Learning Civil 3D

Modelling Rail Data in 2014

2014-08-07T15:56:00.002-04:00

As can be seen between posting dates, I have taken a significant amount of time from posting to this blog. As career responsibilities change, my time spent directly on the software fluctuates. Some recent moves have brought me closer to working with Rail, and after a somewhat feeble attempt to master Microstation and Bentley Powerail, I noticed some rail features in Civil 3D 2014. To say the least, building off what I was already familiar with was going to be easier than learning two different software simultaneously.

While I certainly don't get any Civil 3D kickbacks, and I'm not always pleased with how the software reacts and some developing frivolous changes, this one was a welcome component. So consider this posting a kudos to AutoDesk as well as in information session for modelling rails in using the software.

To begin modelling your rail in Civil 3D, ensure you have an alignment, design profile and an existing surface.

Image1

Be sure you have your alignment defined as "Rail". You can do this during creation or right-click and change the properties.

Image 2

Be sure to adjust your rail gauge. After that you can again right-click and select "Edit Cant" from the selections shown below. NOTE: If you are not similar with rail terms, "cant" is the equivalent of "superelevation".

Image 3

The Cant Wizard will open if no cant has already been applied. You will be prompted to input the type of rail pivot method (location where cant is applied about). This will also be the hold point from the profile.

Image 4

Adjust any known design settings parameters in the following screen:

Image 5

If you have already gone through this process you should be able to open up right to the editor (shown below). Applying cant goes beyond the scope of this posting, but if the cant has already been determined you can adjust the numbers right in the table to Applied Cant.

Image 6

The image below shows (from top to bottom):

proposed and existing profiles
cant view table
alignment with surface and sample lines

Image 7

Screen below shows 3 elevations, after zooming into the Cant View table. Left Rail, Centerline, Right Rail

Image 8

Create a sample lines, and possibly sheets, as explained in my previous post. Check the elevations are being applied to the low rail. A section view cut from a sample yields the image below.

Image 9

And a blow-up detail of the image above, here:

Image 10

Note the profile view (below) agrees with lower top of rail at Sta 0+956.65 = 32.32 m Elev as shown on the section.

Image 11

You now have the the beginning components to model your railway. Complete the details of the tie-in and create your cross-sections, if required, using Creating Cross-Section Sheets.

Hope you find that helpful! Thanks for reading.

Another Elusive Annotative Text Exercise

2014-01-30T12:29:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone!

It’s been quite a while since my last recent, but breathe easy ;) I am still around.

Fortunatley (or unfortnatley depending on perspective) the last project I was on I had less to do with the set up. I still had to delve into some of the drawings of course and this was one of the many issues that caused me great headaches. This next post was something that I believe to be a systemic approach with respect to drawings setup, but the post explains a work around after the drawing setup is a fail.

***I CANNOT STRESS DRAWING COLLABORATION SETUP ENOUGH. THE DESIGN TEAM NEEDS TO CONSIDER WHAT SHOULD BE IN FILES AND HOW THEY WILL EFFECT THE END USER, ESPECIALLY DURING THE CONSTRUCTION SERVICES PORTION. DRAWING NEED TO BE FLEXIBLE AND EFFICIENT LATER IN THE PROJECT (PARTICULARLY FOR DESIGN-BUILD PROJECTS)

In this post, I am going to walk the reader (hopefully you) what do in the case when there is text in design files.

NOTE: THIS IS SOMETHING I ATTEMPT TO PROTEST DURING FILE SETUP. NO DESIGN TEXT IN THE XREF (topography is fine). THIS IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TOPIC AND CAN BE DISCUSSED AS A SIDEBAR CONVERSION.

Ok….let me paint the picture. A design file with storm/sanitary sewer is created and referenced in a package for a Construction Package. Civil 3D text of pipe sizes are dynamic and included in the design file. The Construction sheet is to plot at 1:500. A realization was made, that the proposed works which will go under a set of rail tracks, will require permit. The drawing must be recreated and as luck would have it the scale is to be 1:250. Not only will you have to ensure the leaders’ positions are scaled correctly, you’ll also notice that all your text may not have been Civil 3D annotative text. The Civil 3D labels scales but the additional notes don’t. What a mess!

Image 1 below shows the drawings at the 1:250 scale. Notice that most of the text is scaled to a professional level, but the “TRACK LOAD INFLUENCE ZONE”, “MIN 0.3…” and “XXX STM” sizes appears as though a Jeff Foxworthy fifth grader added them. Now, if text wasn’t in the design files you wouldn’t have this problem, but it’s too late for that so let’s look at a duct tape fix.

Image 2 shows how are the labels appear the same size in the design file, prior to any viewports being added.

Now in the design file. If you select the text (“TRACK…” text). You’ll note that the text is not Annotative.

Image 4 shows you how to give that text a flexibility to show annotatively in future viewports. In our case we need to set up to be shown at 1:250. Follow the red marking below to add your desired scale(s).

When you get back into the design file, you can select the text and see a faint second writing of the same text – Image 5. If you see this, you’re on the right track.

Intuitively, you think you be finished here, but that`s not the case. You`ll have to actually select into the text box, select the text and see that the text highlighted is being marked as Annotative – Image 6 and 7.

This last process it quite convoluted and sometimes the text box states that it is already annotative, but when you actually highlight the text it doesn’t show the Annotative option. Be sure this selected.

Now save your design file, go back to your sheetfile and regenerate. You may have to work on justification and other things pertaining to a location, but understand this is a last resort when you’re trying to recreate things without making too many changes to a drawing.

Hope that helps.

Berms Supporting Your Ditches - Corridor

2013-02-03T14:06:00.001-05:00

Well, it's been sometime since I've posted and figure it's about that time, just so all know I am alive and well. I'm sure you were all concerned ;) My own work these days takes me away from working intimately with the software all day long (The grass will always been greener).

There are several things to discuss regarding C3D with respect to its sharing capacities and archiving. As the software's popularity increases, I heed a word of caution. Be sure to have a planned out structure of all the drawings/models you intend on having, and within each, determine what type of details plan on storing in them - both now and much later into the project. I may attempt to add notes from the types of discussions I've had and problems that some design teams have incurred in subsequent posts.

I digress.....

The following example is to detail an option of adding a berm on the outer extents of your corridor, when the ditches you model do not provide proper containment and conveyance.

Your design calls for cut ditches, but the fill on the foreslope only allow for half the depth. In other words, the ditch does not have the capacity to convey the runoff to the next tributary.

Image 1

Image 1 shows the corridor modelled with ditches. Let's concentrate on the left-side.

Image 2

In the screen capture above you see the ditch has minimal depth and the ditch requirement based on storm calculations requires at least a 0.8m depth ditch. This ditch depth is only approx half meter (0.92-0.45). We require additional fill to provide a berm that can contain the storm water. To do this it's a simple as adding another target.

I scanned the cross-sections to determine were depth requirements weren't being met. I just drew a line (white) within the corridor representing this range.

Image 3

Convert this to a Feature Line. Btw, you don't have to worry about a precise location for it. It will be used more in a true/false fashion. If the line is found in this section a berm is to be modeled, if not....no berm. How do we do this? Just like we've done before - using conditional targets.

