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AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009

Getting Started

April 2008237A1-050000-PM01A

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2008 Autodesk, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not bereproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose.Certain materials included in this publication are reprinted with the permission of the copyright holder.

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DisclaimerTHIS PUBLICATION AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS MADE AVAILABLE BY AUTODESK, INC. "AS IS." AUTODESK, INC. DISCLAIMSALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY ORFITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS.

Published By: Autodesk, Inc.111 Mclnnis ParkwaySan Rafael, CA 94903, USA

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Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Installing on a Single Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Installing on a Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Highlights of AutoCAD Civil 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Whats New in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Project Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Pipe Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Grading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Alignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Corridors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Mass Haul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Google Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Hydraulics and Hydrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Sample Data Provided with the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Tutorial Drawing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Getting Started Guide Drawing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Best Practices Guide Drawing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Sample Drawing Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Learning How to Use AutoCAD Civil 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

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Getting Started Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Online Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Help System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Civil 3D Best Practices Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Moving from Land Desktop to Civil 3D Guide . . . . . . . . . . . 7Skill Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Autodesk Training Programs and Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter 2 Designing with Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Object Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Object Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Object Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Toolspace for Object Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Prospector Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Settings Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Survey Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Toolbox Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Menu Standardization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Shortcut Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Layout Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Consistent Editing Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Item View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Grips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Panorama Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Property Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28AutoCAD Properties Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Exercise: Familiarization Tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Standard Controls for Styles and Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Precision Layout Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Object Building Blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Corridors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Pipe Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chapter 3 Using Styles and Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Managing Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Types of Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Label Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Managing Label Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Table Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Table Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Band Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Profile and Section View Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Using Styles with Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Label Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

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Table Creation and Label Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Object Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Exercise: Object and Label Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 4 Designing Drawing Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Creating Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Drawing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Layer Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Object Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Label Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Plan Production Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Enhancing Drawings with Visualization Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Exercise: Drawing Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Chapter 5 Managing Project Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

The Collaborative Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Autodesk Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Access to Autodesk Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Autodesk Vault Set Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Database Projects and Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71User Accounts and Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

External References (xrefs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Data Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Exercise: Creating a Data Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter 6 Getting Started Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Grading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Parcels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Alignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Pipe Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Corridors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Object and Label Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Visualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Label Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Plan Production Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

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Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

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Introduction

AutoCAD Civil 3D is a design and drafting program that supports a wide range of civilengineering tasks. The AutoCAD Civil 3D Getting Startedguide introduces the program andprovides some initial hands-on experience, using sample data included with the product. Thisfirst chapter contains brief descriptions of the significant features in AutoCAD Civil 3D andprovides advice for AutoCAD Land Desktop users who are learning about AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Installation

You install AutoCAD Civil 3D using the Installation wizard that opens

automatically when you insert the product media. Using the Installation wizard

you can access several pages of links, from which you can open online versions

of the documentation and locate other information to support the product.

Installing on a Single Computer

To install AutoCAD Civil 3D on a single computer, click the Install Products

link on the first page of the Installation wizard. The Installation wizard provides

links with answers to common installation questions.

For information about installing AutoCAD Civil 3D on a single computer,

consult the Stand-Alone Installation Guide. To access this guide, in the Installation

wizard, click the Read the Documentation link, then click Stand-Alone

Installation Guide.

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Installing on a Network

To deploy AutoCAD Civil 3D on a network, click the Create Deployments link

on the Installation wizard. For information about deploying AutoCAD Civil

3D on a network, consult the Network Administrator's Guide. To access this

guide, in the Installation wizard, click the Read the Documentation link, and

then click Network Administrators Guide.

Highlights of AutoCAD Civil 3D

AutoCAD Civil 3D is designed for land-development professionals, such as

civil engineers, surveyors, engineering technicians, and drafters. Subsequent

chapters of this Getting Startedguide introduce the objects and styles that are

the main structural features of the application.

Whats New in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009

This release of AutoCAD Civil 3D includes new features and enhancements

to existing features, as described in the following sections. More details about

these enhancements are available in the New Features topic of the Help and

in the New Features Workshop.

Project Management

You can access the Data Shortcut commands on the Toolspace Prospector tab.

This feature now provides a Data Shortcuts external editor. Also, you can use

the new project export feature, for packing a set of Vault project files into a

ZIP archive, and a related project import feature, for extracting the files into

another project environment.

Survey

You can generate Mapcheck reports by selecting labels in the drawing. A new

reporting tool highlights observation tolerance errors for angle, distance,

elevation, and coordinate values in the Event Viewer vista. The Survey Link

Extension enables you to download data from survey data collectors and

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convert raw data into .fbk files. Survey figure editing commands are now

available.

Pipe Networks

A new command enables you to select a series of pipes and structures in the

drawing, and then rename or renumber them. You can use a spanning label

for pipes displayed in a profile. You can use a pipe end cleanup option in

profile views.

Labels

You can now label most AutoCAD Civil 3D objects that are contained withinan Xref. For line, curve, and spiral labels on alignment, parcels, and general

line and curve labels, there are new label anchor points such as start, middle,

and end. General line and curve labels can now be included in parcel tables.

Surfaces

You can now reorder surface operations and can weed points to control the

number of points that are used when creating a surface (TIN). This feature has

been enhanced with more intelligent memory management, data restriction

for improved performance, and point weeding to achieve a simplified surface

which results in improved performance for large surfaces.

Grading

You can have dynamic feature lines from alignments,profiles, and corridors.

You can name feature lines for easier identification, and can apply styles to a

selection set of feature lines. You can prioritize feature line styles to determine

split point elevations and can create a feature line from the alignment

geometry. Numerous new feature line commands make it easier to edit

elevations.

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Alignments

You can associate agency-specific standards during the alignment and profile

design process to ensure compliance with standards. Additionally, you can

use a new post-design error-checking mechanism, which checks the alignment

and profile geometry for entities that violate the associated standards. You

can now control label styles for different alignment and profile geometry

points in order to label these in different ways. You can also label

superelevation critical points along an alignment. You can create alignment

entities using the best fit tools.

Profiles

You can create stacked profile views and anchor superelevation band labelsto superelevation diagrams. You can associate agency-specified standards

during the alignment and profile creation process. Also, you can use the

error-checking mechanism which checks for violations of the associated

standards. You can create profile entities using the best fit tools.

Corridors

You can use survey figures, grading feature lines, polylines, and pipe networks

as subassembly targets in a corridor. The View/Edit functionality has been

enhanced.

Mass Haul

A new Mass Haul Diagram wizard is available to generate a mass haul diagram

that remains dynamic in relation to the corridor model.

Google Earth

You can publish render materials on entities for display in Google Earth. Also,

you can import elevation data in a current Google Earth view into AutoCAD

Civil 3D as a mesh.


