The Civil 3D Experience

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

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.

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 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.

Autodesk Design Review - GPS Mode demo

2009-05-18T18:50:00.001+01:00

A colleague and the company's Autodesk Design Review guru Trevor Gallyot prepared a video testing ADR's GPS interface feature.

It is quite a useful feature when doing field visits, reconnaissance surveys and dealing with a complex, evolving site. A proposed infrastructure footprint can be laid down, making it easier to imagine the impact while walking the site at eye level.

Civil 3D was used to import Google images and publish to ADR.

Vote for Sessions for AU 2009

2009-05-05T20:16:00.014+01:00

I received an email yesterday from Autodesk University Online announcing that voting for the classes you want to see for AU 2009 is now open.

AU 2009 will be held from December 1-4 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.

To vote for sessions, go to the Autodesk University Session Selection page and log in using your AU Online username and password. If you do not have an AU Online account, it only takes 15 seconds to register as an AU Online member. You can vote up to 20 classes from the list of submitted classes. The voting deadline is Friday, May 8 at midnight PDT.

Even if you can not attend, I still encourage voting the ones you want as most class handouts, podcasts, screencasts and presentation documents are made available on the AU website after the event to members to download.

Transition curves

2009-05-01T20:51:00.009+01:00

To automatically include transition curves using the Straight-Straight (With curves) command, the Transition In and Out option in the Curve and Transition settings should be enabled. These are unticked by default. Once set, this will be applied to any new alignment created.

This can also be set through the alignment command settings. Toolspace (Settings tab)> Alignments> Commands> Right click CreateAlignmentLayout.

These are drawing specific settings and need to be set every time on new drawings.

Autocad Civil 3D 2010 UK version now available

2009-04-19T17:36:00.037+01:00

For all UK and Ireland users who are under subscription, the UKIE version of Autocad Civil 3D 2010 is now available to download from the Autodesk subscription site. Here's bits of reminders to help you get started.

If you opt to download your copy from the subscription site, I suggest you install and use the Autodesk Download Manager for quicker downloads and ability to pause/resume. Otherwise, you can always request for the DVDs.

When you get to the download page, you'll see 6 files available but you only need the 3 UK files. The other 3 are US English versions.

After installation, be sure to read the Readme document. I must admit, I sometimes ignore this document (too eager to use the software!). It contains important information for this release.

When you start Civil 3D, you'll be greeted by a welcome screen that contains links to the usual documentations and the new getting started videos which I think are great additions. Some like myself learn a lot quicker through visual than reading materials. At the start of the video, it says “No Audio” (though I can hear the cursor click sound) but have texts to guide you through the videos.

The User Interface Overview will help you find your way around the new interface. This can also be accessed through the Infocenter toolbar.

And don't forget the new features workshop. It can now be accessed in the Infocentre toolbar. “Old” new features for 2008 and 2009 are also available to view in case you skipped any of these releases.

Lastly, download and view Jack Strongitharm's powerpoint presentation on the 2010 UKIE country kit. It discusses installation notes, known limitations, country kit documentation and new contents and reports.

Happy downloading!

Civil 3D 2010 Profile Object Projection

2009-04-16T13:05:00.012+01:00

You might already be aware through other Civil 3D blogs the new feature in 2010 - the ability to project objects in plan onto profiles and sections. These objects can be Autocad points, solids, 3d polylines, blocks, MV blocks or Civil 3D points.

One area of application that I see this new feature will be useful is in placing geotechnical investigation boreholes on long sections.

I've tried it on one of our past highway project and used dynamic borehole stick blocks.

This of course won’t do all the work as the dynamic blocks need to be inserted and grip edited manually but will help cut a significant amount of draughting time.

UK Civil 3D User Group Meeting

2009-04-02T20:23:00.006+01:00

Just a quick reminder that the next UK Civil 3D User Group organised by Excitech Ltd will be held on 21 April 2009 at their head office in Enfield, North London.

This is a good opportunity to meet other users, discuss and share information related to Civil 3D. To register and get more details, visit their Civil 3D User Group site.

Profile view level datum text

2009-03-13T13:38:00.053Z

At work, we normally place a level datum text for long sections as shown below.

This can be achieved in 2 ways.

1. Using the Left Axis title text.

If you don’t need to show the axis title text on your profile, you can use this for the datum label.

Right-click on the profile and click Edit Profile View Style> Title Annotation tab. Pick the Left axis title text radio button and click the Title text “A” button. Delete any words in the text window, choose the “Profile View Minimum Level” property field from the pull down list and click the blue arrow. Add “Datum” and “mAOD” to the text and click OK.

Back to the Profile View Style box, change the Axis title text parameters as per image below. This is ideal if you need to add the datum text onto several profile views.

2. Using the profile view labels.

Copy an existing profile view label. In my case, I’ll copy the chainage and level style.

In the Information tab, change the style name to Datum. In the Layout tab, change the component’s name to Datum. Activate and click on the text component editor button. Delete the chainage value text in the text window leaving the Profile View Point Level text in and add “Datum” and “mAOD” to the text and click OK.

