The Civil 3D Experience

Old Stuff

2011-11-02T13:39:00.001Z

Was doing some tidying up yesterday and found these. LDD 2i and Civil Design 2 User's Guides. I'm now hunting for the Softdesk 8 guides.

The good old days! :-)

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Alignment Widening

2011-10-26T15:04:00.000+01:00

To add a widening to an offset alignment, we can do it through ADDWIDENING command in the command line, Ribbon, Right-click and Toolspace or using Grips.

I was modelling the alignment of a central reserve concrete step barrier for a motorway refurbishment scheme recently and found out the difference between the two.

When using the ADDWIDENING command, the offset width before and after the widening are exactly the same.

And if I grip edit and try to change the offset width, both offsets move simultaneously.

With grips however, the offsets' width can differ and be independent from each other.

Below is a screenshot where I try to change the offset width to the left of the widening while the width on the right stays.

Essentially, Civil 3D creates 2 widening groups when using Grips.

The first with all widening elements; transition in & out and a widened region.

While the second group only has a transition in (which is also the transition out of the first widening group) and the widening.

Section View – Offset Labels For 2 Surfaces On One Section Band

2011-10-24T12:25:00.000+01:00

We have two separate surfaces shown on a section view and we’d like to show offset labels for both surfaces in one band box. Both surfaces came from two different types of surveys so we’d like to show them separate on section view (i.e. different linetype and colour).

I could think of two ways to do this. One is by combining the 2 surfaces. Second is by manipulating data bands.

Option 1

This is the quicker and simpler of the 2. Combine the 2 surfaces and sample the new combined surface.

Hide the section line from View.

Use the combined surface data for the bands.

Option 2

This option is a little messy but just thought it would be good to include this anyway to show an example on how labels can be manipulated to get desired presentation.

Copy the current Offset band style.

Under Band Details tab, select the type of label you want to show, for my example I’m showing labels at section Gradient Breaks and select Compose label… Take note of the Band Height used.

Change the Y-Offset to whatever band height you have above, 15 for my example. Basically, what I’m doing is creating a new Offset band box and moving all labels (and ticks if any) one box up but showing only the labels.

Back to the Display Tab in Data Box Style, turn off all components except for Ticks and Labels at Gradient Breaks.

Add the new band style to the set and change the surface for Section 1. Thus on my example below, the style ANZ_(Rd) - Offsets (Grade Breaks) refers to the Hydrographic Survey surface (red section lines) and ANZ_(Rd) - Offsets (Grade Breaks) 2 refers to the Ex_Contours_Adjusted surface (green dashed line).

Civil 3D 2011 Update 2 Now Available

2011-06-30T19:59:00.001+01:00

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=17290402&linkID=9240697&CMP=OTC-RSSSUP01

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Civil 3D 2012 - Hide Assembly

2011-05-17T17:46:00.002+01:00

A new Assembly command in Civil 3D 2012 is REMOVEASSEMBLYFROMMODELSPACE. As what the command says, it removes / hides the assembly from modelspace. Useful if you are working on a lot of assemblies and just want to see the one you're working on currently. I like my drawing tidy so I quite like this.

To insert the assembly again for editing, simply go to Toolspace, find and right-click the assembly and select Insert to Modelspace.

Minor new feature but very handy.

I'll post more once I see one.

Swap / Change Subassemblies

2011-04-08T15:55:00.000+01:00

Quick one before I leave work for the day.

Just found this feature this afternoon and using Civil 3D 2010 at that!

To quickly change / swap a subassembly with another, go to Subassemblies Tool Pallettes, right click the subassembly you want to use, click Apply Tool Properties to Subassembly and click the one you want replaced. Sweet!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Reminiscing

2011-02-18T13:37:00.000Z

Look what I found in my drawer! It's the installation disc for Civil 3D 2004 Preview release.

It was issued to us with the intention of testing and evaluating if it is a viable tool for what we are doing and not to be used on any current projects.

Coming from an LDD and Civil Design background and first time user of an object-based design software, I was amazed on how easy it was to use and how each design object is linked to one another thus making changes a quicker process. This made me realise its potential and how this tool can greatly help me at work.

I was so excited about the product that I left work late that day playing and exploring it. Even used it on a live project even though I shouldn’t!

Good weekend everyone!

Point Labels

2011-02-01T19:40:00.000Z

I am currently preparing site clearance appendices and drawings for a motorway refurbishment scheme to form part of the works information document.

