Chapter 1 AL The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D MA TE RI Before we get into the “mastering” of AutoCAD Civil 3D, it is important 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.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Figure 1.1 Civil 3D in a typical environment. Toolspace is docked on the left, and tool palettes float over the drawing window. The Ribbon is at the top of the workspace. Prospector Prospector is the main window into the Civil 3D object model. This palette, or tab, is where you go seeking data; it also shows points, alignments, parcels, corridors, and other objects as one concise, expandable list.
The Interface and their functionality has been universally enabled for Civil 3D 2012. Let’s take a closer look at those icons: Item Preview Toggle Turns on and off the display of the Toolspace item preview within Prospector. These previews can be helpful when you’re navigating drawings in projects (you can select one to check out) or when you’re attempting to locate a parcel on the basis of its visual shape. In general, however, you can turn off this toggle—it’s purely a user preference.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D In addition, right-clicking the individual object in the list view offers many commands unique to Civil 3D: Zoom To Object and Pan To Object are typically included. By using these commands, you can find any parcel, point, cross section, or other Civil 3D object in your drawing almost instantly. Many longtime users of AutoCAD have resisted right-clicking menus for their daily tasks since AutoCAD 14.
The Interface Civil 3D is built on both AutoCAD and AutoCAD Map, so Civil 3D 2012 comes with a variety of templates. However, most users will want to select one of the top few templates, which start with _Autodesk Civil 3D and then have some descriptive text. These templates have been built on the basis of customer feedback to provide Civil 3D with a varying collection of object styles. These templates give you a good starting point for creating a template that meets your needs or the needs of your firm.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Each tab in this dialog controls a different aspect of the drawing. Most of the time, you’ll pick up the object layers, abbreviations, and ambient settings from a companywide template. However, the drawing scale and coordinate information change for every job, so you’ll visit the Units And Zone and the Transformation tabs frequently. Units And Zone Tab The Units And Zone tab lets you specify metric or imperial units for your drawing.
The Interface Reference Point Can be used to set a singular point in the drawing field via pick or via point number, local northing and easting, or grid northing and easting values. Rotation Point Can be used to set the reference point for rotation via the same methods as the reference point. Specify Grid Rotation Angle Enter an amount or set a line to North by picking an angle or deflection in the drawing. You can use this same method to set the azimuth if desired. Figure 1.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Figure 1.6 Changing the Layer setting for the Catchment object One common question that surrounds the Object Layers tab is the check box at the lower left: Immediate And Independent Layer On/Off Control Of Display Components. What the heck does that mean? Relax—it’s not as complicated as it sounds. Many objects in Civil 3D are built from underlying components. Take an alignment, for example.
The Interface as the user interaction surrounding the use of Civil 3D. Being familiar with the way this tab works will help you further down the line, because almost every other setting dialog in the program works like the one shown in Figure 1.7. You can approach this tab in the following ways: Top to Bottom Expand one branch, handle the settings in that branch, and then close it and move to the next.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D •u Format: Decimal, two types of DDMMSS, and Decimal DMS •u Direction: Short Name (spaced or unspaced) and Long Name (spaced or unspaced) •u Capitalization •u Sign •u Measurement Type: Bearings, North Azimuth, and South Azimuth •u Bearing Quadrant From this list, it becomes clear where these settings apply to the tools discussed in this chapter.
The Interface | After you decide how to approach these settings, get to work. The settings are either dropdown menus or text boxes (in the case of numeric entries). Many of them are self-explanatory and common to land-development design. Let’s look at these settings in more detail (see Figure 1.7). Plotted Unit Display Type Remember, Civil 3D knows you want to plot at the end of the day. In this case, it’s asking you how you would like your plotted units measured.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D The settings that are applied here can also be applied at the object levels. For example, you may typically want elevation to be shown to two decimal places, but when looking at surface elevations, you might want just one. The Override and Child Override columns give you feedback about these types of changes. See Figure 1.8. Figure 1.
The Interface Notice that in this dialog, the box is checked in the Override column. This indicates that you’re overriding the settings mentioned earlier, and it’s a good alert that things have changed from the general Drawing Settings to this Object Level setting. But what if you don’t want to allow those changes? Each Settings dialog includes one more column: Lock. At any level, you can lock a setting, graying it out for lower levels.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Commands Almost every branch in the Settings tree contains a Commands folder. Expanding this folder, as shown in Figure 1.12, shows you the typical long, unspaced command names that refer to the parent object. Figure 1.11 Line label styles Figure 1.12 Surface command settings in Toolspace Survey The Survey palette is displayed optionally and controls the use of the survey, equipment, and figure prefix databases.
