54,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
The complete, detailed reference and tutorial for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 AutoCAD Civil 3D is the industry-leading civil engineering software, and this authoritative Autodesk Official Press book has been completely updated to offer you the latest tips, tricks, and techniques of this dynamic engineering program. Packed with new, real-world examples and practical tutorials, this book takes advantage of the authors' extensive experience and Civil 3D expertise, which allows them to share best practices and methods for creating, editing, displaying, labeling and presenting real-world civil engineering projects. * Features a new, expanded section on advanced survey tools * Offers in-depth, detailed coverage of surveying, points, alignments, surfaces, profiles, corridors, grading, LandXML and LDT Project Transfer, cross sections, pipe networks, visualization, sheets, and project management * Includes valuable content to help prepare you for the Civil 3D certification exams as well as downloadable datasets * Shares the most up-to-date topics and techniques of the real world to help prepare you for what you can expect This comprehensive reference and tutorial is essential reading for gaining a thorough understanding of the key concepts of this engineering software.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 1327
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Cover
Introduction
Who Should Read This Book
What You Will Learn
What You Need
The Mastering Series
What Is Covered in This Book
How to Contact the Authors
Chapter 1: The Basics
The Interface
Civil 3D Templates
Creating Basic Lines and Curves
Creating Curves
Using Transparent Commands
The Bottom Line
Chapter 2: Survey
Setting Up the Databases
Description Keys: Field to Civil 3D
Using Inquiry Commands
The Bottom Line
Chapter 3: Points
Anatomy of a Point
Creating Basic Points
Basic Point Editing
Point Tables
User-Defined Properties
The Bottom Line
Chapter 4: Surfaces
Understanding Surface Basics
Creating Surfaces
Refining and Editing Surfaces
Surface Additions
Surface Analysis
Comparing Surfaces
Labeling the Surface
Point Cloud Surfaces
The Bottom Line
Chapter 5: Parcels
Introduction to Sites
Creating a Boundary Parcel
Creating Subdivision Lot Parcels Using Precise Sizing Tools
Editing Parcels by Deleting Parcel Segments
Best Practices for Parcel Creation
Labeling Parcel Areas
Labeling Parcel Segments
The Bottom Line
Chapter 6: Alignments
Alignment Concepts
Creating an Alignment
Editing Alignment Geometry
Alignments As Objects
The Bottom Line
Chapter 7: Profiles and Profile Views
The Elevation Element
Editing Profiles
Profile Views
Editing Profile Views
Profile Labels
Profile Utilities
The Bottom Line
Chapter 8: Assemblies and Subassemblies
Subassemblies
Building Assemblies
Specialized Subassemblies
Advanced Assemblies
Organizing Your Assemblies
The Bottom Line
Chapter 9: Basic Corridors
Understanding Corridors
Recognizing Corridor Components
Working with Corridor Feature Lines
Understanding Targets
Editing Sections
Creating a Corridor Surface
Performing a Volume Calculation
Building Non-Road Corridors
The Bottom Line
Chapter 10: Advanced Corridors, Intersections, and Roundabouts
Using Multiregion Baselines
Modeling a Cul-de-Sac
Moving Up to Intersections
Using an Assembly Offset
Understanding Corridor Utilities
Using a Feature Line as a Width and Elevation Target
Tackling Roundabouts: The Mount Everest of Corridors
The Bottom Line
Chapter 11: Superelevation
Preparing for Superelevation
Applying Superelevation to the Design
Oh Yes, You Cant
Superelevation and Cant Views
The Bottom Line
Chapter 12: Cross Sections and Mass Haul
Section Workflow
Creating Section Views
It’s a Material World
Section View Final Touches
Mass Haul
The Bottom Line
Chapter 13: Pipe Networks
Pipe Network Setup
Creating a Sanitary Sewer Network
Editing a Pipe Network
Creating an Alignment from Network Parts
Drawing Parts in Profile View
Adding Pipe Network Labels
Creating an Interference Check
Creating Pipe Tables
Under Pressure
Part Builder
Part Builder Orientation
The Bottom Line
Chapter 14: Grading
Working with Grading Feature Lines
Grading Objects
The Bottom Line
Chapter 15: Plan Production
Preparing for Plan Sets
Using View Frames and Match Lines
Creating Plan and Profile Sheets
Creating Section Sheets
Drawing Templates
The Bottom Line
Chapter 16: Advanced Workflows
Data Shortcuts
Using LandXML
