Civil 3D Tips and Tricks

Styles
Tips and Tricks
General Note labels are
versatile, non-object-
specific labels that can be
placed anywhere in the
drawing. There are several
advantages to using these
instead of base-AutoCAD
MText. Notes will leader and
scale the same as the rest of
your Civil 3D labels—and
best of all, they can contain
reference text.
You can add bearing and
distance labels to many Civil
3D objects. Anything from
plain lines and polylines, to
parcels and alignment
tangent segments, can use
nearly identical label types.
The ability to label one
object while referencing
another (Reference Text, in
layout tab) is one of the
most powerful labeling
features of Civil 3D. This is
what allows you to label a
spot elevation for both an
existing and a proposed
surface at the same time,
using the same label.
Alignments, COGO points,
parcels, profiles, surfaces,
and survey figures can all be
used as reference text. Text
for Each is a type of
reference text that can label
properties of connected
pipes in a structure label.
As with other settings in Civil
3D, a hierarchy helps
determine which styles take
precedence over which
other styles. There are also
defaults that can be set or
changed at a drawing-wide
level and overrides at an
object level. Make sure to
put a lot of thought into
using these hierarchical
settings and relationships.
By using them efficiently,
you can save a lot of time
because you wonʼt need to
tweak every single setting in
each and every label you
create—and you will be
creating lots of labels.
Code Set Styles
Basics
Remember: Civil 3D Code
Set Style is like an AutoCAD
Layer State. It just points to
a host of other Styles which
may be combined and
applied in a combination of
ways in multiple display
(representation) contexts.
We get it that Layers look
one way for proposed and
another way for existing.
Code Sets are not really any
different.
A Code Set depends on a
combination of three types
of named Codes built into
subassemblies. The
employed Codes can and do
vary by subassembly. Poor
Civil 3D General Style
definitions create confusion.
They can make the problem
worse and even more
maddening.
Points
Tips and Tricks
Want to turn all your points
off without touching layers?
Make a point group!
Want to move last weekʼs
survey up by the blown
instrument height
difference?
Want to show all your TOPO
shots as dots rather than
Xs?
Want to prevent invert shots
from throwing off your
surface model?
Point group! Point group!
Point groups can (and
should!) be created
upon import of a text
file. That way, if a
problem comes to light
about that group of
points (such as
incorrect instrument
height), they can be
isolated and dealt with
apart from other points.
Most drawings should
contain a “NO DISPLAY”
point group with styles
set to <none>.
Point groups will dictate
point styles only if the
overrides are set OR if no
matches exist in the
description key set.
Otherwise, the description
key set sets the style. For
example, if your point
placement options have a
layer set but you place a
point that matches a
description key with a layer
set to something different,
the description key set
“wins.” When you create a
point group, if you set the
Overrides tab to have Style
and Point Label Style
selected, those settings
wrestle control of the styles
away from the description
key set and into the hands of
the point group.
Elevations From Surface
is an extremely handy
tool for forcing points to
a surface elevation.
Best Practices
1: Control Point Display
Using Point Groups
Rather than Layers
Civil 3D drawings will
have many layers in
them. Itʼs much easier to
switch the display of the
point groups rather than
create layer states for
each point visibility
scenario.
A point can belong to
more than one group at
once. For instance, a
water valve cover with
elevation may be in a
TOPO group, a Utilities
group and the _All
Points group. In these
cases, the order in
which the point groups
are displayed in in the
Prospector determines
 which point group a
point is “listening to” for
its properties.
2: User-Defined
Properties
Standard point properties
include items such as
number, easting, northing,
elevation, name, description,
and the other entries you
see when examining the
points in Prospector or
Panorama. But what if you
would like a point to know
more about itself?
Itʼs common to receive
points from a soil scientist
that list additional
information, such as
groundwater elevation or
subsurface elevation.
Surveyed manhole points
often include invert
elevations or flow data. Tree
points may also contain
information about species or
caliber measurements. All
this additional information
can be added as user-
defined properties to your
point objects. You can then
use these properties in point
labeling, analysis, point
tables and more.
Surfaces
The fundamental building
blocks of surfaces are points
and lines. The points are
derived from some other
sources of data, such as
standard breaklines,
contours, survey points, and
so on. If there is an error in
one of those sources, there
will be an error in the
surface as well. When this
occurs, you can either edit
the source data and rebuild
the surface, or edit the
surface itself.
Best Practices
1: Using Breaklines to
Improve Surface
Accuracy
The TIN algorithm
creates surfaces by
drawing 3D lines
between points that are
closest to each other. In
certain instances, this is
not the most accurate
way to model the
surface, and the TIN
lines must be forced into
a specific arrangement.
This arrangement
typically coincides with
a linear feature such as
a curb, top of an
embankment, or wall.
This forced alignment of
TIN lines along a linear
feature is best handled
with a breakline.
Breaklines are linear
features that mark a
change in the slope of
the ground. Some of
these are quite obvious,
such as a set of Bottom
of Bank (BOB), points
and top of ditch (TOPD)
points. Others serve
double duty, such as an
edge of pavement (EP).
This survey figure marks
the line where pavement
ends and dirt begins,
but typically there is
also a change in slope at
this line between the
slope of the ground and
the man-made slope of
the road. For this
reason, EPs are often
tagged as breaklines.
Other features obviously
have nothing to do with
the slope of the ground,
such as a right of way
(ROW), treeline (TL),
and fence line (FENC);
therefore, they are not
checked as breaklines.
Connecting a bunch of
points together with 3D
triangular shapes does
not necessarily generate
an accurate surface. In
certain areas, the
shapes themselves have
to be manipulated so
that they align with
terrain features in order
to model their form
accurately.