Change the Label Style parameters as on the image below and label the profile view.

Note that the labels won’t update if the level range is changed.

In my next few posts, I'll show how to create dynamic borehole "sticks".

Creating dynamic borehole blocks

2009-03-24T13:30:00.021Z

Placing geotechnical investigation borehole "sticks" on long sections is a tedious and time consuming work. Here's how to create dynamic borehole blocks to help speed up the task.

1. Type BEDIT and type a block name and click OK.

2. Draw the borehole stick using lines and move it to 0,0 coordinates using the midpoint of the top line as base point.

3. Insert a Base Point parameter at the mid point top line.

4. Place a Visibility parameter at the mid point of the right line.

5. Double click the yellow exclamation point symbol. Change the visibility state to '1'.

6. In the Parameter Sets tab, place a Linear Stretch parameter picking the midpoint of the top line first and the midpoint of the bottom line as the second point. Double click the Stretch Action yellow symbol. Specify the first corner of the stretch frame and objects to stretch. The image below shows where to pick the first and second corner of the stretch frame.

7. Hatch the borehole. That's one layer of borehole done!

8. Now to create another layer. Double click the Visibility parameter or click the Visibility State button on the block editor bar and click new and name it '2'.

9. Select and right click the hatch object> Object Visibility> Hide for Current State. The hatch will be greyed out which means it won't be shown for the new state.

10. Draw a horizontal line across from the left line to the right. Place a Linear Move parameter set with start point at the midpoint of the base and midpoint of the new line as the second point. Double click on the Move Action yellow symbol and select the new line. Click the Distance1 parameter and grip stretch 100 (or more) units down. This means the line can be moved down 100 units from its current position. This can be increased if need be.

11. Create hatches for the 2 layers. Hatch for the upper layer should be the same as the hatch for State '1' and any hatch for the bottom layer.

12. Repeat Steps 8 – 11 to create more layers.

13. Save the block definition and close the block editor.

Additional options and settings can be added through the parameter’s properties.

Click here to see how it works.

If you'd like a copy of the drawing I used to play with, just drop me an email. harold dot alberto at gmail dot com.

Google UK Street View now live

2009-03-20T06:09:00.007Z

Here's a list of UK cities on Street View at present.

Aberdeen
Belfast
Birmingham
Bradford
Bristol
Cambridge
Cardiff
Coventry
Derby
Dundee
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Leeds
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Manchester
Newcastle
Norwich
Nottingham
Scunthorpe
Sheffield
Southampton
Swansea
York

Click here to see where I am on weekdays using Civil 3D.

AUGI Civil 3D wish list voting - have your say!

2009-03-08T21:35:00.005Z

Just a quick reminder that the Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) Civil 3D wishlist ballots for the 2011 release are now open.

All you need to do is to login (or register to become a member) and review the submitted wishes and rank the votes from 1 to 10 where 1 as the most preferred. But hurry as it is only open until 15 March 2009.

Aside from Civil 3D, there are also wishlist ballots for Autocad, Inventor, Revit Architecture. So if you have colleagues or know someone who uses these softwares, please pass this on.

If you have a wish that isn't in the list, you can still submit them in the Civil 3D wishes discussion group.

Traffic management using Civil 3D labels - Part 1

2009-03-01T11:30:00.030Z

These days I am involved in a roadworks traffic management scheme designing traffic signs and producing setting out plans.

The design of traffic signs is done using a program called KeySign from Key Traffic Systems (who according to their website has recently gained accreditation from Autodesk to sell Autocad Civil 3D as Independent Software Reseller), Traffic Signs Regulations & General Directions 2002 (TSRGD) and Traffic Signs Manual Chapter 8.

The tricky part of the work is placing all the signs on plan with viewports varying in rotation. Labels need to show the sign, sign diagram number and chainage number to be at right angles with the viewport and rotated to the direction of flow of traffic as shown below. The Civil 3D alignment label is fit for the job as it may contain blocks and can be set to dynamically react to the viewport rotation and scale.

When creating a new drawing, I always suggest using the Civil 3D template for the country or region you are in. Templates can be downloaded here.

First, bring into the drawing all the signs you need as blocks. You can do this either by inserting the signs as blocks or creating the block from within your working drawing with the TSRGD diagram number as block name.

Create an alignment by tracing over the existing road centreline starting at the datum. The datum being the start of the proposed traffic management works.

For this example I will show how to create a label style for regulatory sign diagram number 610 at the right and left side of the leader line.

Create a new Chainage Offset style. Toolspace-Settings tab> Alignment> Label Styles> Right Click Chainage Offset> New. Change the style name to 610-Right.

My first post!!

2009-02-01T15:43:00.001Z

This is my first attempt at blogging. I have long been thinking of putting this up but I knew there were already a couple of blogs on Civil 3D that I thought it is not worth adding one. Being the "Civil 3D man" at the office, a colleague suggested to document tasks we use Civil 3D on and step by step procedure on doing such tasks so when they come up again, they can refer to it and not bother me. Sounds a good idea to me!

Instead of creating it for work, I decided to create a blog for everyone to read and hopefully in a way help others too. So here it is.