To produce the drawings, I need to label 700+ existing road lighting columns to be taken down. I also need to tabulate these items onto a Word document so Civil 3d Points fit the job. I want to have a label showing the site clearance item reference inside a circle with an arrow pointing to the item similar to below.

The label style is composed of 4 components that include 2 blocks, 1 text and a line.

So I start by creating a block component using a block consisting of a hatched circle. Component properties as image below.

The text component to show the item reference. These are Point Numbers with “CC” prefix added to them. I used the block component above as an anchor. Component properties as below.

Next the Line component which I again anchored to the block component with properties as below.

Finally another block component using an arrow block this time using the line component as an anchor.

The anchor component is important so that each component remains linked if the label is dragged / moved. To drag the label, simply activate the sub item grips. Select the label and click the blue round grip. Grips will then appear for each component.

Since all other components are anchored to each other, if I grip move the circle, everything else follows.

To reset to the labels default location, click and right click the label and Reset Label.

Corridor Modelling (Practice)

2011-01-31T18:17:00.000Z

Due to limited number of projects at work, I haven’t been using Civil 3D to do design work lately. Use of software and its features can be easily forgotten if not used for a long period of time so to refresh and practice myself, I do corridor modelling during my free time.

I picked Junction 33 of the M4 motorway to “model”. I brought in Google images as guide to trace my horizontal alignments over and Google surface for my existing ground. I used Civil 3D 2011, the new corridor tools just made corridor modelling a lot easier. It is a work in progress and I intend to import it into 3DS Max with Dynamite once done. Plenty more to do but should keep me busy during lunchtimes!

Civil 3D 2011 Subscription Advantage Pack

2010-10-01T14:33:00.000+01:00

This week saw the launch of Subscription Advantage Packs for 2011 Autocad products including Civil 3D.

Only a handful new features compared to last year's but equally useful. Though I was more excited to hear the release of Update 1 to be honest.

Particularly like enhancements made to importing points and the new(ish) Import Styles and Settings command. I said newish because this was an undocumented command on Civil 3D 2011 pre-SAP. The SAP version now has a dialogue window when the command is executed.

More details and videos here or click the image below.

Autocad Civil 3D 2011 Update 1

2010-09-29T14:02:00.000+01:00

Update 1 has been released. This certainly solved an issue we're having - opening drawings with featurelines projected onto multiple sections. What used to be a wait of more than 10mins is now down to 1min.

Although I haven't checked, it should also resolve the issue we are having with plotting dwgs to pdfs.

Update 1 and README can be downloaded here.

Ellipse-shaped Alignments

2010-09-03T15:22:00.002+01:00

If in case you need to create an alignment to a shape of an ellipse, here are two ways to do it.

OPTION 1

Set the PELLIPSE variable to 1 and draw an ellipse. The default is set to 0 which draws an accurate ellipse object. Setting the variable to 1 lets you draw an ellipse made up of series of arcs forming a Polyline. Polylines can then be converted to Civil alignments.

However, ellipse drawn this way won’t result to the correct shape. From visual inspection, the difference between the true ellipse and polyline ellipse is noticeable near the ends of the major axis.

OPTION 2

Use the DIVIDE command to add Autocad points along the true ellipse. The more segments, the better.

Convert the AutoCAD points to COGO points.

Connect the “dots” using SPLINE. Type 'PN to call up the Point Number transparent command. Type the point number range. In my example, 1 – 120 and close the spline.

FLATTEN the closed spline but don’t remove hidden lines.

This will convert it to a series of connected arcs that follow the ellipse more precisely.

Finally convert the polyline to a Civil 3D alignment. It won’t be laser accurate if you zoom in and look closer but isn’t too far off compared to the first option.

Have a great weekend!!

Point - Block - COGO

2010-04-13T14:02:00.000+01:00

A colleague recently asked me how to convert points to blocks. Skilled programmers can easily produce a Lisp routine or a VBA code to do this but it can also be done using out-of-the box utilities in Civil 3D. Rather than posting one conversion, I included other possible conversions users might need.

Points - COGO
Menu: Points > Utilities > Convert from Autocad Points
Ribbon: Home tab > Create Ground Data panel > Points > Convert Autocad Points

Blocks - COGO (UKIE contents tools)
Toolspace: Toolbox tab > UK and Ireland Reports > Additional Tools > Convert Blocks to COGO Points.

If you don’t have UK and Ireland tools, you’ll need to install the UKIE Content Pack. Autodesk’s Dana Probert posted steps to add content packs in her blog.