Add the conditional targets to the desired location on the assembly. In this case I added them to them bottom left side of the ditch.

Image 4

Notice the additional generic links on the "Target Found" condition. This is what builds up the berm, if the feature line is targeted through that section. Open up Target Parameters and populate the Object Name field with the feature line you created. I named mine "BERM LOCATION (3)". Be sure to choose the object for both the Found and Not Found conditions.

Image 5

Refresh the corridor and with any luck you'll see the berm addition.

Image 6

You'll also notice in the corridor itself that the model bulges out coinciding with the location of the feature line (blue grips below)

Image 7

Hope you found this useful and possibly can utilize this concept in similar manners. Remember, the feature line doesn't have to placed in the exact location, you just have to show intent of what you want to happen. The corridor modelling takes care of the rest.

George

Civil 3D Code Set Labels Being Reset

2012-07-18T14:36:00.001-04:00

In response to a previous post.....

http://learningcivil3d.blogspot.ca/2012/07/adjusting-individual-labels-in-civil-3d.html?showComment=1342557212823#c6479961494517713913

The issue:

The User has a corridor xref'ed into a new drawing (new drawing contains sample lines and cross-section views). The code set styles have several labels on them and some of the labels need to take on a "Dragged State". Previously, the user would drag all labels so no overlap would occur. Upon closing and reopening the drawing the labels would all be reset to their original location.

The drawing below shows two labels "dragged" and the rest "as composed". Prior, the two dragged labels would be placed as composed after closing the drawing.

This has been taken care of in Civil 3D 2012 Service Pack 2.

To download the surface pack, visit:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=20021271&linkID=9240698

Civil 3D Project Setup

2012-07-17T15:59:00.000-04:00

There is abundant information on the internet about performing Civil 3D commands for desired results, but not as much for actually setting up a project. While it's great to be up and running in Civil 3D, if you don't have good folder structure you'll run into headaches that may make you want to smash you system down the elevator shaft (or just toss it under a sheepsfoot).

Below, I am outlining what has worked for projects I have worked on and am currently working on. Keep in mind that this simple project folder approach allows you to break items down, making even large projects more manageable. If you're working on smaller projects you may not think this isn't necessary, but from experience I can say that the more things get broken down, the less things will break down. This will also allow more users to work concurrently on the project, and more importantly lessen the chances of your entire project being corrupted.

Civil 3D Project Setup

Set working folder in Civil 3D to current project.

Image 1

Right-click to access “New Data Shortcuts Project Folder”.

Image 2

After you select New Data Shortcut Folder the Dialogue window will open as shown below. For name type in Civil 3D and be sure to check “Use project template”.

Image 3

Note the Project template folder path may be different . Choose “_Civil3DFolderStructure” (circled in red). Type “c3d’ under the name (blue).

The project should create a folder structure as shown below. (There folders were previously defined to be included in “_Civil3DFolderStructure”. You can adjust folders you deem necessary, but each folder listed below is used to house each type of Civil 3D object that may be encountered.

Image 4

In these folders this should be were you create you Civil 3D models (eg. Alignments, corridors, profiles, etc in their respective folders). There is a folder named “z_archived_models”, which is to be used for archiving older model files. Inside that folder is another folder “yyyy.mm.dd”. Change the name of the date and copy all the contents, exception “z_archived_models” into the dated folder.

Image 5

For proper archiving you will have to “Promote” C3D objects in the archived drawings.

When creating a new drawing……..

Use the GO_TEMPLATE.dwt file. In this case I have a template I have adjusted Civil 3D object styles. You can use NCS standards that come out of the box, if you don't have any adjusted styles yet.

J:\Division\PPM\PM Library\Transit\GO SETUP

(Your location will be different. Somewhere on the network is advised so all team members have the same access)

This file has been altered to include specific alignment, profile and cross-section styles. It also has pipe structures included and tabs that have the GO border in it. The GO border is created using fields. The fields will allow changes to be made to the border via the Sheet Set Manager.

See Creating Cross-Section Sheets on a previous post for more information.

Delete the tabs that are not being used in those drawings. For example (see below), if you are creating a 1:500 Plan and Profile Sheet, only leave the circled tab.

Image 6

The other tabs are set for:

a. 1:500 Plan

b. 1:1000 Plan

c. 1:200 Cross-Sections

Best Practices are to create Profiles in their own drawing, Alignments in their own drawing and cross-sections in their own drawing. The sample lines will have to be included in the cross-section drawings. Prior to creating sample lines, you should attach (NOT OVERLAY)*[i] your corridor into a blank drawing (created from the template) that you will house the sample lines and the x-sections in. Once you shortcut the alignment and profile in you can add sample lines over the corridor.

I apologize if this post isn't as direct as others, but one must understand there are several liberties that each individual user can take here. I had to consider one client and make modification based on their desires.

[i] If you overlay rather than attach, you’ll most likely encounter quantity definitions being defined.

Creating a Pipe Label Style….with Inverts.

2012-07-11T15:30:00.003-04:00

You’ve come this far….great! Crack open a couple Attaboys. or Attagirls. A pipe network has been created in your Civil 3D model. You’ve laid it out in plan view and have even established inverts that flow. However, inverts elevations don’t help in plan view, so you have to show the inverts on profile view as part of the construction documents. Of course, you know Civil 3D has this capability but you’re not sure how to access it. Well….this post will show you!

I’m going to assume you have some kind of pipe network modeled in, similar to below. In the image below you’ll notice I have three arbitrary pipe runs – from the top down: sanitary, storm, water.

Image 1

You’ve also managed to create a Profile View and project the pipes onto the Profile View. If you haven’t figure out how to add the structures/pipes to the Profile View, you’ll find a simple right-click will give you the answer you’re looking for.

Image 2

You’ll notice in the image below that Sanitary Structures (Red) are already labelled. We’ll run through making edits to a style that includes invert information.

Image 3

There are several ways about going about this, but let’s just start with any label by selecting any Storm Structure (Green), right-clicking and selecting Add Label.

Image 4

The default label styles set in this drawing shows a label without inverts. My label style shows Rim Elevation and relative alignment information (Yours, almost certainly, will look different and you’ll have to make adjustment for aesthetics).

Image 5

To begin to make adjustments to the Label Style, right-click on the label and select Edit Label Style. The Structure Label Style dialogue box opens.

Image 6

From the Structure Label Style dialogue box, click the drop-down box. It’s always a good idea to make a copy of the current selection, as shown below.

Image 7

After you made a copy, feel free to make modifications at will to change the aesthetics of the label. While you’re in there, add a new Component by selecting Text for Each as shown below.

Image 8

Select Structure All Pipes as shown below.

Image 9

In the Text category, select in the Contents field to give you access to the Text Component Editor. Since you used Text for Each you’ll have the options pertaining to the connected pipe(s). Notice below, I used Connected Pipe Direction and Connected Pipe Invert Elevation (don’t forget to hit the arrow to add the information to the list).

Image 10

Again, you’ll have to make some adjustment as far as Anchor Components and Attachments go.

