Civil Immersion

Taking Advantage of AutoCAD's Annotative Objects in Civil 3D

When applied to civil objects, Civil 3D's purpose built labels maintain a dynamic link to the underlying civil data AND will size themselves automatically when displayed on construction drawings. That said, civil infrastructure designs often include "generic" objects that also require labeling.

Many times these objects can be labeled using a Civil 3D note, OR (depending on your needs), an AutoCAD Annotative object may be a better fit. In today's installment, we'll explore the concept of annotative objects, learn how to create and edit them, and walk through some ways to incorporate them into our civil designs.

If you're interested, the video below walks step by step through everything you need to get started...

-Jeff

Introducing Civil 3D Data Shortcuts

One of the biggest benefits of using Civil 3D is the dynamic relationships between civil objects. When one object is edited, all dependent objects (and their labels) update automatically. These dynamic relationships can also exist between drawings using a concept called Data Shortcuts.

Data Shortcuts work much like the icons on your desktop used to launch applications.  Each icon represents a “pointer” that knows where its respective application lives on your computer.  The Data Shortcuts in Civil 3D also represent pointers that (instead of pointing to applications) point to civil objects stored inside DWG files.  In today’s installment, we’ll take our first look at Data Shortcuts by exploring how they're created, stored and referenced. 

If you are interested, I've created a quick video below that walks through everything...

-Jeff