Crossing The Line with Civil 3D

Why Prefix a Command in AutoCAD With a Hyphen?

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 20:12:00 +0000

You are probably all familiar with the XLIST command, one of the Express Tools available with Autodesk® AutoCAD® and its verticals (but may not be available in AutoCAD LT®). This post explains why you might want to prefix that command with a hyphen.

The XLIST command.

The XLIST command reports properties of a nested object, such as the layer and linetype of a polyline within a block or an xreference drawing. This command is useful in identifying the layer and xref hosting a specific object. The command launches a small dialog to display the query results, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Xref/Block Nested Object List dialog.

Based on the layer value in the dialog, the object is a polyline in an xreference drawing named x00000_p-site on a layer named cs-esmt-line.

NOTE: The vertical bar in the layer value separates the xreference name from the layer name.

In the previous example, the layer name is completely visible within the dialog. Since the dialog can't be resized, if the xref name + layer name is too long, it might extend past the edge of the dialog, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: A layer property value that extends past the edge of the dialog.

Hyphens to the rescue!

Some commands allow a hyphen as a prefix, and XLIST is one. With the hyphen prefix, the command outputs the query results in the command line instead of the dialog. The result of running the -XLIST command on the same object is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: The command line result of the -XLIST query.

The query results in the command line show the full xreference name and the full layer name. As a bonus feature, you can copy the layer value to the clipboard and paste it into the layer palette filter of another drawing.

More Examples?

Another example of when to add a hyphen prefix is with the PURGE command. By running the command with the hyphen prefix, you can access the option to purge registered applications (Regapps), as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: The command line options for the -PURGE command.

For Civil 3D® users, multiple commands can be run in multiple drawings by creating a script file and using the Autodesk Batch Save Utility. It does a lot more than just saving files! Using -LAYER you can create and modify layer properties directly from the command line. These commands can then be converted into programmable pieces for scripts or LISP routines.

(command "-LAYER" "ON" "G-ANNO-TTBL" "THAW" "G-ANNO-TTBL" "")
(command "-LAYER" "MAKE" "G-ANNO-SEAL" "")

Note that some commands, such as -LINETYPE, might begin in command line only mode, but once a dialog such as "file open" is launched, the command is no longer command-line only. Details of that process will not be covered in this post.

I hope you find this information useful.

--TomR

Update to Set Working Folder Dialog

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Set Working Folder Uses File Open Style Dialog

A new feature of Civil 3D 2019 is an update to the Set Working Folder dialog. Previously it was strictly a browse and select folder dialog. As of Civil 3D 2019, the Set Working Folder dialog now resembles a File Open dialog.

This may seem like something small but for those of you that must drill multiple folders deep to select the Working Folder for a project, this new dialog is a nice improvement because now you can copy then paste a folder path from the Windows Explorer address bar into the Set Working Folder dialog address bar or Folder path.

Convert Survey Figures to Polylines

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Sometimes survey figures are exactly what you want and other times you just want a polyline at elevation zero. If your like me, you created a figure style that flattens all elevations to zero then you exploded it. If that figure had an arcs, they became segmented like this:

I'm happy to report that there is a workflow to create these polylines with arcs from figures. I have confirmed that this workflow will work for versions 2016 through 2019. Note that the polylines will not update if the survey figure changes and is updated in the drawing.

Create a 2D figure style in your template

In your template, expand the Toolspace > Settings tab > Survey > Figures category.
Right click on Figure Styles and choose New.

In the Figure Style dialog > Information tab, set the figure style name to 2D.

In the Figure Style dialog > 3D Geometry tab, set the Figure display mode to Flatten figure to elevation and confirm that the Flatten figure to elevation is set to 0.00.

In the Figure Style dialog > Display tab, change the layer, color, linetype, and so on to meet your CAD standards then click OK.
Right click on the Toolspace > Settings tab > Survey category and choose Edit Feature Settings.

In the Edit Feature Settings - Survey dialog, expand the Default Styles category and set the Default Figure Style to the 2D figure style you just created then click OK.

Save and close the template.

Export Survey Figures to Polylines at Elevation Zero

Begin a drawing with the template that contains the 2D figure style.
Open a survey database and import figures to the drawing. The default style should be the 2D figure style.
Set the UCS to World then save the drawing.
In the application menu, select Export > Export Civil 3D Drawing.

NOTE: Exploding figures using the 2D figure style will create polylines with segmented curves. That's why you'll need to use the Export Civil 3D Drawing command to get polylines with arcs.

In the Export Autodesk Civil 3D Drawing dialog, choose the folder for the exported drawing then click Export.

When the export is complete, click OK in the Export Status Dialog then Cancel in the Autodesk Civil 3D Drawing dialog.