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Hydraulics and Hydrology

Optionally, you can install three new hydraulics and hydrology applications

from the AutoCAD Civil 3D installer. Use the stand-alone applications,

Hydraflow Storm Sewers Extension and Hydraflow Hydrographs Extension,

for hydraulic analysis and planning. Use the Hydraflow Express Extension

application to perform common hydrology tasks, such as designing culverts

and inlets. For more information, click the Help menu in each of these

applications.

Sample Data Provided with the Program

To help you learn how to use AutoCAD Civil 3D and start experimenting with

its features, the product media includes sample drawings and data files.

Tutorial Drawing Files

Use these files with the tutorials that are part of the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help

system.

After installation, the default location of the files is the following folder:

C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009\Help\Civil 3D Tutorials\Drawings

Getting Started Guide Drawing FilesUse these drawing files with the Exercises chapter of this Getting Startedguide.

There is one file for each feature-specific concept discussed in that chapter.


C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009\Getting Started Guide

Best Practices Guide Drawing Files

Use these files with theBest Practices guide.


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C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009\Best Practices Guide

Sample Drawing Templates

AutoCAD Civil 3D also provides several drawing templates that contain sample

content for settings, styles, and organization of objects. Use these files as a

basis for developing your own content.

After installation, the files are located in the same folder as the AutoCAD

templates. To create a file from a template:

1 Click File menuNew.2 In the Select Template dialog box, select the template you want to use.

The AutoCAD Civil 3D templates are at the top of the list, with names

such as_AutoCAD Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS Base.dwt.

Learning How to Use AutoCAD Civil 3D

AutoCAD Civil 3D provides learning materials to get you started using the

software and complete documentation to serve as a reference. User

documentation for AutoCAD Civil 3D includes:

Getting Startedguide (this guide)

Online tutorials

Help system

Best Practices guide

Moving From Land Desktop to Civil 3D guide

Skill Builders

Getting Started Guide

The Getting Startedguide introduces important concepts in AutoCAD Civil

3D. After reading through it, and doing some of the exercises with the sample

files provided, you should feel comfortable enough with the application to

start experimenting on your own.


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Online Tutorials

Access the online tutorials on the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help menu. The tutorials

offer an in-depth guided tour of the major features of AutoCAD Civil 3D, using

realistic engineering drawings and data. For a thorough knowledge of AutoCAD

Civil 3D, it is recommended that you explore the tutorials after you have read

through the conceptual information provided in the Getting Startedguide.

Help System

The AutoCAD Civil 3D Help system is provided in HTML format with a table

of contents, an index, and a search function. You can print out the Help topics

that interest you. To print entire sections, you might prefer to work from the

PDF version of the Help system. By default, this document is available at thefollowing location:

C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009\Help\civil_ug.pdf

Use the Search tab in the Help to find topics that contain a particular word

or phrase. For the best results when searching for a phrase, enclose the words

in quotation marks, for example, Quantity Takeoff. Search results appear

in the left pane. The Help system home page lists topics by classifying them

by task, by feature, and by job role. The home page also includes links to the

Learning Resources page, the Workflow topics, the New Features Workshop,

Tutorials, theBest Practices guide, and theMoving from Land Desktop to Civil

3D guide.

Civil 3D Best Practices Guide

The newAutoCAD Civil 3D Best Practices guide provides best practices

information to help you optimize your use of AutoCAD Civil 3D. This guide

includes chapters for aspects of AutoCAD Civil 3D such as project management,

templates and style optimization, and specific features including surfaces,

grading, pipe networks, and corridors.

Moving from Land Desktop to Civil 3D Guide

Many Land Desktop users are transitioning to Civil 3D. TheMoving from LandDesktop to Civil 3D guide provides concepts, best practices, and procedures for

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successfully moving from Land Desktop to Civil 3D. This guide is available

on the Help menu. It contains information on how to successfully plan for

and transition an organization from using Land Desktop to using Civil 3D.This guide also contains information on tools for moving Land Desktop data

into Civil 3D.

Skill Builders

AutoCAD Civil 3D Skill Builders are advanced exercises that enable you to

practice performing design tasks using Civil 3D drawings. Skill Builders are

available from the AutoCAD Civil 3D website.

To view and download AutoCAD Civil 3D Skill Builders, visit

http://www.autodesk.com/civil3d-skillbuilders.

Autodesk Training Programs and Products

Training programs and products from Autodesk help you learn the key

technical features of your Autodesk software and improve your productivity.

For the latest information about Autodesk training, visit

http://www.autodesk.com/trainingor contact your local Autodesk office.

Autodesk Authorized Training Centers

Be more productive with Autodesk software. Get trained at an Autodesk

Authorized Training Center (ATC) with hands-on, instructor-led classes to

help you get the most from your Autodesk products. Enhance your productivitywith proven training from over 1,400 ATC sites in more than 75 countries.

For more information about Autodesk Authorized Training Centers, contact

[email protected] or visit the online ATC locator at

http://www.autodesk.com/atc.

Autodesk Courseware

Autodesk publishes many courseware titles each year for users at all levels to

improve their productivity with Autodesk software. The preferred training

materials of Autodesk partners, these books are also well-suited for self-paced,

standalone learning. All courseware simulates real-world projects with

hands-on, job-related exercises. Autodesk Official Training Courseware (AOTC)

is developed by Autodesk. Autodesk Authorized Training Courseware (AATC)is developed by Autodesk partners, including titles in a growing number of

http://www.autodesk.com/trainingmailto:[email protected]://www.autodesk.com/atchttp://www.autodesk.com/atcmailto:[email protected]://www.autodesk.com/training

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languages. Autodesk Official Certification Courseware (AOCC) teaches the

knowledge and skills assessed on the Certification examinations. Visit

http://www.autodesk.com/aotcto browse the Autodesk Courseware catalog.

Autodesk Certification

Gain a competitive edge with your career by obtaining Autodesk Certification,

validating your knowledge and skills on Autodesk products. Autodesk provides

an end-to-end solution for assessing your readiness for certification, preparing

for certification, and obtaining certification. For more information on Autodesk

Certification, visit http://www.autodesk.com/certification.

e-Learning

Autodesk e-Learning for Autodesk Subscription customers features interactive

lessons organized into product catalogs. Each lesson is 20-40 minutes in lengthand features hands-on exercises, with an option to use a simulation or the

software application. You can also use an online evaluation tool that identifies

gaps in skills, determines what lessons will be most helpful, and gauges learning

progress.

If you are a member of Autodesk subscription, you can access e-Learning and

other subscription services from within your Autodesk product. For more

information about Autodesk subscription resources, visit

http://www.autodesk.com/subscription.