The Bottom Line
Chapter 17: Quantity Takeoff
Employing Pay Item Files
Keeping Tabs on the Model
Inventorying Your Pay Items
The Bottom Line
Chapter 18: Label Styles
Label Styles
Line and Curve Labels
Pipe and Structure Labels
Profile and Alignment Labels
Advanced Style Types
The Bottom Line
Chapter 19: Object Styles
Getting Started with Object Styles
Linear Object Styles
Surface Styles
Pipe and Structure Styles
Profile View Styles
Section View Styles
The Bottom Line
Appendix A: The Bottom Line
Chapter 1: The Basics
Chapter 2: Survey
Chapter 3: Points
Chapter 4: Surfaces
Chapter 5: Parcels
Chapter 6: Alignments
Chapter 7: Profiles and Profile Views
Chapter 8: Assemblies and Subassemblies
Chapter 9: Basic Corridors
Chapter 10: Advanced Corridors, Intersections, and Roundabouts
Chapter 11: Superelevation
Chapter 12: Cross Sections and Mass Haul
Chapter 13: Pipe Networks
Chapter 14: Grading
Chapter 15: Plan Production
Chapter 16: Advanced Workflows
Chapter 17: Quantity Takeoff
Chapter 18: Label Styles
Chapter 19: Object Styles
Appendix B: Autodesk Civil 3D 2014 Certification
Senior Acquisitions Editor: Willem Knibbe
Development Editor: Sara Barry
Technical Editor: Tommie Richardson
Production Editor: Rebecca Anderson
Copy Editors: Judy Flynn and Kathy Grider-Carlyle
Editorial Manager: Pete Gaughan
Production Manager: Tim Tate
Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley
Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde
Book Designers: Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama; Judy Fung
Compositor: Cody Gates, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Proofreaders: Dan Aull and Louise Watson, Word One New York
Indexer: Ted Laux
Project Coordinator, Cover: Katherine Crocker
Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed
Cover Image: ©istockphoto.com/asterix0597
Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-1-118-60381-9
ISBN: 978-1-118-78681-9 (ebk.)
ISBN: 978-1-118-79127-1 (ebk.)
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (877) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013941608
TRADEMARKS: Wiley, Sybex, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. AutoCAD and Civil 3D are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dear Reader,
Thank you for choosing Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.
Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, we’re still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles, we’re working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.
I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I’d be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how we’re doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected]. If you think you’ve found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com. Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.
Best regards,
Neil Edde
Vice President and Publisher
Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley
Acknowledgments
Writing Mastering AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2014 was not just an exercise in creating a useful manual for Civil 3D users, it was a labor of love. Many people (with day jobs) put in late nights and long hours to bring readers the content contained in this book. We’d like to thank all of our readers for helping this book evolve over the years. And of course we’d like to thank the Wiley crew: Willem Knibbe, Paul Gaughan, and Becca Anderson. Thanks to our editors Sara Barry, Tommie Richardson, Judy Flynn, Kathy Grider-Carlyle, Dan Aull, and Louise Watson for dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s (and there was a lot of that!).
—Louisa Holland, Cyndy Davenport, and Eric Chappell
Oh my gosh—where to start? I’d like to offer special thanks this year to Willem Knibbe and Paul Gaughan for their patience while I made an unexpected cross-country move. Don Quinn of Eagle Point—thanks for getting me into this side of the industry; I both thank you and blame you. Thanks to coworkers past and present who have encouraged me, put up with me, and taught me oodles of AutoCAD and Civil 3D tricks over the years. Thanks to Cyndy Davenport and Eric Chappell for jumping in with late notice to get this book out. Hugs and kisses to my sisters (my own little chapter of SWE), whom I love dearly. To my parents who still don’t quite know what Civil 3D is, thank you for everything. Most important, thanks to my husband, Mark, for his home network administration and love. Smooches!