COGO - Blocks
Menu: Points > Utilities > Create Blocks from COGO Points
Ribbon: Home tab > Create Ground Data panel > Points > Create Blocks from COGO Points

Points - Blocks
Points to COGO then COGO to blocks as above.

Blocks - Points
Create a Surface model using the blocks and amend the style to only show surface points.
Menu: Surfaces > Utilities > Extract Objects from Surface
Ribbon: Click the surface > Surface Tools panel > Extract Objects
Tick (check) Points and either choose Select All or Select the points you want converted.

COGO - Points
Similar to converting blocks to points, create a Surface model using the COGO points and amend the style to only show surface points. Extract the points from the surface using the steps above.

Google Map Street View in 3D

2010-04-06T13:45:00.001+01:00

My colleague just noticed this today. Google Map Street View now can be viewed in 3D. Cool!

Here's the Street view of Cardiff Castle. Click the pegman to view in 3d. I need to find my 3d glasses when I get home!

View Larger Map

Dynamite VSP now available for 3DS Max and Civil 3D subscription customers

2010-03-30T20:59:00.001+01:00

http://www.autodesk.com/civilvis

Visibility Graph

2010-03-19T07:25:00.001Z

Visibility graph is one requirement in a Sight Stopping Distance (SSD) departure from standards submission to the Highways Agency.

This can be prepared using the new Sight Distance along Corridor tool included in the Civil 3D 2010 Subscription Advantage Pack (SAP) and MS Excel.

The Civil 3D part is pretty simple and quick to do with most work done in Excel.

For my sample data, I have a surface model of a motorway central reserve with concrete step barrier which was created using 3D polylines.

The SAP tools live in the Toolbox tab of the Toolspace.

As in a number of Civil 3D commands, the tool will go through a wizard-type steps to get the desired output. The first box will ask to select a path for the visibility check. This can be in a form of an alignment and profile or feature lines or 3D polylines. This is also where we specify the start and end of the analysis. If an alignment is used for the path, it will ask for a chainage value and if a feature line or 3D polyine is used, points are used. Finally, choose the surface model to use.

The 2nd step is where we input the sight distance parameters such as the minimum SSD, driver’s eye height and offset and target object’s height and offset.

The offset being the offset distance from the path chosen in the first step. For my example my path is the road lane marking between Lane 2 and Lane 3 of the carriageway and I’d like the check to run along the centre of Lane 3.

Use negative (-) offset values if it is to the left side of the path and positive if on the right.

The next step of the wizard is to set whether the analysis components are to be drawn or not and which layers are to be used for each. Lastly, choose whether to create a report for the analysis. Use the CSV style report and chose where to save the report. The report will be saved as a .txt file.

That’s the Civil 3D part done and from here, it’s all MS Excel.

Open MS Excel and open the text file. Choose a Delimited data and comma as the delimiter.

Delete the information header and columns D and E.

Remove the unit “m” from the values by using Replace under the Edit menu. I added a new column where I placed the One Step below Desirable Minimum (relaxed) value of 215 which I also want to show on the graph. These parameters by the way are all in TD 9/93 of the DMRB.

So basically, the first column contains the chainages, 2nd column has the actual sight distance achieved from the analysis, the 3rd column is the desirable minimum sight distance and the 4th column is the relaxed value.

Insert menu> Chart and use a line-type chart and click Next.

On the 2nd step of the wizard, click the Series tab and click Add.

Give the Series a name. In my example I used “Visibility”. For the Values field, click the Value button and select the column B data (select and drag from Row 1 down to the row of the last value). For Category (X) axis labels, select the Column A data.

Click Add to create another Series and name it 295. For the Values field, click the Value button and select the Column C data.

Click Add to create another series and name it 215. For the Values field, click the Value button and select the Column D data.

Click Next and under the Titles tab, put Visibility for Chart title, Chainage for Category (X) axis and SSD in the Value (Y) axis.

Last step is to choose if the chart will be placed in a new sheet or as an object in the current worksheet and click Finish.

The graph will look similar to the image below. For better presentation, you can always go back and change the format/style of the different parts of the graph by selecting them and right click.

Here’s how a final output may look like.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Profile from file

2010-02-03T19:49:00.000Z

A recent post from the company's internal discussion forum was raised on how to create a breakwater long section (complete with band levels and chainages) without any ground data and only a spreadsheet data on hand similar to below.

I'm sure skilled programmers can easily produce an Excel VBA script or similar and output into a dxf file. Another option is to do it manually but will surely take ages. Here's how to do it in Civil 3D.