Open the exported drawing and confirm that the figures were exported to polylines at elevation zero.
Select all the polylines representing exported figures and copy to the clipboard with a basepoint using SHIFT+CTRL+C and entering 0,0 as the base point.
If you are replacing the figures in the original drawing, you can now delete them.
In the original drawing, confirm that the UCS is set to World then use CTRL+V and enter 0,0 as the insertion point to paste the polylines into the correct location.
Save the drawing.

An alternate workflow might be to have a separate template for importing just figures into a temp drawing so that you can export them and they will be on the correct layer. For this you'll need separate figure styles for each type of figure/layer combination you need. Then you can choose to import figures into the original base drawing onto the feature line or equivalent layer and have them displayed as a 3d object instead of a 2D object.

Set Your Site...On Feature Lines

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 07:53:00 +0000

When importing LandXML files into Civil 3D 2019, there's a new setting for Feature Lines:

Use this setting to select a site for the Feature Lines you are importing. You can select a site from the dropdown list or use the green pic icon to select a site in the drawing.

You can also assign a site independently for Alignments and Parcels if any exist in the LandXML file that is being imported.

A360 Desktop Retired

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 17:26:00 +0000

In case you didn't see the A360 Desktop Retirement - June 19th, 2018 post in May, 2018, you may not know why you are seeing an Autodesk software CER appear on your screen at startup.

What this means to you is that the content will still be in both locations, but content in your online A360 Drive account will no longer be synchronized with content in your local A360 Desktop folder.

Uninstall instructions for A360 Desktop can be found here:

How to remove A360 Desktop
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-prevent-installation-of-Autodesk-360.html

If you're looking for a replacement for the A360 Desktop synchronization on your desktop there is some useful information about the difference between A360 Drive, A360, BIM360, and Fustion Team here:

HELP: The difference between A360 Drive and A360, BIM360 & Fusion Team
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/a360-tips-tricks-tutorials/help-the-difference-between-a360-drive-and-a360-bim360-amp/td-p/6351698

Creating a Varying to Max Slope Subassembly in SAC

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 13:20:00 +0000

I recently worked on a project that had a very interesting design challenge. Even though a proposed profile had been designed, the left edge of the roadway lane should match existing grade unless the resulting cross slope was greater than 3% (or less than -3%).

I often use generic links and conditional subassemblies to tackle out of the ordinary design scenarios, but this one was a bit more challenging. It wasn't until a recent Civil Immersion post by Alan Gilbert named Finish Strong Friday: Solving for Unknowns with Subassembly Composer that I thought of this solution in Subassembly Composer.

I wouldn't tackle anything in Subassembly Composer without talking first the Queen of SAC, Kati Mercier. She confirmed that my idea would work and thankfully provided a few tips to get me going.

Let's get this party started!

Open Subassembly Composer and save the new subassembly as MaxSlopeLeftEOP.

Assign the Subassembly Name in the Packet Settings tab then save again. [You can add a description, help file, and image on this tab as well.]

On the Input/Output Parameters tab, create parameters with the values shown in the image. Set the Type before entering the Name of the parameter. [The PavementThickness parameter is used in the final version of the subassembly, but not a requirement at this point in the workflow.]

On the Target Parameters tab, create parameters with the values shown in the image. Set the Type before entering the Name of the parameter.[The EOPOffsetRight parameter is used in the final version of the subassembly, but not a requirement at this point in the workflow.]

Now that the parameters are all setup, you can begin building the geometry of the subassembly. First up is the start point. Note that I've included "CL" and "Crown" as Point Codes and set the Point Geometry Type to Delta X and Delta Y for this point.

Next we need to get the surface elevation at the left edge of the lane. Since this point will strictly be used for calculations, place an auxiliary point. This point will not be visible in the subassembly when it's used in a corridor. For this point, the geometry type will be set to Delta X on Surface. Use the LaneWidth input parameter as well as the TargetSurfaceLeft and EOPoffsetLeft target parameters to determine the horizontal and vertical position of this point. Make sure to uncheck the Add Link to From Point box on this point because we will add an auxiliary link instead of a regular geometry link in the next step.

Add an auxiliary link. Similar to an auxiliary point, this link will not be visible in the subassembly when it's used in a corridor. This link will be used strictly for calculating the potential slope of the lane.

Next we need to determine what the slope of the lane should be based on the initial calculated slope compared with the MaxCrossSlope input parameter. To do this, we'll create a variable to carry that value to the link that we later add to this subassembly. The variable type will be double. Although the initial value is not important, I prefer to assign it to the slope of the auxiliary link from the previous step as shown .

Now comes the tricky part: determining whether to use the calculated slope of the auxiliary link or to use the MaxCrossSlope from the input parameter. There are several ways to get this answer and I'm only showing one of them.

