Datasheet

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Object styles are a major component of efficient Civil 3D object modeling. Objects appear dif-
ferently in varying plans. Having a full set of object styles to handle all of these uses can help
make plan production as painless as possible.
A good way to start creating object styles is to pull out a set of existing plans that accurately
represent your firm’s standards. Pick an object, such as alignments or surfaces, and then begin
working your way through the plan set, creating a new object style for each use case. Once you
complete one object, pick another and repeat the exercise.
The Underlying Engine
Civil 3D is part of a larger product family from Autodesk. During its earliest creation, various
features and functions from other products were recognized as important to the civil engineer-
ing community. These included the obvious things such as the entire suite of AutoCAD draft-
ing, design, modeling, and rendering tools as well as more esoteric options such as Map’s GIS
capabilities. An early decision was made to build Civil 3D on top of the AutoCAD Map product,
which in turn is built on top of AutoCAD.
This underlying engine provides a host of options and powerful tools for the Civil 3D user.
AutoCAD and Map add features with every release that change the fundamental makeup of
how Civil 3D works. With the introduction of workspaces in 2006, users can now set up Civil 3D
to display various tools and palettes depending on the task at hand. Creating a workspace is like
having a quick-fix bag of tools ready for the job at hand: preliminary design calls for one set of
tools, and final plan production calls for another.
Workspaces are part of a larger feature set called the custom user interface (referred to as CUI
in the help documentation and online). As you grow familiar with Civil 3D and the various
tool palettes, menus, and toolbars, be sure to explore the CUI options that are available from the
Workspace toolbar.
The Bottom Line
Find any Civil 3D object with just a few clicks By using Prospector to view object data
collections, you can minimize the panning and zooming that are part of working in a CAD
program. When common subdivisions can have hundreds of parcels or a complex corridor
can have dozens of alignments, jumping to the desired one nearly instantly shaves time off
everyday tasks.
Master It O p e n Sample
Site.dwg from the tutorials, and find parcel number five with-
out using any AutoCAD commands.
Modify the drawing scale and default object layers Civil 3D understands that the end
goal of most drawings is to create hard-copy construction documents. By setting a drawing
scale and then setting many sizes in terms of plotted inches or millimeters, Civil 3D removes
much of the mental gymnastics that other programs require when you’re sizing text and
symbols. By setting object layers at a drawing scale, Civil 3D makes uniformity of drawing
files easier than ever to accomplish.
Master It Change Sample
Site.dwg from a 200-scale drawing to a 40-scale drawing.
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