—Louisa Holland
I’d like to thank my parents, Grey & Dood, for continuously supporting and believing in me, through the good and the bad, decade after decade: Sorry about those gray hairs, but if it makes you feel any better, I have them too. Without the dedication, ambition, candidness, and sense of humor you passed on to me, I would have never been able to take on this labor of love. I’d like to thank Hellboy for giving me the space, the time, and the peace needed to work on this project, thereby putting up with an empty fridge and finding creative things to do with ramen noodles many a night; Son, you are the center of my life and my inspiration.
Thanks to my boss, Michael Stys, “the Director,” for making it possible to make my deadlines and cracking me up daily with his crazy sense of humor. I’m even grateful for his merry band of lunatics, Doctor Pfaff, the BIM-ster, and the GIS-ster, for keeping it even more crazy and making every day at work seem like a Saturday Night Live skit. It’s not too often that you find yourself in a workplace surrounded by family. Their genuineness and superb guruship make me feel like I’m among greatness, which boosted me to meet the challenge of this book. Many folks at Bowman Consulting inspired me to come up with creative solutions and pulled me down into the weeds with the software: James, Danny, Kerri, Dorris, Victor, Robin, Karen, Tracy, Jeremy, Cody, Greg, the countless Michaels, Brian, David, and Tombstone Shawn, to name a few. Without their willingness to explore strange new worlds, I wouldn’t be the übergeek I am today.
Last, I’d like to thank Rumpus Kat and Yeller Dawg for giving me a reason to get up in the morning and get on with my day; even though meals and walks are the most important parts of their day, the joy they bring me is priceless.
—Cyndy Davenport
I’d like to thank Autodesk for creating great software to write about; the Civil 3D community for all its great ideas, enthusiasm, and help throughout the years; and most of all my wife and children for being my inspiration and the reason for all that I do.
—Eric Chappell
About the Authors
Louisa “Lou” Holland is a LEED-accredited civil engineer currently living in San Francisco, California. She has trained users on Eagle Point Software and AutoCAD® since 2001 and on AutoCAD Civil 3D since 2006. She has worked extensively with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, CalTrans, and various consultants on AutoCAD Civil 3D implementations. Louisa is an Autodesk Approved Instructor (AAI), an AutoCAD Civil 3D Certified Professional, and a regular speaker at Autodesk University, Autodesk User Group International, and other industry events. In her next life, Louisa would like to be reincarnated as an Orange County housewife.
Cyndy Davenport has been working in the land development industry for 27 years in the capacity of design, technology management, implementation, training, and support. She’s earned repeated Civil 3D certifications in implementation, support, and training over the years. Cyndy is a regular speaker at Autodesk University and occasionally contributes workflow solutions on her blog to the Civil 3D community (c3dcougar.typepad.com).
Eric Chappell, a recognized expert in the world of AutoCAD® Civil 3D® software, has been working, teaching, writing, and consulting in the world of civil engineering software for over 20 years. He has written training materials and performed training for end users, trainers, and Autodesk employees around the globe and worked with Autodesk in authoring and developing two Autodesk certification exams. He is the design systems manager for Timmons Group, a civil engineering and surveying firm. Eric is also a highly rated instructor at Autodesk University. Eric lives in the Richmond, Virginia, area.
Introduction
The AutoCAD® Civil 3D® program was introduced in 2004 as a trial product. Over the past few years, the AutoCAD Civil 3D series have evolved from the wobbly baby introduced on those first trial discs to a mature platform used worldwide to handle the most complex dynamic engineering designs. With this change, many engineers still struggle with how to make the transition. The civil engineering industry as a whole is an old dog learning new tricks.
We hope this book will help you in this journey. As the user base grows and users get beyond the absolute basics, more materials are needed, offering a multitude of learning opportunities. While this book is starting to move away from the basics and truly become a Mastering book, we hope that we are headed in that direction with the general readership. We know we cannot please everyone, but we do listen to your comments—all toward the betterment of this book.
Designed to help you get past the steepest part of the learning curve and teach you some guru-level tricks along the way, Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 is the ideal addition to any AutoCAD Civil 3D user’s bookshelf.