Now for some boring bits -a few info about me. I'm originally from Manila, Philippines, moved to Wales, United Kingdom in 2003. I am a Philippine licensed civil engineer, worked with a land development company in the Philippines for 4 years and currently working for a multi-disciplinary consulting company based at the Cardiff office for their highways skill group for 6 years now. I have been using Civil 3D since its release and previously used Softdesk and Land desktop.

I am hoping to update and add posts at least every month time permitting. In the meantime, stay tuned!

Traffic management using Civil 3D labels - Part 2

2009-03-01T11:50:00.031Z

In the Layout tab, delete any existing component and make a new Block component. Change the name to 610 and anchor point to ‘Middle Center’. Click on the Block name’s value cell once to activate the Select block button. Click the button and choose the required sign block. Change the rotation angle to 90 and attachment to ‘Top Centre’.

Create a new text component and rename to ‘610-label’. In contents, activate and click the text component editor button. Type in ‘610’ in the edit window. Choose ‘Chainage Value’ in the properties pull-down list and change the format to decimal and precision to 1 and finally click the blue arrow button to bring the chainage value property into the text window and click OK. Back to the label style composer window, change the text attachment to ‘Middle center’ and X Offset to -20.

In the Dragged State tab, change the dragged state component display to ‘As Composed’. In the General tab, change the orientation reference to ‘View’ and flip anchor with text to ‘True’. Click OK.

Traffic management using Civil 3D labels - Part 3

2009-03-01T12:03:00.015Z

Now for the labelling part. I suggest placing the labels in layout tab inside the viewport (model).

Alignments menu> Add alignments labels> Add alignments labels...> Label type: Chainage Offset – Fixed Point> Select the 610-Right style and click Add. Follow the prompts in the command line and drag the label to desired location using the drag label grip.

If the signs come in too big or small, go back to the label style composer and adjust the block height. If the text labels clash with or are too far from the sign, go back to the label style composer and adjust the X-offset.

To create a label style showing the sign at the left side of the leader, copy 610-Right and change the style name to the 610-Left. In the Layout tab, change the block attachment to 'Bottom Centre'.

If you have colleagues working on the same scheme, you can share label styles by copying theirs to your drawing and vice versa. Open their drawing as 'Read Only' to be sure you don't make any accidental changes to it. In Toolspace-Settings tab-Master view> Alignment> Label Styles> Chainage Offset> drag and drop the styles you need to your drawing.

Hope this helps and gives you ideas of other possible applications of this versatile Civil 3D feature in your everyday work tasks.

Civil 3D 2009 Update 2.1 now available

2009-02-28T06:04:00.022Z

Civil 3D 2009 update 2.1 is now available to download here. Wondering why 2.1? Update 2.0 was released in January however users reported problems with the program after installation and was then pulled out of the Autodesk website days after.

Happy St David's Day!

Autocad 2010 Product Launch

2009-02-10T07:38:00.001Z

Take a peek at the new Autocad 2010 portfolio of design software here. You can view a webcast of the virtual press conference held last week and download press materials for each software.

Filter command

2009-02-14T12:26:00.005Z

From time to time I'll be posting some Autocad tips and commands that some of you might have forgotten or don't even realise they exist.

FILTER (filter or fi on the command line) is a useful command that lets you select a set of object properties for inclusion or exclusion to/from a selection set. Similar to Quick Select (qselect) but easier to use, with an option to save the selection list and can be used as a transparent command.

On my next post, see how you can use Civil 3D on traffic management schemes.

Have a good weekend!

90 degree road bend

2009-02-09T12:50:00.000Z

There recently was a topic in the Civil 3D discussion forum on how to model a corridor that have a 90 degree bend alignment (no curve at all). The problem when modelling this is the inside lane of the corridor will have overlapping corridor links. This post will discuss a workaround on how to achieve this. Please note I am using Civil 3D 2009. This still can be done in earlier versions but would take longer though.

Assuming horizontal alignment and vertical profile already exist, create a feature line from alignment, use the designed profile and untick "Create dynamic link to alignment box". Click OK and accept the defaults in the Weed Vertices dialog box.

Create a stepped offset from the centreline featureline to desired road cross fall slope for both sides. In this case I used -2.5% slopes and 3m offsets.

Add a free curve with radius value of the half lane width which is 3m and create the road assembly.

Create a corridor with tangent frequency set to 5 and curves set to 2. Set the offset featurelines as horizontal and vertical targets. This feature is new in 2009 and makes the task easier to do.

Add an extra chainage to define the outer corner.

The corridor surface needs a few editing to run the crown along the centreline corner and not along the centreline curve. Create a surface from the corridor and set the style to show the surface points. Delete the points along the curve and add a point at the centreline corner with levels taken from the converted centreline featureline.

Finally, to add the earthworks, create grading using the road edge featurelines and use the existing ground surface as target. Add the new grading to the corridor surface by right clicking on the grading featureline and “Add surface as breakline…”. Select the corridor surface in the next dialog box and accept the defaults in the “Add breaklines” box.