The Interface Figure 1.13 The Toolbox palette with the Edit Toolbox Content button A Toolbox Built Just for You You can edit the Toolbox content and the Report Settings by selecting the desired tool, right-clicking, and then executing. Don’t limit yourself to the default reports that ship in the Toolbox, though.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D 4. Right-click the Sample Files toolbox, and select New Category as shown here. 5. Expand the Sample Files toolbox to view the new category, and then click the name to edit it in the preview area. Change the name to VBA, and press ↵. 6. Right-click the VBA category, and select New Tool. 7. Expand the VBA category to view the new tool, and then click the name to edit it in the preview area. Change its name to Pipe Sample. 8.
The Interface | Panorama The Panorama window is Civil 3D’s feedback and tabular editing mechanism. It’s designed to be a common interface for a number of different Civil 3D–related tasks, and you can use it to provide information about the creation of profile views, to edit pipe or structure information, or to run basic volume analysis between two surfaces. For an example of Panorama in action, change to the View tab, and then select Palettes Event Viewer.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Figure 1.14 The contextsensitive Ribbon Labeling Lines and Curves You can draw lines many ways in an AutoCAD-based environment. The tools found on the Draw panel of the Home tab create lines that are no more intelligent than those created by the standard AutoCAD Line command. How the Civil 3D lines differ from those created by the regular Line command isn’t in the resulting entity, but in the process of creating them. Figure 1.
Labeling Lines and Curves | a line that connects those lines in numerical order—from 640 to 641, and so on (see Figure 1.16). This order won’t give you the desired linework for edge of asphalt, for example. Figure 1.15 Line creation tools Figure 1.16 A line created using 640-644 as input Alternatively, you can enter a list of points such as 640, 643, 644 (Figure 1.17). Civil 3D draws a line that connects the point numbers in the order of input.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Figure 1.17 A line created using 640, 643, 644 as input Create Line By Point Object Command The Create Line By Point Object command prompts you to select a point object. To select a point object, locate the desired start point and click any part of the point. This tool is similar to using the regular Line command and a Node object snap (also known as osnap).
Labeling Lines and Curves Direction-Based Line Commands The next few commands help you specify the direction of a line. Each of these commands requires you to choose a start point for your line before you can specify the line direction. You can specify your start point by physically choosing a location, using an osnap, or using one of the point-related line commands discussed earlier.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Figure 1.19 The tooltip for the Create Line by Azimuth command Create Line By Angle Command The Create Line By Angle command prompts you for a turned angle and then a distance (Figure 1.20). This command is useful when you’re creating linework from angles right (in lieu of angles left) and distances recorded in a traditional handwritten field book (required by law in many states). Figure 1.
Labeling Lines and Curves | When prompted for the station, you’re given a tooltip that tracks your position along the alignment, as shown in Figure 1.22. You can graphically choose a station location by picking in the drawing (including using your osnaps to assist you in locking down the station of a specific feature). Alternatively, you can enter a station value on the command line. Figure 1.22 The Create Line By Station/Offset command provides a tooltip for you to track stationing along the alignment.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D When you’re using the Create Line By Side Shot command, you’re given a setup glyph at your occupied point, a backsight glyph, and a tooltip to track the angle, bearing, deflection, or azimuth of the side shot (see Figure 1.24). You can toggle between these options by following the command-line prompts. Figure 1.24 The tooltip for the Create Line By Side Shot command tracks the angle, bearing, deflection, or azimuth of the side shot.
Labeling Lines and Curves Create Line From End Of Object Command The Create Line From End Of Object command lets you draw a line tangent to the end of a line or arc of your choosing. Most commonly, you’ll use this tool when re-creating deeds or other survey work where you have to specify a line that continues a tangent from an arc (see Figure 1.27). Figure 1.27 The Create Line From End Of Object command lets you add a tangent line to the end of an arc.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Creating Curves Curves are an important part of surveying and engineering geometry. In truth, curves are no different from AutoCAD arcs. What makes the curve commands different than the basic AutoCAD commands isn’t the resulting arc entity but the inputs used to draw the arc. Civil 3D wants you to provide directions to the arc commands using land surveying terminology rather than with generic Cartesian parameters. Figure 1.