Below, I’ll show you what worked for me……Keep in mind, the first (Image 11) is the general component and the second (Image 12)is the new component that has invert information.

Image 11

Image 12

That should get you a desired result that looks something close to the representation below.

Image 13

Keep in mind that you may have to make some adjustments to the Dragged State of the label.

Hope this helps!

-George

Adjusting Individual Labels in Civil 3D

2012-07-09T10:22:00.001-04:00

Just because Civil 3D does a good portion of the work for us in the production sense, keep in mind there will always be some clean up to do. The code style created (displayed in cross-section below) shows a ROW label and offset labels (daylight and Face of Curb). So what do you do when you get overlap of two labels, as shown below? Obviously, you move one.

Image 1

In regular Autocad this was quite obvious. In Civil3D it is quite simple, but the capability is somewhat hidden.

You’ll see that when trying to select on one of the labels to drag, the command will select all labels in the code set style. In the image below, I tried selecting just the left offset label.

Image 2

This does not isolate the one label as needed. To isolate the label so that you can have the ability to drag it, before anything is selected, hold down the CTRL button and then select the label you want to drag.

Image 3

Now the blue grip shows up isolated on the desired label. Now, just grab the grip and slide to the desired location.

Image 4

Keep in mind that your label style for this label will change from “Layout” state to “Dragged State”.

Image 5

You may have to make a few aesthetic changes to the Dragged State condition to ensure it is being displayed to your clients’ preferences.

May seem a bit cumbersome, but remember the predecessor option. :) Hope that helps.

Creating Cross-Section Sheets

2012-07-05T10:49:00.001-04:00

You’re at a point where you’ve added your Sample Lines to your Alignment and your Corridor is built. Now you’re finally at the money maker point of producing Cross-Section Sheets.

Again, there are a few ways of going about this. I’ll demonstrate one, and afterwards explain why this is my preferred method (for the time being).

From the Home Ribbon, in the Profile and Section Views select Create Multiple Views.

Image 1

The Create Multiple Section Views – General dialogue box opens.

Image 2

Alternate though the headings on the left. Make sure you have the proper Alignment and Sample Line Group chosen. You’ll also notice above that I have created a new Section View Style.

The second heading – Section Placement is what I want to emphasize. You’ll notice below, on the dialogue box below that I am using Production for Placement Options.

Image 3

I have chosen a Layout created in a template, that for the time being is saved on my Desktop. The critical point is to create the layout correctly. To do this open your border dwg or dwt file and follow the next step.

Image 4

I have circled a few things on the screenshot above (showing the Properties of the selected viewport). From the top down:

-Scale for Cross-sections is set to 1:200

Notice Custom Scale is 5 since metric drawings are 1:1000 to begin with.

-Viewport Type – Section

This must be selected from the Civil 3D Section View to function. If not, you will probably get an error that mentions something about the layout not having any section views.

-A Layout tab corresponding to a 1:200 scale that can be chosen selected in Image 3.

You’ll notice the screenshot above has multiple tabs. This is the template file. Be sure to save it as “.dwt” file after you make your updates to create the correct size sheet, otherwise it won’t be available for selection (Image 5).

Image 5

Continue to hit Next and modify some of the options as you desire. Alternatively, just select Create Sections Views from above.

Once the sections are created, check to see that your page sized correctly.

Image 6

The image above shows the section views created in Model Space. The dimensions show the inside border dimension and the outside page. Compare what was created in Paperspace on the 1:200 Layout.

Image 7

Notice that in Paperspace the inside border measures 800.2903 corresponding to the 160.0581 from Image 6. Remember the 1:200 Standard scale which corresponds to Custom Scale of 5 for a 1:1000 Metric scale as shown on Image 4. (800.2903/160.0581=5)

Now you can begin to create new drawings using your border template and accurately window the cross-section views created by Civil 3D in modelspace.

The process is complete, but I’d be leaving you hanging if I didn’t explain why the preference was made to create the cross-sections in Modelspace and use separate drawings for each individual cross-sections sheet. So my best reasoning for this logic is to access the ability of the Sheet Set Manager. You can see from Image 8 below, that the border consists of Fields (greyed out).

Image 8

Fields are employed for the purpose of using the Sheet Set Manager, which allows global changes to the border as well as the ability to make those change (and print/plot) without even opening the drawing (read: Saves mucho tiempo!)

If your unfamiliar with using Fields and Sheet Set Manager, check this link out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Fp0OJ20pg

Errant Alignment Commands

2012-06-06T08:12:00.000-04:00

Ever create an alignment from a PLINE (object) and get what appears to be a glitch when you use the inquiry too? Maybe it looks something like this……

Image 1

From the image above you see that the Inquiry Tool is reading from somewhere out in space, when it should be reading perpendicularly off of the alignment (eg. Red line should be extending perpendicular from Green one).

To resolve this.......check to see that you the PLINE you created the object from was FLATTENed. And by FLATTEN, I mean actually go through the process of flattening it. This was the first thing I happened to check and all elevations were in fact reading “0”.

Image 2

However, when I recreated the alignment I still had the same problem. Then….I actually went through the process of using the FLATTEN command, and when I created the alignment this time, it finally corrected. (Be sure to hit YES to remove hidden lines).

Image 3

As you see, sometimes in Civil 3D, it’s not enough just to visually check.

It is best not to create an Alignment from objects, but sometimes you just want a quick and dirty of a previous created alignment. Possibly you had run this project in Land Desktop previously, but want to make use of some of the Civil 3D functions.

Anyway, hopefully you find this post if you are having trouble using the Inquiry Tools for an Alignment.

NOTE: ONE MORE THING TO CHECK IS: ENSURE THAT THERE ARE NOT DUPLICATE OBJECTS OVER TOP OF EACH OTHER.

Shortcut to Deleting Shortcuts

2012-02-14T22:25:00.000-05:00

Recently, I was trying to clean up a received Civil 3D file that had shortcuts with broken links. I no longer required the shortcuts, so felt ok about deleting them. I couldn't figure out how to perform a mass delete on the shortcuts for quite a while. I began the tedious process of deleting the shortcuts one-by-one. I searched on the internet, but only found someone else asking the same question with no valid response.

Image 1

I couldn't put myself to continue the process. I started to click around, when I noticed the entire list being repeated on the lower portion of the Prospector tab (see below). From here I was able to select the list, right-click and delete.

Image 2

With the time I just saved performing that task, I was able to document it and share it with anyone having the same difficulty.

Hope this helps.

Importing Points and Adjusting Point Styles

2012-01-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

This is an approximate play-by-play for Lectures on Monday, January 16 and 17. If you happen accross this page and would like to follow, I'd be willing to share the the template and ascii file referenced below if you join the blog as a "follower". :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Open Autodesk Civil 3D. (2011)

Import Civil 3D template (handed out in class) - cv406(winter).dtw (dwtextension signifies Autodesk Template file). Setting the template can be done multiple ways. Here are two:

1) Type OP to bring up the Autocad options menu. Determine where templates are currently being stored, by examining the path shown below.

Copy the template to the path shown listed under "Drawing Template File Location". Template is now stored and should be easily accessible to create a new drawing from.