Who Should Read This Book
The Mastering book series is designed with specific users in mind. In the case of Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014, we expect you’ll have a solid knowledge of AutoCAD in general and some basic engineering knowledge as well. A basic understanding of AutoCAD Civil 3D will be helpful, although there are explanations and examples to cover many needs and experience levels. We expect this book will appeal to a large number of AutoCAD Civil 3D users, but we envision a few primary users:
This book can be used front to back as a self-teaching or instructor-based instruction manual. Each chapter has a number of exercises and most (but not all) build on the previous exercise. You can also skip to almost any exercise in any chapter and jump right in. We’ve created a large number of drawing files that you can download from www.sybex.com/go/masteringcivil3d2014 to make choosing your exercises a simple task.
What You Will Learn
This book isn’t a replacement for training. There are too many design options and parameters to make any book a good replacement for training from a professional. This book teaches you to use the tools, explores a large number of the options, and leaves you with an idea of how to use each tool. At the end of the book, you should be able to look at any design task you run across, consider a number of ways to approach it, and have some idea of how to accomplish the task. To use one of our common analogies, reading this book is like walking around your local home-improvement warehouse. You see a lot of tools and use some of them, but that doesn’t mean you’re ready to build a house.
What You Need
Before you begin learning AutoCAD Civil 3D, you should make sure your hardware is up to snuff. Visit the Autodesk website, www.autodesk.com, and review graphic requirements, memory requirements, and so on. One of the most frustrating things that can happen is to be ready to learn only to be stymied by hardware-related crashes. AutoCAD Civil 3D is a hardware-intensive program, testing the limits of every computer on which it runs. You’ll also want to download any service packs available.
We also strongly recommend using either a wide format or dual-monitor setup. The number of dialogs, palettes, and so on make AutoCAD Civil 3D a real estate hog. By having the extra space to spread out, you’ll be able to see more of your design along with the feedback provided by the program itself.
You need to visit www.sybex.com/go/masteringcivil3d2014 to download all of the data and sample files. We recommend that you save these files locally on your computer in C:/Mastering unless told otherwise.
The Mastering Series
The Mastering series from Sybex provides outstanding instruction for readers with intermediate and advanced skills in the form of top-notch training and development for those already working in their field and clear, serious education for those aspiring to become pros. Every Mastering book includes the following features:
Real-world scenarios ranging from case studies to interviews that show how the tool, technique, or knowledge presented is applied in actual practice
Skill-based instruction, with chapters organized around real tasks rather than abstract concepts or subjects
A self-review section called The Bottom Line, so you can be certain you’re equipped to do the job right
What Is Covered in This Book
This book contains 19 chapters and two appendices:
Chapter 1, “The Basics,” introduces you to the interface and many of the common dialogs in AutoCAD Civil 3D. This chapter discusses navigating the interface and customizing your drawing’s settings. You will also explore various tools for creating linework.
Chapter 2, “Survey,” examines the Survey tab of Toolspace and the unique toolset it contains for handling field surveying and for field book data handling. You will also look at various surface and surveying relationships.
Chapter 3, “Points,” introduces AutoCAD Civil 3D points and the various methods of creating them. You will also spend some time exploring the control of AutoCAD Civil 3D points with description keys and groups.
Chapter 4, “Surfaces,” introduces the various methods of creating surfaces, using free and low-cost data to perform preliminary surface creation. Then you will investigate the various surface editing and analysis methods. The chapter also discusses point clouds and their use.
Chapter 5, “Parcels,” examines the best practices for keeping your parcel topology tight and your labeling neat. It examines the various editing methods for achieving the desired results for the most complicated plats.
Chapter 6, “Alignments,” introduces the basic horizontal layout element. This chapter also examines using layout tools that maintain the relationships between the tangents, curves, and spiral elements that create alignments.
Chapter 7, “Profiles and Profile Views,” examines the vertical aspect of road design from the establishment of the existing profile to the design and editing of the proposed profile. In addition, you will explore how profile views can be customized to meet the required format for your design and plans.
Chapter 8, “Assemblies and Subassemblies,” introduces the building blocks of AutoCAD Civil 3D cross-sectional design. You will look at the many subassemblies available in the tool palettes and look at how to build full design sections for use in any design environment.