Autodesk Training Programs and Products | 9
http://www.autodesk.com/aotchttp://www.autodesk.com/certificationhttp://www.autodesk.com/subscriptionhttp://www.autodesk.com/subscriptionhttp://www.autodesk.com/certificationhttp://www.autodesk.com/aotc

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Designing with Objects

The underlying object model in AutoCAD Civil 3D creates some major efficiencies in theengineering design process. Because of this model, changes to one object can affect relatedobjects, and object styles can control many aspects of object appearance and behavior. Thischapter describes both the object model and the AutoCAD Civil 3D user interface for workingwith objects.

Object Model

The architecture of AutoCAD Civil 3D ensures that each object, such as an

alignment or a parcel, has a standard set of attributes and relationships to other

objects. These objects are intelligent in the sense that they automatically react

in predictable ways to changes in related objects. As a result, you do not need

to spend hours ensuring that design revisions are transferred correctly among

surfaces, alignments, profiles, sections, labels, tables, and other objects. The

tedious tasks of redrafting and relabeling are eliminated. Design options and

what if scenarios can be created more easily and analyzed with precision,resulting in significant process improvements.

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Points

Surfaces

Parcels

Alignments

Grading

Exploded representation of the object model

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Object Relationships

The following illustration shows a simplified view of object relationships and

data flow in an AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing:

Object relationships and data flow

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Field survey data creates figures and points that can be used to generate an

existing ground surface and parcels. This surface is referenced as other objects

are created in the design process, resulting finally in a designed surface.

Parcels, existing ground surfaces, pipe networks, and gradings can be created

independently, or from data sources not shown in the illustration. Such objects

are usually linked to other objects during the design process, if not at the

beginning. The object type with the most complex set of relationships is the

corridor, because it requires data from an alignment, profile, and assembly.

Changes to any object automatically flow along the arrows to dependent

objects, with predictable results. For example, if you correct the elevations of

an existing ground surface, updates flow to any related grading objects,

corridors, profiles, and pipe networks. As a result, all values represented in

labels and tables are also updated.

In the design process, after you create an alignment you can create many

profiles and sections. However, the display of these in profile views and section

views is optional and separate from the flow of data required to create the

final producta designed surface. Similarly, the data from objects, such as

parcels and alignments, can be output to a table or report if desired.


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Object Interface

The user interface of AutoCAD Civil 3D reflects the object architecture of the

application. The major elements are shown in the following illustration:

AutoCAD Civil 3D User Interface

The following notes describe the numbered items in the illustration:

1 Toolspace. For object management. Uses four tabs: Prospector; for

navigating through the object collections, Settings; for managing styles

and settings, Survey; for managing survey data, and Toolbox; for

generating object reports.

2 Item view. For a list view of the contents of the selected folder or a graphic

view of the selected object.

3 Layout tools. For creating and editing objects, such as gradings or

alignments.

4 Standardized menus. For consistent access to the full range of commands.

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5 Tabbed property editors. For modifying individual objects and their

attributes.

Each part of the user interface is described in more detail in the following

sections.

Toolspace for Object Management

The Toolspace window provides an object-oriented view of your engineering

projects. The window is divided into four parts or tabs: Prospector tab, Settings

tab, Survey tab, and Toolbox tab.

Prospector Tab

On this tab, all of the objects in a drawing or project are arranged in a hierarchy

that you navigate in standard, Windows Explorerlike fashion. To access this

tab, click General menuToolspace. To view all the collections in theProspector tree, select Master View from the list at the top of the Prospector

tab. The collections available here are Open Drawings, Projects, Data Shortcuts,

and Drawing Templates. Note that Projects lists projects available after you

have logged into an Autodesk Vault server and Vault database. A site collection

includes objects that are related to one another because they share topology.

The following illustration shows a typical structure. The Oak Street site folder

contains collections for alignments, grading groups, and parcels that belong

to the site. The Parcels folder contains the parcel objects defined for the Oak

Street subdivision. Note that the view selected is Active Drawing.


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The Prospector tab in Toolspace

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Settings Tab

On this tab, styles are organized for different object types. Even in a blank

drawing, most of these styles are present in a standard hierarchy. You can

create and modify styles in a drawing, then save it as a template. Subsequent

drawings based on the template will automatically have the same set of styles

available. You can modify object, label, and table styles. You can also control

settings for drawings and commands. To access this tab, click General

menuToolspace. In the following illustration, label and table styles forparcels have been defined:

Each type of object can

have an unlimited

number of styles.

Predefined label styles

can be applied to anyparcel in the drawing.

The Settings tab in Toolspace


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Survey Tab

To access this tab, click Survey menuOpen Survey Toolspace. This tabdisplays survey project data, organized within databases for survey projects,

equipment, and figure prefixes. The project databases record the survey points,

networks, and figures. The equipment databases record standard deviations

and other operational parameters of individual pieces of survey equipment.

The figure prefix databases record the conversion routines that are applied

when creating lots, buildings, or other figures from survey points.

The Survey tab in Toolspace

The contents of the Survey tab are not specific to a drawing. This tab reflects

the survey data in your AutoCAD Civil 3D Projects folder, so it facilitates access

to survey data from multiple drawings.

The surveyed points and figures in a project can be converted to Civil 3D

points and parcels.

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Toolbox Tab

To access this tab, click General menuToolbox. This tab organizes reportsfor each object type. The reports provide useful engineering data from a

drawing in a compact, portable format. AutoCAD Civil 3D includes many

standard reports. Some are in LandXML format, with predefined or custom

XSL style sheets. Other reports are .NET format, with custom dialog boxes

that allow you to select the data and various options.

The Toolbox tab in Toolspace

You can add your own reports to the Toolbox menu. These reports can be in

a variety of formats, including XML, VBA, COM, or .NET.


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Menu Standardization

The menus in AutoCAD Civil 3D are designed to be as consistent as possible

for all objects, making it easy to find the command you are looking for. This

standardization reflects the fact that the workflows for creating, editing, and

annotating various objects are quite similar.

The object creation commands are at the top of the menu structure, because

logically they are the first steps in any workflow. They are followed by the

editing commands, and then, the annotation commands. Note that all feature

menus provide access to the labeling and table creation commands.

Comparison of the Pipes, Parcels, and Alignments menus

In this release of AutoCAD Civil 3D, the Grading feature line editing commands

are also available on the Parcel and Survey menus. Use these commands to

edit parcel geometry as well as parcel elevations. You can also use the feature

line commands to edit survey figures, including control points.

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Comparison of the Parcels and Survey menus

AutoCAD Civil 3D comes with several workspaces that you can use as-is or

change according to your preferences. Workspaces are sets of menus and

toolbars grouped together to enable you to customize workspace settings.

AutoCAD Civil 3D workspaces include Civil 3D Complete, Design, Annotation

and Drafting, Survey and Topographical, and Visualization and Rendering.