Begin by determining whether the slope of the auxiliary link (AL1) is greater than or equal to 0. Use a decision component to ask this question. It helps to label the True and False conditions when working with decision components.

The next step is to complete the Positive Slope side of this decision component. Now that we've determined the AL1 slope is positive, we need to determine if it's greater than the MaxCrossSlope input parameter. To do this we use another decision component.

All that's left to do for this decision component is set the variable value to the correct slope on each side. When you add the first Set Variable component to the left side of the decision component, it will typically default to the True (Max Slope) side.

When you add the second Set Variable component, it will be connected to the previous Set Variable Component. You will need to drag the connection point of the gray link to the False side of the second Decision component then set the variable value to AL1.slope.

Now that both results for this decision component have been assigned, we return to the first decision component to complete the false (negative value) side of that decision component. As we did on the other side of this decision component, we will begin with an additional decision component. This time we will test for the slope being less than the negative MaxCrossSlope input parameter. Don't forget to modify the connection points of the decision component gray link to match the image.

Assign the LaneSlopLeft variable on the true side of this Decision component. The difference on this side is that you'll use the negative MaxCrossSlope.

For the False side of the Decision component, use the AL1.slope value again.

Now that we have the LaneSlopeLeft variable determined, we need to add the rest of the components for this subassembly. Begin by adding another point with Type set to Slope and Delta X. The slope should be set to the LaneSlopeLeft variable and the width to EOPoffsetLeft. Add links to all four Set Variable statements then check the Add Link to From Point box in the P3 component. Don't forget to add point and line codes if needed for your design.

The subassembly works like this when the target surface is adjusted above and below the MaxCrossSlope threshold. I also show how the EOPoffset Left target affects the lane width.

From here you can add more points, links, and even shapes. Assign the slope of the right lane to be the negative value of LaneSlopeLeft (-LaneSlopeLeft) to get the following result.

In case you're wondering, Subassembly Composer is not version specific. I created this custom subassembly in version 2018 and imported the pkt file into Civil 3D 2016 for testing.

Even if this scenario doesn't match your design needs, hopefully it will spark an idea for you to spend some time creating custom subassemblies in Subassembly Composer just like Alan Gilbert's video did for me. Also be sure to subscribe to the Civil Immersion feed to see Tips for Tuesday, Finish Strong Friday, and other useful posts by Alan Gilbert, Jeff Bartels, and Jerry Bartels.

You can find more infrastructure related content at Infrastructure Reimagined. Get inspired today!

Are SHX Font Comments in PDFs a Problem for You?

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 00:05:00 +0000

Both AutoCAD 2016 and AutoCAD 2017 include improvements for working with PDFs in AutoCAD.

That means the popularity of vector PDFs will continue to grow. With or without layers, the ability to convert a PDF into CAD objects to edit and republish is a very useful process, but what if you open the PDF and move your cursor around the screen and see SHX text in comments like this?

If you want your SHX text to be converted to a comment in the PDF and you are using AutoCAD 2016, then you're in luck. If you don't want those comments created by default, just install AutoCAD 2016 Service Pack 1 and set the EPDFSHX system variable to 0 then publish to PDF.

There's an Autodesk Knowledge Network page describing the resolution to this issue.

Drawing text appears as Comments in a PDF created by AutoCAD 2016
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Drawing-text-appears-as-Comments-in-a-PDF-created-by-AutoCAD.html

Note that the setting should be 0 before you publish to PDF.

Updated Version of Screencast is Available

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 04:44:00 +0000

There is an updated version of the Autodesk Screencast. It was posted on March 29, 2016. You can download either the Windows or Mac version here.

If you have not yet tried the Autodesk Screencast recording software, you should download your free copy today. Autodesk Screencast records basic audio and video in almost any application as well as keystrokes and mouse clicks used during recordings in Autodesk products such as AutoCAD.

The Autodesk Screencast software also allows you to make some edits to the timeline such as removing a selected portion of the recording.

Once you've recorded and made adjustments to the timeline, you can post the recording on the Autodesk Knowledge Network.

The recordings you upload can be marked as private, public, or unlisted.

Read more about Autodesk Screencast here then search for other useful tips posted there as well. You can even subscribe to a user's Screencast account to get notified each time a new video or AKN is posted by that user.

What's your favorite new feature in AutoCAD 2017?

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

In case you haven't heard, AutoCAD 2017 is now available for download. Many websites are now posting the new features you'll find in this version. There's even a feature list comparing the last few versions of AutoCAD for you to review.

In case you want to learn about the new features in AutoCAD 2017, begin with the (1) Learn portion of the Start Tab. There's a (2) What's New video showing the latest and greatest new features in AutoCAD 2017. The (3) Getting Started Videos can help show you around the interface and help you start using the software. The (4) Learning Tips are useful for many disciplines and the right and left arrow buttons can be used to access additional tips. Finally there's an (5) Online Resources section with links to additional learning resources, such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to AutoCAD Basics.