Create a new drawing. Create an alignment with length equal to the last chainage on the spreadsheet. This can simply be a long straight alignment. Create a profile view.

Next remove any headers on the spreadsheet leaving only the values. Save the spreadsheet to a .prn file (space delimited) format. Then change the file extension to .txt as this is the format Civil 3D will look for.

Import the text file. Profiles> Create Profile from File.

Once the profile line appears on profile view, the profile source might need to be set for correct values in the bands.

Section View Axis Offset

2010-01-27T23:27:00.001Z

We lately had some confusion at work when one of our technicians was given an exported Civil 3d section to work up details and setting out drawings for a motorway variable message sign foundation.

He was offsetting the section view left and right axes to set out the foundation which he assumed correspond with the ends of the section line. The offset lines however appear to be in the wrong place when checked against the carriageway features on plan.

Going back to the Civil 3D drawing where the section was exported from, we found out that the problem was the left and right axes offset of the section view style being set to 5. This made the cross section view 10 units longer than the section line – an extra 5 on each end. Setting it to 0 corrected the problem.

Also worth noting that the axis offset values are specified in plotted units based on the drawing scale set on the Drawing Settings (Toolspace, Settings tab> right click the drawing name> Edit drawings settings). I.e. if the drawing setting scale is set to 1:500 and the axis offset is set to 5, the offset on the drawing will be 2.5.

Customising alignment label styles

2009-09-29T18:13:00.001+01:00

We just sent our deliverables for the outline design stage of a road renewal scheme I was working on the past few months out the door last Friday. This week should be a quieter one that I can probably squeeze in a post or two during lunchtimes before the next stage kicks off next week!

Before I start on the main topic, a quick note that Civil 3D 2010 Update 2 have been released and can be downloaded here. As usual, it is recommended to read the Readme file prior to installing.

OK, here’s another post on customising alignment labels styles. This is my stab at creating an alignment style similar to the image below.

Alignment labels can be created/edited through the Settings tab in Toolspace or through the Add labels dialog box; Alignment>Add alignment labels. I often do the latter.

Create a new label style and name it Chainage (or Station).

On the General tab, change the Orientation reference to Object. This will ensure that the extension line of the label will always be perpendicular to the alignment.

I will be creating 3 components. 1 line for the extension from the label point, another line for the landing and a text for the chainage number.

Click on the Layout tab and delete any existing component.

First create a new text component.

Add the Chainage value field to the text contents and use the parameters as below.

Then create the line for the extension from the label point with parameters as below. I have Line.1 as component name (this is the default that Civil 3D creates) but this can be changed to a more sensible name anytime.

Next is to create the landing (the line below the text) with parameters as below.

To create a label below the alignment, copy the style previously created. On the Layout tab, change the rotation angle to 315 and Y-offset to -10 of the chainage text component.

Here’s how the labels look like above the alignment.

And here it is below the alignment.

Hope this helps or at least gives ideas on how to create and customise alignment label styles.

Autodesk Civil Engineering Curriculum 2010 Videos

2009-08-22T15:29:00.001+01:00

Just noticed a series of educational videos from the Autodesk channel on Youtube. There are a total of 29 videos grouped into units and a number of lessons in each unit.

“These videos support the Autodesk Civil Engineering curriculum and help to demonstrate engineering concepts using the Autodesk portfolio. To view the entire curriculum, including Instructor Guides and Student Workbooks, visit the Autodesk Student Community. www.autodesk.com/edcommunity”

I posted below the links to each lesson. Enjoy!

Unit 1: Autocad Civil 3D 2010 Environment

Lesson 1: Drawing environment

Lesson 2: Civil 3D user interface

Lesson 3: Settings and Styles

Unit 2: Create Ground Data

Lesson 1: Create Survey Data

Lesson 2: Create Points

Lesson 3: Surfaces

Lesson 4: Insert Images

Unit 3: Land Development

Lesson 1: Grading

Lesson 2: Create Parcels

Lesson 3: Horizontal Alignments

Lesson 4: Profiles

Lesson 5: Assemblies and Corridors

Lesson 6: Cross Sections and Quantities

Lesson 7: Site Grading and Quantities

Lesson 8: Pipe Design

Unit 4: Environmental Design

Lesson 1: Sustainable Design

Lesson 2: Watershed Analysis

Lesson 3: Pipe Design

Lesson 4: Integrating Architectural and Site Design

Unit 5: Transportation Design

Lesson 1: Alignments

Lesson 2: Profiles

Lesson 3: Roadway Assemblies and Corridors

Lesson 4: Cross Sections and Quantities

Lesson 5: Plan Production

Unit 6: Geospatial

Lesson 1: Using Geospatial Data

Lesson 2: Geodetics

Lesson 3: Queries

Lesson 4: Cartography

Lesson 5: Spatial Analysis

Civil 3D 2010 Update 1 now available

2009-08-03T23:10:00.001+01:00

Update can be downloaded here. Remember to read the Readme file for installation instructions and to see what issues were resolved by this update.

