Datasheet

The inTerface
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5
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.
se t t i n g s
The Settings tab of Toolspace is where you can adjust how Civil 3D objects look and how the
Civil 3D commands work. You use this tab to control styles, labels, and command settings for
each component of Civil 3D. This book starts by looking at the top level of drawing settings and
a few command settings to get you familiar, and then covers the specifics for each object’s styles
and settings in their respective chapters.
Drawing Settings
Starting at the drawing level, Civil 3D has a number of settings that you must understand before
you can use the program efficiently. Civil 3D understands that the end goal of most users is to
prepare construction documents on paper. To that end, most labeling and display settings are
displayed in inches for imperial users and millimeters for metric users instead of nominal units
like many other AutoCAD objects. Because much of this is based on an assumed working scale,
let’s look at how to change that setting, along with some other drawing options:
1. Open the file Basic Site.dwg from this book’s companion web page, www.sybex.com/
go/masteringcivil3d2012.
2. Switch to the Settings tab.
3. Right-click the filename, and select Edit Drawing Settings to display the dialog shown in
Figure 1.4.
Figure 1.4
The Drawing Set-
tings dialog
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