You can also access Learning Videos in the Autodesk Desktop App.

If you initially decided not to migrate/import your settings from your previous version of AutoCAD, you can later access this newly updated feature using the Migrate From a Previous Release command in the Start Menu. You will need to close AutoCAD 2017 to run this command.

The new Migrate Custom Settings dialog is more user friendly than previous versions.

Centerlines and centermarks are new features for AutoCAD 2017 as well. They are dynamic, which means they move with the source objects as shown in this video.

There are more new features such as improved PDF import support and graphics enhancements including making arcs look like arcs instead of segmented arcs even during a move command. For now, though, I want to discuss one of my favorite improvements in AutoCAD 2017. You might not even notice it until I describe it to you.

In previous versions of AutoCAD, when you click the New Folder icon, you had to then select the folder and right click or select the folder twice, slowly, to edit the folder name.

In AutoCAD 2017, the folder name is highlighted by default upon creation. That means you can start typing a folder name immediately after clicking the New Folder icon.

Yes this is how it works in Windows Explorer, but now it works the same way in AutoCAD 2017.

That leads me to my initial question: What's your favorite new feature in AutoCAD 2017?

Point to Point Inverse in Civil 3D

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Richardson) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000

I find that map commands in Civil 3D can be very useful for both land surveyors and civil engineering technical staff. The problem seems to be that many users don't know about these very useful commands.

Here's a question than I'm often asked by land surveyors:

Is there a point to point inverse in Civil 3D?

The answer to this question is YES!

CGSLIST + the 'PN transparent command.

CGSLIST

CGSLIST is located on the Analyze ribbon tab in the Inquiry panel.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

The help information for this command doesn't mention vertical difference, but that information is included in the output for this command.

This command uses the settings for Angle, Distance, and Direction that are stored in the Ambient Settings of the current drawing. If you want the course (bearing) to be in N90°00'00"E format, open the Drawing Settings dialog, choose the Ambient Settings tab, change the Direction > Format setting to DD°MM'SS" and press OK. You can also change the precision for coordinates, distances, and more.

You should also expand the command line so that you can see at least five lines of the command line history.

My example begins with a drawing that contains two points that are exactly 10 feet apart horizontally and 5 feet apart vertically. This allows me to confirm the horizontal and vertical results of the command.

Using the CGSLIST Command

After selecting the Analyze ribbon tab, locate the Inquiry panel and click on the List Slope (CGSLIST) icon.

When prompted, type P and press enter to use the Points selection option. Selecting the Points option here only notifies the command that you want to select coordinate points, not Civil 3D cogo points, for the input data type.

NOTE: The command line shows that _AeccCgSList is the command running. You can also access this command by typing CGSLIST at the command line and pressing enter. If you are using Map 3D, use MAPCGSLIST. All three commands work in Civil 3D version 2015 or later.

When prompted to select a starting point, type 'PN and press enter. This will tell the command that you will be entering Civil 3D cogo point numbers instead of selecting coordinate points by clicking on the screen.

When prompted to enter a point number, enter the starting cogo point number then press enter.

The coordinates of the cogo point will appear in the command line history. Now enter the next cogo point number for the ending point then press enter.

Now...

Don't be fooled!

Even though the command shows that the 'PN transparent command is still running, the CGSLIST command has reverted to the original Select object or [Points] prompt. At this point you'll need to press ESC to exit the 'PN transparent command, type P then enter to return to the Points selection, and finally type 'PN and press enter to return to the 'PN transparent command.

If you want a command that repeats with the 'PN transparent command, record a macro. If you're interested in a follow-up blog describing how to create and use that macro, please let me know in the comments section of this posting.

Where Do You Think You're Going?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 00:41:00 +0000

I saw an interesting issue today with a General Line Label. Here's how it looked in the source drawing. A user imported a general line label style and added the label to an existing AutoCAD object in the new drawing. The problem was that the arrowheads were pointing in the wrong direction. It looked similar to this label.

I compared the style settings between the source and destination drawing. Everything matched exactly. The only difference between the original label and the new label is that the original label was on a polyline and the new label was on a line that had an elevation of 500 for one endpoint and an elevation of 0 for the other endpoint. Once I set one endpoint elevation to match the other endpoint (both at elevation 0), the label then looked exactly as it was designed to look.

Lesson of the day #1: Sometimes polylines are a better choice than a line for labeling.

Lesson of the day #2: OSNAPZ to the Rescue.

Resize Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you learn things that you don't realize others haven't seen yet. During the CV6726-P - Attack of the Roundabouts: Conquer Them with Vehicle Tracking class taught by Brian Levendowski, Infrastructure Industry Manager, CAD Technology Center, Inc., I found this to be the case with resizing of viewports in the Model tab. When Brian did this during his presentation, the previously silent classroom was filled with Oohs and Aahs and the sound of pencils/pens and paper immediately followed. Since so many in that class had not seen this feature I decided to share it with you.