For more information about using workspaces, see the Help system.

The Annotation menu in the Annotation and Drafting workspace is designed

to facilitate the creation of annotation labels and tables. The Annotation menu

provides access to all label and table commands. The feature menus, such asthe Pipes, Parcels, and Alignment menus, also include options for the creation

of labels.

To modify label styles and settings, use the Add Labels command to access

the Add Labels dialog box. This command is located on both the feature (Civil

3D Complete workspace) and Annotation (Annotation and Drafting workspace)

menus. For a quicker method to add labels when your styles are already set

up, you can use the direct creation method for specific label types. For example:

Parcels menuAdd Parcel LabelsSingle Segment. To access the Add Labelsdialog box to edit or create features label styles, use Parcels menuAdd ParcelLabelsAdd Parcel Labels. See the Help system for instructions on creatinglabels for features and objects.


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Annotation Label and Table menus

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Shortcut Menus

AutoCAD Civil 3D uses shortcut menus extensively. These menus are displayed

when you right-click either one or more objects in the drawing, or an

individual item in Toolspace. You use shortcut menus for quick access to

common functions and commands.

Here are two examples from the Prospector tab. The menu on the left is

displayed when you right-click an alignment object on the Prospector tab.

The menu on the right is displayed when you right-click a parcel.

Shortcut menus for an alignment and a parcel on the Prospector tab

The options on the shortcut menus on the Settings tab are also very similar

for different object types.


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Layout Tools

AutoCAD Civil 3D provides separate dialog boxes, called Layout or Creation

Tools, for designing surfaces, alignments, grading, and other features. Each

layout tools dialog box provides access to object-specific design and editing

commands in a floating dialog box.

Layout tools for Grading, Alignments, and Pipe Networks

Consistent Editing Methods

Object editing in AutoCAD Civil 3D uses an approach that is quite consistent

for all objects. The main editing tools are described in the following sections.

Item View

When you click an object or an object collection on the Prospector tab, for

example, Points or Alignments, an item view appears. An item view can be

either a list view or a graphical view, depending on the object selected.

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The item view presents a table in which you can review and edit data for eachobject in the selected collection. For example, if you select a point group, the

item view table includes a row for each point in the group.

Click a table cell to

edit the value.

Item view showing a group of points

Grips

When you select an object in the drawing, grips appear on the object. You

can use these grips to click and drag the object to a new location. For example,

when editing alignments, you can use grips to move points of intersection or

points of line-arc tangency.

Direction of drag

Editing an alignment by dragging the grip at the midpoint of a curve


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When you use a grip to drag a label object to a new location, a round reset

grip appears. You can click this round grip to return the label to its original

location. No matter how many times you have moved the label, the reset gripwill restore it to its original location.

Use the round grip to reset label location

Panorama Window

Some object types, such as alignments and profiles, use the Panorama window

to display a table of entities that make up that object. The Panorama window

is a floating, dockable window that you can keep open as you work. It can

include several tables, called vistas, on different tabs. Panorama data shown

in black text can be edited; data shown in gray text cannot be edited.

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Panorama window showing an alignment

Property Editors

When you right-click any object on the Prospector tab, and then clickProperties, you can view all the AutoCAD Civil 3D properties of that object,

and edit some of them. These properties typically include the styles, labels,

related objects, and some structural details of the current object.


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Properties editor showing properties for a surface (above) and a point group (below)

AutoCAD Properties Editor

When you right-click an object in the drawing, and then click Properties, the

AutoCAD Properties dialog box is displayed. You can use this dialog box to

review and edit AutoCAD properties, such as the layer on which the object is

drawn. You can view the style assigned to the object, and can also change it

here. You can also edit an object style on the Settings tab of Toolspace.

Right-click the object style. Click Edit to open the Style dialog box.

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Click a table cell to

edit the value.

Editing AutoCAD properties for an alignment


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Exercise: Familiarization Tour

In this exercise, you will explore the Toolspace and Workspace settings.

Using an alignment as an example, you will explore objects and styles located

on the Toolspace Prospector and Settings tabs. You will also examine the

workspace menus.

To view Toolspace tabs in AutoCAD Civil 3D

Open the file C:\Program Files\Autodesk

Civil 3D 2009 \Getting Started

Guide\GSG_alignments.dwg.

To access the Toolspace, click General

menu and click Toolspace.

In Toolspace, on the Settings tab, ex-

pand the Alignment collection. Note

the Alignment Styles, Design Checks,

Label Styles, Table Styles, and Com-

mands collections.

1

Right-click the drawing GSG_align-

ments.dwg. The context menu

provides access to dialog boxes where

you can edit drawing settings, label

style defaults, LandXML settings, and

table tag numbers.

2

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In Toolspace, on the Prospector tab,

expand the Sites collection and ex-pand Conway Farms and its Align-

ments. Right-click East-West Drive. The

context menu enables you to open

dialog boxes to view and change

properties such as Object Style and

reference points.

Make changes as desired and click OK.

Now expand the Parcels collection and

observe how parcel data is displayed

by opening the Properties dialog box.

You can also edit object styles, create

mapcheck or inverse reports, or edit

properties that you can define such as

parcel address.

3

Now you will explore the workspace

settings. You can customize the work-

space menus to suit your particular

tasks or preferences.

In the lower right of the Civil 3D inter-

face, click the Workspace Switching

icon and select Annotation and

Drafting and observe how the menus

are reorganized.

4

Select the Annotation menu. Note the

commands for adding labels and

5

tables. This menu facilitates the la-

beling process during the drafting

stage of your project. Experiment with

the workspace settings and customize

them for your design needs.

Click again to open the Work-

space Settings dialog box. Use this


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dialog box to customize the order and

display of the settings.

Standard Controls for Styles and Labels

Every AutoCAD Civil 3D object has a style assigned to it. These styles are

created, assigned, and managed in a consistent way for all objects. All objects

have an object style and can have one or more label styles. Some objects have

table styles as well. You can browse the collections of styles in a drawing, on

the Settings tab of the Toolspace window, as shown in the following

illustration:

Style collection folders on the Settings tab of the Toolspacewindow

To create a new style or to edit an existing style, right-click the style on the

Settings tab, and then click Edit.

The Style dialog box for labels is called the Label Style Composer. It contains

a preview window that makes it easy to adjust label location and appearance.

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Label Style Composer dialog box showing a point label style

There are many ways to open the Label Style Composer:

Right-click an existing style and click Edit.

Right-click an existing style and click New.

Right-click a label style type and click New.

You can also access the Label Style Composer from the Label Style Control,

which is available in many dialog boxes.

You can also access the Label Style Composer while working directly in your

drawing. To quickly access the composer while in the drawing, select a label.