On the command prompt, type _NEW. The template path will open and the desired template can be selected.

2) Alternatively, the dwt file can be copied to a location and dragged into the drawing window. This will open a new drawing with "drawing#.dwg". Be sure to check layer manager and some of the settings on prospector to determine that the template was indeed imported.

Save the file name. Suggested file name is "LastName_FirstName.dwg".

If the template was imported correctly, you will see; a drawing scale of 1:200 (metric) in the bottom corner. The new name saved at the top of the screen. A list of Points Styles shown in the Toolspace.

Now that a rough template has been established, we can import a point file. The one distributed in class "cv406-points.txt" was determined to be in the format - Point Number, Northing, Easting, Elevation, Description (comma delimited).

Let's begin the import process of the acsii file.

From the Ribbon Bar....

Click the Points pulldown menu, then click on Point Creation Tools to open the toolbar.

After the toolbar opens, select Import Points which will generally be located on the extreme right of the toolbar.

Populate the Import Points dialogue box as show below. Be sure to choose "PNEZD (comma delimited)". Under Source File Click the "plus" icon on the right side of the box and path back to where the text file was previously saved.

I went a step further here by importing the points directly into a point group for easier manipulation. (Reasons for this were discussed in class). Click OK.

Type ZE for zoom extents.

Your import should look like shown below.

After further inspection, we see that some of our points come in with symbols (ie. Station, Trees), but not all.

Some points, such as ground shots (spot shots for grade only) will not require symbols, but we can manipulate how those points looks. Several were discussed in class. I'll provide some information on a couple of them below.

A good way of accomplishing this, is to create point groups for certain things you will want to change.

Here's is an example provided below:

Right-click on Point Group and select New as shown below.

When the window opens, give this group a name "Iron Bars" and change the point style to "Iron Pin". This will add a symbol defined in the template to the Iron Bars collected in this point group.

We should visibly inspect that the point group creation was implemented correctly.

Notice above, that there were 6 points filtered into the group, one of which has a suffix of "/POW". This point was included because of the "*" wild card character mentioned earlier.

Right-click on point 102, and select the Zoom to option. This will allow us to inspect that the symbol for the iron pin was added to the point.

After we zoom into 102, we see that an Iron Pin symbol was added.

We can continue making changes to all aesthetic attributes in this fashion. Please remember a few of the other items demonstrated in lecture including, what to do when a point was two point codes and how to prioritize. As shown in one of the earlier images, point 183 has a description of "IPF/POW" and may be included in more than one point group. If so, remember you can prioritize your groups, by right clicking on Point Groups in the Prospector and setting the order (Top taking priority).

This is the start of building a topographic basemap. We will continue building a site from this information.

Don't forget to have your automatic save location noted, and maybe even bookmarked!

Here is the link to the AIA Cad Standards........

http://www.cadinstitute.com/download/pdf/AIA%20Layer%20Standards.pdf

Civil 3D Text Sizing - When Dynamic Labeling Isn't So Dynamic

2012-01-05T01:47:00.000-05:00

One of Civil 3D's great benefits, transforms to grief when you can't seem to translate text sizes from model space to paper space. If you've decided to add text to model space and want to create viewports of the model, the text may show too big, too small or not at all. Below, I'll show you the settings you should check if you run into this problem.

The image below shows a drawing in model space with text sized at the intended size for a 1:500 scale drawing.

Image 1

Notice the station labels circled in red, as well the 1:500 scale annotation setting. To get this text showing 1.0mm high on the 1:500 setting the label style needs to be set to 2.0mm as shown below.

NOTE: Measurement is halved since drawings in model are 1:1000 rather than 1:500, however; this will be irrelevant as shown later in the post.

Image 2

A closer inspection in modelspace shows the text size to measure at the correct 1.0mm.

Image 3

All seems to be going great. Until you get into paperspace and create your viewports. For some strange reason your dynamic text isn't so dynamic. The situation shown below, not only doesn't display the text at the wrong size, but doesn't show it all. Notice the text that was circled in Image 1 doesn't appear in paperspace.

Image 4

The first trouble shooting action is to check the viewport scales. The image below shows the viewport having the same scale as model space. In theory, the text size should be showing 2.0mm high.

Image 5

So the grief begins....you start checking layers, creating new viewports, thawing everything. All to no avail. Do yourself a favor and check the Page Setup Manager. The Page Setup Manager is accessed by right-clicking on the tab of the viewport you are concentrating on.

Image 6

The image above shows the plot size to be 11.00 x 17.00. The Page Setup Manager's plot size will have to correspond to the size of the viewport and border in paperspace. Revisions shown below correspond to the metric dimensions actually sized for the border.

Image 7

Assuming that all layers are thawed (including "viewport only freezes") the text labels will now be sized as originally set in the Label Style Composer (Image 2).

Image 8

Now that you've found your missing Civil 3D labels, or adjusted the text to the correct label size, you can go back to burying yourself back in the design work rather than Civil 3D settings and styles nuances.

One year later......

2011-12-28T17:20:00.000-05:00

Well...it's been over a year since I began posting Civil 3D exercises. I want to thank the people who have encouraged me to add more posts. It's not exactly motivational to post when people aren't offering feedback, so you can understand that your messages are truly appreciated.

I hope to continue to post into 2012 and possibly even more. Since this is a blog and not a formal "how-to" site, it can be quite random. Hopefully, a search engine brought you to a posting you found relevant. My intention for the new year, will be to add posts how to build Civil 3D data from the bottom up. The idea will be to introduce the new user, possibly providing a more linear format to the site. I, personally, have temporarily shifted to academia from industry. I will be teaching Civil 3D in a community college setting in the new year, and hope to structure the postings based on lecture material. Of course, I may still happen to have a "hand" in industry concurrently, and may make sporadic posts on current "real-world" projects.

I want to thank everyone for visiting in 2011, even for a brief visit. I wish you a patient and prosperous new year!

George

Compiling Pothole Information – Ya Dig?

2011-11-23T23:54:00.000-05:00

Since most of us aren’t designing in greenfields these days, the design we consider has to be investigated with respect to current conditions. In particular to the underground utlity, water and sewer designer(s), they must obtain information of what exists under the surface.

For most, the way to gather this information is to have a subsurface company go out to the job site and perform potholes/testpits (whatever lingo you use).

What I hope to describe hereinafter is how to process that information, once it is received from the subsurface exploration. Since it will be coming from a outside source your simple N,E,Elev doesn't necessarily apply. Of course, you could strip the file down and do some rearranging to conform to this format, but doing this you would lose pertinent field comments attached to the output file. Notice in Image 1, how much more information is being supplied, in excess of the Northing, Easting and Elevation.

Below is an image of the spreadsheet file received from a subsurface exploration company:

Image 1

Once you get a chance to look at the file, you have to decide what you what to strip out to avoid confusion. I have chosen to remove; “X, Y, Z” of “Adjacent Ground”, “Size and Formation”, “Date Exposed” and “Picture”. Once you determine what columns you can do away with, delete them from the spreadsheet. Subsequently, you can delete the rows that contain the text of the headings. In the case above, delete rows 1 through 4 (but keep in mind what each column still represents). I also took it one step further and deleted any row that didn’t contain pot hole information eg. Row 2, 3 and 4.

