create Polylines from
Corridor). In the corridor properties you can then target those
3DPLINES both horizontally and vertically with the outermost
ShapeTrapezoidal in Cut and Fill.
Proceed as you would with any "Select Material" report, just
add the TOPSOIL material. In this case, I just computed the
topsoil material for your viewing pleasure.
AutoCAD ® Civil 3D® 2010 has gone to the Ribbons! And
you know what? It is totally cool and I am really dig'n it. I
like the fact that when I select a Civil object in the drawing,
object specific ribbon panels are automatically displayed.
The first image below shows the Home ribbon panel. In this
case no Civil object has been selected in the drawing.
This next image shows a new set of panels that contains
alignment specific commands and tools, panels which were
automatically displayed after an alignment object was selected in
the drawing.
This is like picking on and expanding a Menu without actually
picking the Menu. How awesome is that? I'll help you out and
answer that for you... that is Totally Freak'n Awesome!
Now onto the LINEWORK Commands...
Even though these have been around a while, here are some
undocumented LINEWORK commands that were sent to me by
Dino Lustri, another Civil guy, out of IMAGINiT's
Cleveland office. He thought you'd be interested in a little
reminder. A couple of his favorites are shown with his notes.
LINEWORKSHRINKWRAP: I use this when combining watersheds. It's
a useful tool for creating an overall closed polyline around
multiple other enclosed polylines.
LINEWORKARRAY
LINEWORKCENTER
LINEWORKCROP: Better than the trim command. Good for use
after inserting GIS info and then needing to trim out everything
outside the 'box'.
LINEWORKDIVIDE
LINEWORKEXTEND
LINEWORKMERGE
LINEWORKOBSCURE
LINEWORKSPACEEVENLY
LINEWORKSUBTRACT
LINEWORKTRIM
NAPKIN: Is another fun one. This one Just kills me.
So, give them a try and see if they too provide you many hours
of good, clean, and wholesome CAD fun. What do you think... a wee
bit too perverse? ;^)
The list of new
Map features was assembled by Warren Medernach, one of
IMAGINiT's Geospatial specialists. Warren is out of IMAGINiT's
Saskatoon, SK, Canada office. Yours truly put together the
Civil 3D list (actually, I grabbed it from the User's
Guide).
So for those of you who's theme in life is to query or connect
to everything that you can, check out Warren's
Map 3D 2010 New Features. And for those of you just digging (get it?) to see what is
new in Civil 3D, check out my
C3D2010 New Features and Settings.
After checking out the pages of new functionality, features
and settings in Map 3D and Civil 3D 2010, you can see why I,
personally, recommend that you get yourself/company on Autodesk
Subscription, if you're not already. Civil 3D is growing and will
continue to grow not only in new and exciting features, but in
stability and performance as well. So, stay current, stay fast,
and get trained… it's all in the cost of doing
business.
Oh, one more thing for you hard working GIS folks, look for
IMAGINiT's GIS Blog featuring Warren showing up at a website near
you. It hasn't launched yet, but I can tell you that it is
destined for the near future. I'll keep you updated as it gets
closer and the countdown begins.
I am not sure if you are aware of this or not, but a release
or two ago when the Express Layers tool bar was incorporated into
Autodesk AutoCAD® (a good thing), it was also... ENHANCED!
Don't be afraid, it's nothing to be afraid about. When you select
the
Layer Isolate command from the
Layers II toolbar
, you can either Select
objects on the layer(s) to be isolated or [Settings].
When using AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009, my recommendation
is to enter "
S" for settings, and set "
Off" as the
setting for layers not isolated.
Now it's not that the "
Lock and fade" option doesn't work as designed, it's just
that when using this command to isolate data to be added to a
C3D/Civil surface object, such as when isolating drawing objects
(ex. blocks) or polyline contour data, the selected data will not
get applied to the surface. So, if you plan on isolating, and
then adding certain data to a surface, it will be necessary to
set the Layer Isolate settings to Off.
Another way to access the
Isolate Layer Settings is via the
Layer Properties Manager.
Simply clcik the Settings
button and clcik Off vs. Lock and fade.
The setting
In paper space viewport use is your call.
Another thing that happened while I was south of the border
enjoying the warmth, the clear skies and the cerveza; new Updates
for all of the Civil products were posted. Updates are available
for the following Civil products:
Civil 3D 2009,
Civil 2009,
Land Desktop Companion 2009 (LDC), and
Land Desktop 2009 (LDT).
One more thing... for those of you in the Minnesota area,
check out the
Minnesota Civil 3D User
Group (MNC3DUG) website and, if possible, attend the
scheduled meetings. It is one avenue for you to ask questions of
others, get additional information regarding Civil 3D, and
overall get more from your Civil 3D or Civil software.
The best part is that you will get to meet the guys behind the
scene who run the
MNC3DUG; Bob, Dan and
Ian. These three guys, who are three of top Civil 3D guys in the
area, also volunteer their time to keep the UG running smoothly
and supplied in pizza. And as far as I am concerned, they are
doing a fantastic job at it. So, if you are looking for a great
way to network with others, check out the
MNC3DUG and
participate in the local meetings. You'll be glad you did.
Now that I've got your attention… I am now going to
apply the old bait and switch tactic. I am going to ask you to
step over to
Dan Hughes's Blog. Why you ask? Well, plain and
simple… Dan beat me to the punch with the new AutoCAD®
2010 features. So, I am giving credit where credit is due.
In reality, he fell right into my little plan to let someone
else due all of the work, and then I "swoop" in and reap the
benefits. Hey, I did give him one full day of stardom.
So swing over to
Dan's IMAGINiT Architectural Solutions Blog and take a look
at the AutoCAD 2010 Parametric Preview Guide. There are a lot of
new and cool things coming our way. Besides, if you think about
it, where would Civil 3D be without AutoCAD.
Today I thought I'd show you the
Stage Storage Extension and how easy it is to use. After
you download it from the subscription website, and following the
provided instructions to install it, you should now have the
following entry in the
Toolspace Toolbox.
Now that you have the hard part done, if you can call it that,
simply right click on the
Stage Storage report option, and "
Execute" it. I don't know about you, but I always seem to smile,
just a little, when uttering the command… just execute it.
Once executed, the
Stage Storage Volume Analysis window is displayed. here we enter project specific
information, select the
Volume Calculation Method, and the
Basin Definition Options. After selecting the
Define Basin button, the
Define Basin from Entities window is opened.
After entering a name for the pond and verifying the
definition option, select the
Define button. In the drawing, graphically pick the
surface object and… enter. The
Stage Storage Volume Analysis window returns with the incremental contour, contour area
and volume information presented in the table.
From here you can easily create a report, insert a table into
the drawing, and save it to a folder of your choosing.
Pretty darn cool, don't you think. If these results are what
you are looking for, then you are good to go. However, as cool as
this is, what you see is what you get. Unless you can maneuver
around in VBA, the precision is to one place and the increment is
to the nearest foot. When defining the volumes right from an
object, it also won't indicate your NWL or HWL if they fall
between even footers. And one more thing, the Define basin from
surface contours option uses all of the surface contours for the
input data including those outside of the actual pond
area… as far as I can tell.
If you are looking for something better, or would like a bit
more control, from this extension, here is what I
recommend…
Use the
Define basin from polylines just as before, but pick the
Extract Objects from Surface. I would, with only one pond
in the drawing, "check" the
Change selected entities to the following layer and the
Delete unselected entities on selected layers. Now when
you pick the
Define button, manually pick each contour that you
need.
Note: the integrity of the surface object is still
retained.
This may be a bit more labor intensive, but for me, this seems
to give me more of what I was looking for without including
contour area outside of my ponding area. This also seems to be
more in tune to surface volume values.
If I am a little off base here, or if I've missed the boat
completely, let me know. Otherwise, always check your work.
In my defense, it was late and I had a cute little
distraction. My 6 year old little girl was kicking my backside on
her new Wii and talk'n smack to her dad.
So, for a healthy tune-up of your preferred civil design
application, download and install your apps update today…
do it! Don't forget to check out the readme file for instructions and a list of fixes
Good news everyone! As I sit here enjoying Minnesota's little
dip into the deep Freeze…
...a A new
Update 2 was just released today by Autodesk for
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009. This update applies fixes to
over 70 issues, and below is a partial list:
There were…
Nine
General issues such as Slope stake reports now display the
correct Grade value and an issue with polylines not retaining
their settings has been resolved.
Five
API issues such as setting a feature line style when you
create a feature line from a polyline now works as expected and
the feature line name value can now be changed using the API.
Four
Corridor Design and Subassemblies issues such as an issue
with using the Profile Grid View panorama vista to edit profiles
has been resolved and Volume reports are now generated as
expected. Previously when generating a volume report for a cross
section, the volume calculations were incorrect.
Issues involving
Criteria Based Design and
Cross Sections and Cross Section Views have been
resolved.
Seven
Grading and Feature Lines issues such as an issue with
Stepped Offset command has been resolved and an issue with
creating grading transitions from straight line segments to
surface targets has been resolved.
Four
Labels and Tables issues including Dragged profile labels
from previous versions of AutoCAD Civil 3D now appear correctly
and the Grade In, Grade Out, and Dist to PVI properties for
Profile Geometry Point Labels at Grade Break now display the
correct values.
One
Lines and Curves issue involving the Curve from End of
Object command now returns correct results when a degree of curve
is specified.
Four
Parcels issues including Editing a parcel curve no longer
causes the program to close unexpectedly.
Five
Pipes issues such as Grip editing a pipe object with
Osnaps enabled no longer causes the program to close unexpectedly
and copying pipe and structure rules now work as expected.
Three
Points issues including Performance is improved when using
the Create Points On Grid command.
Four
Profiles and Profile Views issues such as creating a data
shortcut to a profile in situations where the alignment does not
exist in the drawing now places the alignment on the Alignment
object layer.
Eight
Project Management and Data Shortcuts issues including
structure names in data shortcuts are now updated when the
structure name is changed in the source drawing and Data
references now work as expected when you copy new drawings to
another computer.
Four
Surfaces issues such as deleting a surface edge using a
Fence selection no longer causes the program to close
unexpectedly and the slope and slope arrow color schemes set in
the surface style are now correctly applied to surface
properties.
Three
Survey issues including the Importing a field book with
incomplete coding no longer causes the program to close
unexpectedly.
Again, this is only a partial list. Check out the readme file
for a more comprehensive list. So, download the
Update 2 today… or tonight as in my case, and install it for a
tune-up to your
Civil 3D 2009 install.
On this fine day, I offer you a
whitepaper created by
Jerry Stone, a frequent IMAGINiT Blog contributor.
Jerry's article titled "
Earthwork for Left and Right of Centerline" guides you
through the process of designing a rural road, using
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009, that must built one half at
a time and stay open for business for the duration of the
project. Below is the first paragraph of Jerry's
whitepaper which further describes the process behind the
madness.
"On many multilane roads that are being reconstructed, the
traffic needs to be maintained. Traffic is diverted to one lane
each way on one side of the centerline while the other side of
the road is under construction. Depending on the length of the
road under construction or the time between the construction of
one side and the other, you may want to calculate the earthwork
volumes separately for each side but not create two sets of
plans. This will also help determine which side of the road to
construct first to keep from importing fill."
So, if you have a project that has you building one side of
the road and then the other,
read on.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
I was was blog'n like mad, with my wireless
mouse…
Here it is,
Part 3, the final of my section labels for
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009. In
Part 1, we looked at creating section labels by adding
grade brakes and/or segment labels as part of the section itself.
Part 2 used a Code Set Style to display labels along the
corridor geometry.
(Click
to Enlarge)
In this chapter, we look at adding elevation labels via the
Section View Band Style. Out-of-the-box
Civil 3D 2009 comes with a handful of
Band Sets and
Section Data Label Styles that can be easily modified to
accommodate your company's standards. Here is my take on a Band
Label that was very simple to set up.
So, just what went into setting this up? My first step was to
go to the
Toolspace > Settings (tab) > Section View > Band
Styles > Section Data > Offsets Horizontal…
copied it and renamed it
Offsets Horizontal CL & CL Elevations.
(Click to Enlarge)
Armed with a new Section Data Style, I created a new
Band Set called
Offsets CL & CL Elevations and added the new Section
Data style to it.
(Click
to Enlarge)
Next, the new
Section Data Band Style > Offsets Horizontal CL & CL
Elevations style was modified by adding three text components
to the
Band Details (tab) -
Labels and ticks At
Centerline. Pick the
Compose Label button to add and adjust the text
components.
(Click
to Enlarge)
In the
Label Style Composer, pick the
Create Text Component button
and add the three new components. I renamed them as
follows:
(Click
to Enlarge)
Here is how I set up the three components…
(Click
to Enlarge)
Precision for the
EG Elevation component (
Section 1 Elevation) was 0.1 and 0.01 for the
FG Elevation (
Section 2 Elevation). The
Contents Value for the
CL component was just CL. I used the Arial font for
all… just to be different.
The end result…
(Click
to Enlarge)
Ok, it's not perfect, but you get the idea. And when creating
your cross sections, simply assign the appropriate surface to the
correct elevation component.
(Click to Enlarge)
When all is said and done, and you apply Part 2 (corridor
geometry labels) and Part 3 (labels via a Band Set) together, the
result is something like the following:
(Click
to Enlarge)
Well, that does it; the section label options in
Civil 3D 2009. Hopefully, that helps clear things up just a
little, and I think what you will find, once you spend a little
quality time with the section labels, is that they are not really
that difficult. What it really comes down to the number of
options that we haven't had in the past with LDT. One might say
just a little
over-whelming?
If you still haven't been able to see the forest through the
trees… drop me a quick email. I'll try my best to get you
over the proverbial hump.
There is actually one more label/table that could be added to
your cross sections, and it's only available after running the
Compute Materials command to calculate quantities. Perhaps at a
later date… eh?
Well here it is next week, and time for Part 2 of my section
labels in
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009. I know… how time
flies. Just the other day, it was last week (can you say
corny).
In the last episode, we looked at applying labels to our cross
sections via grade break and segment section labels which labeled
the section from plain and simple…
(Click to Enlarge)
to, labels… labels… everywhere!
(Click to Enlarge)
I know what you're saying… but Doug, there has to be a
better way! Well, sure there is; however, though this one is my
favorite, it is not necessarily better, it is just different. The
key to this labeling procedure is assigning a
Code Set Style which assigns labels to specific links, points and even
shapes of your corridor geometry when using either the
Create Section View or
Create Multiple Section Views commands.
(Click to Enlarge)
Assigning the Code Set is the last final step in the process.
