Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 Now Available
Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011, the official Autodesk-endorsed guide to Civil 3D co-written by Scott McEachron of I.II.I, is now available. This book includes what students, professionals, Subject Matter Experts, and AE’s need to pass the Civil 3D 2011 Certified Associate and Certified Professional exams. This Autodesk Official Training Courseware used by Autodesk Resellers world-wide to teach Civil 3D covers all the key concepts, the software... [Read More...]
BYBLOCK and the RDI Method Continued
I received the following email I after my last post BYBLOCK: The Secret to Setting Up AutoCAD Civil 3D Styles: “I walked through your tip on setting colors, linetypes, etc. to “byblock”. I understood your purpose was to allow the novice Civil 3D user to quickly becoming a productive CAD operator in the Civil 3D environment. But if I carry your suggestion to set alignments and the other objects which are normally style-controlled as to... [Read More...]
BYBLOCK: The Secret to Setting Up AutoCAD Civil 3D Styles
I originally wrote this article for AU Quarterly but thought it only appropriate to share: Most of us learn to draw first and ask questions later. Once we have mastered AutoCAD® techniques, then we pay attention to drawing organization. This task is much more difficult in AutoCAD Civil 3D® because objects are controlled via object styles. It is hard to master design techniques in Civil 3D without understanding styles, but that is counterintuitive... [Read More...]
Fixed, Floating, and Free Elements in Civil 3D
Generally speaking, this is a source of confusion in Civil 3D: What’s the difference between fixed elements, floating elements, and free elements? “Fixed” elements: Elements of an alignment/profile object (tangent segment, curve segment, or spiral segment) that have no dependency on any other element. “Floating” elements: Elements of an alignment/profile object (tangent segment, curve segment, or spiral segment) that have a dependency... [Read More...]
Horizontal Profile View Grid Lines Extend Past Vertical Axes
The “To Left” and “To Right” grid padding settings in the profile view style are not applied if the Station Range is set to User Specified in the profile view properties. This is by design, and noted in Help. However, if a grid padding distance is specified in the profile view style, and if the station range is set to “user specified,” and if the profile view was created in Civil 3D 2009 (and perhaps 2010), then... [Read More...]
Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D Becomes AOTC
Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley Publishing, Inc. (NYSE: JWa and JWb), a global leader in the publishing of educational materials, has executed a brand licensing agreement with Autodesk, Inc. under which ten titles on leading Autodesk products will be exclusively designated as “Autodesk Official Training Guides.” Five of these titles are from Sybex’s Mastering series and have been enhanced to cover the learning objectives for Autodesk’s certification... [Read More...]
Steering Wheel Love Affair
As many of you know, James Wedding and I are busy writing Mastering Civil 3D 2011. I’m having a good night of writing, but once in a while I think you need to sit back – and gripe. I’ve been in a lot of drawings lately, and I need to have a word with you. Who in the Sam Hell invented the steering wheel, the nav bar, and the view cube? I got in a drawing this afternoon and found it was eating most of screen real estate. This thing... [Read More...]
AECCIMPORTSTYLES and AECCIMPORTSTYLESANDSETTINGS Undocumented Commands
Civil 3D 2011 ships with two undocumented commands exposed – AECCIMPORTSTYLES and AECCIMPORTSTYLESANDSETTINGS. Each of the commands can only be found on the command line, which means they can be scripted easily, but they don’t have an interface. They each have their own little peculiarities, but I think by name alone you can figure out what they do. Be careful though, without an interface, and without options, using the commands will... [Read More...]
AutoCAD 2011 Feature Enhancements
Use Size Name From Parts List As Description
Yes. Need I say more? You’ll find this new setting in Civil 3D 2011, and it’ll be a welcome addition! Civil 3D Tutorials at I.II.I one.to.one AutoCAD® Civil 3D® Tutorials. Click Here for Registration Information. Read More →