Here is the step by step description.

Open any drawing with version AutoCAD 2015 or later, then set the View ribbon tab current. This also works in verticals such as Civil 3D.

Select the View Ribbon Tab
Locate the Model Viewports panel and left click on the words Viewport Configuration to activate the drop down selection list.

Accessing the Viewport Configuration drop down selection list.
From the drop down selection list, left click on Two: Vertical (or any other option except Single) to view multiple viewports on the Model tab of your current drawing.

Select a viewport configuration with multiple viewports.
With the multiple viewports visible, you can now hover your cursor over any of the adjoining lines between viewports, left click, hold, and drag to the desired location. When you get the line moved to the desired location, release the left mouse button.

Here's a video that shows these steps in action.

You can also add viewports by using the + as the beginning point of the left click, hold, and drag location. By dragging an existing viewport near another viewport boundary you can delete an existing viewport. To see this in greater detail, I refer you to Greg Battin's AutoCAD Tips blog post titled AutoCAD 2015 Resize Model Space Viewports.

Autodesk University 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 13:12:00 +0000

After several years away from Autodesk University, I'm looking forward to attending this remarkable event. I'm currently at Austin-Bergstrom Internation Airport awaiting the arrival of the plane that is scheduled to take me to Dallas where I will catch a flight to Las Vegas.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how many USB and AC outlets were available for use at the airport this morning. I even found an opening at a table with said outlets so it's even easier to use my heavy, but hopefully powerful enough, new workstation laptop. Arriving for an early morning flight meant I missed all of the US 183 morning traffic. However, the two hours of sleep I got will probably mean nap time during the flight from DAL to LAS.

Another bit of good news is that I'm still a Time Warner Cable subscriber. Though I have my complaints, especially price, I am currently enjoying the free use of the Boingo WiFi HotSpot at the airport. I'm glad I at least scan the many emails I receive from TWC throughout the year that notified me of this customer benefit.

I'm awaiting the arrival of Ishka (@C3Dish). His flight is a later one that mine so he got to sleep later than I did this morning. I'm jealous of that extra sleep right now. He and I were hoping to be on the same flight today. Unfortunately the price difference was too much compared with what his employer was offering to pay. Hopefully next year we can both get approval for the trip sooner so we can schedule our flights together. We both would enjoy discussions of Civil 3D, InfraWorks 360, and 3DS Max during the flight.

I spent some time yesterday reviewing my schedule and checking for available classes one last time. I've heard many times that an opening in a lab can be found if you keep checking. Yesterday that actually happened to me. I saw an opening in the CM8257-L - AutoCAD Customization Boot Camp: Beyond the Basics Repeat lab. Though I hadn't initially planned on taking this lab, I changed my mind once I read about it. I was looking forward to finally attending a lab this year until I got a scheduling conflict. I decided to pay it forward by selecting this lab and dropping my two lab selections that were in conflict with another event that I wanted to attend. I hope the recipients of my seats enjoy the labs.

I look forward to attending Curt Moreno's CM6160 - Standards for Developing Standards: A How-to for Busy CAD Managers instead. It's probably a better choice for me anyway. I only wish there had been some documentation to review before the class.

I can't wait to arrive in Las Vegas and get registered. There are a few presentations on my schedule for today that should be interesting including:

CV6443-P - INFSYM: BIM Best Practices for Designing Better Water Systems
CV6627-P - INFSYM: Regional Land Development and Land Planning Projects Best Practice Workflows
UT6664 - INFSYM: Did We Build It Right? Utility Project Construction and Collaboration

They are calling boarding for my flight so I'll see you in Las Vegas!

I Got Shifted!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 20:32:00 +0000

For those of you venturing into the Infrastructure Design Suites that include Raster Design, you might experience an unexpected "feature":

What happened to my shift key?

When working in Civil 3D, I use my shift key quite often. When I began using Civil 3D (with Raster Design installed), I noticed that my shift key seemed to no longer be working in two specific situations, though there may be others as well.

Hold shift and select an object to remove it from the current select set
Hold shift and select an object to switch between extend and trim commands

The shift key still worked in other cases such as shift+right click to access the osnap right click menu so I was a bit perplexed. Thankfully Mark Martinez with Enceptia knew right away how to fix the problem.

If you have Raster Design installed, there is a special setting that allows you to select an image by holding the shift key and selecting anywhere in the image. This setting can be very useful unless you need to use the shift key for other purposes such as those I listed. Mark instructed me where to disable the Shift+Left click feature that Raster Design has enabled by default. Here's the solution:

At the command line, type ioptions and press enter.
On the User Preferences tab, left click on the check mark by "Shift+Left click image select" to disable this setting.
Left click on OK to apply the setting change.