If you notice in the slightly modified spreadsheet below, some cells that contained no data, I replaced with “NA”. This serves as a place holder for converting from an Excel to a Text Tab Delimited File.

Image 2

With the stripped down file, now you can convert it to an ascii file for import. Don’t worry if it’s not in N,E,Elev format. I’ll show you how to modify that, so it inserts all the information, when you import points.

Save the xls file as csv file.

Image 3

After you save it and open it again. It will look like this…….

Image 4

After you have it defined as a csv file, save it again Text Tab Delimited Format (below).

Image 5

Open the txt file and it should look like this (it may need some minor adjustments, by backspacing and tabbing to line columns up).

Image 6

(Notice above that no cells except ones in quotes have spaces in them.)

Now you have a file that is ready to be imported. If you don't have Civil 3D open yet, now is a good time.

First thing to do is set up your drawing. Use your Civil 3D Template to create a new drawing. I xref’ed in the existing utility file, since this is what information we are checking (verifying horizontal location, as well documenting vertical). Theoretically, the potholes should shown over the lines of the found potholes shots.

Image 7

Click on “Points from File”

Image 8

Image 9

On the image above from the “Import Points” dialogue box, click the icon next to “Autodesk Uploadable File”. The “Point File Formats” dialogue opens. Click “New”. Then click on “User Point File” (highlighted).

Fill out the "Point File Format" Dialogue box. I just called it “Potholes1”. Set the delimeter in the top right to be blank (meaning spaces/tabs). This differs depending on how you created your txt file. The next step is to test how your text file will be imported. On the bottom left (Image 10), click “Load”.

Image 10

Select your txt file. Hopefully it should have loaded as shown below:

Image 11

Now comes the tricky part. All the headings that read “<unused>”, you will have to label what they are so the information on the bottom part of the screen knows what it will be used as. The problem is you won’t have the selection you’ll need to label with the exception of Northing, Easting and Elevation and possibly Description. So you’ll have to leave this area and go to another to create U"ser Description Formats". There are several other Formats to chose from, such as Longitude and Latitude, but this is not information you are trying to get from spreadsheet to drawing.

Go into “Settings” from the Toolspace. Right-Click on “User-Defined Property Classification” and select “New”. You’ll notice below I created a group called “Potholes”. Once that group is created you can Right-click on the group and add New. Notice below I created 6 user-defined classifications. I gave them the format “String” since they are basically comments and will not be used to do any calculations.

Image 12

This will be a bit tedious of a task, but will be well worth it if you are constantly receiving new pothole data. Now once those are created, you’ll have additional options to select in the “<unsused>” headings in Image 11.

So returning to Image 11 and selecting the new User-Defined Properties, the dialogue box should look like this……

(just click on "<unused>" and a pulldown menu will show that includes out-of-the-box description formats as well as the new String formats you created.)

Image 13

To test the points will be inserted correctly. Click Load on the bottom left, select the txt file. The bottom half of the box should populate. Hit “Parse” to see if the information gets collimated correctly.

Image 14

The points are now ready to be imported. Run through the process of importing the points. It is a good idea to add these points to a Point Group based on the date received. It will be likely you will receive multiple sets and it's always good practice to break points into groups early on. You can always consolidate them later if you wish.

Below is a screen capture showing the points imported (in approximate location to the utlity). It shows with additional information that come in from User-defined classification. You’ll have to go a little further in modifying the Labels/Label Style to show the additional comments. I can explain this in another post if I get any feedback. This may have been too much to uncover in one post.

Image 15

Realize that not all is lost just because the points are not showing labels. The data is still in the point list as shown in the image below.

Image 16

You’ve done most of the grunt work already and it doesn’t require too much more if you can already get this far. You can see the benefit of adding the User-Defined information to the drawing, rather than using basic Descriptions. Seeing the comments on the screen as your designing your utilities and laterals can be invaluable.

Of course, this works for other applications but this is one that I personally have found useful.

Hope I didn't bury you on this one!

Again, good luck!

George

Labeling the Right-of-Way

2011-10-31T00:01:00.001-04:00

There are several ways of showing this. Here's a quick and dirty.....

Road as shown below. Red lines are the ROW (cyan lines are daylight lines).

Image 1

Create alignments for the ROWs. I used "Create Alignments from Objects" in this example. Also, be sure to have your centerline alignment defined.

Image 2

Select "Sample Lines" from the Ribbon menu.

Image 3

Follow the command prompt by selecting your centerline alignment and then locate the station you want to set your sample line on. It doesn't matter where you put the sample line, because you can always slide it along the alignment later.

Once the sample line is in place, select "Section View", right under "Sample Lines" on the Ribbon.

Image 4

If you already have an existing surface either in your drawing or shortcut in, you should see something similar to what is shown below. Of course, it depends on you Section View Style.

Image 5

Now right-click on the sample line (white line shown above). Click on "Sample Line Group Properties". The following dialogue box should present itself. Once there, click on "Profile Grade" (highlighted below)

Image 6

Add the two ROW alignments you defined earlier.

Image 7

Notice in the image above, there is no data in the Profile cells. Go back to the profile menu and "Create Surface Profile" for both ROW alignments.

Image 8

Go back to the previous dialogue box (Image 7). You should now see options to select under "Profile", as well as "Marker Style". In this case, there was already a marker style set up for a ROW at 1:100 scale. Unfortunately, this isn't included out-of-the-box and you'll have to find something that work for you.

Image 9

You'll be able to modify your Marker Style so it is represented on your client's requirements.

Image 10

If you decided to read through this entry, I hope it made your day just a bit easier.

-George

Pavement and Top of Curb Labeling via Civil 3D Expressions

2011-07-27T00:27:00.000-04:00

When creating a grading plan, a typical production plan shows a "pavement" and "top of curb" location in the exact same spot. Obviously, if you show the label at the same spot the "pavement" (P) and "top of curb" (TC) will show the same elevation. The best way to avoid this is to label the pavement elevation and add an offset expression to modify the text output of the TC.

Take a look at the label below:

Image 1

Notice in the image above the P and TC are offset by 0.5', the depth of the curb height. To do this, I ensured I was consistent in labeling the pavement and not the curb (if you happened to add offset feature lines) from the surface model (I have presumed you already have your surface modeled).

Go to the "Settings" tab off of Toolspace. Expand Surface, then expand Label Styles. There, you'll see Spot Elevation. For reference, see the image below. Notice there are already several Spot Elevation label types created. The ones with the yellow triangles signify that they are still be utilized. The reason multiple label styles are created is obviously to accommodate the different type of curbs/gutters and combinations.

Image 2

I am going to explain the Label in use named "TC and P" shown on the Settings tab above.

