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This would be so useful. Been able to save the styles you have selected for various civil 3d objects. In particular, for more complex projects, where constantly resetting between various styles can be rather tedious.
This workflow could even flow over to data shortcuts. Where it would be possible to create reference to multiple objects using the “style states” saved in your project.
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Why we all eagerly await the day that all Civil 3D objects, like corridors, become data shortcuts or Civil 3D gets replaced with Infraworks (Not sure which is going to happen first). Until that day though we still need to get those Civil 3D models into our drawings in the most dynamic way possible. So here are a few sneaky tricks to do so, keeping everything as dynamic as possible and not exploding a thing.
Feeling Lazy watch the video. (Coming Soon)
While I love all the slope patterns that get generated from grading’s and corridors. I’m sick of exploding AECOBJECTEXPLODE all my linework from my model and copying it across to my xrefs etc. Every time I update, drives me crazy!
So what If I told you that the image below has not a single bit of exploding in it. Everything is produced via data shortcuts, even the linework, all dynamic. Interested? read on ->
Slope Shading
It’s so simple you will kick yourself for not working it out earlier. To produce the grey slope shading on the surfaces is quite simple. Using the surface slope analysis. Right Click – Surface Properties – >Analysis Tab – > Select Slopes from dropdown.
My embankments are 1:2 cut and 1:2 fill -> so >40% and my road cross fall is 3 %. So im going to drop down two ranges
Change the colours to 254 (light grey) and 253 (Slightly darker grey) respectively.
Then you should have what I have above, dynamic updatable surface shading. If you can’t see anything then you will need to choose a surface style that has the slopes turned on under the “display tab”. See below. Make sure you set a layer for the slope objects if you want to utilize Autocad transparency.
Linework and Hatching – The Surface Boundary Technique
I unfortunately have to assume that if your reading this you know how corridor point, link and shape codes work. What we can do with these wonderful codes is create surfaces where the surface boundary represents the linework we are trying to display on plan. The Red, White and Orange dashed lines taht represent that linework.
So I create 3 additional surfaces in my corridor properties.
You will then need to work out the boundaries for them. You can do an interactive boundary if you feel like wasting hours of time. Or just use the Angle/Length Trick.
Tod do so, go to the surface properties for the footpath for example. Definition Tab – > Expand the Build Section and make the maximum angle like 92º and the maximum length about 5m.
To explain what this is doing. It will analyse the footpath surface for triangles that have an angle greater than 90°, quite often these are the weird “spiderwebs” we get on the outside of the surface. Then it will analyse the triangles that have a length on any side greater than the number specified and remove them. It’s important to note that the “Maximum angle” only works on outside triangles, not internal triangles. The “maximum length” will remove triangles anywhere. See the diagram below.
The finished result is just footpath. You can use this trick on all your surfaces though
Now do the rest of the surfaces as well in a similar fashion. You will need to create a style that has only border displayed to see the finished result. You may also need to play with your corridor frequencies to get the desired result.
The finished Result is dynamic linework though. Using a surface border.
As for hatching well its as easy as using that hatch command
Putting it all together
The final step is to collate all this together for use in a drawing. Here is my recommended workflow.
Now I simple select it all and WBLOCK it out to an xref location.
The best part about the WBLOCK is that you only have the layers you need in the new drawing. Meaning improved performance when using it as an XREF as well as not doing your head in. WBLOCK does not destroy the data shortcuts either!
Let me know what you think below.
I started writing this, realised it was getting incredibly long and stopped…
There is a distinct problem with “scalability” in Civil 3D. As modelling becomes more complex, as inevitably it does, handling of batch operations and multiple objects is hindered significantly by a lack of simple functionality to handle them in the core product. In turn, precious hours are wasted.
I am very interested to hear what can be done on the development side to deal with this problem? The changes for some of these items seem rather simple..
See below examples….
This is just a small handful of things you have to do “one at a time” inside Civil 3D. A simple function added would allow you to do multiple operations at once, saving an operator hours of time! But yet, we have to live with it!
(Having 20 plugins and/or 3rd party apps to deal with this is not a solution!)
1. Create Reference using Data shortcuts. You can create multiple data shortcuts, but you can’t “Create Reference” to multiple data shortcuts.
2. The volume dashboard can add multiple surfaces at once. But only remove one at time. Not to mention its lack of sorting or basic organisation functionality like, the ability to change multiple surface styles at once.
3. Synchronizing Data Shortcuts can only be done on mass. Or one at a time. It would be ideal to be able to choose the objects I wish to synchronize in the toolspace to save processing time.
4. Additionally while synchronizing there is no way to specify in the “Object Name Change” box to update the name of all change objects
5. Settings Objects to rebuild automatically. Currently you can only turn them on/off one at a time. Very time consuming. There is a lot of work that can be done here. Particular for more complex models that need to be changed. Rebuilding can take a very long time and you may want to delay it until you have made enough changes.
a. Adding a “Global Rebuild” On/Off Feature. This would allow a quick and dirty solution to changing complex models without the wait time..
b. Adding the ability to turn on/off rebuild for civil 3d objects in the prospector/properties box. And even “save rebuild state” so you can restore certain states for particular modelling operations.
6. In the Profile View Properties – > Profiles Screen although you can select and edit multiple profile styles etc. You cannot add or remove profiles
7. Additionally in the “Create Surface Profile screen” Only one alignment can be given profiles at a time.. Plus profiles that were previously created can’t be removed?
8. Corridor Targets – You can only do them all or one at a time. It would also be particularly useful to “copy/paste” targets between items.
9. “Set Width or Offset Target” and the “Set Elevation Slope Target” – In more complex drawings your alignment list can get quite long. A tick box that filters out “alignments/profiles that aren’t related to this corridor” would be very useful. Not having to press the “add” button everytime and just pressing enter would be also quite useful.
10. Can only add one DEM file to Surfaces at a time.
But you can do it in the point cloud creator?
In my opinion the GUI functionality is inconsistent and broken and needs a major overhaul. Relying on third party developers to solve these problems by creating little apps that perform these operations is also not good enough. Quite often the API is not available for these functions.
I do hope that good apps that reflect “core functionality” should be bought or reproduced and incorporated into the product regularly. Not left to be discovered on an “as needed basis”
Regards
