Civil Immersion

Taking Civil 3D Model Navigation to the Next Level

In this 30 min workout session, we explore numerous ways you can navigate a Civil 3D model. 

(Because there are WAY more tools than just the wheel mouse :) )

These include Walk, Fly, Drive and more.  We also review several strategies where tools like Views and Model Space Viewports can be used to increase your productivity.  Ever type Zoom or Pan at the command line?  There are benefits to doing that as well!!

During our session, we will also look at a technique to locate a point in your project via. a property address.

Finally, because I still love what can be done with LISP, I walk through a quick technique to create a single line LISP routine to automate repetitive tasks.

 

- Jerry

 

Civil 3D Quick Tip: Improve Text Display in the Label Style Editor

If you’re someone who creates, or edits Civil 3D label styles, you may find the text in the editor to be a little challenging to read.  In today’s installment we’ll look at a quick way to resolve the issue.

First let me mention that I typically work on a laptop having a screen resolution of 1920x1080.  The laptop is capable of displaying 4K resolution, I simply prefer the look and feel of working in traditional HD.  I mention this because the issue I’m going to show you may not affect everyone.  It’s likely caused by a combination of things related to hardware and screen resolution.

Fortunately, if you are experiencing the issue, it can be resolved by simply toggling off a setting in Windows.  If you are interested, I’ve created a quick video below that walks through everything…

-Jeff

Using Civil 3D's Inquiry Tools to compute Who, What and Where

During today’s presentation, we explore Civil 3D's Inquiry Tools. 

Using these tools, we can quickly compute things like Elevation, Grade, Slope, Distance, Bearing and more directly from Civil 3D Objects.  These objects include Points, Surfaces, Profile Views, Profiles, Sections, Section Views and Corridors.  Why are these tools really helpful??  Many customers resort to creating labels or annotation to compute what these tools do automatically.

After being introduced (or re-introduced :)) to Civil 3D's Inquiry Tools, they could easily become part of your every day Civil 3D workflows.

Click on the video below to check them out.

- Jerry

Our Next 30 min. Workout Session is this Thursday! (Oct. 29th)

In this session we will be taking a look at Civil 3D's numerous "Inquiry Commands".  If you have not used them before, they can be very helpful in quickly determining things like Distance, Station, Elevation, Grade and so much more. 

In short, they are used to quickly interrogate Autodesk Civil 3D objects. You can then use the information extracted from the design model to aid in design, validation, and analysis.

The live session “30-Minute Workout - Using Civil 3D's inquiry tools to establish Who, What and Where” is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 29th,  at 1:30 PM Eastern Time.  If you are interested in attending, please use the link below to register…

https://autodesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ptocx9U-Rk6z61O9GtcPHQ

We look forward to seeing you there!

-Jerry

"Civil 3D: Tips, Tricks, and Unnatural Acts"

Autodesk University 2020 is rapidly approaching!  AU represents Autodesk’s premiere conference where attendees can learn from industry experts who solve real-world design challenges using Autodesk applications.  If you’ve ever attended an Autodesk University, I’m sure you’ll agree that you can learn things at AU that simply aren’t documented anyplace else!

Being a “physical” conference, AU attendance typically includes the cost of registration, travel, and expenses.  This year however, AU 2020 is being hosted virtually, and at NO CHARGE!  If you’ve ever had the desire to attend Autodesk University, this may be the opportunity of a lifetime.
CLICK HERE for more information about the conference, the classes and to register.

For those planning to attend, Jerry Bartels, Alan Gilbert and myself have recently put the finishing touches on an AU session called “Civil 3D: Tips, Tricks, and Unnatural Acts”.  The course consists of brand-new material designed to help you save time and make the most of your Civil 3D investment. If you have the opportunity, we would love to have you attend!

Autodesk University 2020 begins Tuesday Nov 17^th and runs through Friday Nov 20^th.
CLICK HERE for more information, and to register.

-Jeff

Recycle your .DWG content using the Design Center tool in Civil 3D

During today’s presentation, we explore “Design Center”.  Design Center was originally added to AutoCAD back in the 2000 release.  (Over 20 years ago!)  This officially makes it an “oldy but goody” when it comes to AutoCAD/Civil 3D tools. :)

In short, Design Center helps you recycle/reuse your content in ways you may not have thought possible.  Need to create a new Layout just like the one you worked on in a different project?  Need a custom linetype you saw in a .DWG the other day?  Need to recreate some Layers that were inadvertently purged?  Need to quickly redefine some blocks to match your company standards?  Design Center is here to help you with these tasks and soooo much more.

If you have never used Design Center before, it can easily become one of the top 10 tools you rely on.

Click on the video below to check it out.

-Jerry

Odds, Ends & Import Things when using Civil 3D / AutoCAD

In today’s installment, we explore several more common commands and look at ways to get more out of them. 

These include a discussion about using Layer Freeze vs. OFF. 

We also explore several aspects of the Layer Dialog box including controlling column display, filters and exporting a layer list. 

From there we focus on several ways we can capture (and more importantly use) the text contained within the Command Line. 

We wrap up by looking at ways to make the StatusBar more useful as well as leveraging coordinates to quickly position ourselves on a coordinate system.

As a Bonus, at the end, I provide a quick tip on how the Trim command works differently OTB in 2021.

Click on the video below to check it out.

-Jerry

30+ Civil 3D / AutoCAD Tips & Tricks in 30 minutes!

This week represented the fifth installment of our bi-weekly “30 min. Workout” webinar series.  The goal of these sessions is to demonstrate lesser known Civil 3D / AutoCAD / Map3D workflows.  Our hope is that each “workout” will be a valuable resource for users to explore concepts falling outside the scope of traditional training courses.

This week’s session featured a multitude of Civil 3D / AutoCAD tips and tricks.  In true “lightning round” fashion, more than thirty helpful features, system variables and keyboard shortcuts were demonstrated covering a wide array of topics.  If you are interested, I’ve added a link to the session recording below…

Likewise, if you are interested in downloading the script files used in this session, they can be found here! - https://a360.co/2YMqNnP 

-Jeff

 

Pushing Common Commands to the Extreme using Civil 3D / AutoCAD

Today we start exploring some underutilized features of commands most users rely on every day.  The challenge that we are trying to overcome is the fact that, because the commands are very familiar to us, we tend to rely on only a small amount of what is possible. 

That begins changing now!

During today’s 30 min workout, we will focus on the following...

Undo – Building a time machine
SAVE – Typing it does something different
XCLIP – Improve performance (INDEXCTL)
Wildcards – Lots more than just *
MSLIDE / VSLIDE – Quick view

I even threw in some “Simple LISP” at the end when I showed how to create a custom command you can start using immediately.

Click on the video below to check it out.

-Jerry

Displaying Empty Fields in Civil 3D Title Blocks

If you organize your Civil 3D projects into sheet sets, you’re probably familiar with the concept of Fields.  Fields represent “smart” text objects that populate automatically when they’re added to a sheet set.  On occasion, individual fields may present a challenge when linked to an empty (or unknown) value.  That’s because fields have an inherent need to show SOMETHING.  In today’s installment, we’ll learn a trick for displaying empty fields.

The trick involves using a pair of “%” symbols.  Back in the day, these symbols were used to incorporate special characters into text objects.  (%%C for example, placed a diameter symbol.)  By simply “pulling up short” and eliminating the character after the %% will cause a field to have an empty display.  Using this technique, you can create nice clean fields that only display data when you want them to.

If you're interested, I’ve created a quick video that walks through the workflow…

-Jeff

Note: In my example I am working in Civil 3D.  This trick also works in ANY other AutoCAD based application.