Chapter 9, “Basic Corridors,” introduces the basics of corridors—building full designs from horizontal, vertical, and cross-sectional design elements. You will look at the various components to understand how corridors work before moving to a more complex design set.
Chapter 10, “Advanced Corridors, Intersections, and Roundabouts,” further examines using corridors in more complex situations. You will learn about building surfaces, intersections, and other areas of corridors that make them powerful in any design situation.
Chapter 11, “Superelevation,” takes a close look at the tools used to add superelevation to roadways and railways. This functionality has changed greatly in the last few years, and you will have a chance to use the axis of Rotation (AOR) subassemblies that can pivot from several design points.
Chapter 12, “Cross Sections and Mass Haul,” looks at slicing sections from surfaces, corridors, and pipe networks using alignments and the mysterious sample line group. Working with the wizards and tools, you will see how to make your sections to order. You will explore mass haul functionality to demonstrate the power of AutoCAD Civil 3D for creation of the mass haul diagrams.
Chapter 13, “Pipe Networks,” gets into the building blocks of the pipe network tools. You will look at modifying an existing part to add new sizes and then building parts lists for various design situations. You will then work with the creation tools for creating pipe networks and plan and profile views to get your plans looking like they should.
Chapter 14, “Grading,” examines both feature lines and grading objects. You will look at creating feature lines to describe critical areas and then using grading objects to describe mass grading.
Chapter 15, “Plan Production,” walks you through the basics of creating view frame groups, sheets, and templates used to automate the plan and profile drawing sheet process. In addition, you will look at creating section views and section sheets.
Chapter 16, “Advanced Workflows,” looks at the various ways of sharing and receiving data. We describe the data-shortcut mechanism for sharing data between AutoCAD Civil 3D users. We also consider other methods of importing and exporting, such as XML.
Chapter 17, “Quantity Takeoff,” shows you the ins and outs of assigning pay items to corridor codes, blocks, areas, and pipes. You learn how to set up new pay items and generate quantity takeoff reports.
Chapter 18, “Label Styles,” is devoted to editing and creating label styles. You learn to navigate the Text Component Editor and how to master label style conundrums you may come across.
Chapter 19, “Object Styles,” examines editing and creating object styles. You will learn how to create styles for surfaces, profile views, and other objects to match your company standards.
Appendix A, “The Bottom Line,” gathers together all the Master It problems from the chapters and provides a solution for each.
Appendix B, “AutoCAD
®
Civil 3D
®
Certification,” points you to the chapters in this book that will help you master the objectives for the Certified Professional Exam.
How to Contact the Authors
We welcome feedback from you about this book and/or about books you’d like to see from us in the future. Feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/louisaholland
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/cyndy-davenport/13/61b/1a9
You can also keep up with Cyndy Davenport on Twitter (C3DCougar) and email Eric Chappell at [email protected].
Sybex strives to keep you supplied with the latest tools and information you need for your work. Please check their website at www.sybex.com/go/masteringcivil3d2014, where we’ll post additional content and updates that supplement this book if the need arises.
Thanks for purchasing Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014. We appreciate it and look forward to exploring AutoCAD Civil 3D with you!
Chapter 1
The Basics
It takes patience and time to truly become a “master” of the AutoCAD® Civil 3D® program, and your first step will be to understand the basics. There are numerous dialogs, ribbons, menus, and icons to pore over. They might seem daunting at first glance, but as you use them, you will gain familiarity with their location and use. In this chapter, you will explore the interface and learn terminology that will be used throughout this book.
In addition, we will introduce the Lines and Curves commands, which offer loads of options for drawing lines and curves accurately.
In this chapter, you will learn to:
Find any Civil 3D object with just a few clicks
Modify the drawing scale and default object layers
Navigate the ribbon’s contextual tabs
Create a curve tangent to the end of a line
Label lines and curves
The Interface
If you are new to Civil 3D or are coming from Civil 3D 2009 or prior, this part of the chapter is especially for you. If you have used newer versions of Civil 3D, this section will help you understand the terminology used throughout this book. Civil 3D uses a ribbon-based interface, which is where you will access many of the tools. The ribbon consists of tabs and panels that organize tools into logical groups. When working in Civil 3D 2014, you will spend the majority of your time on the Home tab, shown in Figure 1-1.