At the command line, type mapioptions and press enter.
On the General tab, left click on the check mark by "Shift+Left Click Image Select" to disable this setting.
Left click on OK to apply the setting change.

Hopefully this will keep you from pulling out your hair as I was tempted to do.

How Do I "EXPLODE" a Group?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:50:00 +0000

I was asked this question twice this week already so I thought it would be good to post the answer for others.

To "explode" a group, use the AutoCAD command: UNGROUP

Of course "exploding" a group may not be the best choice for every situation. In groups, if you just want to grip edit something within the group, set the system variable GROUPDISPLAYMODE to 0. This setting will display grips on all objects in the selected group. It will preserve the group while allowing you access to grips to make changes to individual objects within the group.

Here are a few images to show the difference between the three settings available in the GROUPDISPLAYMODE system variable. Each image shows a group consisting of an mtext object and a rectangular wipeout that has been selected within a drawing.


GROUPDISPLAYMODE set to 0

With GROUPDISPLAYMODE set to 0, the grips on all objects in the selected group will be displayed. Notice that I can adjust the limits of the wipeout or the width of the mtext object.

GROUPDISPLAYMODE set to 1

With GROUPDISPLAYMODE set to 1, a single grip at the center of the grouped object will be displayed. Notice the single grip at the center? With this setting I can't adjust the limits of the wipeout or the width of the mtext object.

GROUPDISPLAYMODE set to 2

With GROUPDISPLAYMODE set to 2, a group bounding box and a single grip at the center of the grouped object will be displayed. The only difference between this setting and the previous setting is that with the bounding box visible I can see the limits of the objects in the group.

Autodesk University 2012 Classes Posted

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:08:00 +0000

The materials and recordings for the 2012 Autodesk University classes have been posted. You can access the class list here:

You must have an AU account to access the classes. If you don't have an AU account, you can sign up for one here.

Since the announcement about this just went public, you may notice the website being a bit slow to respond. Just be patient because there are so many good classes available. In case you feel overwhelmed when you see the class listing, just refine your search such as Software: Civil 3D. There's even a filter for Language: Portuguese.

Enjoy!

OSNAPZ to the Rescue

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Do you remember the Almond Joy/Mounds commercials?

(Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.)

The OSNAPZ command in AutoCAD reminds me of those commercials.

(Sometimes I want elevation, sometimes I don't.)

The OSNAPZ command is an easy way to switch between snapping to an elevation and forcing an elevation when creating or editing AutoCAD objects. When drafting in both the Civil Engineering and Land Surveying fields, both options are useful.

From the AutoCAD help documentation:

With OSNAPZ set to 0, OSNAP uses the Z-value of the specified point. For a polyline, the elevation selected for the first vertex will be assigned as the elevation of the polyline.

With OSNAPZ set to 1, OSNAP substitutes the Z-value of the specified point with the elevation (ELEV) set for the current UCS. With the system variable ELEV set to 0, the elevation will default to 0 for all selected points.

Now hopefully I can finally get that song out of my head.

Which Way is North?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 02:59:00 +0000

Okay I admit it, the allure of one day being invited into the "Autodesk Expert Elite Program" has me checking the Autodesk Civil 3D Discussion Forums and blogging again. Since I'm only at the designated level of "Active Contributor", I have some work to do. Thanks, Autodesk!

The idea behind this post came from a question on the Autodesk Civil 3D Discussion Forums here. The issue is with a Civil 3D 2013 Dynamic North Arrow that is associated with a viewport with the UCS set to World, the dview twist angle set to "0", and the viewport set to plan. For some reason the north arrow was off by over 4.6 degrees. Bruce, a designated Autodesk "Expert Elite" himself, was kind enough to post a sample drawing to show the issue and here's what was discovered.:

Dynamic north arrows are associated with the

selected coordinate system in the Units and Zone tab.

When you place a dynamic north arrow in a layout and associate it with a viewport, the block reads the current coordinate system that is assigned in the drawing settings Units and Zone tab and adjusts the default rotation of the block based on that setting. Even if there isn't a rotation in the viewport, the north arrow won't be pointing due north as you might expect. Here's an example.:

In Civil 3D 2013, open an existing drawing or create a new drawing from scratch.
On the model tab (modelspace) draw a rectangle of any size.
In the Settings tab of Toolspace, right click on the drawing name and choose Edit Drawing Settings.
On the Units and Zone tab, set the Drawing Settings Zone Categories to No Datum, No Projection.