Notice above the highlighted Expressions text. This is where you create a mathematical relation between the two elevations (notice the calculator icon :) )

Right click on Expressions and the following dialogue box will open:

Image 3

Fill out the dialogue box as required. For a 0.5' high curb I filled it out as shown below:

Image 4

Let me provide a brief explanation as to what is going on above. First click on the button next to the "function- F(x)" button. You shouldn't have as many options as shown above, but you should be able to select Surface Elevation. Add the term Surface Elevation to the expression, and it will be added with the brackets shown above. Subsequently, I added 0.5' to come up that distance from the pavement. Finally, I subtracted 4000'. This was done so the elevations were only read to the tens value, for example TC=40.57 rather than TC=4040.57. You can imagine how messy the labels would read if we actually had to show the actual elevation. A note on the plan is added to ensure that the 4000' additional feet is presumed. If it wasn't, I would suspect a new contractor would be in order. (NOTE!: In the image above I am editing an expression rather than creating one. When you're first creating one, you'll be prompted for a Name as shown in Image 3. I used "imperial tc")

OK. Now, we've created the Expression. Next step is to include it in the label.

Create a Style name for your new Spot Elevation style. For this style I used "TC and P".

Image 5

Once you have the style created. Go to the Layout tab.

Image 6

Surely, you may have to make some adjustments to aesthetic style, but I'm only going to go into detail of how to apply the Expression. Under "Component Name:" Select Surface Elevation. The Expression is applied on the Contents dialogue box under Text. Notice above it shown as a long string of text that includes "{\fArial....". This will be easier to understand when you open the dialogue box.

Image 7

The dialogue box is present above. Notice now you should have the expression you created available. As I mentioned earlier, I had named my expression "imperial tc". On the right side a preview shows underlined text of "TC=" with the expression appended to the text value (all underlined). In this step, you have to select the correct Expression with the correct output format and click on the "right-arrow" to register the value to the contents.

All the work you have done so far was to create only the TC value. Now you have to create the P value. Once you create the P value, you may find that you will have to alter some of the values/variables in Image 6.

To add the pavement elevation you have to create another component (see below).

Image 8

You can name the new component "Pavement" if you like. I accepted the default "Text.1" for the time being. Now, for the new component open the Contents dialogue box.

Image 9

You'll notice above that I am selecting an expression named "two digits". This was an expression I created earlier that would truncate the 4000 additional from the label, similar to what was done in Image 4 (with the exception of adding the 0.5'). Now you have your main "P" and "TC" labels created in the style. As I mentioned earlier, you'll have to adjust some anchor points, offsets and variables for the label to show correctly, but this should show you how to get started with applying Expression in Civil 3D.

Don't forget to worked on you Dragged State settings!!!! You love Civil 3D, don't you??!!!

AutoCad Civil 3D Certification

2011-07-26T14:18:00.000-04:00

Hey Civil 3D Users!

I have recently become a Civil 3D Certified Associate via Autodesk. I am offering my services on a contract basis. If you are working for a firm that needs help implementing Civil 3D, I may be able to jump-start you in the right direction. For an idea of what kind of services I can provide, please have a look at my professional services page - http://komoeng.com/. The link to the page is also provided on the left side of the blog. Please understand the website at this point is a work-in-progress. :)

George

Show Me The Way....To The New Data Shortcuts

2011-06-15T18:05:00.000-04:00

So you want to move your drawings around on a directory......You've already created an identical folder structure to what was originally employed in the initial project path. You've moved your working drawing models in the copied structure. You've already pathed the project data to the new project path.

Image 1

Image 1, above, shows the proposed new project path, changed from a "Z-drive" (network).

If you're lucky enough to have the software open a drawing for you, you may become unlucky because the project may not be pathing the correct data shortcuts (possibly using out of date objects).

If you have moved drawings and these drawings included data shortcuts, you'll need to use the DATA SHORTCUT EDITOR to fix the paths before opening any drawings. The DATA SHORTCUT EDITOR comes complete with the C3D package.

Image 2

Before you open the DATA SHORTCUT EDITOR, be sure to close all drawings that are being referenced to the subject project.

If you don't update the shortcuts the software begins searching for data shortcuts that are still pathed to the original network, a drive that may not exist anymore (my laptop doesn't have a "Z-drive"). Before I open the relocated drawings, and after I've copied the drawings to the desired path AND updated the project path as shown in Image 1, I open the DATA SHORTCUT EDITOR. In the DATA SHORTCUT EDITOR, I began to use the Find and Replace option to rename the paths. It may seem like a daunting task at first, but if you use the Replace All option you'll find it goes quicker than originally thought.

Image 3

Image 3 above shows the updated shortcut paths. You know you're good when your shortcuts here match the path shown above in Image 1.

Your drawings should open now.

Talk to you soon.

George

Tooltip Where Are You?

2011-06-02T22:11:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post.

Have you ever had the problem of the Tooltip not displaying. (The Tooltip is the list box that shows current values of an object you hover over -eg. below in Image 1 Elev=4.31.)

Image 1

If you have objects in your drawing and you have temporarily allowed your cursor to rest over it/them, you should see values similar to the ones shown above. However; sometimes other users turn these displays off because keeping them on uses more processing speed, ultimately slowing down your production (we can't have that ;) ).

To turn these back on:

Click the Settings tab on the Toolspace and Right-Click on the current drawing name.

The Drawing Settings dialogue box will open. Select the Ambient Settings Tab and select "Yes".

Image 2

You'll find if you're always working in the same files, it may be nice to have only some information shown by the Tooltip. For example, you may only want the Tooltip to show you elevations on a surface, but no offsets to an alignment. This is simple, you just work your way down the hierarchy and turn what you want on and what you don't need off. The sceenshot below shows how you would turn the surface (surface elevation) Tooltip on.

Image 3

Hope this quick tip save someone some hardship.

Paving Plan Creation

2011-05-10T20:58:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest obstacles to working with Civil 3D is deciding how to set up your files. You have to decide a plan of attack on what you will do in each model and/or drawing.

The great benefit of Civil 3D lies in the ability to have labels (information tags) update once you make changes to the model.

The following post will show an example of how I used a Civil 3D grading model to produce a dynamic paving plan. Just like everything in life...."there's more than one way to skin a cat", so take what you will from the post. It's an idea and if you can improve on it, even better.

Now how do you get from here:

Image 1

To here:

Image 2

That ultimately brings you to here:

Image 3

And a closer inspection:

Image 4

The first part of this process is having a surface developed. Take a look at the mess in Image 1 above. This is the working model. This model-drawing will have ongoing site grading changes occurring. This is where the actual data is being contained, for the purpose of displaying spot elevations as shown in Image 4. That being said, the drawing-model is not used directly for production drawings.

In addition to the actual drawing-model (you can call this FG.dwg for simplicity), I used:

-a site reference basefile (site.dwg)

Containing all curbs lines, edge of pavements, building footprints, etc.

-a site paving plan (paving.dwg)

Containing all construction/paving joints

-a spot shot plan (elevations.dwg), as shown in Image 2

Containing nothing but the paving spot elevation

Of course you'll probably have more, but this is all I'll introduce for showing the paving plan elements.

NOTE: Why is the site paving plan separated from the site reference basefile? Well, for this project there were so many concrete joints that modifying it it was best to have this drawing separately accessible from all the other drawings.