What is the first? I'm glad you asked. The first step is to
create a new Code Set or review and modify an existing one. The
Code Set Style is strategically located in the
Toolspace > Setting (tab) > General > Multipurpose
Styles > Code Set Styles…
(Click
to Enlarge)
At this point, simply create a new Code Set Style and import
the codes from the assembly in the drawing, or modify an existing
Code Set Style.
(Click
to Enlarge)
In the Code Set Style, proceed through the list of Links,
Point Codes and Shapes and assign a Label Style to those
particular features that you deem worthy to display their
information. Similar to Part 1, I am not going to bore you with
the label itself. You know… labels are labels.
The end result is labels only on those features where we need
or want them.
(Click
to Enlarge)
Oh sure, we can certainly go overboard and populate the
section view with labels to a point where we can no longer read
anything without adjusting the scale, but isn't it nice that we
have that kind of control?
(Click
to Enlarge)
So, there you have it, another section/section view labeling
process in
Civil 3D 2009. What do you think… a little better? I
think so. Trying to adjust the grade break and segment labels
using the weeding factor and hoping for the best is not my idea of
controlled automated labeling. You also have to admit that this
too is pretty darn easy. Even though it has a couple of extra
steps, it is still somewhat straight forward.
Ok, my guess is that right now you are giddy with excitement
and anticipating the arrival of Part 3. You too, huh? Next week's
episode may or may not have something to do with the Section View
Band Style. So I'll leave it up to you to check in to find
out.
Again, if I've missed anything please let me know.
That's right folks… I've got a fever, and the only
prescription is more
Section Labels!
This is the first of a 3 Part Series that explores the
wonderful world of
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009 Section Labels. Did you know that there are three (that I
know of), count them… 1… 2… 3 ways to apply,
automatically, section labels to your cross section views? I know
it's hard to believe, but it is true.
The first set of labels that I am going to explore, are those
sections labels inserted via a
Section Label Set…
Personally, labeling the section view this way or with these
labels is not my personal favorite due to the lack of control
over label placement.
Ok, let's say for the sake of an argument that this labeling
method is something you like or would like to use. However, you
would like to know, understand and use them better. The big
question with this method is… why am I getting labels at
certain points and not at others. Well, the real secret here lies
hidden within a certain value of the
Section > Label Set itself, and that value is the
Weeding value.
The smaller the
Weeding value the more labels you will get… the
larger the fewer. I know what you are saying at this
point… Doug you are a genius! Did you figure that one out
all by yourself? Why yes, yes I did, and if you make it large
enough the only
Grade Break label remaining is at centerline.
As for the label style itself, that one is up to you. Labels
are… labels. Usually, how and when labels are applied is
the tricky park, or at least can be.
Now, let's say you are on my team and like me you don't have a particular fondness for these labels and need to remove them from
the section view or would like to exclude them all together. To
remove them is very easy, and of course there are multiple routes
to this destination, go to the
Toolspace > Propector (tab) > Alignments >
alignment name > Sample Line Groups > Section View
Groups >
section view group name, right click and pick
Properties.
In the
Sections (tab), go to the
Change Labels column and establish the
Label Style Set that is more in tune to your corporate
philosophy.
To exclude them all together is also very easy. Simply, go to
the
Toolspace > Settings (tab) > Section View. Then
right click and select
Edit Feature Settings, and under
Default Styles > Section label Set…
…set the appropriate value. You know, like "
_No Labels" which is a favorite of mine. You can also set
this under the
Section View > Commands for
CreateMulitpleSectionView and
CreateSectionView.
Well that about covers it for these labels. Pretty easy don't
you think? If I've missed anything I'm sure someone will let me
know. Next time is Part 2 (my favorite), and no I'm not going to
give you any kind of clue as to what I have in store. You really
think that I would take the chance to drastically affect my web
stats?
LOL
One more thing, my apologies about the whole fever /
prescription thing at the beginning, but I recently watched,
again, the SNL Cow Bell video (a true classic) and…
well… self explanatory don't you think?
So, for now… Thanks and Enjoy!
PS - In case you were wondering "where's Doug" (like where's
Waldo) and why I've been a little delinquent in my Blog duties,
well I've been busy working and spreading the
Civil 3D word. Ok, you can stop laughing about the work comment. I
also decided that spending Thanksgiving some place real warm
drinking cold cerveza and good tequila by the pool vs. here in
Minnesota wrapped in a blanket, sipping hot chocolate and sitting
by the gas fireplace (man is nothing sacred) was… well a
no brainer!
Today's topic comes from
Jerry Stone in IMAGINiT's Kingsford, MI office. Even
though this topic has been discussed by others in the past, it
still seems to be one that continues to plaque many
AutoCAD® C3D® users.
So without any further ado…
When you drag your
Civil 3D 2009 Point Labels away from the marker are you
frustrated with the location of the leader (if you drag it to the
left) or the changed order of the information?
Edit the Point Label Style as follows:
If you are new to editing label styles, you may want to
copy the style and edit the copy. We'll start with the order of
the information in the label after it is dragged away from the
original location. For this example I'll edit the
Point#-Elevation-Description Label Style.
In the
Settings tab of the Prospector, expand
Point and
Label Styles and right-click on
Point#-Elevation-Description and select
Edit.
In the Label Style Composer select the Layout tab. Pick on the
Component Name dropdown menu.
This is the order that these components will use when dragged
from the default location. With Point Description displayed, pick
the Delete button
.
Now recreate it by picking the Text button
and using the same settings.
That will take care of the order for the display of the
information.
Next, we will go to the
Dragged State tab.
To resolve the issue of the leader not changing it's
justification from left to right simply select
Stacked Text for the
Display of the
Dragged State Components.
Pick
OK and this Point Label Style is ready to go.
Yea, I know, the label is all yellow. That's the color of the
layer specified in the
General tab. We can select a color in the Dragged State tab but the
entire label will be the same color either way. As they say,
"There's no free lunch." I guess we all gotta make
sacrifices.
Thanks Jerry!
Now, I am pretty sure there is another option, but for the
life of me I just can't seem to remember what it was. If you have
any thoughts please let me know. I also have a call into Autodesk
support for guidance, so we'll see what happens.
That is all for now… Thanks and Enjoy!
PS - There is a way to maintain the color of the component
when you drag the label set to "
Stacked Text", set the color of the component within the
Format tab of the
Text Component Editor to the color you want. Thanks Almas!
This simple "
how-to" was put together with the help of
Matt Winger who resides in IMAGINiT's Appleton, WI office.
If Matt's name sounds familiar, it should. He is one of
IMAGINiT's GIS specialists and a frequent Civil Blog
contributor.
The first thing that needs to be resolved is the MapExport.ini
file issue, after that the procedure is actually very simple (I
am a firm believer in the KISS principal). The process utilizes
functionality that
Civil 3D and old LDT users have had access to for quite some
time.
One thing that you will notice is that there are certain
things "
blurred" out in some of the images. Well, this was done to
protect the innocent. Another thing is that I did not use the
featid data as the COGO Point number when I extracted the
data. I forgot … my bad. So, even though I suffered from a
mental
Fatal Error and assigned the point number in the spread
sheet, I'm willing to bet that you won't.
Therefore, if you are working in
Civil 3D and need point data generated from an ESRI shp file,
then hopefully my
Civil 3D 2009 COGO Points from ESRI Shape File is for you. If not, then perhaps like those in politics, we
can all go have fun somewhere on the tax payer dollar. Woo
Hoo!
Until next time… Thanks and Enjoy!
Sorry about the political thing, but it has gotten so deep out
there that my eyes have turned brown!
While I put on the finishing touches to my "
Shape file to Civil 3D COGO Point" process, I thought I'd
pass on Wendy's tips for improving performance in
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009. Some of these have been
previously discussed by yours truly, but the rest are Wendy's
sound recommendations for trying to "bump" up the performance of
your Civil 3D.
Wendy Miller is one of IMAGINiT's Civil Specialists who can be
found spreading the
Civil 3D word from IMAGINiT's Salt Lake City Utah office.
I hear a lot of users comment on how their
Civil 3D is unacceptably slow. I've learned that there are a
few things that you can try to help things move along better.
Here is a list that I've created to help me help others
troubleshoot a slow moving
Civil 3D.
1) Turn off the
Ribbon.
Command line: RIBBONCLOSE
2) Delete drawing scales from drawings.
Command line:
-scalelistedit, reset, Reset list YES
3) Close your
Tool Palettes.
4) Turn off extended and
roll over tool tips Options>Display> On Window
Elements uncheck Show rollover Tooltips. System Variables:
TOOLTIPS=1, ROLLOVERTIPS =0
5)
Dock the command line on the same monitor as the main
drawing window. I know this doesn't sound like it will really do
anything but you may be surprised if you are undocking your
command line.
6) Turn off the options on the
Status Bar including Snap Mode, Polar Tracking, Object
Snap Tracking, Grid Display, Quick Properties, Dynamic UCS, and
Dynamic Input.
7) Make sure your
Demand Load Xrefs is set to "enabled with copy".
Options>Open and Save>External References select "Enabled
with Copy".
System Variable: DEMANDLOAD=3
8) In Options>System> Set Layout Regen Options to "
Regen when switching layouts". Be careful because this
will increase the amount of time your computer spends when you
switch layouts, but it significantly decreases the number of
Fatal Errors caused by lack of memory.
System Variable: LAYOUTREGENCTL=0
9) Do a
3GB/ switch if you have 4 GB of memory in your machine.
10) Use
data shortcuts (or Vault) to share data and make your
drawings more manageable.
11) For surfaces with large amounts of points use some of the
new tools in 2009 to reduce the amount of data you are
using for surfaces.
12) Read
Autodesk's White Paper about working with Large Data Sets it will give you some
ideas.
13) Make sure your
graphics card is tuned correctly.
14) Get rid of
RegApps in your drawing. You do this by entering
-purge at the command line, selecting
R, *, Yes. The regular Purge command doesn't get rid of
the regapps you have to make sure that you are putting the dash
on the front of the command.
15) Use
AUDIT often and fix the errors.
There may be more but this is my list so far.
Thanks Wendy! Sounds like some very good advice to me!
And to all you out there (where ever you are)... Thanks and
Enjoy!
A few weeks ago someone sent me (yes, I just go to it) a
really cool Autodesk whitepaper titled "
Road Design Basics with AutoCAD Civil and Civil 3D". Many of you may have already seen or read this and can
attest to how cool it is. The Whitepaper discusses the data that
goes into or can go into an
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009 or AutoCAD® Civil 2009
corridor model, and explains what the key elements are and what
they do when added to the model from the assembly and
subassemblies to the targets and superelevation.
However, take into account that this is not a "
how-to" document. If it were it would be much greater in
length. But it is a nice easy read, where the "meat" of the
document starts on page 3 and ends on page 10. The remainder is
the Appendix, which is my favorite part. You'll have to check it
out to see why.
So, take a look at it. Even a Civil 3D seasoned user like me
found a nice little gold nugget in there. Perhaps, you'll find
one too.
Next week, a how-to using Map functionality in Civil 3D, to
get ESRI shape file data into Civil 3D COGO Points.
I would bet that by now you are aware of the extensions
available for
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009 on the Autodesk Subscription
website. If not, and you are on Subscription, then here is what
you're missing.
Before we take a quick look at the extension downloads please
note that these extensions are only available to
Autodesk Subscription users.
Alright, up on to the "soap box" I go...
If you are currently using or you have plans to move to
Civil 3D, and you are not on Autodesk's Subscription
(especially for
Civil 3D), then, and I hate to get all "salesy" on your
backside, you should be! At the rate that the Autodesk Developers
keep improving and adding new tools, you know, the tools you keep
asking them for, by not staying current you will have the honor
of adding more time when upgrading for each version you pass up.
Also, you'll lose out on the new tools or the benefits from
improved performance and stability. Your call...
Ok, I'll step down now.
So, here is what is available for you
Civil 3D users on the Subscription site.
First and foremost there are six new
Subassemblies that can be added to your Tool Palettes. The
instructions are simple and the steps to add these supplementary
subassemblies is very easy, and once they have been added to the
Tool Palettes they work the same way as all of the subassemblies
shipped with
Civil 3D 2009. As you can see I installed these "newbies",
and if I can do it so can you.
Next is the extension for importing and exporting
HEC RAS .geo files containing stream design information
for flood analysis. Simply export the .geo file out of
Civil 3D 2009 and import it into HEC-RAS. With the flood
analysis complete, import the data from HEC-RAS back into
Civil 3D 2009. Profile data is imported and surface objects
can be created from the imported data.
Note: This extension is only available to
AutoCAD Civil 3D users. The extension is available in English
and will install on all language versions of
AutoCAD Civil 3D.
Another extension that I installed was for the
Stage Storage report. This extension is used to calculate
incremental and cumulative volumes of a basin from a
Civil 3D 2009 Surface. Using polyline contours or
Civil 3D surface contours, the volume and area values of a
basin are calculated. The volumes calculations are by average end
area and/or conic approximation. The analysis tables may be saved
as .AeccSTT files, then inserted into the drawing as AutoCAD
tables or sent to a .txt report file.
Note: This extension is also available to
AutoCAD Civil 3D users only. The extension is available in
English and will install on all language versions of
AutoCAD Civil 3D.
A couple of other extensions that are available are for
importing GENIO and PISTE ASCII files.
The
GENIO import Extension provides the ability to select
features from an ASCII GENIO file and import them into
Civil 3D 2009. The extension is in English only, but will
install and run on any localized version of
AutoCAD Civil 3D.
GENIO is a
GENeralized
Input and Output option that is used to import and export
model information to and from MX. MX is suite of string-based
modeling products from Bentley (acquisition of Infrasoft)
The
PISTE import extension for
Civil 3D 2009 provides the ability to select features from an
ASCII PISTE project file and import them into
AutoCAD Civil 3D. This extension is in French only and it
installs and runs on French and English versions of
AutoCAD Civil 3D.
If you were unaware of these new tools on the Subscription
site don't feel bad. Because if you were like me and weren't as
diligent as you could have been, then you no doubt missed them.
Besides, sometimes it is very easy to be out of the proverbial
loop. And there are days when I even wonder what the proverbial
loop is.
Anyways, take a look at them and see if they will help you out
in your day to day tasks.
Before we dive into Map Drawing Status Bar topic, I wanted to
give you an update on Malcolm's "Joining Parts from Different
Pipe Networks in
Civil 3D 2009". Since the posting of the topic, I have heard
from a reliable source (thanks Warren) that according to Autodesk
Technical Support this is a product defect (BUG). Therefore, at
present we can connect different pipe networks graphically, which
is pretty cool. So, enjoy it while it lasts. However, since this
is a "bug", it is destined to be fixed (OUCH!).
