Datasheet

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CHAPTER 1 The Basics of auTocaD civil 3D
Tool icon 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.
While actively drawing an object that has a radius parameter, such as a circle, an arc, an align-
ment curve, or a similar object, you can choose the Match Radius transparent command and then
select an object in your drawing that has your desired radius. Civil 3D draws the resulting entity
with a radius identical to that of the object you chose during the command. You’ll save time
using this tool because you don’t have to first list the radius of the original object and then manu-
ally type in that radius when prompted by your circle, arc, or alignment tool.
The Match Length transparent command works identically to the Match Radius transparent
command except that it matches the length parameter of your chosen object.
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: preliminary design calls for one set of tools, and final plan
production calls for another.
Table 1.1: The transparent commands (continued)
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