Figure 1-1 The Home tab of the ribbon runs horizontally across the top of your screen and is your first stop for creating new objects.
When you click on a Civil 3D object, you will see a context-specific contextual tab appear in the ribbon. Figure 1-2 shows the Civil 3D palette sets along with the AutoCAD tool palettes and ribbon displayed in a typical environment.
Figure 1-2 Overview of the Civil 3D environment. Toolspace is docked to the left, and tool palettes float over the drawing window. The ribbon is at the top of the workspace.
Panels are subgroups within each tab of the ribbon that further organize your tools. For example, the Palettes panel on the Home tab (shown in Figure 1-3) is where you can toggle on or off the elements you are about to examine. These icons will become highlighted in blue when the palette is visible.
Figure 1-3 Palettes panel of the Home tab. Icons will be blue when the palette is displayed.
Toolspace
Toolspace is a set of palettes that is specific to Civil 3D. You will want to have the palette visible anytime you are working in Civil 3D. If you do not see it, click the Toolspace button on the Palettes panel of the Home tab.
Toolspace has four tabs to manage user data, as follows:
Prospector
Settings
Survey
Toolbox
The tabs can be turned on or off by toggling the display on the Palettes panel, but it is perfectly fine to have them all up all the time.
Each tab has a unique role to play in working with Civil 3D. Prospector and Settings will be your most frequently visited tabs. Survey and Toolbox are used for special tasks that you will examine in the following sections.
Prospector
Prospector’s job is to show you information about specific Civil 3D objects. In the top portion of Prospector, you will find drawing-specific information. Civil 3D objects are listed in workflow order, starting at the top of the listing. From the Data Shortcuts listing down, the information you see is a listing of data available to you regardless of the drawing it is in (you will learn how to work with data shortcuts in Chapter 16, “Advanced Workflows”). Each main grouping under the drawing name is referred to as a collection. If you expand a collection by clicking the plus sign next to the name, you will see the contents of that group.
Because all Civil 3D data is dynamically linked, you will see object dependencies as well. You can learn details about an individual object by expanding the tree and selecting an object (Figure 1-4).
Figure 1-4 A look at the Alignment branch of the Prospector tab. Profiles are linked to alignments; therefore, they appear under alignments.
Right-clicking the collection name allows you to select various commands that apply to all the members of that collection. For example, right-clicking the Point Groups collection brings up the menu shown in Figure 1-5 (left).
In addition, right-clicking the individual object in the list view offers many commands unique to Civil 3D, such as Zoom To and Pan To, shown in Figure 1-5 (right). By using these commands, you can find any parcel, point, cross section, or other Civil 3D object in your drawing almost instantly.
Figure 1-5 Context-sensitive menus in Prospector for creating new elements (left) and zooming to a specific object (right)
For example, if you are interested in locating a parcel named ACQUISITION 7 using the Zoom To command, locate the Sites collection on the Prospector tab of Toolspace. Expand Proposed Site and highlight Parcels. At the bottom of Prospector, you will see the parcel listing. To locate ACQUISITION 7 graphically, right-click it and select Zoom To.
Near the top of the Toolspace you will see a pull-down giving you the options Active Drawing view and Master view.
Active Drawing view will show you the following items:
The current drawing
Data shortcuts
Master view will show you these items:
Open drawings
Data shortcuts
Drawing templates
Refresh icon
Master view will list every drawing you have open as well as its contents and templates. If you use Master view, the name of the drawing you are working with appears at the top of the list in bold. To make a drawing current, right-click its name in Prospector and select Switch To.
Many users prefer to use the Active Drawing view. You can have more than one drawing open, but Prospector displays only one set of Civil 3D data at a time. Active Drawing view will change to reflect whichever drawing is current.
In addition to the branches, Prospector has a series of icons across the top that toggle various settings on and off. Let’s take a closer look at those icons:
As you navigate the tabs of Toolspace, you will encounter many symbols to help you along the way. Table 1-1 shows you a few that you should familiarize yourself with.
Table 1-1: Common Toolspace symbols and meanings
Symbol
Meaning
The object or style is in use. Also appears when there is a dependency to the object or if the style has child styles. For example, you will see this icon on a surface when a profile has been created from it.