Now for the Map Drawing Status Bar...
Earlier this year, Matt Winger (one of IMAGINiT's Map/GIS
consultants) stepped you through the process of enabling the Map
Drawing Status Bar in AutoCAD® Land Desktop 2008. Well, that
was then and this is now (sorry, I had to say it), and now we
have
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009 where the steps to enable the
same status bar is different... only slightly different. The good
thing is that Matt is here to tell you how.
2. Open the Windows Registry Editor, and... but wait! Next
you'll find the warning that must be posted so we don't get intro
trouble.
Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows
registry could render your computer operating system unusable.
Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need
to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Use
the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only
after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and
user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base and in the related Autodesk solution,
http://support.autodesk.com/getdoc.asp?id=TS66513. Additional
information about the registry is also contained in the Help
topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.
6. Look down in the very bottom right corner of the program
and you should find a down arrow button. Click on that down arrow
and choose "Drawing Status Bar"
Once again,
Malcolm Fernandes hailing from
IMAGINiT's Calgary, Alberta office comes across another
nice little discovery that he would like to share. Take it away
Malcolm!
Yahoo!!! And I don't mean the website. It's that hoot and
hollering you hear, in Calgary for 10 days of a root hooting,
boot stomping, beer guzzling, pancake flipping, good old country
fun, the Calgary Stampede. It's like a cowboy Christmas; the
whole city gets involved….. well, everyone except me.
For the past two years, while everyone was out partying and
having a good time, I was out training some folks on Autodesk's
totally awesome
AutoCAD® Civil 3D®, and yes, Civil 3D is truly
awesome. If it weren't, then why are some MicroStation entrenched
US States in the process of implementing Civil 3D and moving away
from MicroStation?
Being a very dedicated individual (actual I had nothing better
to do while resting in my hotel room), I whipped together the
following article on joining parts from different
Civil 3D pipe networks.
This is standard in a land development project, a complex
network of roads that will …. Yes, you guessed it, spawn a
complex network of pipes. So how have you been creating the pipe
network?? If you follow the party line then, you have been using
the network Layout tools, you know...
Specify next structure insertion point or
[Startpoint/Length/Curve]:
And yes, it can be somewhat like painting your house with an
artist's brush.
The other alternative is creating network from objects
(plines). So off you go, merrily creating plines of your pipe
network based on predetermined line assignments, offsets from
property lines, or road right of way. However, creating a network
from objects will create separate networks, and the down side is
you cannot connect pipes from different network...
…or can you?
Well, in my class, as I was explaining how different network
could not connect, I stumbled on this. While wiping egg off my
face, it was a similar feeling of finding a $20 in your old
jacket pocket. And if Doug knew of this, he would want a blog
article or at the least a round of tequila with my new found $20
bill.
So here is an article letting you in on a little secret.
You have two networks A and B that need to be connected at the
manhole.
c. You should see the "circle
crosshair" (a glyph in the upper right corner of your crosshairs)
that tells you that you can connect to the manhole. But it seems
that this symbol will only show up if your cursor is at the
location where the pipe meets the manhole. As you can see in the
second image, ST MH_A now has two out going inverts.
And that's it……feature or bug…I'll let
you determine that. I just hope it is not a bug and thus will be
fixed in an Update or Service Pack. You know, similar to what
happened to expressions and alignment labels in 2007. All the
same, enjoy it while you can.
So, thanks to my sales person for shipped me out of town,
keeping me out of trouble, and committed to spreading the
Civil 3D gospel. What about the Calgary Stampede you ask?
Well, to make up for me missing the free breakfast, family day
stampede and the rodeo, my salesperson treated me to an ice cream
(just one scoop) and a pony ride.
Fantastic news for everyone using
AutoCAD® Land Desktop 2009! The first
Update is available and has been for a number of days now.
It's not that I forgot about all of you LDT users... well...
umm... my apologies, yes I did. You can all whip me with a wet
noodle later.
So, to fix some of those little Boo-Boos' (another technical
term) in Land Desktop 2009, download and install
Update 1. And don't forget to download and read the "Readme"
file for important information and installation instructions.
PS - For those of you who installed the Update for Civil 3D...
FYI, it is Version 2. So don't worry, all of your marbles are
still in one bag.
Fantastic news for everyone using
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009! The first
Update is now available for you to download. So, to lower
your frustration level just a little and resolve some of those
little "oops's" (a technical term) that were discovered in the
out-of-box install, download and install this new
Update today.
Don't forget to download and read the "Readme" file for
important information such as the instructions to install the
Update, and what fixes have been resolved in this
Update.
So now what excuse do you have for not implementing
Civil 3D?
What? I can't believe that you wasted a perfectly good weekend
relaxing on your deck or by the pool or even working on that ever
expanding "honey-do" list. I guess I can't fault you for that.
Anyways, I hope you are rested, because now we are off to
continue the tour and dive into the
Design Criteria Editor Part 2.
So take a look at
Part 2 along with
Part 1 and see if it helps you on your quest to create a
horizontal and vertical criteria file that you can apply to your
current and future road designs.
But before I go, I would like to show you something else. The
other day I was messing around with point styles trying to figure
out how to apply one of those cool multi-view blocks (you know
the ones that have both 2D and 3D views) to a "tree" shot. That
way when I view the data 3-dimensionally, the trees "pop up" to
show me way cool 3D trees in my drawing. So, being a smart and
groovy guy, I inserted the block that I wanted into the dwg so I could apply it to the Point Style. Pretty smart of me
don't you think?
Well, did you know that multi-view blocks are made up of
multiple parts, and when you view them within the point style
editor all you see are the parts that make up that block? Yeah, I
knew that. Did you also know that the name of block does not show
up within the point style editor? Yeah, I knew that too.
So how does one go about assigning a multi-view block to a
point style and maintain its integrity. Don't ask me, I
don't know either. Just kidding, but I'll admit that I am just a
little embarrassed about this because it took a call to Autodesk
Tech Support and a talk with Almas to straighten me out.
Simply right click inside the block selection window and a super secret "Browse" button is displayed. Now you can browse to
the multi-view block or block or you choosing, and it will be
assigned to the point style. How simple is that?
As mentioned in my last posting, today I will start you out on
a guided tour of the
AutoCAD® Civil3D ® 2009Design Criteria Editor, with yours truly as your guide. What a scary thought that
is. Anyways, due to the length of the tour (as usual I got a
little carried away with all of pretty pictures); a rest stop
will be provided so that you can catch your breath after the
first leg (Part 1). This will enable you to thoroughly enjoying
the second leg (Part 2) next week.
However, before we embark on our journey, I would like to take
just a few moments and pass along a little "mouse" tech tip that
comes from
Stephen Cowling at
Gilbert and Associates in Adelaide, SA which was forwarded
to me by
Penny Ryall from IMAGINiT's North Adelaide, South
Australia office. Below is Stephen's tip...
.....
Some mouse software likes to assign special functions to the
middle button. This invariably plays havoc with AutoCAD.
To fix a problem where middle button pan does not work, go to
the mouse settings software. This is sometimes accessible through
the control panel, sometimes you'll need to find the software in
start>all programs.
Assign the middle button to 'middle button' rather than any
autoscroll or similar.
To fix a problem where the wheel zoom doesn't work, you'll
need to go to the wheel settings. You should see something like
'program exceptions' where you can add in the AutoCAD application
by browsing to c:\program files\autocad...\autocad.exe. This
forces the wheel to behave like a wheel only, rather than some
sort of 'intelligent' scrolling.
This should be once-off, but if you run more than one version
of AutoCAD you'll have to add in each exe file separately.
I know the mice that come with the Lenovo workstations have
both of these problems. Logitech mice have the first problem but
not the second.
.....
Ok, back to the tour. I have painstakingly stepped through the
process so that you can create a new criteria file or modify a
copy of an existing one. The steps have been divided up into two
parts (Part 1 and Part 2) to show you how you can set up a
Civil 3D 2009Design Criteria file. The ultimate goal is a criteria file that applies your
area's horizontal and vertical road design values to your
project.
Part 2 will be ready and available early next week.
The Design Criteria Editor may not be quite perfect... yet.
But it you ask me (I heard you ask), what they gave us in this
release of Civil 3D is totally righteous!
Also, thanks Stephen for the mouse tip, and thank you Penny
for sending this my way.
Have you noticed that with the last two versions of AutoCAD
and the AutoCAD based products that our good friend the little
service notification balloon down in the lower right corner pops
up for more and more things?
And then, it waits for you to close it. Is it just me or do
you also find it just a teeny tiny bit annoying? Good, because I
thought that perhaps it was just me.
I'm also betting that like me, you don't mind being informed
when to reload an Xref or when to synchronize a data shortcut,
but you'd like a way to limit the time that that little balloon
is display. By now I'm guessing that you've already figured out
that I'm about to tell you how to do this. Darn you're good, and
yes, there is a way, and there are settings that allow us to
adjust how long that service notification balloon pops up before
it automatically closes.
The secret lies in that little triangular
button in the lower right corner of your AutoCAD or AutoCAD based
product.
Simply left click on that button and select
Tray Settings from the pop-up list... it's at the very
bottom.
This will display the
Tray Settings window. In the
Tray Settings, click on the
Display time radio button and set the time from 1 to 10
seconds.
Pick
OK when you're done, and that's it. The notification
balloon will now display for the time selected and then
automatically close. If you've set the time between 4 and 6
seconds, you should have ample time to see the notification, read
it, and act on it accordingly. Anything less than 4 and it's difficult
to see it, read it and react to it.
Hopefully this little nugget will reduce your stress level
just a little.
Next time join me for a guided tour of the Design Criteria
Editor in
AutoCAD ® Civil 3D® 2009 where you can apply your
areas horizontal and vertical design standards.
Here is a little tip that I'd like to pass your way...
Did you know that in 2008 the Layer ISOLATE command
(originally the Express Layer Isolate command) was not only
incorporated into
AutoCAD®, but was also enhanced to give us a couple of
options to control its behavior and what it did or did not
display on screen? Well, it did and below are shown a couple of
ways, in
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009, where you can adjust those
settings to your choosing.
Whether you select the command from Layers Ribbon Panel (like
I have), the Layers II toolbar, the
Format > Layer Tools, or typed LAYISO on the command
line (yes, i too type many of my commands... but i needed a
pretty picture), you can enter "S" for settings and then select
O for
Off or
L for
Lock and fade.
Another way is to select the
Settings button
in the
Layer Properties Manager, which can be found in the upper
right corner of the manager and will display the Layer Settings
dialog box where the Isolate Layer Settings that can be modified
to your liking.
Note: in the 2009, the Layer Properties Manager is modeless
which means that it can remain open (floating or docked) and can
be set to Auto-hide like other palettes found in AutoCAD.
My guess is that by now you are saying to yourself... Doug,
why should I even care about what is set in the Layer Isolate
settings. Well, you should care if you are trying to select
"Drawing Objects" or "Contours", for example, as C3D surface
data. If your Layer Isolate settings are set to "Lock and fade",
then C3D
won't add the data to the surface
Definition. If you set the setting to "Off", then the data
will be added to the surface and you will see the fruit of
your labor.
Now don't get me wrong, I like the look and feel of the "Lock
and fade"; however, that nice look and feel doesn't help me out
when I am trying to add certain data types to my surface.
If you're already in the know about this because of another Blog or you've found it
on your own, then back to work (just kidding, there is nothing
wrong with nice mental break know and then). If this is new to
you, then...
The day is finally here! Autodesk is announcing
today that AutoCAD Land Desktop 2009 will be the last...
final... no more... release.
If you haven't made a complete switch to
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® or you've just started the process
to make the switch you don't have to worry about losing LDT quite
yet. The Land Desktop Companion will continue to be available as
part of Civil 3D
subscription. That's right; you must have your Civil 3D on subscription
in order to receive the LDT Companion. And after July 8th, LDT
Companion will only be available as a download from the
Subscription web site. So what I am trying to say is that it will
not be shipped in the box with Civil 3D after July
8th!
Oh, one more thing, after July 8th, subscription will no
longer be available for Land Desktop.
However, as we say goodbye to Land Desktop, we are saying
hello to a new product called Civil. It has half the fat and a
third less calories as regular Civil 3D.
Civil 2009 will have all of the civil functionality as Civil
3D, but will not have any of the Map functionality or include the
Hydraflow Extensions. Civil 2009 will also
not include the Land Desktop Companion.
The new Civil product will have a lower list price and is
destined to be a more affordable solution for technicians and
drafters that don't require the Map tools or a need to run and
any hydrology or hydraulic analysis.
How's that for news involving the Civil industry? Personally,
I'm all for it and it's time overdue. You disagree? Everyone is
allowed their own opinion, but before you disagree too hard and
too long, you may want to consider the following:
Hasn't Autodesk given us the functionality that we've been
asking for, for so many years? Darn right they have. It is pretty
hard for me to feel your pain when Autodesk listened and then
delivered what we asked for, and then many out there whined because
things changed. Well my friend's, technology is constantly
changing and you can either get on board and enjoy the ride, or
sit on the sidelines.
Isn't the functionality in LDT (an automated manual process)
now found in Civil 3D (dynamic modeling)? As far as I can
tell, it is all in there and way more.
Isn't Civil 3D just as stable as LDT. Absolutely! I can still
crash any release of LDT. I will admit that it does take more
"horsepower" to run and efficiently use Civil 3D, but since you
are keeping you hardware current that isn't a problem...
right?
Check the source of any negative feedback concerning Civil
3D. If the person you are talking to has nothing good to say
about Civil 3D, ask them to explain why so many have implemented
Civil 3D and are successfully using it. Ask them what release
they are talking about (yes, an earlier release or two may have
been slightly unstable). Ask them if they've had Civil 3D
training... of any kind. My guess is that you will be able to
eliminate them as any kind of source on C3D.
Finally, Civil 3D is just...well, Way Cool!
Ok, time for me to step off the soap box and get back into
Civil 3D.
Matt Winger, one of IMAGINiT's Map/GIS specialists and regular
contributor to the blog, brings you this helpful little AutoCAD
tip.
Have you upgraded to AutoCAD 2009 product and all the sudden
have problems with your menus?
The problem is when you upgraded there's a little popup box
that says it found and existing installation of a previous
AutoCAD install. Would you like to migrate your settings from the
old version?
Any person automatically says OK.
The only problem is you will find out that your menus are
having very bad problems.
Either you will be missing the pull down menus or most of your
toolbars will be corrupt. You may also be getting various errors
of not loading .arx files.