Surface editing using OOPS

2009-08-03T22:31:00.000+01:00

We normally receive topographical surveys as 3D polylines and blocks which we use to create a Civil 3D existing ground surface model.

The 3D cad drawings are at times not layered properly that I would wrongly define polylines I don’t need such as bridge soffits, overhead cables and any other polylines that could mess up the surface model. Below is an example where the overhead cables were included in the breakline surface definition.

A quick way to amend the surface model without deleting the polyline is to use the OOPS command. The OOPS command restores objects erased by the last ERASE command.

Delete the overhead cable polylines using the normal ERASE followed by the OOPS command and rebuild the surface. This will remove the overhead cable polyline from the surface definition but retaining it in the drawing.

Surface editing using section line data

2009-06-25T21:54:00.001+01:00

Before I start on the above post, just to remind that a hotfix for Civil 3D 2009 have been released to resolve section display and volume calculation issues. Hotfix and installation instructions can be found here.

Now to the main topic. We were recently asked to compute earthworks volume quantities of different geological materials for a 5km highway scheme.

Ground investigation data in spreadsheet were provided, import them in to Civil 3D using points, create a surface and cut sections to see how the materials look- no problem.

However due to the distance between borehole locations, the data is not sufficient to correctly model the surface of the underlying material. On the section shown below, the unsuitable material layer in some chainages are above the existing ground.

This will obviously generate erroneous volume quantities. I thought of two ways to do this. First, is to edit the surface by adding points along the sample lines with the correct levels either by adding COGO points or surface points.

Another way is to edit the section, copy and paste the section data to a spreadsheet and import them back. We preferred to use this option as we have these instances on a couple of sections. Here's how we did it using Civil 3D 2008.

Change all the material's section lines to static. Right click a sample line> Sample Line Group Properties.

In the Sections tab, change the material's update mode to Static and click OK.

This should enable the section line grips.

Grip edit the section.

After editing the section, right click the section line> Edit section. Right click the table, click Copy All.

Paste the copied table on a spreadsheet. Continue editing the section lines for the other chainages and adding section data to the spreadsheet as you go along.

On the spreadsheet, delete the Section Gradient In and Out columns and the header row.

Replace the point number column with the chainage number where the section was taken from and remove the unit "m" from the values using the replace command in Excel. Save as a comma delimited (.csv) file format.

Import the file to Civil 3D. Points menu> Create Points - Alignments> Import from file.

Note that the file type it will look for is .txt. Type *.csv in the File name field to see the file.

When asked for a file format, choose '2' - Chainage, Offset, Level.

Choose ‘2’ – Comma for delimiter type and hit Enter for the next two prompts.

Select the alignment and the points should appear along the section sample line.

Create a new surface and use all the project points (existing and added). I’ll leave the volume calcs to you.

Update 3 and Skill Builders

2009-06-21T18:10:00.003+01:00

It is a bit late I know but might still be of use to some. Autocad Civil 3D 2009 Update 3 was released a few weeks ago. This fixes problems and issues on some Autocad features. Update 2.1 is a prerequisite and remember to read the ReadMe document.

I also noticed two new skill builders for Civil 3D 2010 from the Support page.

Using Dynamic GENIO data with Autocad Civil 3D Shortcuts (GENIO import extension is needed and can also be done in 2009)
Analyzing Storm Sewer Data with the Hydraflow Storm Sewers Extension for Autocad Civil 3D 2010

I particularly like the dynamic GENIO data link to Civil 3D workflow. We also use Bentley MX at work and this can promote collaboration between our MX and C3D users.

Rename command

2009-06-03T14:27:00.009+01:00

A colleague asked me yesterday how to rename an Autocad block. To do this, I normally explode the block, create a new one with the desired name and purge the old block.

I just discovered the RENAME command in the Autodesk discussion forum.

Not only can it change block names but also Dim styles, Layers, Mleader styles, Linetypes, etc.