No Datum, No Projection

In a layout (paperspace), create a rectangular viewport from scratch. Make sure you can see the rectangle in the viewport to verify rotation throughout this example. You may need to zoom out if necessary to see the rectangle rotation better.
When you are in paperspace, there should be a Layout Tools ribbon tab available. Locate the Layout Elements Panel and select one of the built-in dynamic north arrows to place in the drawing.

Select one of the built-in Dynamic North Arrows
When prompted at the command line, select a viewport for the north arrow association.
Next you'll be prompted to select a location to place the north arrow.
The north arrow may be very small and hard to see. Set the x, y, and z scales to 20. Notice that it appears to be pointing due north when compare to the rectangle in the viewport.

North is North
To make sure we compare apples to apples, make a copy of the viewport in your drawing.
Back in the Toolspace, Settings, Drawing Settings, Units and Zone tab, set the selected coordinate system to WA83-SF, then OK.
Now place a new dynamic north arrow in the drawing using the second viewport (the copy) for the north arrow association. (Only one dynamic north arrow can be assigned to each viewport.)
Place the second north arrow near the first one and again set the x, y, and z scales to 20.
Notice that the north arrows don't point the same direction? That's because of the change made to the selected coordinate system.

Compare the Dynamic North Arrows

This is definitely something that you need to take into consideration when you use the dynamic north arrows in a drawing with an assigned coordinate system other than No Datum, No Projection. If you do need to rotate the contents of a viewport, just set the coordinate system back to No Datum, No Projection before making the change, then reset the coordinate system as needed.

Another consideration is to set the coordinate system in the base drawing and attach it to a separate sheet drawing for plotting. The sheet doesn't need a coordinate system assigned to it so there won't be a discrepancy between plan north and the rotation of the dynamic north arrow.

UPDATE: There is another solution that actually works better.

GEOGRAPHICLOCATION

In modelspace, type GEO at the command line then choose Remove the geographic location.

With the geographic location removed, you can keep the coordinate system assigned and the dynamic north arrow will point plan north as expected.

Slow Down and Render This

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 04:01:00 +0000

Yesterday, I received an email with an attached drawing. Verbally, the request was to determine why the drawing is so slow, especially when using the zoom extents.The email included the following additional information:

This file was messing up badly on Wednesday...crazy slow, etc.

This morning with my new reload of AutoCAD 2011, it wasn't as bad... but still has signs of corruption...

One thing that I noticed is that the TIN in the V-TINN-VIEW layer doesn't look right... the contours are fine... but I didn't know if you had a fix for that...

There are lots of things that can cause a drawing to be a little slow. I have a list of things I check in a drawing but I knew that many of those had already been checked by the owner of this drawing. The comment about the TIN not looking correct was definitely a clue to the problem as was the knowledge that the user had recently been working with point clouds including some third party software.

I knew the fresh install and absence of the third party software had ruled out that being the issue so my first option was simply to open the drawing. Here's what I saw in the bottom left corner of the application:

This is not the ucs icon that I typically see in my drawings. The thickness of the ucs icon elements was an indication to me that the visual style was set to something other than 2D Wireframe.

To verify my suspicion, on the View ribbon tab, I selected the dropdown on the Views Panel and found the visual style was set to Hidden.

I left clicked on the Hidden visual style and changed the visual style to 2D Wireframe.

Now the ucs icon looks as expected and the speed of the drawing has returned to "normal".

Now if you are using AutoCAD 2012 or later, take a look at the upper left corner of model space. There you should find the Visual Style Controls.

As you can see, the visual style in this drawing is now set to 2D Wireframe. Changing this setting from Hidden to 2D Wireframe greatly improved the speed of the drawing.

Don't Forget These Commands...Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Here's another system variable that I forget because I only seem to need it when working on drawings from others:

XCLIPFRAME

Here's the definition from the AutoCAD Help Menu:

When this system variable is set to 0 and you xclip an xreference drawing, you can't see the boundary of the xclip and therefor you can't invert the selection. We set this variable to 2 in our templates so that we can see the frame (for adjusting and inverting as needed), but the frame won't plot.

Quick Tip about Importing Styles and Settings

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000

If you're using Civil 3D 2012, you've hopefully already heard about the ability to Import Styles and Settings. This new command is a real time saver but be careful, because you may not be getting everything you want.

Here are a few things you won't get by using the Import Styles Command:

Object Layer Settings (Use this workaround to transfer the settings to your current drawing)
Blocks and Layers not used in styles (Use Design Center to import all layers and blocks)
Description Key (Use old style drag & drop to import into your current drawing)
Parts Lists (Use old style drag & drop to import into your current drawing)

There may be more items that aren't imported, but those three items will definitely be missing if you use the Import Styles command.

Feel free to add comments for additional items that you find missing when you use the command.

Added Parts Lists per TimStalin's comment.