The only safe way to make sure this doesn't come back to haunt
you in the future is to fully uninstall AutoCAD and
re-install.
If you want to try the "quick way", here it is.
The disclaimer- If you are not comfortable with editing the registry, backup your registry before you edit it.
Well it's almost the end of the day on this the Friday before
the big Memorial Day weekend, and I have just enough time for
something simple... so here goes.
If you haven't yet installed
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009, or perhaps you just haven't noticed it yet, the
AutoCAD® 2009 Status Bar has a new look. The buttons that use to display
the text SNAP, GRID, ORTHO, etc. have been replaced with the
following icons.
Now don't worry, if you're not quite ready for that much
change all at once, you can easily and quickly change it back to
the previous display. Simply right click on any of the buttons
and pick "Use Icons" to un-check the option.
That's it! Now feel all of those negative vibes just flow
away.
See, I told you it was going to be something simple. Now go
out and have great weekend.
If you've visited this Blog within the past couple of weeks,
you may have noticed that I've been a little lax with the
content. I have an excuse... honest. I've been basking in sun
getting my tan on. Below is a clue to my super secret hiding
spot. If you look real close, that is me lounging by the pool.
I'm even waving.
Ok, enough of the silliness, let's get down to the matter at
hand...
For all of you
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008 users that would like to have
a library of default assemblies, the wait is over.
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009 comes to us with the ability to create a library of typical
assemblies that can be added to a Tool Palette for easy
access.
The process couldn't be any easier. Once you've created the
assembly according to your design, simply left click on the
vertical line of the assembly marker to select or highlight it.
Once selected, click on it again and drag it onto a Tool Palette
and save the drawing. After that, all you have to do is
drag-and-drop it from the palette into a new drawing and apply it
to your corridor model.
If you ask me... it couldn't get any easier that that.
Would you like another clue to my hiding spot? Since you all
have been so kind... it is where
Don Crispin Tequila is made. Hard to believe that you'd find me in the vicinity
of good tequila... what can I say.
Today we have another helpful little tidbit from
Matt Winger who resides in the land of the Green Bay
Packers. He is one of IMAGINiT's Map/GIS consultants and is
located in IMAGINiT's Appleton, WI office. Matt tells us how to
display the "Status Bar" in
AutoCAD® Land Desktop 2008.
Yes, I know... this is a Land Desktop topic. Even though
AutoCAD ® Civil 3D® is being adopted by more and more
of you every day, Land Desktop is still the same old work horse
for all of those other folks out there that have to get their
work done and out the door.
Have you wanted to enable the "Status bar" in
AutoCAD® Land Desktop 2008? This bar gives you the
ability to drape raster images and mapping objects over a DEM
file. A DEM file is a surface file that AutoCAD Map uses to view
raster files and map objects in 3D.
Out-of-the-box Land does not have the AutoCAD Map Status Bar
Enabled.
This bar also contains the View Scale which gives you what
Zoom Scale you are at.
The way to enable this Status Bar:
1. Exit Autodesk Map 3D.
2. Open the Windows Registry Editor.
(Next you'll find the warning that must be posted so we don't
get intro trouble)
Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows
registry could render your computer operating system unusable.
Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need
to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk
and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat
and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base and in the related Autodesk solution,
http://support.autodesk.com/getdoc.asp?id=TS66513. Additional
information about the registry is also contained in the Help
topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.
(Well, I just have to put a disclaimer in this.)
3. Go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R17.1\ACAD-6008:409\Applications\AcMap
for Land Desktop 2008.
Note:
...\ACAD-6018:409\Applications\AcMap is for Land Enabled
Map 2008.
4. Double click on
Statusbar on the right and change the value from 0 to
1.
5. Exit the Windows Registry Editor and launch Land
Enabled Map.
6. Look down in the very bottom right corner of the
program and you should find a down arrow button. Click on that
down arrow and choose "
Drawing Status Bar"
This tip comes from
Dan Jiskoot in IMAGINiT's Orlando, FL office. It takes one
of my earlier posts, the
-ScaleListEdit command used to clean up the list of
drawing scales, one step further by running it when you open the
drawing. A time saving tool is always appreciated.
The steps to create this routine and run it are very simple.
Simple enough that even an inept code genius like me can make and
use it.
Below are the steps Dan followed to generate the routine and
then run it.
I then saved the file to my hard drive (or substitute a
network drive to share with others), and within Civil 3d (or any
Autocad platform) type
APPLOAD hit enter, go to your
Startup Suite (lower right), select
Contents (as shown below):
And add the lisp routine you just created to your
Startup Suite (see the following image) and your done.
(Note: you will need to close and reopen this drawing (just this
once) for the effects to take hold)
This way each time you open up a drawing it runs the lisp
routine and it cleans out your drawing scale list for you
automatically.
-Dan
Nice tip Dan!
Next time... a Land Desktop 2008 tip that shows you how to
enabling the AutoCAD Map drawing status bar in AutoCAD Land
Desktop.
Today's topic is brought to you by Matt Winger, one of
IMAGINiT's Map/GIS consultants. Matt is located in IMAGINiT's
Appleton, WI office.
Does this sound familiar... you have a drawing where
Map > Image > Insert was used to insert a number of
images which was then Xref'd into a new drawing? In the new
drawing do you have to then reload the images immediately after
opening the drawing? You may have even used Map Query to resolve
your image problem only to find that the queried images do not
show up when Xref'd. So, are you looking for a better way to work
with and manage your project images in multiple drawing
files?
Well, there is a better way and if you've tried using Map >
Query you were on the right track. You just have to take a few
additional steps to display the images in multiple drawing files
and at the same time experience some of the power in
AutoCAD® Map 3D® 2008.
Here is a way around the Xref and Query dilemma...
First, in the Map Work Space Taskpane (
MAPWSPACE), right click on the
Data option and pick
Connect to Data...
In the second Data Connect window,
1.) Select all of the images to be queried,
2.) Click the "
Combine into one layer" (enter a unique layer if so
inclined), and
3.) Select "
Add to Map".
When finished, close the Data Connect window. In the Task
Pane, right click on the new layer and pick
Save Layer. Save it to a location of your choosing such as
the project folder.
...and that's it. Your images will be displayed in the new
drawing or drawings and you won't have to reload them.
If you use Map > Image > Insert to bring in your images,
you will probably get to about 4 images before running into
noticeable performance and memory issues. A preferred method is
to use Map Query to display your images... even for one image.
Performance is better... you don't have to reload the images...
and the power of map lets you turn the images off like a layer.
And for all of you
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008 users, you already have Map
3D, so you might as well use it vs. just figuring out how to shut
it down.
So you're well on your way to creating cross sections and
calculating volumes for your AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008
corridor model. The horizontal and vertical alignments are
complete and you've created an assembly that reflects the
projects typical section. However, you've notice a few unusual
things. Alright, let's take a look at simple design.
In this design we have an urban design and the assembly
(typical section) is shown below.
The above assembly was created using the following
subassemblies:
LandOutsideSuper,
UrbanCurbGutterGeneral,
UrbanSidewalk, and the
DaylightStandard. I know... an urban section with a ditch.
So you think that's just a little bizarre. How about putting a
storm sewer flared end section half way up the slope of a pond.
Good thing I own stock in Rip Rap.
With the above assembly, the corridor model is generated and
the TOP and DATUM surfaces created. after reviewing the cross
sections, it is obvious that the DATUM in the cross sections is
not correct.
This is easily corrected within the Corridor Properties. Go to
the Surfaces (tab) then to the
Overhang Correction column and change
None to
Bottom Links. This was a new feature added to Civil 3D
2008 to alleviate just this sort of issue.
After we "rebuild" the corridor, the DATUM in the cross
section views now follows the bottom of the assembly and
continues straight up from the Subbase Extension as shown in the
image below.
This is certainly an improvement and if you are not concerned
about the area behind the back of curb then you are all set.
However, in this example we are concerned because it is a bid
item in our project and we need to generate a quantity for the
fill material directly behind the curb.
This is where the
ShapeTrapezoidal subassembly can come in very handy. When reviewing the Civil
3D Help information, we can see that the ShapeTrapezoidal
subassembly is incredibly flexible.
Since we have a couple of modifications to make to our
Assembly, we will first start out by removing the day-lighting
and sidewalk subassemblies. With the day-lighting and sidewalk
subassemblies out of the way, we can add the ShapeTrapezoidal
subassembly to both the left
and right sides of our assembly after adjusting a number of its
values.
For the width, set the Width of the ShapeTrapezoidal to
1.01' which is
0.01' beyond the one foot subbase extension (I have a
thing about vertical faces when it comes to surfaces... I try to
avoid them). The Default Cross Slope will be set to +
2.00% to match our positive boulevard grade. The Inside
Depth will be set to
1.08' to reflect the thirteen inch distance from the top
of the back of curb to the top of the subbase extension. The
Outside Depth will be set to
1.12' to accommodate the difference between the inside and
outside depths due to the slope. For the Top Link Code, a value
of
TOP will entered for the corridor TOP surface. Finally, a
Shape Code name of
CommonBorrow will be used to calculate a quantity for our
design. The remaining Parameters can retain their default
values.
With all of the settings adjusted, add the subassembly to the
UrbanCurbGutterGeneral subassembly, and then add the sidewalk and
day-lighting subassemblies back into the assembly as shown.
Note: If you ZOOM in on the new shape, at the bottom back of
curb you will notice a "sliver" of a gap, and at the outer edge
of the subbase extension you should have a slight overlap. The
"gap" and the "overlap" areas should, for the most part, cancel
each other out or at least be at a point where the volume of
material remaining is negligible.
With the cross sections showing the new shape, a quantity can
now be generated via the Quantity Takeoff Criteria as shown
below.
Lately I've been hearing concerns about using Plan
Production to generate sheets or even manually creating sheets in
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008 SP2. Concerns such as; my
boss won't like how
Civil 3D creates the sheets or my boss won't like the look
overall. I also get questions like... can I make my data look
like this? Well, you can make it look anyway you want; however,
to do it might take having to EXPLODE some of your data, and in
Civil 3D that is a kind of a dirty word.
So, my latest quest has been to create a project that I would
ultimately PUBLISH... in theory. My plan is to make this project
as complete as I can so that hopefully, I run into every possible
issue that you might run into.
Well the first issue that I needed to solve, and rather
quickly, was the result of INSERTing or XREFing other drawing
files into a new drawing. Now the act of inserting and/or Xrefing
wasn't the issue but the root of it. The real issue was the
effect those processes had on the list of scales in my new
drawing. You know the list that is displayed after selecting the
Annotation Scale option along the bottom of the drawing area.
All I can say is that the list magically grew, and not in a
good way.
Look familiar?
At first I was scrolling down to the bottom and selecting
CUSTOM to reset the list.
However, I quickly tired of this and started typing "
-SCALELISTEDIT" and resetting the list manually. Now I
don't have a problem typing in the commands as long as they are a
few characters long, but any more than that and we have a
problem.
So I decided to put my customization skills (if that's what
you can call it) to work and came up with a very simple ToolBar
button to do all of the work for me.
To do this, I went into the Customize User Interface and
created a new button using the following Macro:
I created a simple custom Button Image, added it next to my
-PURGE button (the skull and crossbones), and I now have a very
simple and very quick way to RESET that ever expanding scale
list.
As for the progress on my theoretical project... look for more
on that in the future.
Well the release of the 2009 products is coming up on us fast,
and it looks… well pretty darn exciting. I have heard
nothing but good news about
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2009. Some of the news that I've
heard includes comments regarding improved performance, others
mention new and cool functionality.
The most exciting news that I've heard is that Civil 3D 2009
is expected to be a true replacement of Land Desktop. What does
that mean? It means that all of the functionality and features
currently found in Land Desktop are now in Civil 3D 2009.
Flowing is a brief list of new features that were focused on
in Civil 3D 2009.
Starting with
Surveying, because it all starts here with a good data,
the goal was efficiency. One of the key enhancements is the
ability to model very large surfaces.
Other features on the surveying side include:
Large Surface Model Support
The ability to applying a Surface Data Clip
Modeling Catchment Areas
Running a Map Check on the fly to quickly verify platted bearing and distance information via:
Improved equipment communication using Survey Link and Land XML to easily convert coordinate or raw data into FBK or ASCII files for direct import into AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009.
Improved error reporting, clean up, and coordinate translations for more accurate base plans creation.
Increased survey accuracy including Error Reporting, Data Coordinate Translation, and when create and editing Figures
Next are new tools to automate your Design Tasks. These tools
include…
New Hydrology & Hydraulics tools that quickly design and analyze your storm water system using easy to use in-the-box extensions for:
Storm Sewer Design & Analysis
Watershed Analysis & Detention Pond Design
Hydraulic Calculators
Corridor Modeling enhancements with improved usability and flexibility for:
Corridor Targets
Assembly Creation
View/Edit Corridor Section
Add Subassemblies to Library
Feature Lines enhancements allow you to solve more complex designs while maintaining dynamic efficient relationships as the design changes. Enhancements include:
Improved usability and flexibility
Dynamic Linking for Alignments & Profiles and Corridors
Feature Line Priority
Feature Line Naming & Management
Efficient and intuitive feature line editing tools.
Grading improvements allow you to quickly investigate several grading scenarios by combining multiple grading elements using enhanced...
Grading Intersection Cleanup utility for grading projects
Grading Group Surface creation
Surface Operation Ordering
Criteria based road design utilizing:
User Defined Criteria
AASHTO Design Criteria including Superelevation Attainment Methods & Tables and Passing, Stopping, Headlight Distance
Alignment / Profile Layout tools including:
Alignment creation form Survey figures
Best Fit for both alignments & profiles
New Spiral Methods
Next are tools to streamline Documentation including:
Label and table support in Xrefs
Referencing design elements
Reduced model edits
Mass Haul Diagrams for moving excavated and borrow material providing real time assessment of design viability while minimizing project costs. So what's new?
The Mass Haul is wizard based
Free Haul vs. Overhaul
Dump Sites & Borrow Pits
Stacked Profiles to quickly create wizard based multi-line profiles and enhanced profile display options.
Section View Production using wizard based tools to create and modify section views including swath width, section view properties and volume tables.
Finally, improvements made to Data Management (Data Shortcuts and Vault) as shown in the following table:
So, if you've been waiting for just this day to come, then your wait is over. If you've been just plain waiting and hanging onto some worn out excuses... you should re-consider because the
writing is on the wall.
This little tip comes from Dan, a good friend of mine who
chooses to be anonymous… well except for his first
name.