Then right-click and select either Properties or Label Properties. In the AutoCAD

Properties palette, click the label style to display a list of available styles.

For more information about styles and labels, see the chapter Using Styles and

Settings (page 39) in this guide.


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Precision Layout Strategies

When creating objects, such as horizontal alignments, parcels, and profiles,

you may need to use several different methods. Sometimes you want to draw

quick freehand versions, other times you have specific distances and angles

to enter. AutoCAD Civil 3D supports both methods of working.

The main layout tools have settings that you can use to control some design

elements while you draw each object. For example, when drawing alignments

or profiles, you can create a series of linked tangents and add curves later, or

you can have curves of standard dimensions inserted at each tangent

intersection as you draw. Similarly, you can specify a default area for each

parcel and a minimum frontage distance.

You can also use the transparent commands to specify precise point locations

while you are laying out an object. From a current point in an alignment orparcel, you can specify the next point using standard surveying methods, such

as angle and distance, northing and easting, latitude and longitude, or point

number. As shown in the following figure, for a profile, you can specify a

point by various methods, such as station and elevation or grade and distance.

In each case, you use the command by entering a short code on the command

line (for example, bd for bearing and distance) or by clicking an icon on the

Transparent Commands toolbar.

Distance transparent command in progress on a profileview

Object Building Blocks

Corridors and pipe networks share a similar complex structure, in that both

objects are built up from standard components. These components exist in a

catalog, and you can modify them to create additional components.

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Corridors

A corridor is created from one or more assemblies, which are standard roadway

cross-sections. You design an assembly from subassemblies, such as lanes,

curbs, shoulders, and ditches. The subassemblies are provided in a set of

catalogs, which you can review by clicking General menuCatalog or GeneralmenuTool Palette Window.

Roadway assembly (left), with subassemblies shown in a tool palette (right)

Each subassembly has a defined cross-section, and some subassemblies

automatically adapt to their location. For example, the slope of a road lane

changes as superelevation is applied, and a side slope automatically creates

either a cut or fill slope, depending on the relative elevation of the existing

surface.

The dimensions of a subassembly, such as the width of a lane or the height

of a curb are stored as properties. If you want to create a new subassembly

based on an existing one, use this simple procedure:

1 Right-click a subassembly in the Tool Palette, copy it, and paste it.

2 Right-click the subassembly that you copied and click Properties.

3 Rename the subassembly and modify the numeric parameters.

You can also create custom subassemblies from AutoCAD polylines. In this

case, you must also specify the subassembly behavior within an assembly and

in the process of corridor creation. You can define custom subassemblies and

their behavior using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripts, then use the

AutoCAD Civil 3D COM application programming interface (API) to link these

to the main application.


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A subassembly definition references point, link, and shape codes. Points are

the vertices of the subassembly, and they can be attachment points for adjacent

assemblies. Links are the line segments or curves between the points. Shapesare two-dimensional polygons that represent the cross-sectional shape of the

subassembly. The following figure shows a coding diagram for a Basic Curb

and Gutter subassembly:

Pipe Networks

A pipe network is constructed from various pipes and structures that appear

in a parts list. You can see the available lists on the Toolspace Settings tab by

expanding the Pipe NetworkParts Lists collection.AutoCAD Civil 3D includes a utility called Part Builder, which you can use to

edit the dimensions of parts and create new ones. You can create a new part

by saving an existing one with a new name, and then modifying its dimensions

in various tables.

Detail from a Part Builder edit window for a concentric cylindricalstructure.

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Using Styles and Settings

Styles determine the display format and some aspects of the behavior of objects and theirlabels. This chapter explains how you can use various settings and the versatile set of stylesin AutoCAD Civil 3D to establish CAD standards and promote efficiency at every stage of thedesign process.

Managing Styles

You can use styles to control object appearance and behavior, with flexibility

and ease, and to establish design standards. If you are the CAD manager in your

organization, you may find that time spent creating styles for others to use pays

off in terms of efficiency and standards compliance.

AutoCAD Civil 3D is an object-oriented program that works with intelligent

objects. The objects reference a style, which can be changed at any time. Any

style can be copied by dragging it from one drawing to another. The new drawing

knows where to put that style in the Settings tree. You can then apply the newstyle to existing objects.

Any label style can be copied by creating a child style. A child style derives its

default settings from its parent, the existing style. To create a child style for a

label, on the Toolspace Settings tab, right-click a label style. Click New. In the

Label Style Composer dialog box, make changes to the settings as desired and

click OK. The child style will appear underneath the parent style in the Settings

tree. See the Labels and Settings (page 57) exercise at the end of this chapter.

You can use styles to manage the display of objects at different phases of a

project. In the following il lustration, the upper drawing uses surface and parcel

styles appropriate for a preliminary layout, while the lower drawing uses different

styles for the final presentation:

3

39

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Early layout phase

Final drawing phase

Using customized surface and alignment styles for different phases of a project

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Types of Styles

AutoCAD Civil 3D includes styles for objects, their labels, data tables, and the

bands that annotate profile views and section views. Each of these styles is

described in the following sections.

Object Styles

Each object type includes a Basic style. Use this style as it is, or as a basis for

building custom styles. You can create styles to meet the needs of a particular

project, a group of users, or any other design requirement. Groups of stylescan be collected into a template (.dwt) file, so that all drawings based on that

template share the same style configuration.

All object types have similar style controls, and a similar set of style collections

on the Toolspace Settings tab. You access the style editing dialog boxes by

right-clicking one of the styles and then clicking Edit.

The following illustration shows some common style editing tasks for points,

surfaces, and alignments:

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1 Point style: using a custom

marker

2 Surface style: smoothing

contours

3 Alignment style: changing the

color of the line components

1

2

3

Editing the style for three different types of objects


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In addition to feature-specific styles, AutoCAD Civil 3D includes multipurposestyles that apply to several objects. Most of these styles apply to grading objects

and corridor assemblies, and control the appearance of components, such as

markers, feature lines, and slope patterns.

Label Styles

Labels are associated with many objects, and their content is updated whenever

the object itself is changed. Labels are also controlled by styles. You can modify

the label styles in the same way that you modify the object styles: right-click

a style name on the Toolspace Settings tab, and then click Edit. You can create

and save label sets for alignments, profiles, and sections, which allows you to

apply multiple label types in one operation. For example, an alignment labelset could include labels for major stations, minor stations, and geometry

points.

Labels can include text, blocks, lines, ticks, and leaders. You can easily create

labels and preview their appearance in the Label Style Composer dialog box,

as shown in the following illustration:

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Alignment station labels and parcel arealabels appear in the drawing as they appear

in the preview of the Style Composer.

Table styles can alsobe customized.

