Civil Immersion

Locking Civil 3D Structure Label Leaders to ANY Location

On occasion, structure labels placed in a Civil 3D profile view may need to be pulled into a dragged state.  When dragged, the default leaders will point to the “center” of each structure which isn’t always what is wanted.  In today’s installment we’ll look at a simple trick that gives us more control over the location of these leaders.

The trick involves the toggling of a label “pin”.  Typically, the pinning feature is used in drawings that are saturated with annotations.  Pinning labels in congested areas helps ensure future design changes do not cause updated labels to overlap other labels.  For our purposes today, using the pinned feature (along with a temporary leader grip) will also make it possible to lock the leader’s arrowhead at any location.

If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video below that walks though the workflow…

-Jeff

Creating Custom Civil 3D Label Styles to Annotate Linear Crossings in Profile Views

After experimenting with the new “Show Profile Crossings” feature in Civil 3D 2019.2 you may be wondering how difficult it might be to develop your own custom label styles.  Fortunately, EVERY Civil 3D label style is created the same way; the crossing labels are no exception.  In today’s installment, we’ll explore a few workflows to produce custom crossing label styles.

Crossing label styles can be found on the Settings Tab within the Profile View group inside the Label Styles folder.  Out of the box, Civil 3D 2019.2 provides a single “Standard” label style for annotating linear profile crossings.  In the recording below, I walk through the basics necessary to create three additional styles. 

Note: the skills learned in this session can be applied to most any Civil 3D label style!  (Points, Alignments, Surfaces, Profiles, Sections, etc.)  With a little creativity, experimentation and practice, you’ll soon be creating custom annotations that meet most any need!

-Jeff

 

Creating Custom Civil 3D Marker Styles to Display Linear Crossings in Profile Views

The new “show crossings” feature in Civil 3D 2019.2 makes it easy to display linear crossings in a profile view.  Selected 3D linear crossings are represented using a marker and label style.  Fortunately, these styles can be configured to match most any CAD standard!  In today’s installment, we’ll explore some ways to create custom marker styles.

If you’ve created marker styles in the past, you’ll quickly find that the markers used for linear profile crossings are identical.  The only difference is found when selecting “profile” as the view direction.  When profile is selected, the marker component is shown as "dual purpose". (Listed as “Marker / Crossing Vertical Line”.)  So if the style is applied to a crossing 3D linear entity (feature line, survey figure, 3D polyline or profile) it will display as a symbol.  If it’s applied to an alignment, it will display as a vertical line.  Being dual purpose, you have the option of creating multiple marker styles that apply to specific crossings, or a single style that applies to multiple crossings.

If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video that walks through the creation of some custom marker styles…

-Jeff

 

Displaying Crossing Linear Elements in a Civil 3D Profile View

If a proposed design intersects 3D linear elements, it can be helpful to see where those crossings occur in any profile views.  Historically, displaying (and annotating) profile crossings was challenging.  Now, using Civil 3D 2019.2 it’s much easier to dynamically view and label crossing elements in profile views.

To display crossing elements, simply select a profile view and choose “Add Crossings to Profile View” from the contextual ribbon.  You can then select your desired entities.  (Supported entities include: Feature Lines, Survey Figures, 3D Polylines, Alignments and Profiles.)  Crossings are displayed using a marker and label style that will update automatically when changes are made to their respective linear elements. 

If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video that walks through some possible workflows…

-Jeff

Reverse Engineering Civil 3D Design Data from AutoCAD Entities

On occasion a Civil 3D project may require data from a “legacy” drawing.  One example might be a DWG file for which you do not know (or have) the original authoring application.  In cases like this, Civil 3D can re-create design data from drawing entities.  In this installment we’ll learn how to build a surface model from selected objects.

I have created a quick video below that walks through the workflow.  After reviewing the recording, take a tour through Civil 3D's creation menus and you’ll find several other design components can also be created “From Object”. 

It’s been said that you can’t always get what you want.  On occasion, that may mean having to extract data from generic AutoCAD drawings.  Fortunately, when the need arises, Civil 3D makes it easy to reverse engineer many design components from selected entities.

-Jeff

 

Updating Civil 3D Surfaces Created from LandXML Files

On occasion, you may work with stakeholders who use a solution other than Civil 3D.  When this happens, civil data is often exchanged as LandXML files.  That said, LandXML files imported to Civil 3D can be challenging to “swap out” if updates are received in the future.  In today’s installment we’ll explore a workflow using the Paste Surface feature to manage updates to surfaces created from LandXML.

Generally speaking, the workflow involves creating a new surface and then pasting the LandXML data into it.  This surface is then shared with the project as a data reference.    In the future, if an updated LandXML file is received, you can simply add to (or replace) the data in the shared surface to apply the changes to all affected project drawings.  If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video below that walks through everything…

-Jeff

Tool for Tuesday: AEC-Connection Blog

A lot of folks have been asking us why our posts have become a bit sparse after being so regular for a couple of years.

In short, Alan, Jeff and I have been working behind the scenes to stand up a second project. This project is the topic of today’s "Tool for Tuesday".

Introducing the AEC-Connection Blog.

In short, it is a location where we will actively post videos, workflows, information, tips and tricks… as it relates to using Autodesk’s BIM 360 platform.

Because our backgrounds are in the Infrastructure industry, our content will gravitate primarily towards civil related projects. Having said this, some of what we post will be industry agnostic and will have value for our friends in the Building industry as well. It is for this reason we created a second Blog. Our goal is to provide a resource that will complement our existing “Civil Immersion” project rather than risk diluting our civil focus by posting everything here.

Long story short, starting today, you will find us actively posting in BOTH locations.

-Jerry

Creating and Manipulating Civil 3D Sample Lines

By default, Civil 3D sample lines are placed perpendicular to an alignment.  That said, some designs (or cross sections) may require “skewed” or multi-segmented sample lines.  At times like these, Civil 3D provides specialized tools for creating virtually any sample line you may need.

In this installment we’ll explore some ways to create custom sample lines.  We’ll also look at how to change their position and/or geometry using grips.  If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video below that walks through everything…

-Jeff

Creating Dynamic Civil 3D Offset Alignments and Widenings

Proposed linear designs are often represented using multiple parallel entities. Lane edges, medians, shoulders, ditches and R.O.W. are just a few examples. When design changes are made, it’s important that all related entities update as well. Fortunately, modifications like this are made easy using Civil 3D’s offset alignments.

Offset alignments are dynamically linked to a “parent” alignment, meaning they will maintain their offset, even when the parent alignment changes. This makes them perfect for defining linear geometry that would otherwise need to be redrawn as a design evolves. Offset alignments can also support “widenings” to accommodate things like turn lanes, transitions and on street parking geometry. No matter how offset alignments are defined, they will always maintain a geometric relationship with their parent, making future design modifications much more efficient!

In this session we’ll explore some workflows for defining offset alignments and widenings. If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video below that walks through everything you need to get started…

-Jeff

Calculating a Stockpile Volume from Point Cloud Data using Civil 3D

Today's drone technology makes it easy to collect existing site conditions as a point cloud.  Once captured, point clouds provide a wealth of analytic opportunities.  In this week’s installment, we'll use Civil 3D to analyze a point cloud and extract the volume of a large stockpile.

If your projects require you to calculate stockpile volumes, try experimenting with a point cloud workflow.  Capturing stockpiles as point clouds can be the fastest and safest means of collecting this data, while also providing more detail than what is obtainable using more traditional collection methods.

If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video below to help you get started…

-Jeff