Dan's tip is for those of you using Google Earth to import
images (
File > Import > Import Google Earth Image) into
Autodesk® Civil 3D® 2008 and getting the nice
black-and-white images when you would like to have the really
cool color images you see in Google Earth. Well all you have to
do is add a few simple steps to your importing process.
Start in Google Earth, go to
File > Save > Save Image. Save the image to a
location of your choosing.
Once you've saved the image, you can easily insert the image
into your drawing. When you insert the image into
Civil 3D, pick the insertion point and then scaling it to the
size of the imported black-and-white image.
Thanks Dan!
This process does work in the free version of Google Earth,
but remember, with the free version you get… what you get.
If you desire higher resolution imagery, go for the
Google Earth
Pro version. It is a very small price to pay for higher
quality imagery and
Civil 3D 2008 surfaces.
Randy Froehling and I (both of us are in IMAGINiT's
Minneapolis office) were recently asked if an Autodesk® Civil
3D® 2008 surface could be exported into Autodesk® Revit
Architecture® 2008. Hmmm. very good question, a question that
required just a little research (thanks Adam) before we were able
to answer it. And the answer is yes it can be done and it is
easy; however, there is a somewhat of a twist (literally) to the
process that is found out there on the Internet.
So what type of data do you need from Civil 3D since surfaces
created in C3D do not translate in Revit Architecture? The key is
to export a DWG file with exported contours created in Civil 3D
as AutoCAD polylines at their true elevations. Then in Revit, you
would then import this DWG file as a base for creating a
toposurface.
So how do you do all of this? If you follow the steps below,
you should be successful.
To Export the Dwg file from Civil 3D 2008 SP2 1. In Civil 3D, open the DWG file with the surface.
2. Create and assign a style the displays the surface
contours in the 3D View.
4. Click the
Toposurface button.
5. Click the
Use Imported button, then the
Import Instance option.
6. Select the imported ACAD-dwg element from the drawing
area.
7. Clear the layers that do not contain elevation lines.
8. Click
Ok for Revit Building to
Regenerate the data.
9. On the
Design Bar, click
Finish Surface.
As of today (Monday, January 14th) two new Hydraflow
extensions are available on the
Autodesk Subscription Center . The Hydraflow Hydrographs and the Hydraflow Express
extensions for AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008 SP2 software can
now be downloaded. These two extension combined with the
Hydraflow Storm Sewer extension add a large volume of storm water
hydraulics and hydrology functionality to C3D.
The
Hydraflow Hydrographs Extension adds watershed analysis
and detention pond design functionality for simple sites to those
having complex watersheds with interconnected ponds.
The
Hydraflow Express Extension adds powerful hydraulics and
hydrology calculators for solving problems involving culverts,
channels, inlets, hydrology, and weirs.
Detailed information about the Hydraflow Storm Sewers
extension and a white paper, "Using Hydraflow Storm Sewers
Extension with AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008: A Recommended Workflow" are
available at the
Stormwater Design & Analysis website.
Information about Hydraflow Hydrographs and Hydraflow Express
Extensions will be available at the same
website starting January 25.
To download these extensions you
must be an AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 subscription customer. Also,
both are available in English only.
Later this week... another subassembly? The question is which
one... hmmm
From my and the IMAGINiT family to your family… here is
wishing all of you the best during this holiday season.
As you can see, our holidays started out at Disney on one of
Orlando's abnormal cool brisk 40 degree days (4 degrees C). Good
thing that prior to our trip, Minnesota treated us to a number of
days in the single digit temps. Personally, I thought the cool
Florida temps were quite comfortable (note the sandals). So now
you know the real reason why I've been neglecting my blog duties.
Listen, it wasn't all fun. I was there checking out the
structural integrity of the TOONTOWN sign for any significant
deficiencies… honest.
And from me a personal thanks to all of you that take a few
moments out of your busy day to visit the IMAGINiT Civil Solutions
Blog… THANK YOU, and see you in 2008!
That's right, as of today, the Hydraflow Storm Sewers
Extension should be available for you to download and install
from Autodesk's Subscription website.
Here is the scoop… Autodesk recently acquired
Intelisolve. Intelisolve provided hydraulics and hydrology
design and analysis software for civil engineering.
The acquisition included the following three applications that
will eventually be available to AutoCAD® Civil 3D®
subscribers and users:
Hydraflow Storm Sewers Extension for
storm sewer analysis and design
Hydraflow Hydrographs Extension for
pond design
Hydraflow Express Extension for
culvert, channel, and inlet analysis
Currently only the Hydraflow Storm Sewers Extension is
available while the availability of the others being scheduled in
the future or in a future release of Civil 3D. The Hydraflow
Storm Sewers Extension is installed as a separate product and is
started by using the following Desktop Shortcut…
When you open Hydraflow Storm Sewers and import a Civil 3D
pipe network XML file, you will see the following…
A new
Autodesk website has also been launched that will have details on the new
extension functionality as well as any news for future extensions
and/or Hydraflow products.
Please note: that the Hydraflow Storm Sewers Extension will be
available in English only and available to AutoCAD Civil 3D
subscription customers only.
So for all of you Civil 3D users on subscription who have been
waiting for this new and exciting tool… the wait is over!
Therefore, wander on over to the subscription site…
download and install this new extension for a way cool time in
the world of storm sewer pipe sizing.
Before I get started on the next Subassembly in my series of
Assemblies and Subassemblies, I would like to remind all of you
in the Minneapolis - St. Paul Minnesota, and surrounding area,
that the first Minneapolis AutoCAD Civil 3D User Group Meeting
featuring Jerry Bartels from Autodesk will be held on Wednesday,
December 12th at 6:00 p.m.
For more information and how to register contact Paul Case at
pcase@rand.com.
Ok, now that I got the "plug" in for the Users Group Meeting,
let's get to the meat-n-potatoes of tonight's topic (yes another
late night in New Hampshire)… using the
MedianDepressed subassembly in Autocad® Civil 3D®
for a 4-Lane divided roadway.
So why or how did I select this particular subassembly? Well,
if you must know my secret scientific process, here it is…
eenie… meenie… Surprised? Now that you know my
approach to the topics that I post… let's get to it.
The first thing that you should remember is that there is no
limit to the number of subassemblies that can be added to an
assembly. With that I mind, the subassembly that we are going to
apply can be found on the "out-of-the-box" Tool Palette tab
called Imperial (Metric) - Roadway, and is named
MedianDepressed.
According to the Help topic; the key to using this subassembly
is establishing a
MarkPoint prior to adding the
MedianDepressed subassembly to the assembly…
huh… what? Don't worry; I too felt my brain go numb on
this concept, not once but twice. Adam at Autodesk told me that
too many years with Land Desktop will do that to you, What can I
say except…thanks Adam.
At this point, what do we know? We know that we have to add a
mark point to the assembly prior to adding the
MedianDepressed subassembly.
What we don't know is how to locate the
MarkPoint in accordance with some kind of design criteria.
What we need is a location that maintains a level of flexibility
allowing us the ability to apply a horizontal and/or vertical
target to the
MarkPoint.
Yes, you guessed it, there is a Generic Subassembly that I
like to use for occasions just like this. It is called the
LinkWidthAndSlope subassembly. It is one in the family of
Generic subassemblies that is available for your use.
As shown in the Help menu, this Generic subassembly has the
flexibility that we are looking for. It allows us to add a
horizontal and/or vertical alignment to control the distance
and/or slope away from the attachment point.
Now what do we know? We know that we have to add the
MarkPoint subassembly prior to using the
MedianDepressed. We also know that we have to add
LinkWidthAndSlope subassembly before we add the
MarkPoint subassembly. Doing this will give us something
to attach the
MarkPoint to.
At this point, you should have noticed that the Generic
LinkWidthAndSlope subassembly includes a link (top &
datum). Know I bet your thinking that once we add the Generic
subassembly we will see that "link" in our section views (it
would be between the attachment point and the
MarkPoint). I can't get anything past you can I? Good
catch; however, don't worry because there is an easy solution for
this. All we have to do is change the
Omit Link value in the
Properties to…
Yes.
Pretty darn cool don't you think?
Ok, now that we know what subassemblies are needed to add the
MedianDepressed, let's step through the process.
First we add the
LinkWidthAndSlope subassembly with the properties adjusted
per the design and the
Omit Link set to
Yes.
Finally, add the
MedianDepressed subassembly and based on the design,
adjust as necessary. Then for the
Marked Point Name, enter in the Point Name TIEPOINT. This
was the name that was entered in for the
MarkPoint in the previous step.
The Assembly when completed might resemble something like
this. In this case, by changing Left and Right and slope values,
I added some additional lanes and shoulders establishing them off
of the
LinkWidthAndSlope subassembly. The
MarkPoint subassembly was added to outside of the right
shoulder subassembly and the
MedianDepressed subassembly was linked to this.
Now you must admit… that is Way (insert colorful
language of your choice here) Cool!
Oh and one more thing. Do you want to know how long it took me
to put this assembly together? Let's put it this way… I
was done before a Land Desktop user got just the driving lanes
drawn on one side of the left two lanes. Noticed how I said drawn
not defined. And that isn't even the best part. My assembly
WORKED… the first time!
Anyways, if you're not yet using Civil 3D, you should at least
be in the process of implementing it. Why wait until you have an
emergency on your hands to make your move to C3D? If you need
help, contact your Autodesk Authorized Reseller. They will have
the expertise you are looking for.
I have two issues that I would like to present to you this
fine brisk day in Minnesota. The first is an invite to the first
ever Minneapolis and St. Paul AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Users
Group meeting. The second is another Blast from the Past (this
goes way back, so much so that I had to re-create the
information).
First things first, the details for the Users Group meeting
submitted to me by Paul Case, IMAGINiT's Branch Manager in the
Minneapolis office…
Have you been looking for an opportunity to network with other
professionals using AutoCAD® Civil 3D in the Minneapolis/St.
Paul area?
IMAGINiT Technologies invites you to join us at the first
AutoCAD Civil 3D User Group Meeting. This user group allows
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® and Autodesk® Land Desktop users
a chance to get together to share knowledge, ask questions, and
collaborate with others to resolve challenges.
Minneapolis AutoCAD Civil 3D User Group Meeting
Who should attend: CAD Managers, Civil Engineers,
Surveyors, Engineering Designers, Production Drafters
Date: Wednesday, December 12th
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Location:
Parkdale Center,
5100 Gamble Drive
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
(attachment contains a
map with an arrow on the top of the building. Google and
Yahoo directions will put you a block away from the Parkdale
Center building. The address is Gamble Drive, but the building is
physically located on Utica Avenue )
Topic: Civil 3D 2008 Overview
During this 90 Minute session, Jerry will provide a
high-level overview of Civil 3D including working with Points,
Surface construction and Alignment & Profile creation. Using
these Objects he will create a quick corridor model, generate
some cross sections and demonstrate Civil 3D's Plan Production
tools. Along the way, Jerry will discuss the many benefits of
using a 3D Object Model when doing design. He will conclude with
a brief Question and Answer session.
Speaker Bio: Jerry is a civil engineering technical specialist for
Autodesk. For more than 17 years, Jerry has worked in all areas
of civil engineering, surveying, and mapping, providing clients
with services in CAD management and implementation, and network
administration. He also has 10+ years of experience teaching
Autodesk products and developing curriculum at Elgin Community
College in Illinois. At Autodesk, Jerry specializes in civil
engineering and mapping solutions, and currently provides
training and support services throughout the country. He has
received two awards from Autodesk for his presentations.
If you would like to register for this event, please email the
attendee name, company, phone #, and email address to
pcase@rand.com by December 10th.
Regards,
Paul Case Branch Manager
Ok, now that I have taken care of the fun stuff, let's take a
look at the second issue and dive into the good stuff. So what is
the good stuff? In this case it happens to be the
Temporary Override Keys (
aka - accelerator keys) found in all AutoCAD based
products. This is something that I posted a while ago, in fact it
was for the 2007 release or was it for 2006? So, let's consider
this a refresher… yes, that's it… a refresher.
So what are these override keys I am talking about, the ones
that are oh so temporary? They are a combination of keys used to
start specific commands such as CTRL+C to copy objects to the
Clipboard or CTRL+3 to display the Tool Palettes window. In this
case we are going to use the SHIFT key combine with another key
to temporarily initiate a specific action such as the Endpoint
Object Snap (Osnap) only while the keys are being depressed.
Here are a few of my three out-of-the-box favorites:
SHIFT+E for the Endpoint Osnap
SHIFT+C for the Center Osnap
SHIFT+M for the Midpoint Osnap
As you can see by the following list, there are more. Another
thing you should notice is that Autodesk has setup some of the
override key combinations to make things easy for both left and
right handed users. I am right handed, but I use the left handed
Midpoint override. Perhaps I am too old school, or perhaps it's
because Midpoint starts with M, and that makes it easier for me
to remember. We all have are own little mental tricks…
right? So what if mine tend to be a little A-B-Normal.
Now that you know that these handy and very efficient tools
are here, how do you modify them to use different key strokes and
to better fit your style. That is a good question, and I am glad
you asked. The answer, my friends, is found in the Customize User
Interface (CUI). As you can see in following image, all of the
Temporary Override Keys can be "tweaked" to suit... you.
How COOL is that?
Ok, now for the big question. should you be using these
Temporary Overrides? I believe that you should, but that is
entirely up to you. However, until you try them out you won't
know for sure.
Hey Doug! All this stuff sounds interesting, but I'm a "
button" person, and if I can't click it… I don't
use it.
Wow, I'm speechless… just kidding. It is true that
Autodesk has created a product that is very easy to apply the
"different strokes for different folks" philosophy, and that is a
good thing. So because of that there is not much I can really say
except, do you "ride" the brakes in your car while driving down
the road? When it comes to efficiency that sounds pretty darn
inefficient to me. In AutoCAD that would be similar to typing END
> enter vs. SHIFT+E for the Endpoint Osnap. I am not saying
that END > enter doesn't work or isn't valid, but which one do
think would be more efficient over time… especially when
its typed time and time again? You be the judge…
There are a lot of new and efficient tools in each release of
AutoCAD and I am always a little disappointed when users disable
or don't even use time efficient tools like Dynamic Input (I
totally dig this feature) or enable inefficient ones such as
MBUTTONPAN… ISH. My apologies if the "MBUTTONPAN…
ISH" comment offended you, but that is how I feel. All I can say
is break out of the stone age and give some of these new features
a real try not a half hearted one. If you do, I guarantee that
you will create your data more accurately and in a more
timely/efficient manor.
Finally, to those sitting down to a big plate of turkey
tomorrow… save me a drumstick.