With the model already complete (which we know is never really complete, because there WILL always be changes), start an elevations.dwg file from your applicable template.

First thing to be sure of is that your project working file path is set up properly.

Image 5

Notice the "\model_files\c3d" (in my case pathed back the "C" drive")

Be sure to go into your model drawing (FG.dwg) and shortcut the surface out to the project directory "Data Shortcuts". Notice above, there are currently no shortcutted surfaces (ie. no "+"-sign next to the shortcut surface list).

In the model drawing (eg. FG.dwg) , right-click on "Data Shortcuts" on the Toolspace, then select "Create Data Shortcuts". When prompted, select the surface you would like to shortcut to the project directory (ie FG.dwg). (Not shown here.)

Notice below that the surface is now shown in the shortcut list. This will show in either the FG.dwg or the elevation.dwg.

Image 6

Switch back to the elevations.dwg and "Create Reference" of the FG surface.

Image 7

IMPORTANT: Be sure to set your surface style to a non-display style, otherwise you will be battling TIN or contour lines (maybe both). The surface will be there, don't worry. I'll show you later.

XREF (preferably "overlay") the site.dwg and the paving.dwg into the elevations.dwg.

Image 8

The site.dwg and the paving.dwg are strictly 2D drawings.

With the 2D drawings now allowing you to see where the horizontal location of the surface is on the screen, you can zoom in and inspect elevations. If you have your tool tips display "on" and you hover your mouse over an area where the surface is, you'll see the proposed elevation at that location.

Image 9

Notice above, FG=4040.117'.

Hard part is over. Now you can begin to populate this drawing with spot elevations.

From the Ribbon as shown - below:

Image 10

Start picking/clicking the locations where the construction joints are on the plan. You will have to modify the location of the labels, if you change the location of the joints. Common sense of course, right?

Image 11

You'll notice the label above looks different than the labels shown in Image 4 earlier. This I will tackle in another post if I get any feedback, but this should be something that may give you an idea how to get started with a paving plan.

The beauty here is you can now modify the grading drawing (FG.dwg), and the labels will update themselves, eliminating tedious Cad changes!!! Yes!

Again, any feedback is greatly appreciated and I hope this help!

George

One last warning------if you change your construction joints, don't forget to change your grade breaks in your model drawing (FG.dwg).

Too Steep or Too Flat - Site Grading Visual Tool

2011-04-16T15:23:00.003-04:00

Imagine zipping through several grading changes of several areas over a large development site. I know...this never happens. ;) The entire site must be ADA complaint (no max grades exceeding 5% in a combination of the longitudinal and transverse grade). Additionally, the site can't be too flat so that pavement drainage problems don't occur.When you originally designed the site, you were adhering to the restrictions, however; multiple grade changes from every direction have compromised the tolerances. Now it becomes a tedious process to check the max. and min. grades throughout the site...AGAIN.....unless you use Civil 3D as an analytical tool.

"How?", you ask. Well, I'll show you......

The image below shows a certain area of a proposed development. The green lines are pavement lines. Almost located directly in the center of the image, are booths with parking spaces. All this area must be flat enough to be ADA compliant and have enough grade to drain.

So...now that you have the 2D layout of the site.....you hopefully have come up with some 3D breaklines that function within the site.

A brief example of using grading feature lines is shown below. The idea with this post is not to show how to grade, but how to analyze the proposed grading.

Notice above, the yellow/brown line that has triangles on it. This is a grading feature line, and the open elevation editor on the bottom right hand of the screen shot is displaying those values. Using the elevation editor dialogue box, you can ensure your longitudinal grades aren't too steep and possibly have enough pitch if a curb and gutter is being used. The blue lines you see above, that weren't displayed in the first image, are site breakline locations. This is were the concrete joints will change grades. And since it is concrete, these breaklines must coincide with a concrete PCC plan. For further explanation see the image below:

You'll note that the dark blue lines coincide with the pavement joints (cyan lines). This sometimes end up being quite an iterative and tedious process. Don't expect this to work on the first try.

For further ideas of the grading process, see the image below:

You can see from the image above that a blue grading breakline is selected. This breakline also has a low point in the center that is where the proposed catch basin will ultimately be located. Notice the grades on either side of the catch basin are approximately 1% and the CB elevation is 4039.370 (Panoramic View above).

Now assuming you've made it through grades that seem to work and tie into surrounding areas, you typically will look at the contours. But are the contours enough to see detail where this may exceed desired slopes, especially in areas that may be too flat?

Below is an image with the contours......

You can see through the parking area there isn't very many contours lines through the paved area....and this is good, unless it's too flat. You can also see on the left and right side there are contour line drop offs but we don't know exactly the slope unless we investigate further. It becomes difficult to look at this each time a grading change occurs because sometimes the problem areas occur where you tie back in, and you are not looking at that area at that time. An area that may have had a 1% minimum slope before may now have been altered to have a flat spot. NO GOOD! So rather than looking at each individual grade that way, I would expedite the process using a visual surface that provides more than contours.

DO THIS AS SHOWN BELOW:

1) Create a new surface style named "Slopes" or something similar that you would understand the concept purpose of the newly created style.

2) Once you create the style adjust the Analysis tab similar to what is shown below. Of course, feel free to add more or less ranges. I used something easy to remember. The new style would produce: RED if too flat. GREEN if within range and YELLOW if bordering on too steep for pavement. I used two more ranges for earthwork ranges.

Now apply that surface style to the surface....

The Picasso painting above shows that the parking area is graded with acceptable ranges (green). There is some yellow which is still in acceptable range, but if further changes need to take place you may be able to work back in this area to accommodate the fix. The brown you see on either side of the parking areas are landscaped area so the tolerances are not applicable to the same constraints.

And as a mentioned you should keep coming back to this view for a quick visual to see any red flags. Just for fun.....let's change the elevation of the catch basin up +5' and see the resulting visual.........Result shown below......

The magenta donut is to accentuate the location of the catch basin. Notice the replacement of the green scheme colors by brown. This shows that this area is NOW too steep and needs to be reworked.

I hope this visual trick helps you. I know it helped me avoid flat spots in grading, that could hinder pavement drainage.

Hope this helps!

George

Have any questions?...please email me

george.koumoutsidis@gmail.com

Right-Click C3D Commands options unavailable.

2011-02-10T03:33:00.000-05:00

Just a a quick note of a problem I ran into today. If you find you can't bring up your C3D commands via a right-click, check to see "PICKFIRST" is set to "1".

Modeling a Highway Gore Area

2011-02-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

In this session, the intention is to show how to corridor model something as shown below.

When modeling a converging roadway you should pick the areas you want to model into each corridor. This may be governed by the pavement structural sections you want to employ on the ramps. In this example, I chose the breaks of 3 individual corridors as shown above. In this case there is a 4-lane divided highway (principal road), an on ramp and an off ramp. The white lines show the breaks in the corridor. The ramp hatching and yellow hatching will be modeled in separate corridors. The reasons these areas were chosen were based on a number of factors including superelevation and pavement structural section. I won’t get into that discussion here. That should be determined on a case by case basis. Furthermore, you may find that the original dissection doesn’t work as well as an alternate.