Creating Curves | Pressing ↵ at this prompt lets you input your desired radius. As with standard AutoCAD commands, pressing T changes the input parameter to Tangent, pressing C changes the input parameter to Chord, and so on. As with the Fillet command, your inputs must be geometrically possible. For example, your two lines must allow for a curve of your specifications to be drawn while remaining tangent to both. Figure 1.31 shows two lines with a 25″ radius curve drawn between them.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Figure 1.33 The first image shows two lines with a desired pass-through point. In the second image, the Create Curve Through Point command draws a curve that is tangent to both lines and passes through the chosen point. Create Multiple Curves Command The Create Multiple Curves command lets you create several curves that are tangentially connected. The resulting curves have an effect similar to an alignment spiral section.
Creating Curves | Create Curve From End Of Object Command The Create Curve From End Of Object command enables you to draw a curve tangent to the end of your chosen line or arc. The command prompts you to choose an object to serve as the beginning of your curve. You can then specify a radius and an additional parameter (such as Delta or Length) for the curve or the endpoint of the resulting curve chord (see Figure 1.35). Figure 1.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Re-creating a Deed Using Line and Curve Tools This exercise will help you apply some of the tools you’ve learned so far to reconstruct the overall parcel that will be used as the sample exercises for the majority of the book. From Point of Beginning South 44 degrees 54 minutes 15 seconds West 68.64 feet to a point North 07 degrees 05 minutes 24 seconds East 217.80 feet to a point North 72 degrees 12 minutes 10 seconds East 4.
Creating Curves 6. At the >>Specify bearing: prompt, enter 44.5415, and press ↵. 7. At the >>Specify distance: prompt, enter 68.64, and press ↵. 8. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for the rest of the courses. 9. Press Esc to exit the Create Line By Bearing command. 10. The finished linework should look like Figure 1.37. There will be an error of closure of 10.0016″. Typically, rounding errors can cause an error in closure. Perhaps reworking the deed holding a different rounding value would improve your results.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Create Best Fit Line Command The Create Best Fit Line command under the Best Fit drop-down on the Draw panel takes a series of Civil 3D points, AutoCAD points, entities, or drawing locations and draws a single best-fit line segment from this information. In Figure 1.39, for example, the Create Best Fit Line command draws a best-fit line through a series of points that aren’t quite collinear. Note that the best-fit line will change as more points are picked.
Creating Curves | Create Best Fit Parabola Command The Create Parabola command under the Create Best Fit Entities option works in a similar way to the line and arc commands just described. This command is most useful when you have a Triangulated Irregular Network (also known as TIN) sampled or surveyed road information and you’d like to replicate true vertical curves for your design information. After you select this command, the Parabola By Best Fit dialog appears (see Figure 1.42). Figure 1.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Attach Multiple Entities The Attach Multiple Entities command (found on the Home tab and extended Draw panel pulldown) is a combination of the Line From End Of Object command and the Curve From End Of Object command. This command is most useful for reconstructing deeds or road alignments from legal descriptions when each entity is tangent to the previous entity.
Creating Curves Figure 1.47 The Fixed Property drop-down menu gives you the choice of fixing your radius or delta value. As explained previously, you can send any value in the Curve Calculator to the command line using the button next to that value. This ability is most useful while you’re active in a curve command and would like to use a certain parameter value to complete the command.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Where Is Delta? In the Text Component Editor for a curve label, the value that most people would refer to as a delta angle is called the General Segment Total Angle. To insert the Delta symbol in a label, type \U+0394 in the Text Editor window on the right side of the Text Component Editor dialog. 7. At the Select Entity: prompt, select each line and arc that you drew in the previous exercise.
Using Transparent Commands Distance transparent command, draw a line-by-angle distance, and then press Esc, which takes you out of angle-distance mode but keeps you in the Line command. You can then draw a few more segments using the Point Object transparent command, press Esc, and finish your line with a Perpendicular osnap. You can activate the transparent commands using keyboard shortcuts or using the Transparent Commands toolbar. Be sure you include the Transparent Commands toolbar (shown in Figure 1.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D Table 1.1: Tool icon The transparent commands (continued) Menu command Latitude Longitude Point Number Point Name Point Object Zoom To Point Side Shot Station Offset Matching Transparent Commands You may have construction or other geometry in your drawing that you’d like to match with new lines, arcs, circles, alignments, parcel segments, or other entities.
The Bottom Line | 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. You may have noticed that when you start typing in Civil 3D, it shows a list of the commands and set variables that begin with that letter, and as you type further, it refines that list.
| Chapter 1 The Basics of AutoCAD Civil 3D 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.