Today's topic is brought you by the letters "C" and "D" and
the number "3". Actually, this topic comes from a question that I
often get asked during one of
IMAGINiT's
Civil 3D Fundamentals class. The question typically arises
while we are spending some quality time with Assemblies,
Subassemblies and Corridor Models. The question generally goes
like this… "what would you add to the Assembly that could
be used to create stake-out points at a certain offset behind the
back-of-curb"?
My first response is to tell them one thing about Assemblies,
and that is, there is no limit to the number of Subassemblies
that can be added to it. Honest that is what I've been told and
so far so good. Then I continue by informing them that this is
actually a fairly easy task in
Autodesk® Civil 3D® 2008 SP2 once you rid yourself of
that Land Desktop mentality.
Here is how you do it…
Below we have a simple Assembly.
Our simple Assembly is composed of the following
Subassemblies:
LaneOutsideSuper UrbanCurbGutterGeneral ShapeTrapezoidal (to account for the fill material behind
the BOC)
UrbanSidewalk DaylightStandard
What we are lacking is one final Subassembly, the one that
will generate a point object when we run the
Corridors > Utilities > Create COGO Points from
Corridor. The Subassembly that I typically use is the
LinkWidthAndSlope which can be found on the out-of-the-box
Tool Palettes > Imperial - Generic tab.
Ok, here is what we know, the surveyor has informed us that a
Cogo point generated at a 3 foot offset behind the back-of-curb
would be fantastic. Once the data has been created, the survey
crew can upload the points into the data collector and stake-out
the design.
Now that we know what the Survey Crew needs, we start by
selecting the subassembly indicated above from the Tool Palettes
> Imperial - Generic tab, when the AutoCAD Properties dialogue
box is displayed we change the
Width to
3, the
Slope to "
0", enter a unique name for the
Point Codes option, and select
Yes for the
Omit Link.
The Subassembly is then placed on the left and right sides so
that the required data can be created. The new template looks
very similar to the original except that it now has a mark point
behind the back-of-curb as shown.
Now all we have to do is rebuild the Corridor, run the
Corridors > Utilities > Create COGO Points from
Corridor command, select the appropriate Point Codes (a Clear
All would be nice here, perhaps in a future release), and pick
OK. The result is Cogo point objects created at each
corridor section 3 feet behind the back-of-curb (the dark blue
line).
So what do you think? Pretty easy… huh? Just think of
the possibilities. The biggest challenge was stepping away from
the Land Desktop mentality that we have all come to know and
love.
My plan is to explore more of the Subassembly world in the
future along with efficient
Autodesk® AutoCAD® 2008 tools and more
Autodesk® Civil 3D® 2008 functionality scattered in
between… so stay tuned.
Are you using GRIP's when using your AutoCAD? Are you really?
Are you really harnessing the power of GRIP's in your
Autodesk® AutoCAD® or any
AutoCAD based product?
If you are, then way COOL!
If not, then here is a quick little AutoCAD lesson. I am sure
that all you out there know how to select an entity and make a
grip
HOT.
Excellent!
Ok… now make two grips
HOT. Did I stump you on this one?
This is very simple, but unless you've had someone show you
this, you may not know that it could be done. So how do you make
more than one grip hot at a time? The key is to hold down the
SHIFT key on the keyboard when selecting grips.
Told you it was simple.
Ok, so now that we know how to select the grips on an object
lets go one step farther and perform certain operations to
stretch, move, etc. our grip selected objects. You should have
noticed that when you select a grip or grips and make it or them
"hot" the
Command Line indicates that you can now stretch the
object. That is pretty cool, but what if you didn't want to
stretch the object you wanted to rotate it instead. Again this is
very easy; just hit the
Space Bar two times to cycle through the MOVE command to
the ROTATE command. Once there, you have your standard ROTATE
Base point/Copy/Undo/Reference/Exit options to choose from.
You have to admit that that is pretty darn cool.
To explore the power of grips even farther, continue hitting
the Space Bar to cycle through of the commands that can be
accessed via grip selection. As shown, you can cycle through five
common AutoCAD commands just by selecting and using GRIP's
(STRETCH/MOVE/ROTATE/SCALE/MIRROR).
I do realize that this is a vanilla AutoCAD feature and I am a
Civil kind of guy, but what can I say? Sometimes it is the simple
things that provide us with the most flexibility and allows us to
harness a lot of gosh darn power in our every day routine.
Besides, I am addicted to these grips and their pretty colors and
would be lost without them. Sort of like the Freeze and Isolate
commands on the
Layers II toolbar (old Express Layer Tools).
So the next time you're manipulating objects in your AutoCAD
or AutoCAD based product, get a GRIP and feel the power!
Good news everyone! Carlson Software recently released
Carlson
Connect for
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008, AutoCAD® Civil 3D®
Land Desktop Companion 2008 and AutoCAD® Land Desktop 2008.
So, if you are looking for a way to download your data collector
directly into
Civil 3D or Land Desktop the
Carlson
Connect add-on may just be what you need. Best of all, it is
FREE!
Well it's finally Friday and it is time to party… YA
HOO! Just kidding because it's not quitting time yet (or is it),
but it is a day of great importance. Why you ask? Well,
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008 Service Pack 2 was recently
release (as far as I can tell it was released late yesterday) for
you to download and install.
Ok, so why should you install
Service Pack 2? My guess is that Autodesk wanted to make a
great product even greater by fixing those issues that many of
you are running into on a daily basis. So in other words…
they did it for all you. Isn't that reason enough?
Alright, so what was fixed? All I can say is that there was a
plethora of issues resolved, ranging across the entire spectrum
of functionality found in
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008. I sounded pretty darned
impressive there didn't I (gosh…I hope I used all of those
big words correctly)?
Issues fixed involved: Labels & Tables, Points, Surfaces,
Alignments & profiles, Subassemblies, corridors &
sections, Grading, Parcels, Pipes, Plan production, Vault, and a
host of general issues...
So, if you want to take care of some of those pesky little
nuances; download and install
C3D SP2.
For a complete list of resolved issues and directions for
applying
Service Pack 2 to your C3D2008 install, refer to the readme
file.
Oh, and one more thing…
For all you out wanting and trying to use Civil 3D 2008 to
download survey data… GOOD NEWS!
AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2008 Survey Link is available as a
downloadable extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 software
customers on Autodesk Subscription. The extension requires
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 Service Pack 2 and is available for all
AutoCAD Civil 3D subscribers.
What does Survey Link do? It allows raw survey data to be
converted into an Autodesk field book file and then imported into
Civil 3D 2008. Again, you have to be on Subscription to get
this.
You may ask your self, "should I download and install this
important update now or shelve it"?
DO IT NOW! This may seem like the obvious answer, but I am
always surprised by the number of firms that pay for and receive
new software updates that they never install? Isn't that like
buying a new car and not driving it… ever! Is it just me,
or do the rest of you find that thought process a little
confusing?
Now that I am done speaking my mind, I would like to make one
final suggestion; check out the Readme file for a list of
resolved issues and directions for applying Service Pack 2 to
your
Land Desktop Companion 2008 or
Land Desktop 2008 install.
Every once in a while I jump up upon my "soapbox" and spew
forth my thoughts. So please take my comments for what they are
worth.
Ever have problems, when using
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 SP1, with a legal description or other
XML report not presenting your information in the correct units?
It doesn't matter whether or not your styles are set, or the
drawing defaults are set the way you want.
Jason Amundsen (aka - Data Dog) of IMAGINiT's Minneapolis
Minnesota office, tells us how and where to make the changes to
adjust the units for a parcels legal description.
Below are two legal descriptions of the exact same parcel
generated from the Toolbox Reports Manger in
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 SP1 using the
General_Legal_Description_for_Parcels report.
When you run the report to generate the legal description from
an "out-of-the-box" install of
Civil 3D 2008 SP1, the units for the distance component are
displayed in meters as shown below.
LEGAL DESCRIPTION OF: Oak heights From the Point of Beginning
at a location of N -72.978 E 223.537. Thence, N 00° 00' 00.0"
E for a distance of 152.4000 meters to a point on a line. Thence,
N 90° 00' 00.0" E for a distance of 152.4000 meters to a
point on a line. Thence, S 00° 00' 00.0" W for a distance of
152.4000 meters to a point on a line. thence N 90° 00' 00.0"
W a distance of 152.4000 meters to the POINT OF BEGINNING;
Containing 250000.00 square feet
However, you want the legal description to be in feet, but no
matter what style you tweak or Drawing/Feature/Command setting
you adjust, you keep getting meters.
Well have no fear, Data Dog is here.
Data Dog says…You will need to modify the settings in
your Autodesk LandXML Reporting 7 which can be found by going to
Start > All Programs > Autodesk > AutoCAD Civil 3D
2008 > Autodesk LandXML Reporting 7 (unless you have added
this as a shortcut to your desktop).
Then you will need to set the Autodesk LandXML reporting
Legal Descriptions > Report Units to
foot on the settings tab.
Now when you run the same Toolbox report, the legal
description will be in feet as shown.
LEGAL DESCRIPTION OF: Oak heights From the POINT OF BEGINNING;
Thence, N 00° 00' 00.0" E for a distance of 500.0000 feet to
a point on a line. Thence, N 90° 00' 00.0" E for a distance
of 500.0000 feet to a point on a line. Thence, S 00° 00'
00.0" W for a distance of 500.0000 feet to a point on a line.
Thence N 90° 00' 00.0" W a distance of 500.0000 feet to the
POINT OF BEGINNING; Containing 250000.00 square feet
LIDAR (
LIght
Detection
And
Ranging) Data used to create accurate DEMs (digital
elevation models) is finding itself in the hands of more and more
users. The one thing about these files is that they tend to
contain a large amount of point data. How large you ask? Typical
LIDAR Data files can contain in excess of 1,000,000 points.
So how does one best utilize all of this data?
Chris Gountanis out of
IMAGINiT's
Appleton, Wisconsin office shows you a way to use
AutoCAD Map 3D 2008 or
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 to work with
LIDAR Data by using Map functionality to query this
information into a drawing. Once this data is available in the
drawing, it can now be incorporated into a GIS project or using
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 used to create a DEM surface and/or a
GEOTIFF file.
Thanks Chris for this way cool process of utilizing
LIDAR Data in Map/GIS and Civil projects. And to everyone out
there…
Last week I was teaching a Civil 3D class and a couple of
students asked me if AutoCAD Civil 3D can place a volume label indicating Cuts
& Fills at each station vs. one large table. First I
went… Hmm? Then my next thought was "not in this release".
However, after a brief consultation with… I'll call him
Steve M… the answer is an astounding YES!
What you actually add to the section is a table vs. a label.
The key is that you have to "Compute Materials" under the
Sections menu prior to adding the volume tables to the sections.
Once you run the Compute Materials, you can create multiple
section views…
There are two things of importance within the Create Multiple
Section Views window. First, notice the Computed Materials
displayed in the Name column in the Select sections to draw
window. You know the names adjacent to those cute little dump
trucks.
Second, and most import, is the Add volume table check
box… check it and pick OK. After graphically picking a
section view origin, the Section View Ancillary Data window will
be displayed where in the Volume Tables tab you establish the
table type and style to be added to the List of volume tables.
After adjusting the view and table anchor… pick OK. A
table indicating the Cut & Fill per station is placed at each
station. How cool is that?
One little note… I tried numerous times to adjust the X
& Y offset to place the table away from the section. All I
can say is that I did not have any luck doing this in Civil 3D
2008 SP1. No worries, the tables can be grip edited for location.
Very simple don't you think?
So, thanks to Steve for the heads up or perhaps it was a
reminder. I hate to say this but there are times when I have a
hard time remembering what I did a week ago…
I was just reminded by one of IMAGINiT's Map 3D Guru's that
Service Pack 1 for Map 3D 2008 is available for you to download and then of
course install. So for all of you Map / GIS experts, if you haven't
yet heard about
SP1… well you have now.
Take a look at the Readme file for a list of resolved issues
and general updates (it is a healthy one), and directions for
applying
Service Pack 1 to your Map 3D 2008 install.
My apologies for the delay, but according to my 5 year old
daughter, the world doesn't revolve around yours truly. Just take
a guess at who it does revolve around (I wouldn't have it any
other way). I bet that sounds very familiar to a lot of you out
there. ;^)
I was teaching a class this past week down in Charlotte, North
Carolina. This is the first time that I have been to Charlotte,
and all I can say is what a nice City and everyone was equally
nice. During the three days that I was down there, someone in the
class asked if there was a way to generate grid tics like we
could in Land Desktop… or at least something similar.
The answer is
YES… it can be done. It is also very easy.
Now I know this topic has been discussed elsewhere because I
found a post or two on the Autodesk discussion groups and if I
look a little harder I bet I could find it in someone's blog.
That's ok… reminders never hurt. So as long as there are
no objections (at least while I write this), I will step you
through my process for creating "Grid Tics" on a volume
surface.
First you will need to generate either a Grid Volume Surface
or a Tin Volume Surface. In this example and as shown below, I
created a Grid Volume Surface.
Once the surface has been built, assign a style that has the "
Gridded"
Component Type...
Visible and the
Primary Grid and
Secondary GridIntervals set accordingly in the
Grid tab.
Displaying the grid is not absolutely necessary, but it does
help you establish the starting or base point for the points that
are created in next step.
This is where displaying the "
Gridded"
Component Type comes in very handy. Go to
Points > Create Points - Surface > On Grid, or
Points > Create Points to display the
Create Points toolbar and select the option shown
(actually both options will display the toolbar).
You will then proceed through a number of prompts; the first
asks you to
Select a surface object, graphically pick the Grid Volume
Surface previously created. Next will be a prompt to
Specify a grid basepoint, pick the lower left most point
on the Gridded Component Type. Your next three prompts will be
for the
Grid rotation,
Grid X spacing and
Grid Y spacing. In this example I left the rotation at (0)
(which was default) and set the X and Y spacing to 10. The second
to the last prompt asks you to
Specify the upper right location for the grid. I picked up
and to the right of the surface to make sure that points were
placed along the entire grid. Finally, you are asked if you what
to
Change the size or rotation of the grid/grid
squares… my initial values were OK so I answer
No.
The resulting point marker and label placement are shown
below. Looks familiar doesn't it. In fact it almost looks as if I
am in Land Desktop, but as you can tell (notice the grading group
diamonds), I am in AutoCAD Civil 3D... a far superior product.
Before creating all of those points, I suggest that you make
yourself a point style that places a maker of your liking and a
point label style that places only the elevation. Unless of
course you like having labels... on top of labels... on top of
labels.
