Snap Station Value Down To The Nearest
The Plan Production tools are tricky. I recently spent quite a while troubleshooting a plan & profile sheet (and related styles) only to find that the error was in the “Snap station down to the nearest” value. I’ll try to explain, but this is a rough one. [Read More...] Read More →
Immediate and Independent Layer on/off
No doubt, it’s confusing. This setting is found on the Object Layers tab of the Drawing Settings dialog (right click on the name of the drawing as shown on the Settings tab or the Toolspace. To be clear, this setting is for working with layers in an on/off state as opposed to a freeze/thaw state; i.e. the command is on/off, not freeze/thaw. First let’s make some assumptions: Alignments on C-ROAD Tangents on C-ROAD-LINE Curves on C-ROAD-CURV Immediate... [Read More...]
Label Style Settings
Easily overlooked, and oh so important: Text Style Specifies the default text style on which all text components are based. Visibility Specifies whether labels of the current style are visible in the drawing. Layer Specifies the layer for all components in a label style. Hover your cursor over the name of current layer and Click the ellipsis to open the Layer Selection dialog box, and select a layer. If you set the layer to 0, the labels use the... [Read More...]
Parcel Creation – Lots & Blocks
I initially wrote this post in March of 2006, but I’m still finding it one of the more popular articles. The images may have changed, but the workflow is essentially the same. Parcel creation in Civil 3D is tricky if your subdivisions require Lots and Blocks (Texas, for example). This assumes duplicate lot numbers inside a subdivision, and Civil 3D isn’t geared to handle duplicates. This condition also wreaks havoc on display order... [Read More...]
Layer Prefixs and Wildcards
Land Desktop and Civil Design utilized Layer Prefixes as a way of including the name of an object in the name of a layer. For example, by using the “*-” prefix as shown above, and by creating a surface “Natural Ground,” TIN lines would be drawn on layer “Natural Ground-SRF-VIEW.” In Civil 3D this is known as a Modifier, but we are no longer limited to prefixes! Modifiers can be found on the “Object layers”... [Read More...]
Ambient Settings
Learning even the basics can be difficult if you don’t know where to start. Draw a line by direction in Land Desktop – now try it in Civil 3D. You see, in Land Desktop you know where the command is located, and you know how to use it. It’s been around since about 1984 and you like it! But along comes Civil 3D, and you can’t find the darn command – you’ve already made your first mistake. We took a lot of things for granted in Land Desktop.... [Read More...]
Making a Case for the Encyclopedic Description
Chances are, if you’re in the position of building styles and templates for your firm, then you’re struggling finding a way to teach Civil 3D quickly, with minimal loss in production Why not enhance your training, just a bit, by building styles with meaningful descriptions that point a user down the path of obvious need (you’ll NEED to change a grid; you’ll NEED to change a vertical scale). I alluded to this in an earlier post, but think about... [Read More...]
Readability Bias?
This is one of those Civil 3D settings you see for the first time, Land Desktop didn’t have anything similar, and you think to yourself – “I quit, I’m never gonna get this – maybe it’ll go away if I ignore it.” Nice… Relax. This setting, as seen in any of the Label Style Composers, threw me for a loop as well, but when you dig into it, it’s a sweet setting. The “Readability Bias” is the... [Read More...]
Drawing Settings & Label Style Defaults
In Civil 3D, there is no need to create an L80, L100, L120, etc., text style as we did in Land Desktop. You simply create one “Leroy” style based upon your desired font; you can specify a height when you create a new label style (i.e. a spot elevation label). Heights are measured in terms of inches, therefore if your intent is to label something with an L80, you’d specify a height of .08″ (Civil 3D can do the math depending... [Read More...]
Civil 3D Style Names
I think we can agree, out of the box, they make sense. It’s relatively easy to visualize what a surface using the “Border & Contours” style will look like. But what happens when you share your drawings with others? What happens when you use pieces of Civil 3D drawings created by outside consultants? You can guarantee your idea of “Border & Contours” will vary greatly from theirs. Their obviously isn’t a National CAD Standard... [Read More...]