Clicking this will expand the branch of Toolspace.
Clicking this will collapse the branch of Toolspace.
Data resides in this branch and more information can be found at the bottom of Toolspace.
Object needs to be rebuilt or updated. Can also indicate broken data reference.
Civil 3D may still be processing the object or the branch of Prospector needs to be refreshed.
This symbol represents a data reference in a drawing, and it’s shown next to the data shortcuts section of the Prospector tab.
Settings
The Settings tab of Toolspace controls all things aesthetic and the default behavior of the commands. Text placed by Civil 3D is controlled by label styles. Object styles control the look of design elements such as surface contours or pipes. These settings and styles should be set in your template drawing. Every time you start a project with your company’s Civil 3D–specific template, items such as an alignment’s color and linetype will already be set. Chapter 18, “Label Styles,” and Chapter 19, “Object Styles,” are dedicated to building these styles. Later on in this chapter you will learn more about templates.
Drawing Settings
At the top of the Settings tab you will see the name of the drawing. There are some important settings you should verify before proceeding with a project. Right-click on the name of the drawing and click Edit Drawing Settings, as shown in Figure 1-6, to access the Drawing Settings dialog.
Figure 1-6 Accessing the Drawing Settings dialog
Each tab in this dialog controls a different aspect of the drawing. Most of the time, you’ll pick up the settings on the Object Layers, Abbreviations, and Ambient Settings tabs from a company-wide template. However, the drawing scale and coordinate information change for every job, so you’ll visit the Units And Zone and Transformation tabs frequently.
The Units And Zone Tab
On the Units And Zone tab, you specify metric or Imperial units for your drawing as well as set an appropriate coordinate system for the file. You’ll notice that when a coordinate zone is selected from the Zone portion of the dialog, the Imperial To Metric Conversion option becomes grayed out. This is because the drawing coordinate system will take care of any conversion for you. Note that by default, this setting is international feet rather than survey feet.
This tab also includes the options Scale Objects Inserted From Other Drawings and Set AutoCAD Variables To Match. The Set AutoCAD Variables To Match option sets the base AutoCAD angular units, linear units, block insertion units, hatch pattern, and linetype units to match the values placed in this dialog. As shown in Figure 1-7, you do want these options selected.
Figure 1-7 Before placing any project-specific information in a drawing, set the coordinate system in the Units And Zone tab of the Drawing Settings dialog.
The scale that you see on the right side of the Units And Zone tab is the same as your annotation scale. You can change it here, but it is much easier to select your annotation scale from the bottom of the drawing window.
If you choose to work in assumed coordinates, you can leave Zone set to No Datum, No Projection. To set the coordinate system for your locale, first set the category from the long list of possibilities. Civil 3D is used worldwide; therefore, most recognized surveying coordinate systems (including obsolete ones) can be found in the Units And Zone tab of the Drawing Settings dialog.
Try the following quick exercise to practice setting a drawing coordinate system:
Notice that once you have set the coordinate system, the geographic marker symbol becomes visible (if you don’t see it, zoom to the extents of the drawing). This is a graphic indication that a coordinate system is set. It will not plot, and its size is always a fixed percentage of your screen size.
If you wish to hide the geometric marker, you can click the red pin icon at the bottom of the screen. Clicking this icon toggles the GEOMARKERVISIBILTY variable on or off.
You will also see the active coordinate system displayed at the bottom of the screen. The pin and coordinate system display are new features in Civil 3D 2014.
The Transformation Tab
Most survey-grade GPS equipment takes care of the transformation to local grid coordinates for you. In the United States, state plane coordinate systems already have regional projections taken into account. In the rare case that surveyors need to manually transform local observations from geoid to ellipsoid and ellipsoid to grid, the Transformation tab enables access to enter transformation factors.
With a base coordinate system selected, you can do any further refinement you’d like using the Transformation tab, shown in Figure 1-8. The coordinate systems on the Units And Zone tab can be refined to meet local ordinances, tie in with historical data, complete a grid-to-ground transformation, or account for minor changes in coordinate system methodology. These changes can be made with the following options:
Figure 1-8 The Transformation tab
It should be noted that this is not the place to transform assumed coordinates to a predefined coordinate system. See Chapter 2 to learn how to translate a survey.