For this little how to, I reached back into the past and
resurrected this from the Civil 3D 2006 archives. So what are we
going to look at this time… glad you asked?
This
IMAGINiT White Paper shows you a way to create a Right-of-Way label for your
cross section views in Civil 3D 2008. The best part is that all I
had to do was updated it for 2008 … yup, and I have some
fine real estate for you in that low spot over yonder (that's
right I basically I re-wrote it).
The following is provided to you by Jerry Stone from
IMAGINiT's Kingsford, MI office.
This came up in a training class I gave last week. One of the
students wanted to be able to import points that were shot along
a centerline and then create a profile from them without creating
a surface. Well, it can be done in Civil 3D 2008 (2007 also).
Import the points. For this scenario you would probably
import an ASCII test file. Note the minimum and maximum
elevations for later use.
Create an alignment along the points. You do not have to
pick each point, just layout the alignment or draw a polyline and
convert it to an alignment.
Follow these steps to create the profile view.
From the Profile pull down menu select
Create Profile View.
In the
General tab:
Select your alignment
Enter a Profile View Name
Select a Profile View Style
In the
Profile View Height tab:
Select User Specified
Enter a Minimum and Maximum Elevation (you noted these
earlier)
In the Data Bands tab: Select a Data Band Set
Pick the
Create Profile View button. Pick the origin in the
drawing.
Follow these steps to create the profile.
Be sure the
Transparent Commands toolbar is displayed.
From the Profiles pull down menu select
Create Profile by Layout.
Pick the profile view you just created.
Enter a Name.
Select a Profile View Style.
Select a Label Set.
Pick OK.
From the Profile Layout Tools pick
Draw Tangents without curves. From the
Transparent Commands pick
Profile Station and Elevation from COGO Point.
Pick the profile view again.
Now, pick on the COGO points in order. I went from
downstation to upstation.
As you pick on the points your profile will be drawn in the
profile view.
When you pick the last point, ESC. and ENTER or ENTER ENTER to
finish.
As I type this, it has been a couple of days after the
collapse of the 35W Bridge here in Minneapolis/St. Paul, a place
where this just doesn't happen…
…and some days after 10cm (4") of rain fell overnight
in Calgary, a place where this amount of rainfall is unusual
…
Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by the tragedies.
Surrounded by all that is happening in the world, we are
reminded at to how crucial our knowledge and knowing specific
information about a design is. When it comes to road and bridge
design, knowing your alignments grade break elevation and slope
information is critical to the design.
Malcolm Fernandes from IMAGINiT's Calgary office has
discovered a way for you to generate a
Civil 3D Label that creates this essential data.
Malcolm's step-by-step procedure guides you through the
process of creating a
Label Style for labeling the grade breaks along your alignment.
Thanks Malcolm!
The first image is the eight lane 35W Bridge after the
collapse. It is a Bridge that I have personally crossed too many
times to count. So In case you were wondering, I was no where
near the bridge when it collapsed and my wife Rachel who is
usually on a City bus about that time decided to stay home to
work for the day. Thanks for your concerns.
The second image is not of a river, but of a road that Malcolm
usually travels on his way to work. If you look at the picture,
that is not Malcolm wading in the water (at least that is what he
says), and yes he was late for work.
My apologies everyone… I inadvertently forgot to let
you all know that there is a separate
Service Pack for Land Desktop 2008 Companion. You can all whip me with
wet noodles later.
I do have a good excuse though, OK wait, just let me pull one
out of my new book called "Doug's Book of 101 Excuses" and find
one that I haven't used in a while. Ah, here we go… the
Blog site was temporarily offline for maintenance. What do you
think… believable? No? Well I'm sticking to my guns on
this one.
Well enough of the excuses…
Yes, there is a separate
Service Pack for Land Desktop 2008 Companion for you to download and
install. This
Service Pack does resolve a number of issues, but maybe not all. For a
list of these fixes look through the Readme file, and if you need
to help installing the
Service Pack the Readme file will guide you through that as well.
Oh and one more thing… if you are having trouble
converting a Service Pack .exe file into an .msp file, join the
club. Just kidding, here is what you need to do to convert the
service pack .exe to an .msp.
What the readme file indicates…
What you actually need to do…
Browse to the folder where the executable (.exe) resides and
then enter in the remainder as shown.
Remove the "back slash" after the .exe and before the "/e"
switch, and then pick OK. If prompted with the Open File -
Security Warning, select Run to continue.
Pick OK to continue when the Deployment Warning dialogue box
is displayed.
That should do it, and the end result should be similar to
that shown below.
I hope that helps…
Thanks and Enjoy
PS - just to let you know - I too fell victim to downloading
the wrong Service Pack and received the nasty message… and
I should have known better. Oh and my new book isn't published
yet. ;^)
Hey there all you Land Desktop 2008 users! Well it is here,
Service Pack 1 for AutoCAD Land Desktop 2008 is ready for you to download
and then yes… install.
SP1 provides the means for you to receive a multitude of fixes
and updates to issues that you may have been experiencing.
To peruse the list of resolved issues and for installation
instructions for
Service Pack 1, open and read the
SP1 Readme file for a plethora of information.
Well, hello everyone! I have some very important news for all
of you Civil 3D 2008 users.
Service Pack 1 for C3D2008 can now be downloaded and
installed to resolve many of those issues you've been experiencing.
Check out the Readme file for a list of resolved issues (there
are many) and directions for applying
Service Pack 1 to your C3D2008 install.
An extremely way cool setting in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 allows
you to place contour labels on a surface and have the display of
the label line suppressed. This setting can found under the
Surface > Edit Feature Settings > Contour Labeling
Defaults > Display Contour Label Line. Just set the value
to false.
When you place the labels on the surface, the Label Line is
not displayed until…
…you select one of the labels. Then the label line and
its grips become visible for selection and now can be relocated
as shown.
Here is a quick note for all of you out there that have made
the move to the 2008 AutoCAD products. Pay attention to the
Performance Tuner especially when using images.
If you are running into pixilation issues in both the preview
and the actual plotting of a drawing file with an inserted image,
check the AutoCAD Performance Tuner. It may inform you that a new
driver is available for your video card and recommends that you
upgrade to that driver.
All I can say is that this recommendation is a good one unless
you enjoy viewing and printing big… I mean really big
image pixels.
This little "How-To" comes from IMAGINiT's own
Mike Choquette. Mike resides in the Manchester, New Hampshire and is also regular contributor to CADdigest. So check out his expertise there as well.
If you want "Civil 3D 2008 as AutoCAD" to operate as AutoCAD
MAP instead of plain AutoCAD, simply load up the ACMAP.cui as
your main CUI file. To do this launch, the "Civil 3D 2008 as
AutoCAD" icon and type MENU. Browse to and open your acmap.cui
file, which is by default located in this folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\ [USERNAME] \Application
Data\Autodesk\C3D 2008\enu\Support\acmap.cui
At this point the AutoCAD profile associated with the "Civil
3D 2008 as AutoCAD" icon will function as AutoCAD Map 2008.
Well my friends… here it is, my process for creating a
Deployment Image for Civil 3D 2008 (for a network install, but
you knew that) and upgrading the Network License Manager. It has
lots and lots of pretty pictures for you all visual folks out
there. Let me warn you right from the start, it's not a short
one. No worries, I did thin the herd a little especially when
this simple process started pushing forty pages.
I had to make an executive decision (I'm good at making
those… just ask me), and reduced the size of all of those
pictures. What we have now is a 28 page procedure for completing
a network install.
Let me say one thing up front, Autodesk C3D 2008 is…
Way Cool! Wait, let me rephrase that, C3D 2008 is …
Way Freak'n Cool!
Not only is C3D 2008 cool, it is also more mature and robust
(robust… getting giddy just thinking about it). However,
this maturity does come with a price… changes. So to
answer the little voice inside your head, yes, there are changes
between C3D 2007 and C3D 2008.
This little gem comes from
Kate Coletto in IMAGINiT's Schaumburg, IL office. So, thanks Kate!
One of these changes involves deleting multiple TIN lines from
a surface. In C3D 2007 we were able to automatically select one
TIN line at a time or use a crossing window to select multiple
TIN lines destined for deletion. Yet in C3D 2008 we can only
selected them individually. What's the scoop? The scoop is that
you have to type "
C" for crossing window on the command line (or
DYNamic input) to select multiple TIN lines in C3D 2008.
After that, it works the same.
Now that I have your attention, and we are discussing TIN
lines, I am going to toss in my 2 cents worth. Deleting TIN lines
was something that LDT allowed us to do by "hacking" into the
data and destroying it (not good but it worked ok in LDT). This
process was then carried over to C3D to make us LDT old-timers
feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Well, I've been informed (I have
my sources) that deleting TIN lines in C3D is something that we
should
NOT be doing. The preferred method is to use internal and
external boundaries and maximum TIN lengths. Otherwise, how's
that old saying go… garbage in… garbage out.
But dude, I just can't shake my bad LDT surface editing habits
and need to delete unwanted TIN lines. Well partner, that is your
call, but just remember… I warned you.
Please wait while I step up on my soap box…
At this point many of you are saying… Ok, ok we get
it… C3D 2008 is cool, but we're not going to implement it
or even spend time looking at it for a couple of years. As far as
we're concerned it just isn't production ready and besides we
just can't afford to take the time.
So, do you still live under a rock? My friends, C3D 2008 is
production ready and you can't afford
NOT to take the time. What are you going to do when you
start receiving C3D data before your 2 year plan kicks in? My
suggestion is that you rethink your strategy when it comes to
implementing C3D... if you haven't already done so.
Ok, I'm done, and before someone gives me a push I will step
off my soap box… again. But for what it's worth, you have
some decisions to make and a short time (getting shorter by the
minute) to make them.
Until next time…
Thanks and Enjoy!
PS - I am working on a new Network install document with lots
of pictures. Currently, it looks as if I will have to break it up
into two separate documents. The document is in the 30 page range
and it's not done. Did I say there are lots of pretty pictures
and did I say that I tend to be long winded? Hopefully, if all
goes well, it should be done this week.
You've just installed Civil 3D 2008 and have created some
parcel data. Way cool don't you think? Now if they could only set
things up so that we could get all of the easements in the
parcels to come in as part of the object. Something for the
future perhaps…
Ok back to the present, your parcels are labeled…
excellent. However, you've noticed that there are some conflicts
between the parcel labels and other AutoCAD or C3D data. No
problem, you just select them like you did in C3D 2007 and move
as need. So you left click on the label, and HEY, what is going
on here! In C3D 2008 I can no longer left click on a parcel label
and grab the grip to move it. What's the dang deal?
Well, here is the deal. You must hold the control (
Ctrl) key down on the key board and left click on the
label to display the grip. You should now be in familiar editing
territory. There have been some enhancements made in 2008 which
needed something extra and the Ctrl button fit the bill.
So, there you have it, Parcel label editing with a twist.
Oh, by the way… using the
Ctrl key option applies inside the
View/Edit Corridor Section when attempting to edit the
sections graphically.
Actually, you already have it (if you've received your
Autodesk® AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 software). Everything is now on the
Civil 3D Land Desktop Companion 2008 DVD. You know the second
disc inside the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 case.
When you installed LDT Comp did you noticed that it took a
little longer than it use to? Well, I did… Civil Design
and Survey were installed right after LDT was.
So don't fret, everything is still there.
And remember… disable your antivirus and shut down all
other applications when you install, or all bets are off as to
whether it will work or not.
Soon and back by popular demand… a step-by-step C3D2008
install doc with lots of pictures.
Ok, it's been a while, but I think you'll forgive just this
one time. We've got a good one here folks!
Once again,
Malcolm Fernandes has stepped up to the plate and put one
out of the park with this home run of a post. So much that even I
may try sliding into the world of basic programming (if you can
call it that… especially when I am involved). ;^)
So let's get started!
XML and
XSL, the source of all evil? No, just a Civil 3D
reporting feature. What an incredible format! Have you looked at
it lately? If you started off like me… then probably not.
Information on XML and the C3D reporting features are scarce to
say the least.
So what is XSL?
Wikipedia describes it as follows; "The
eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) is a family of
transformation languages which allows one to describe how files
encoded in the XML standard are to be formatted or transformed. "
My understanding is simply that XSL template file in C3D converts
the XML file into a readable HTML format.
So when ours truly, Doug Benoit (author of popular books like,
"Being Civil in tequila style", "Tequila, and the importance of
proper labeling", and his most recent best seller, "That ain't no
ordinary worm, that's my buddy") asked me about creating a report
for manholes, that would output only the structure name, N, E,
rim elev and invert elev, the challenge was intriguing.
So with my feet up on my desk, relaxed (actually, a broken
ankle) and armed with some cheap drugs, I proceeded to tackle the
elusive
XML
and XSL files.
In reality cheap drugs and a broken ankle are not necessary,
all you need is some patience and a useful freeware tool called
"XSL Notepad". You can use Spy XML, but I found Notepad simple
and easy to use.
On a side note the .atc file for subassemblies is actually a
XML file.
So with Sansei Doug's promise to show me the way of the
Tequila, onward I go with creating a
XSL
file.
And if you were wondering... tequila was being sampled down at
Tech Camp by those in close proximity of the bottle. I am happy
to say that there is no worm in tequila, that would be
Mezcal.
Are you looking for a way to calculate and label the slope of
your pipe network based on the length from the inside wall to the
inside wall of the structures? Currently there is no direct way
to do this. However, that doesn't mean there isn't any way to do
this. Following are three possible solutions for you to "kick the
tires on" and see if they work for you.
If you were thinking that this might be a good use for a label
expression, well you are on the right track and
Malcolm Fernandes, RET an ISD Application Specialist from
IMAGINiT's Calgary office is our number one contestant and has a
label expression for you try. Using the "2D length - To Inside
Edges" you can create an Expression to calculate the inside slope
and then use this expression in your label.
This label assumes that the inside length and that the start
and end inv elevations refer to the information you are looking
for. "I realize that the
Start Invert Elevation and the
End Invert Elevation are to the inside wall of the
manhole, while the
2D Length - To Inside Edges refer to the distance from the
outside walls of the manholes. As the manhole walls are not taken
into account, the slope is not 100% correct. Given that we are
building a sewer line and not a Swiss watch, the inaccuracy in
the slope on a wall thickness of 0.1m (.0328 ft) over a maximum
170m (558 ft) of pipe is negligible "
Here is the process and we hope it works for you.
Create an Expression in the Toolspace > Pipe > Label
Styles > Plan profile called "
Inside_Slope" (or something similar). The expression is created as
follows:
ABS({Start Invert Elevation}-{End Invert Elevation})/{2D
Length - To Inside Edges}
The 'Format result as' is set to Percent.
http://imaginit.rand.com/files/Expression.jpg
To add the expression to your label style, edit the label
style as you would any label style. When you enter the 'Text
Component Editor' the expression will show up as a new property.