What's Missing In the World of Civil 3D Points? Not This!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:06:00 +0000

Sure there are feature requests that we all have for Civil 3D points such as having full functionality of dynamic blocks within a point style, but this post is actually about what is no longer missing.

This morning I was asked how to find ranges of point numbers that were not currently being used in a drawing. In older versions of Civil 3D, one might have tried to look at the All Points point group properties for a list of points in that group. Well, now there's an easier way to get the answer.

Beginning with Civil 3D 2011, we were given this nifty new command:

LISTAVAILABLEPOINTNUMBERS

This command returns a list of point numbers that are not in use in the current drawing. Now you might be thinking that is a really long command name to remember but don't panic. Here's a how you can access the command:

In Civil 3D 2011, at the command line, type LISTA then press tab then enter. Civil 3D will auto-complete the command for you.
In Civil 3D 2012, at the command line, type LISTA then press enter (no tab key required). Civil 3D will auto-complete the command for you.
In Civil 3D 2011 or 2012, select a Civil 3D point. On the COGO Point contextual ribbon tab, look for the COGO Point Tools panel . Left click on the bottom of that panel and a fly out will appear. Choose List Available Point Numbers from the list.

So now you know one thing that is no longer missing from the world of Civil 3D points.

It's an Excel-lent Round Up

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:01:00 +0000

When working in the civil engineering world, you sometimes need to round a number up. For example, if you're looking to size circular rcp storm sewer, then you will need to be able to round to the nearest half foot. When working in Excel, the formula =ROUND(Number, Num_digits) will not give you the desired result.

So instead you should use the Excel CEILING function =CEILING(Number, Significance). The Ceiling function allows you dictate your rounding to the nearest multiple of significance.

In the case of a value of 3.298 feet that needs to be rounded up to the nearest 0.5 feet, we would use the formula =CEILING(3.298,0.5) to return a value of 3.5. Likewise a value of 2.033 would return a value of 2.5.

This great tip was provided by Steve Zobal, a coworker of mine at MWM DesignGroup.

Multiple Offsets are Already Here

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:14:00 +0000

Have you ever wanted to offset a line multiple times within one command? See how after the jump...

We'll begin by creating a polyline in a drawing. To make this a real world example, we'll assume this blue polyline represents the face of curb.

Figure 1

At the command line, type the letter O and then press ENTER to execute the offset command. You can also use the offset tool in the ribbon. Ribbon => Modify => Offset

Figure 2

When prompted, enter the desired offset distance (0.5 for the curb we are designing) and press ENTER.

Figure 3

Next you'll be prompted to select the object to offset. Left click on the object to offset (blue polyline in Figure 1).

Figure 4

This is the tricky part here: Before you select the offset side, type the letter M at the command line and then press ENTER.

Figure 5

The command line will again prompt you to specify the point on side to offset, but this is the cool part: You can keep selecting sides to offset! You can also switch from one side of the original object to the other side. For this face of curb example, select one time near Selection Point #1 in Figure 6, then three more times near Selection Points #2, #3, & #4 as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6

When you've completed the offset side selections, press ENTER. You will then be prompted to select another object to offset. Proceed with additional offsets or press ENTER again to complete the command.

Figure 7

Now you have the offsets you need for the curb, but there's two extra offsets that need to be deleted. The extra offsets that need to be deleted are shown as magneta lines in Figure 8.

Figure 8

The final results should look like this:

Figure 9

Hopefully this multiple offset feature will help you be more efficient and productive on your next project.

Properties vs List - Same or Different?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:30:00 +0000

Though the properties palette is packed with information, there may be something missing. Here's an example of information that the list command reports that isn't available in the properties palette:

In Figure 1.0, there are four feature lines. The three red feature lines have been added to the surface, but the fourth feature line (the blue one) has not been added to the surface. How do I know that? It's all in the properties...just not the properties palette.

Figure 1.0

Figure 1.1 shows the information that is available in the properties palette for a feature line that has been added to a surface (such as one of the red feature lines in Figure 1.0):

Figure 1.1

If I run the list command on the same feature line (one that has been added to a surface), Figure 1.2 shows the information that is provided in the command line:

Figure 1.2

Notice that for this Civil 3D object, the properties in the "General" section of the properties palette don't appear in the list command results. Though some of the "Data" section of the properties palette is being reported in the list command results, a very useful property, "Breakline Data", only appears in the list command results and not in the information reported in the Properties Palette. The "Breakline Data" property lists the surface that contains the feature line definition in it and the breakline set. This information could be important if you need to delete this feature line but want to know if deleting the feature line will affect your surface definition.

Figure 1.3 shows the properties of a feature line that has not been added to a surface (such as the blue feature line in Figure 1.0).

Figure 1.3

Notice that for this feature line, the "Breakline Data" property has been omitted from the list command results. That's how I know that this feature line has not been added to a surface definition in this drawing.