The Object Layers Tab
Civil 3D and AutoCAD layers have a love-hate relationship with each other. Civil 3D is built on top of AutoCAD; therefore, all the objects do reside on layers. However, Civil 3D is not traditional CAD. Your surfaces, corridors, points, profiles, and everything else generated by Civil 3D are dynamic objects rather than simple lines, arcs, or circles.
When you create an alignment in Chapter 6, for example, you will not have to think about the current layer. This is because Civil 3D styles “push” objects and labels to the correct layer as part of their intelligence.
Layers are found in several areas of the Civil 3D template. The first location you will examine is the Drawing Settings area. The layers listed here represent overall layers where the objects will be created. For those of you who are familiar with AutoCAD blocks, it is useful to think of these layers in the same way as a block’s insertion layer.
In the Object Layers tab, every Civil 3D object must have a layer set, as shown in Figure 1-9. Do not leave any object layers set to 0. An optional modifier can be added to the beginning (prefix) or end (suffix) of the layer name to further separate items of the same type.
Figure 1-9 Every object is on a layer; the corridor layer contains a modifier.
A common practice is to add wildcard suffixes to corridor, surface, pipe, and structure layers to make it easier to manipulate them separately. For example, if the layer for a corridor is specified to be C-ROAD-CORR and a suffix of -* (dash asterisk, as shown in Figure 1-9) is added as the modifier value, a new layer will automatically be created when a new corridor is created. The resulting layer will take on the name of the corridor in place of the asterisk. If the corridor is called 13th Street, the new layer name will be C-ROAD-CORR-13th Street. This new layer is created once and is not dynamic to the object name. In other words, if you decide to change the name of 13th Street to Holland Avenue, the layer remains C-ROAD-CORR-13th Street.
If the main layer name you are after does not exist in the drawing, you can create it as you work through the Object Layers dialog. Click the New button, and set up the layer as needed, including color, lineweight, linetype, and so forth, as shown in Figure 1-10.
Figure 1-10 Click New to add a new layer.
“Immediate And Independent Layer On/Off Control Of Display Components” is a setting you will want to have selected. As mentioned earlier, the layers listed here are like an object’s insertion layer. However, you will encounter more layers within the object’s display style (these are the object styles you will learn about in Chapter 19). Having this option selected allows you to turn off components within an object’s style without turning off the entire object. For example, consider a surface whose object layer is set as C-TOPO. When that surface has contours displayed, the major contours might be on C-TOPO-MAJR and the minor contours may be on C-TOPO-MINR. With this option selected, you could turn off the C-TOPO-MINR independently from the overall object.
In the following exercise, you set object layers in a template:
Figure 1-11 Examples of the completed layer names in the Object Layers tab
The Abbreviations Tab
When you add labels to certain objects, Civil 3D automatically uses the abbreviations assigned in this tab to indicate geometry features. For example, left is L and right is R. Figure 1-12 shows a sampling of customizable abbreviations.
Figure 1-12 Features are customizable down to the letter on the Abbreviations tab.
Civil 3D uses industry-standard abbreviations wherever they are found. If necessary, you can easily change VPI to PVI for Point of Vertical Intersection. In most cases, changing an abbreviation is as simple as clicking in the Value field and typing a new one.
The Ambient Settings Tab
Examine the settings in the Ambient Settings tab to see what can be set here. The main options you’ll want to adjust are in the General category, and the display precision settings are in the subsequent categories. You will also want to visit the angle and direction categories to verify the format of the angles.
The level of precision that you see in this dialog does not change the precision in labels. What you see here is the number of decimal places reported to you in various dialog boxes.
Being familiar with the way this tab works will help you further down the line because almost every other settings dialog box in the program works like the one shown in Figure 1-13.
You can set the following options in the General category:
Figure 1-13 Ambient Settings at the main drawing level
The ambient settings in the Direction category offer the following choices:
Unit: Degree, Radian, and Grad.
Precision: 0 through 8 decimal places.
Rounding: Round Normal, Round Up, and Truncate.