The ultimate arrangement should produce a cross-section that likes similar to this:

The cross-section above shows corridor materials for the principal road only. I will run through a quick explanation how to get to this point, assuming you have profiles for all three roadways and the horizontal arrangement set.

Ready….

First pick the region which you intend to model. The location shown below (between the two blue lines) was chosen based on the following:

1) West end, where the bullnose meets between the onramp and the principal roadway.

2) East end, where the superelevation of the ramps can be blended back to the required superelevations of the principal roadway.

Now that we have the chosen area, let’s build an assembly to match the condition. Ultimately, it will look as shown here:

We are only modeling 60m of roadway. I realize that this is a short section of the roadway, but a critical one. I’ll give a quick explanation of the chosen sub-assemblies is as follows:

From the center to the left:

a) A small width for where the edge of median pavement is to be. Default is 0.8m but giving it a separate subassembly allows us to target the median pavement edge, in the event the median has to be widened (possibly from using a transition to allow more Stopping Sight Distance along a curve). You have to use “LaneInsideSuper…” if you want the super to take effect in this area.

b) An inside lane. Again, be sure to use “LaneInsideSuper…”. There is a 2% default cross-fall, but this will be overridden if you have superelevation defined for the roadway

c) An outside Lane. (Notice Subassembly allows for super - Subassembly.LaneOutsideSuperMultiLayer)

d) The last section of pavement will allow pavement through the gore area. Notice the given name of the sub assembly. The 0.5m width is irrelevant because it will be used targeted by means of an alignment or feature line.

e) The last component on the left side is LinkSlopeToSurface. This reason for including this is to close the corridor off vertically, so that surfaces created won’t extend beyond into adjacent roadways, consequently throwing off earthwork quantity calculations (possibly another post).

The right side of the template is the same, with the exception of the paved gore area. The paved gore area of the onramp will be built in with the onramp.

Once you have your targets set (either as feature lines, alignment or polylines), you can continue modeling and setting your target parameters. In this case, I used a feature line as depicted below:

Continue to the Corridor model and select the region which you want to work in.

Clink on the Target dialogue box for the region you want to adjust.

As you can see from above, I used a feature line to target the LEFTGOREAREA. This was a 3D feature line extracted from the offramp corridor. Also, as shown above, notice the same feature line is used both as an Offset Target and an Elevation Target.

That additional modeling will get you to this point…..

Eventually you can model the two adjacent roadways and shown them on the cross-section, as shown in earlier image.

There is a lot to consider in this area. I don't want to overwhelm, or gloss over an important step, so I made this as straightforward as possible. If you have any questions, just let me know. I will try my best to respond. I hope to give a more detailed discussion of "closing off" corridors for the purpose of extracting earthwork quantities from the software.

Hoping your crashes are to a minimum!

XREF Manager Dissappearing Act

2011-01-20T16:20:00.000-05:00

This isn’t exactly a Civil 3D 2011 tip, however; I have encountered a few times when the the XREF manager dissappears completely. Not sure why this happens, but it can be a very frustrating incident when working with XREF drawings you have to constantly cycle through. I posted this not for just for the general public, but myself as I seem to forget how to fix this.

Anyway….if it happens and you can’t find it ANYWHERE, try this……

TYPE: “CUI” at the command prompt.

This brings up the “Customize User Interface” dialogue box (shown below). Make sure you are in the current “Workspace”. In my case shown below – “Civil 3D Default (current)” on the left. On the right side, expand “Palettes” then select “External References”. Cycle through “Show”, “Allow Docking” as required.

Voilà!

Conditional Formatting of a Corridor

2011-01-12T00:35:00.000-05:00

The following example is to show how to use conditional formatting. Conditional formatting allows for more design flexibility in the modeling process. Using conditional formatting avoids using excess assemblies when corridor building.

We will model between the two thick brown lines (shown below). You have to determine what length of roadway you think you can cover with one assembly. Typically the less assemblies you can get away with, the better.

From the current model (profile and alignment of main roadway as well as adjacent roadways being modeled), it was already determined that a couple of retaining walls would be required. The green dashed lines below represent the locations of the wall.

To begin modeling, we will start to build as assembly that conforms to the general orientation of the roadway. To be more specific, 2 lanes each way, a median, a shoulder on each side and concrete barriers on each side. The continuous magenta block line represents the concrete roadside barrier. On closer inspection, you can also see a concrete median barrier between the eastbound and westbound lanes.

Create an assembly that has the two lanes and a shoulder. Lanes are 3.6m and the paved shoulder is 3.1m with a 0.60m wide roadside barrier sitting on the outer edge. This allows for 2.5m of pavement. Notice from the image above the concrete median barrier is offset slightly to the south. This is to allow for more sight distance around the curve. It would be wise to make the concrete median barrier independent of the construction centerline, since they may not necessarily always coincide.

Since the profile and alignment have already been defined, the task now is to model the roadway surfaces using the retaining walls as targets. Since the walls don’t extend through the entire longitudinal stretch of roadway we are modeling here, we will use conditional formatting to stop and start walls.

The final assembly for the area will look as shown below....

You can see below that there is 4 pavement sections on the left side. The two inside pavement sections are “Subassembly.LaneInsideSuperMultiLayer” pulled from the Civil3d Toolpallete package. The two outside lanes are "Subassembly.LaneOutsideSuperMultiLayer". This is also important in the definition, since superelevation will be applied around the curve. All the pavement section materials are inputted based on geotechnnical evaluation.

We will just concentrate on the left side.

We’ll just use one conditional option (found v. not found) for simplicity, but in reality you can use an infinite amount of conditional formats. We’ll just use a target condition, to target to the wall (defined as a feature line and targeted in the roadway corridor definition) when it is located along the stretch of the roadway.

If a target is found, a -2:1 generic link (Subassembly.LinkWidthandSlope) will be used to target to the horizontal wall location. Once the horizontal location of the wall is targeted to, another generic link (Subassembly.SlopeToSurface) is used to grade back down to existing.

If the target is not found, a 2:1 daylight sub-assembly is used for whichever situation occurs (cut or fill).

The retaining wall (shown as the green dashed line earlier), is now defined as a feature line.

Now that the feature line is defined, it's time to target the corridor.

Notice that the LEFTtargetfound (highlighted below), is targeting the defined feature line ("RETAINING WALL BETWEEN L35 AND L2000)

When using a conditional format you have to target the feature line in both the "found" and "not found" condition. Notice above the "LEFTTargetNotFound (2)" is also targeting the same feature line. You'll also notice the feature line is also used a target for the "LinkWidthAndSlope (Left) - (177)". This is used so that the -2:1 generic link extends to the horizontal location of the feature line.

Below is the produced cross-section for the entire roadway. The left side shows the -2:1 slope graded to the feature wall, which also abuts the adjacent roadway.

When the feature line is no longer found along the longitudinal section, the corridor revert back to the "not found" condition" and a straight 2:1 daylight will be used.

I realize this is a very brief overview of conditional formatting. There is a lot to soak up, but you'll find that if you can employ conditional formatting, it will help you avoid constantly creating more assemblies to cover minor changes along a roadway.