Previewing customized label styles for alignment stations and parcel area


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Use the Properties list at the top of the dialog box to specify which objectproperty to include in the label. For example, a parcel area label can include

properties such as the parcel area, perimeter, number, and street address. Each

property component can include character strings and data codes, as shown

on the screen on the right. After you select a property to include, use the table

on the left to specify the format of text inside the double brackets ().

When you finish modifying the values, click the right arrow at the top of the

dialog box to send the updated component to the screen on the right. Use

the screen on the right to modify the standard text strings outside the brackets

and to cut and paste entire components.

Managing Label Styles

Use the AutoCAD Properties palette to manage most labels. The palette displays

the Standard AutoCAD properties and also the label properties such as Label

Style and whether the label is visible, flipped, or pinned.

You can simultaneously edit an entire group of labels. For example, you can

create additional label text for inclusion on all labels by performing a single

action. Some types of labels, such as station labels, are group type labels. To

edit a group of labels, right-click a label, which highlights the group, and click

either Label Properties or Properties to access the AutoCAD Properties palette.

Also, you can select and edit a single label. To edit a single label within a label

group, use Ctrl+left-click to select a label. Right-click the label and click either

Label Properties or Properties to access the Properties palette. To select more

than one label (subentity) within a group of labels, continue to press Ctrl andclick additional labels.


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You can use the Style Selection menu in the Properties palette to bulk-edit

label properties. This is a convenient method of editing labels without having

to navigate to the Toolspace Settings tab. You can quickly create, edit, or copystyles while working directly within the drawing.

Select the Edit/Create option to open the Select Style dialog box where you

can create a new style, copy the currently selected style, create a child style,

or edit the currently selected style using the Label Style Composer.

You can now directly edit or change a label style using the Edit Label Style

option. In the drawing, select the label to edit. Right-click and select Edit Label

Style.

You can also edit an existing label style in Toolspace. In Toolspace, on theSettings tab, right-click the label style you want to edit and click Edit. Use the

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box from the Add Labels dialog box. You can use General line and curve labels

alone or with parcel segment labels to create a table.

The table tag settings for segment labels are no longer controlled by the site

and can be found in the drawing settings, DWG node and is drawing-wide.

By default when creating table tags, the settings control the starting number,

and increment number.

Use this dialog box to set your table tags automatically

Note that duplicate tags are not created unless you manually create them with

the EditParcelTagNumbers command. When table tags are created, it prevents

the creation of duplicate tag number within the drawing. When renumbering

table tags, you can create duplicates by changing the starting number or

increment in the settings (table tag renumbering section of the dialog).

Table tags support the following tag mode labels: general line, general curve,

parcel line, parcel curve, alignment line, alignment curve, and alignment

spiral.

Band Styles

Profiles and sections are displayed in a graph format. These profile views and

section views can be annotated with data bands along the top and bottom of

the grid. Each band marks significant points along the length of the profile

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or section. For example, in a profile view, you can have separate bands for

vertical geometry, horizontal geometry, superelevation data, and pipe networks.

The following illustration shows part of a profile data band above a horizontal

geometry band. In the profile data band, at each major station you see the

elevations of the existing ground and finished grade profiles. The horizontal

geometry band shows the location of a curve and some engineering data about

the curve.

Part of two profile view data bands

Separate band styles exist for each band type. In each style definition, you

can specify what data to display and details of the band format, such as the

height and position of the band (above or below the grid), and the color of

components, such as borders and labels. If you want a standard set of bands

for use with profile or section views, you can define these as a band set and

apply them as needed.

Profile and Section View Styles

You modify the appearance of a profile view the same way you modify the

appearance of other objects, by changing its style. The profile view style

controls the format of the graph on which the profiles are displayed, as well

as the title and annotations on the axes.

Customizing profile view styles is a good example of how styles can be

modified for different stages of your project. In the design phase, you may

use one profile style that has few grid elements and limited annotation. By

limiting annotation and grid elements you reduce drawing size and improve

drawing performance. During the plotting stage of the design, a second style

may be used that includes extensive annotation and uses more graph elements


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than the design style. For more information about profile and section view

styles, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help.

Using Styles with Layers

Most objects in AutoCAD Civil 3D have several components. For example, a

surface includes contours, triangles, and points. You can control how these

components are displayed either by using layers or by setting the display

properties directly in the object style. You use the Layer Properties Manager

dialog box or the object styles dialog boxes respectively to do this.The Display tab of the object styles dialog boxes provides a number of settings

that are similar to those in the Layer Properties Manager dialog box, such as

visibility, color, linetype, and lineweight. This duplication means that you

can control object appearance using only styles, only layers, or a combination

of the two.

Display properties defined in the object styles dialog boxes override the settings

defined for the drawing layers in the Layer Properties Manager dialog box.

For example, you can use two different styles to distinguish the display of

existing ground and finished grade surfaces, even if they are drawn on the

same layer.

The following illustration shows how you can use both style settings and

traditional layers to control the display characteristics of an object. The styleshown in the upper drawing directly modifies the color and visibility of the

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surface components, so that the surface points are turned on and colored red,

even though the layer on which the points are drawn (0) is turned off and

colored white in the Layer Properties Manager dialog box.

The style shown in the lower drawing assigns the surface components to layers

already defined in the drawing. In this case, the color of the major and minor

contours is set by the C-TOPO-MAJR and C-TOPO-MINR layers.


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Visibility and colorof the surfacecomponents

are controlled by thelayer assignment.

Visibility and colorof the surfacecomponentsare controlled bysettings on theDisplay tab of theSurface Styledialog box.

Managing object appearance using style settings (above) and layers (below)

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Label Objects

Most labels are implemented as independent label objects and are not

highlighted when the parent object is selected. Label object properties are

separate from the parent object. You can use the LIST command to display

the label properties.

Label objects can include references to other AutoCAD Civil 3D objects by

including Referenced Text components.

The layer behavior of label objects is different. For example, their new default

layers are specified in the Drawing Settings and can be changed using the

AutoCAD Properties palette (rather than modifying the label style with the

Label Properties dialog box).

You can control the behavior of labels in one of two ways, by referencing

either the layer in the style or the layer that the label resides on.

In previous releases of AutoCAD Civil 3D, all group type labels were subentities

of the parent object. If the parent object was frozen, the labels would disappear

with the frozen parent object. Independent object labels are no longer

subentities of the parent object. However, if you desire to control the object

layer in conjunction with a parent object, you can set the layer that the label

resides on to 0, which will make it behave as if it were a subentity of the parent

object. In this case, with the layer set to 0, if the layer of the parent object is

frozen, the label will also be frozen (and will no longer be visible).

Table Creation and Label Types

In this release of AutoCAD Civil 3D, when creating parcel tables, you can

select general line and curve label types and parcel segment labels, including

any line or curve labels, that are applied to a line, curve, feature line, or

polyline.