Make the appropriate adjustments to the settings and add the data
to the label contents.
http://imaginit.rand.com/files/Label.jpg
Contestant number two is
Doug Cummings, another civil specialist who is from
IMAGINiT's Buffalo office. Again using an expression, Doug's
process takes one-half of the structures diameter and multiples
it by the slope, then adds or subtracts the resulting number to
the structures invert which is at its centerline. This will give
you the invert elevation at the wall. Now subtract the "start
invert at wall" by "end invert at wall" and divide by the edge to
edge 3d length and you have the slope calculated as desired.
To create an Expression for a 4 ft (1.22 meters) structure go
to the Toolspace > Pipe > Label Styles > Plan profile
and set the expression as follows:
Setting up the expression and label are identical to those
previously shown. So, give it a try and see what you think.
The third contestant is yours truly, and personally, I think
this is somewhat of a loaded question to the age-old dilemma.
There are just too many variables to consider!
Does one assume that we are dealing with sanitary sewer with a
poured invert having a fall of 0.10 feet (0.0305 meters) inside
the structure; or is it storm sewer having multiple structures
with multiple diameters along the same network and all have
cast-in-place inverts?
So here is option number three which deals with sanitary sewer
and 0.10 feet (0.0305 meters) of fall inside the structure. This
expression will be specific to a 4 foot (1.22 meters) diameter
structure which if you look real hard at this issue; I believe
that all of the label expressions will be specific to structure
size and type of invert. Perhaps this is why Autodesk did not
offer this as an option and left it up to the user. Makes one
think…
Ok, so here is the expression that I created for the above
condition:
ABS(({Start Invert Elevation}-.05)-({End Invert
Elevation}+.05))/{2D Length - To Inside Edges}
One more time, the 'Format result as' is set to Percent.
Currently, I am not sure if the 2D length or the 3D length
should be used. As you can see, the three of us all varied
between the 2 options.
Again, Setting up the expression and label are identical to
those previously shown. So, give these expressions a try and let
me know what you think (select the title and click "Send a Comment" at the bottom). As a minimum you will get some practice
creating expressions.
Well I am back from my annual pilgrimage to Cabo San Lucas
where for seven days we enjoyed perfect weather and I enjoyed
cold cerveza. And unlike the Manlaw… I have to have lime
in my cerveza. Sorry, I guess that is just the rebel in me.
Ok, enough of the touchy-feely stuff, lets get down to
business. Here is something that will help you find the exact
elevation at a specific station along your finished ground (FG)
profile without creating a label.
First display the Inquiry Commands toolbar and select the Show
Inquiry Tool to display the Inquiry Tool window.
Next, "Select an inquiry type" from the list and either
graphically pick a station location, or type the station that you
want into the provided field and hit enter.
ShaZam! The elevation at that particular station is displayed
immediately below the station value.
I will admit that the first time that I looked at this cool
tool I overlooked the power found at the bottom of the window. I
sort of got lost in all of the other information that, at the
time, I wasn't looking for.
So there you have it… similar tools to those that we
previously had. So what is your excuse now?
When it comes to Civil 3D 2007, there are three different
levels of establishing Default properties.
The first is at the Drawing level. To access these settings,
one would select the Settings tab on the Toolspace and right
click on the drawing name to expose the Edit Drawing Settings and
the Edit label Style Defaults options.
These two options give you a way to establish default settings
for ALL objects and labels in the drawing. Settings for Distance,
Elevation, and Area, just to name a few, are set in the Drawing
Settings dialogue box under the Ambient Settings tab. Settings
for default label properties such as Text Style, Plan Readable
and Background Mask are set in the Edit label Style Defaults
dialogue box.
These settings establish the default properties for everything
in the Drawing starting at the General node down to the Survey
node.
The second level of establishing default settings is at the
Object level. At the object level, in this case the Point object
node, the Edit Feature Settings and Edit Label Style Defaults
dialogue boxes can be accessed and properties modified for this
object type.
The Edit Feature Settings dialogue box contains all of the
settings found in the Drawing Settings Ambient Settings tab, but
will include some properties unique to this type of object such
as Default Styles and Default Name Format. Modifying certain
properties at this level will generate Overrides and Child
Overrides at the Drawing level.
These settings establish the default properties for everything
in the object starting at the User-Defined Property
Classifications node down to the Commands node.
The third and final level for establishing default settings is
at the Command Settings level found within a particular object.
At the Commands level, the Alignment object for example, the Edit
Commands Settings dialogue box provides a way to modify certain
properties when running a specific menu command for the
object.
The Edit Commands Settings dialogue box under the Commands
node contains all of the settings found in the Drawing Settings
Ambient Settings tab at the drawing level as well as the Edit
Feature Settings at the object level, but includes some
properties unique to this particular command (as in this case the
Curve and Spiral Settings properties). Modifying certain
properties at this level will generate Overrides and Child
Overrides at the Drawing and Object level.
Again, these settings establish the default properties for
everything in the Commands starting at the AddAlignmentCurveTable
node down to the ReverseAlignmentDirection node.
So now you know were to go to establish those company standard
style defaults or to look when you're expecting square feet or
square meters and you're getting acres or hectares.
Oh, one more thing... I will be in
Cabo San Lucas
next week soaking up the rays and marking my territory at the
pool bar! If I have time... I may report in, but I am not making
any promises.
Way back when… actually a couple of months ago; I
created a document all about the available options for Point
Layers when working with survey and design point data. I even
included some recommendations on how I would set things up
regarding all of the possible ways to use point layers, styles,
labels styles and groups when trying to control the display of
point data in the drawing. Some of you may have had the chance to
read it.
If you were one of the lucky few, you may have noticed that it
was suppose to have been the last… I lied. But if you
remember, I did leave myself a way back into this topic…
"if someone were to shed some additional light on this
issue"… remember? Well, I did receive an email from Alex
from Michigan informing me of a slight flaw in my
recommendations.
Thanks Alex!
Alex pointed out that if you don't assign a point style and/or
a point label style to your point groups, then you won't see any
miscellaneous survey or design points that are imported into or
created in the drawing? Specifically for points whose point codes
are not accounted for in the DescKey Set. And it is probably for
point data that shouldn't be included anyways… you know
like those once a year or once in a lifetime survey shots.
So, Alex did shed some additional light on this issue and I
decided to take another look at my
Point Layers in Civil 3D 2007 with SP3 and felt it deserved to be modified. It actually turned out
to be a good thing since the old format seemed slightly confusing
even to me (and I created the beast). So I rustled up some help
(thanks Kate and Jerry) and cleaned up the main body of the
document and revised my recommendations. The new
Point Layers in Civil 3D 2007 with SP3 document is 8 pages long and should be less confusing.
Also, take into consideration that you will have to do a
little homework yourself because I've only presented to you how
things work in general. There are issues such as what layer
should you use for the Layer Component of the Point Style (you do
have at least 3 valid options (unique layer, layer matches Marker
Component, or a Point Style default layer), and Jerry and I could
not decide which one we would recommend. Personally, I would draw
straws on this one. So, this one is up to you.
Oh and one more thing… since I don't nag (that is my
story and I am sticking to it), I finally wore the guy behinds
the scenes down (Corey) and got him to add a basic comment
option. If you select the title of the post and go to just that
post there is a new
Send a Comment selection at the bottom. All that is
required is your name, email and comments.
Thanks and Enjoy!
Oh, by the way, the funky monkey tag doesn't do anything.
Is this happening or has this happened to you… you're
in Civil 3D or AutoCAD or one of the verticals, and you have a
drawing open and its behavior is starting to become a little
'flaky' (a technical term). Perhaps you are past that point and
you have a drawing that you just can't open; it hangs up while
opening and you have to resolve it by using Ctrl/Alt/Delete, you
get some kind of nasty message verbally abusing your psyche, or
the application initiates an automatic and immediate shutdown,
you know a CRASHY-POO (just kidding… nobody calls it
that)!
Sound familair?
In either case, what you have is what we on this side of the
fence commonly referred to as a "Corrupt Drawing". OUCH! Well,
don't fret, at least not yet, the drawing may be salvageable if
you follow some simple steps.
Well, I hope that helps you out of a jam, and remember, it all
starts with you. A happy drawing is a healthy drawing… so
SAVE often and practice
Good Drawing Hygiene!
I know I said that I would show you my process for bringing a
slightly corrupt drawing (is there really such a thing…)
back to life, but sometimes there are things just too darn
exciting to wait another day for. I will finish the process info
ASAP!
Civil 3D 2008 is expected to ship April 16th, and here is a
sneak-peak at what to expect! The emphasis for C3D 2008 has been
to improve performance… YEE HA! Something a speed demon
like me loves to hear. Below is a list of areas where performance
has been given a boost (I am not going to elaborate on these
because if you are using C3d you know what I am taking
about):
- Connecting to Project based drawings
- Importing a FBK file in through the Survey Toolspace
- Point creation
- Point Selection and Manipulation
- Contour creation and labeling
- Alignments
- Processing Corridor models
- Section views
- Drafting Pipes in the profile view
- Checking Pipe interferences
- Grading projections and feature lines
- Inter-object notification
- And, that is just a start…
Want more? How about new grading to surface functionality when
working with grading groups...
Still want more? I've already told you about improving the
performance when modeling corridors (it was worth saying it
again), a plus when working with large data sets, but there is
more. How about new features in the Corridor properties dialogue
box under the Parameters tab for baseline data and frequency
settings? Way cool.
And my big finally! Plan and profile sheet generation tools
with the ability to grip edit the plot frames and match
lines.
Well what do you think? It really does give me that warm and
fuzzy feeling all over.
So, for those of you out there already using C3D or are in the
process, this will really put you out in front of the pack. For
those of you still waiting… of what I am not sure…
the time is NOW!
As I sit here watching Futurama (Bender is my hero), I thought
I'd let you know about a new toolbar and button that I created
based on my previous post.
OK, so now you have some new and some old tools to maintain a
healthy drawing, you'd like to speed things up just a bit when
using them. Especially when using the -PURGE command to clean out
any REGAPPS.
Well, you asked, and you shall receive. Ok so you didn't ask,
but here it is anyways.
The button I created
allows me run the entire -PURGE command with a
single click. The macro is as follows (click to enlarge):
You have just witness the extent of my programming abilities,
if you can even call it that.
It does work and if you want it, you are welcome to it. Just
find or create an image of your choice. I've already picked
mine... nice heh?
Next time… the steps I follow to recover a corrupt
drawing or at least one on its way. Also, I have revised my
document about the many options for point layers in Civil 3D 2007
with SP3.
Now that you are using Civil 3D 2007 (hopefully with Service
Pack 3), you may be running into behavioral problems like with a
4 year old (yes I do have one of those but she is so sweet). I
know you've experienced it… you get one of those nasty
little windows that starts out with two words; the first starting
with and "F" and the second with an "E". Ouch! Now were did that
come from? And, when was the last time I saved. DARN!
Been there, done that!
Well here is what I have in my arsenal of cleaning tools:
1.
-PURGE / R / enter / N / enter Yes that is a dash or
'minus sign' in front of the PURGE command. Currently it is the
only way that I know how to gain access to the option to remove
REGAPPS. Therefore, I use this on a regular basis to keep those
pesky REGAPPS at bay.
2.
AUDIT / Y / enter This will evaluate your drawing and fix
some of the errors that it finds. The goal is to keep your
drawing healthy.
3.
PURGE / (without the "-") This should be used to eliminate
anything that shouldn't be there (like exploded blocks that you
are done with). Yes, I know there are a good number of you out
there that keep "JUNK" in your drawings just because. Well just
stop it because that stuff typically leads to problems in the
future.
4.
ERASE / ALL / R / window / enter This process gets rid of
stuff that ends up way the heck out there, and it too should not
be there.
So, when do I run the above commands? Well, the first two I
run 4 to 6 times a day (maybe more) depending on how much data I
have in the drawing. The second two I would use at least once a
day.
Is this a little overkill? Perhaps it is, but personally I am
not a big fan of the alternative. Besides, with the power of
Civil 3D, I like the advantage in time that I gain with its
functionality and I certainly don't want to loose that
advantage.
And the key tool… is saving the drawing often, and I do
mean often. If you're sitting there wondering "when was the last
time I saved?"… you better
SAVE!
For those of you that don't know me, my name is Doug Benoit
and I am a Civil Applications Engineer for IMAGINiT. My home port
is the Minneapolis, Minnesota office. I am a licensed Engineer in
Minnesota and Wisconsin, and before going to the dark side (the
good side) of the Autodesk Re-Seller world I spent some time in
the private sector.
This blog is unlike most out there, because from time-to-time
you will see articles, tips or other informational pieces from
many of the other Civil Specialists here at IMAGINiT.
For those of you that do know me… WELCOME to the
IMAGINiT blog site and thanks for your readership!
So let's get down to business!
Today's little tid-bit comes from Jerry Stone in IMAGINiT's
Kingsford office and discusses an undocumented Civil 3D feature.
We can set the priority of Point Groups in the Point Group
Properties dialog.
Back in the Tree display of the Prospector tab, the order
of the Point Groups must be refreshed to display them properly.
The priority feature works either way; it's just a display
issue.
We can set the priority of the Description Key Sets in the
Description Key Sets Properties dialog as well.
Back in the Tree display of the Settings tab, the order of
the Description Key Sets will not refresh to display them
properly. The priority feature still works however.
IMAGINiT Technologies’ Blogs (weblogs), while an expression of the personal thoughts and opinions of IMAGINiT employees, do not necessarily represent thoughts, intentions, plans, or strategies of IMAGINiT Technologies or RAND Worldwide. For official corporate response or for press related activities please contact the IMAGINiT public relations group.
allows me run the entire -PURGE command with a
single click. The macro is as follows (click to enlarge):
subassembly to use. And, it
worked pretty darn cool.
command from the
Layers II toolbar
, you can either Select
objects on the layer(s) to be isolated or [Settings].
button and clcik Off vs. Lock and fade.
The setting
In paper space viewport use is your call.
and add the three new components. I renamed them as
follows:
.
and using the same settings.
button in the lower right corner of your AutoCAD or AutoCAD based
product.
in the
Layer Properties Manager, which can be found in the upper
right corner of the manager and will display the Layer Settings
dialog box where the Isolate Layer Settings that can be modified
to your liking.
subassembly to both the left
and right sides of our assembly after adjusting a number of its
values.
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