You can create an alignment segment label that references a general line or

curve style for inclusion in a table. General line and curve label styles now

have a Tag Mode that supports general line and curve labels, parcel segment

labels that reference a general line or curve style, and alignment segment labels

that reference a general line or curve style.

The Add Table commands (Add Line, Add Curve, and Add Segment) are

available on the Lines/Curves menu, the Grading menu (for feature lines),

and the Survey Menu (for figures and survey figures). The Renumber Tagscommand is also available on these menus.


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Object Settings

Settings in AutoCAD Civil 3D provide many preset values, ranging from values,

such as drawing units, scale, and coordinate system, to optional defaults, such

as the layers that the different objects are created on, and the use of tooltips.

You can access the setting dialog box by right-clicking the appropriate

collection on the Toolspace Settings tab, and then clicking Edit Feature Settings.

You can work with three levels of settings:

Drawing settings establish values for the whole drawing. If you are creating

a drawing template, ensure that these are set correctly.

Feature settings control behavior for a particular feature, such as Parcels

or Grading.

Command settings apply to individual commands within a feature, suchas the CreateParcelByLayout command within the Parcels feature.

Each lower level object in the settings hierarchy can either inherit or override

settings in the level above it. The following illustration shows an override set

for area units at the Parcels feature level. The arrow in the Child Override

column of the Drawing Settings dialog box (upper drawing) indicates that an

override has been set at a lower level. The check mark in the Override column

in the Parcel Settings dialog box (lower drawing) indicates that the value set

in this dialog box overrides the setting at a higher level. At the drawing level

you can cancel an override by clicking it. You can prevent overrides by locking

a setting.

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Area units for parcel objects

are acres, overriding the

drawing setting. For other

objects, area units remain

set to square meters.

How feature settings can override drawing settings


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Exercise: Object and Label Styles

In this exercise, you create and modify a child label style.

Using parcel labels as an example, you will learn how to create a child style

and observe how changes to parent styles affect the child styles.

To create and change label styles in AutoCAD Civil 3D

Open the file C:\Program Files\Autodesk

Civil 3D 2009\Getting Started

Guide\GSG_styles.dwg.

In Toolspace, on the Settings tab, ex-

pand the Parcel collection, and then

expand the Label Styles collection.

Now expand Area and right-click the

Standard style. Click New.

1

On the Label Style Composer dialog

box Information tab, the new style

name is Standard [Child].

Make changes as desired and click OK.

Observe that in the Label Style collec-

tion, the new child style appears under

Standard.

2

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Right-click Standard and click Edit.

In the Label Style Composer dialogbox, on the Layout tab, change the

Border Visibility setting to True. Note

that now a visible border is displayed

around the label.

Click OK to close the dialog box.

3

Right-click the Standard [Child] Label

and click Edit.

4

On the Layout tab, observe that the

change to the parent style has affected

the child style, which now also has a

Border Visibility setting of True.


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Designing DrawingStandards

This chapter outlines a process for creating drawing templates. You can use drawing templatesto save time by establishing a consistent format for drawings and a standard design process.

Creating Templates

AutoCAD Civil 3D provides a number of features that contribute to a standard

appearance and behavior for all your drawings. These can all be specified in a

drawing template, which is saved as a .dwtfile. Your organization may need

several templates for different customers or project types. Then, whenever you

start a new drawing, you can open a template that contains all the required

settings and styles. The general process for setting up a template is described in

the following sections.

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Lot labels are controlled by

a parcel label style, which

could also be defined in the

template file.

Units and precision for

alignments are set in the

template file.STA=22+00.00

LOT: 1

Area: 8321.86 sq. m

0.83 hectares

Defining standards using a template file and a label style

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Command Changes To Settings. If you set this to Yes, then whenever you

change a setting, such as the radius of an alignment curve, it is saved as the

default value for next time. Another important setting on this tab isIndependent Layer On. This must be set to No if you want to be able to control

object visibility by turning layers on and off.

On the Ambient Settings tab, you see a blue arrow in the Child Override

column next to any setting that is changed for one or more features (objects)

in the drawing. You can cancel the override by clicking the arrow, and you

can click the lock icon to lock any setting and prevent overrides at the feature

level.

After configuring the ambient settings, you should work down through Point,

Surface, and other features in the Settings tree, right-clicking each feature and

selecting Edit Feature Settings. Doing this allows you to examine the default

styles for each feature and its labels, the feature name format, and other settings

that you may want to modify. The ambient settings you configured at the

drawing level are available at the feature level in case you want to overridethem.

Layer Standards

Maintaining a standard for the use of layers is easier if you have a drawing

template with predefined layers, and styles that reference those layers when

objects are created. For additional consistency, save your template as an

AutoCAD standards file (.dws format). Then, in the template, enter the

STANDARDS command and in the Configure Standards dialog box, link the

standards file to the template. If you want to enforce the standards, you can

click the Settings button and activate notifications of standards violations, or


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override such violations. For more information, see Define Standards in the

AutoCAD help.

Object Styles

Ideally, your drawing template will have the perfect set of styles for your

projects, but this usually takes some time to evolve. To assist the process,

create a demonstration drawing that contains one or more surface, alignment,

and other object types. Or you can explore the Sample_styles.dwg, that is

supplied with AutoCAD Civil 3D. After a default installation, you can find

this file at: C:\Program Files\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009\Best Practices

Guide\Sample_styles.dwg. This provides a good laboratory in which to display

and develop styles. Consider designing styles to reflect the information

requirements at different times in the project. For example, create styles for

objects in the design phase, and other styles for their final presentation. Also,

you can create styles for different users of the drawings, showing object details

and labels that present the data each type of user needs.

Label Styles

The styles for labels are another template item that should be developed with

a top-down approach, similar to that for drawing settings and feature settings.

At the drawing level, click Edit Label Style Defaults. In this context, you can

set global standards such as those for text font, size, and label behavior around

curves. As with the object styles, after setting label style defaults you can review

the feature-level settings and apply any required overrides.In this release of AutoCAD Civil 3D, you can use general line and curve label

styles for parcel segment labels, and for alignment line and curve labels.

Previously, general line label styles could be used to label only lines, curves,

and polylines. The general line label styles are now available from the parcel,

alignment, grading, and survey menus. For more information, see Label Objects

(page 54). Parcel tables now support general line and curve label types and

display either general line and curve labels or parcel segment labels. For more

information, see Table Creation and Label Types (page 54).

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Plan Production Tools

You can use AutoCAD Civil 3D plan production tools to automate the process

of creating construction documents from your designs. Select an alignment

in your drawing, and using the plan production tools, you can quickly create

sheets that automatically display the desired data.

You can use the View Frames wizard to create view frames along an alignment.

Click General menuPlan Production ToolsCreate View Frames to openthe View Frames wizard. After creating the view frames, you can easily create

sheets for construction plans. Click General menuPlan ProductionToolsCreate Sheets to open the Create Sheets wizard. See Plan ProductionTools (page 149) to explore the view frame and sheet creation process. For more

information about Plan Production tools, see Plan Production Tools in the

Help system.

Enhancing Drawings with Visualization Tools

AutoCAD render materials can greatly enhance the appearance of your

drawings by simulating real world materials for a more realistic view of the

design. Experiment with the render materials to determine which will work

best for your drawings. You can use this feature to enhance renderings of

surfaces, corridors, and pipe networks. Click View menuRenderRenderto render the object with the selected material. Click View menuRenderMaterials to open the Render Materials dialog box, where you can createnew materials and add or remove materials from the current drawing. For

more information, see Render Materials in the Help system.


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Exercise: Drawing Settings

In this exercise, you will open a file that contains alignments and look at some

ways to work with drawing settings in AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Using alignments as an example, you will learn how to edit the drawing

settings to specify the default layer on which new objects will be created.

To set up object layers in AutoCAD Civil 3D

Open the file C:\Program

Files\Autodesk Civil 3D 2009 \Getting

Started Guide\GSG_alignments.dwg.

Click View menuZoom Window.Draw a rectangle that includes the

sketch lines at the bottom. Your view

of the drawing should look like this.

1

In Toolspace, on the Settings tab,

right-click the name of the drawing

and click Edit Drawing Settings.

2

In the Drawing Settings dialog box,

click the Object Layers tab.

This tab shows the default layers on

which the various objects are created.

You will change the default layer for

alignments.

3

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On the Object Layers tab, in the

Alignment row, click the C-ROADvalue.

In the Layer Selection dialog box, se-

lect the C-ROAD-CNTR row. Click OK

twice to exit the Settings dialog boxes.

4

Click Alignments menuCreateAlignment From Polyline.

In the drawing, click the cyan polyline

at the bottom of the drawing.

5

In the Create Alignment dialog box,

for Alignment Style, select Major Road.

Note that the Alignment Layer is set

to C-ROAD-CNTR. New alignments

will be placed on this layer.

6

Click OK.

The new alignment is drawn on the

C-ROAD-CNTR layer, using the MajorRoad style.

7


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Managing Project Data

The project management feature of AutoCAD Civil 3D is based on Autodesk Vault, a databasefor storing and sharing data among members of a project team. This chapter explains howto set up and use Autodesk Vault to manage your projects. The project management systemalso includes the data reference methods known as External References (xrefs) and DataShortcuts, which you can use for less complex and smaller projects.

The Collaborative Environment

The project management system supports shared access to project files by an

entire design team. There are three mechanisms for the sharing of design data

within a project:

Object references in Autodesk Vault

External references

Data shortcuts

Before deciding which method to use, consider the complexity of drawings, the

number of drawings involved, the size of your project team that will access and

edit the files, and your requirements for ease of use as opposed to your need for

data security. Each mechanism is best suited to particular project requirements.

Autodesk Vault

The heart of the project management system is a set of project folders in an

Autodesk Vault database. These folders can contain databases of point objects,

along with official copies of surfaces, alignments, and other objects. When you

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want to edit a particular drawing, you can check it out from the database,

which locks it so that other users can get a read-only copy, but cannot edit

the drawing.

As shown in the following illustration, you can import some read-only

reference objects from the Vault database, such as surfaces or alignments into

a drawing. These reference objects participate in the design process within

your local drawing. You can change their style and labeling, but you cannot

change their geometry.

Reference

Alignments

Reference

Surface

Parcel

Drawing

A user with edit permissions for the reference object can check out the drawing

that contains the master copy and change it. When the edited version is

checked back into the database, any open drawing that contains a reference

copy is updated with markers in the Prospector tree and the Windows System

Tray, advising the user that the drawing does not include the latest version

of the reference object. The user can choose to update the object or not.

Whenever a drawing that contains a reference object is opened, it automatically

retrieves the latest version of the reference object.

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Access to Autodesk Vault

When you install AutoCAD Civil 3D, you have the option of installing a

stand-alone Autodesk Vault database on your computer. This database is good

for experimenting with project management commands, but it cannot support

multiple users. The other option is to install the Autodesk Vault server on a

network, which creates a multi-user production system.

In either case, you can access the Autodesk Vault database on the Toolspace

Prospector tab, Master View. Simply right-click the Projects icon and click Log

In. Alternatively, on the Windows Start menu, launch the Autodesk Vault

application.

Autodesk Vault Set Up

If you follow a few general guidelines for creating user accounts and databases,

you can ensure that your system balances data security with ease of use.

Database Projects and Folders

You can create project directories and folders within either AutoCAD Civil 3D

or Autodesk Vault. However, a drawing can contain objects from only one

project. In the same project you should include all data and drawings that

can possibly relate to each other, to facilitate object sharing.

The standard project folder structure for AutoCAD Civil 3D is shown in the

following illustration:

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In this example, a project named Park Project includes collections of drawings,

alignments, and surfaces. Placeholders exist for points, pipe networks, and a

survey database. The object collections, such as Alignments, include all objects

that are shared within the project, for read-only use by members of the project

team.

The security framework for project folders is described in the following section.

User Accounts and Roles

Each person using your Autodesk Vault database has one of three main user

roles:

Administrator

Vault Editor

Vault Consumer

Permissions can be applied to individual users and to user groups. With careful

planning, you can minimize the amount of configuration required and create

a flexible security system. For example, rather than assigning permissions to

each user, you can save time by creating project-specific user groups or

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job-based groups, such as Engineers, Project Managers, and Data Technicians.

Then, you can add users to the groups and set permissions once for each group.

Later, you can move users from one group to another to change theirpermissions.

Administrator

The Administrator role has the highest level of permissions, and is able to do

all tasks on the server and within Autodesk Vault databases. Only an

administrator can create user accounts, user groups, and databases on the

server, and set access permissions. For security purposes, only a few users

should have administrator permissions, but enough so that an administrator

is always available during work hours.

Vault Editor

A Vault Editor has full read-write permissions within Autodesk Vault, and is

able to create new projects and folders in the database, add files, and edit files.

Assign this user role to anyone who needs to create drawings and share objects

within the database.

Vault Consumer

A Vault Consumer has read-only access to the database, and is able to get

reference versions of objects for use in drawings saved outside of the database.

Assign this role to anyone who does not regularly share objects or add drawings

to a project.

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External References (xrefs)

You can in

Civil 3d Gsg 2009

Documents