Autodesk Civil 3D

Autodesk® Civil 3D® software intelligently connects design and drafting to help boost your productivity. It lets you deliver higher-quality designs and construction documentation, so you can clearly communicate your design intent and win the next job.

Finding the 3D in Map 3D: Surface Visualization

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Flash The September / October issue of AUGIWorld is now available for download.  The cover story for this issue is “A First Good Impression”.  Impression is a brand new program that Autodesk released this year which allows you to give your CAD drawings a hand sketched look.  Anyone faced with creating such exhibits and illustrations will definitely want to read this months AUGIWorld.

In addition to the “A First Good Impression” article, there are numerous other articles worth giving a read.  Of those articles is one by yours truly titled “Finding the 3D in Map 3D: Surface Visualization”. AUGIWorld is available electronically by clicking HERE.

Download the September / October AUGIWorld

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Composing Parcel Label Styles in Civil 3D 2008

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New to Civil 3D 2008 is the ability to create composed parcel labels. Before the introduction of composed parcel label styles, one would have to configure a separate parcel label style for each labeling scenario. Or in other words, a style to show the parcels area in square feet, another to show it in acres, and another to show no area at all. It should also be mentioned that the lot number and lot area were a single object, meaning you could not move one independent to the other.

Composing Parcel Label Styles in Civil 3D 2008 082607 0128 composingpa1These shortcomings are what the new composed parcel labels set out to solve. In lieu of having a separate style for every labeling scenario you can think of, now you can simplify your style library by having a series of parcel label components. You will notice in this drawing I only have 5 parcel area label styles. My fundamental style, Lot Number, simply displays the lot number, nothing else. To display the lot’s area I will add my “Lot Area” area label style to the parcel(s) whose area I need to label. There are a couple ways this can be done.

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Map 3D Drawing Status Bar in Civil 3D

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Civil 3D users – did you know that Map 3D has a specialized drawing status bar?

It seems the typical Civil 3D user knows little to nothing about the abilities of Map 3D. As those who do use it know, Map 3D is an incredibly powerful geospatial tool. Autodesk did publish their “GIS Skills for Engineers” document with the release of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 and AutoCAD Map 3D 2008. For anyone who has to use GIS data in an engineering environment, the document is a must read.

In reading through the document one thing I noticed was its use of a drawing status bar I had never seen before. That got me to thinking, and in true CAD Geek fashion, on a quest for the answer for this little riddle. Finally after fiddling around for some time I was finally able to uncover the answer to unlocking this super top secret drawing status bar. I say super top secret because (to my knowledge) the Map 3D Status Bar cannot be enabled from within AutoCAD. So how does one enable it?

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Isolating Individual Objects

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Isolating Individual Objects 061807 1749 isolatingin1Hidden for some time now in the lower right-hand corner of AutoCAD is a little light bulb. If you are like most, you have simply let this little light bulb burn –wasting electricity. At first glance it may seem a little out of place. After all light bulbs belong in the layer manager– right?

Even still – what’s up with the light bulb in the lower corner of the screen? What many seem to discount as being a status notification of some sort is in fact an actual command.

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Separate Annotation Scales Per Viewport

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Dana Probert over at the Engineered Efficiency Civil3D.com blog wrote about quickly changing your Civil 3D Drawing Scale with the new Annotation Scale. Using the Annotation Scale fly out on the Status Bar we can quickly change our Civil 3D Drawing Scale. Those familiar with previous versions of Civil 3D will recall having to go to the “Settings” tab from the Civil 3D Toolspace. So that tip helps us out when working in Model Space, but what about Paper Space.

Separate Annotation Scales Per Viewport 050807 0602 separateann11

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Geospatial Data in a DWF file

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In observance of the “National Orange Effect Day” The CAD Geek Blog is proudly displaying the colors of Virginia Tech – Orange and Maroon.

Geospatial Data in a DWF file windowslivewritergeospatialdatainadwffile 1c4tcg vtcolors thumb1

Those of us who work with geospatial data (aka GIS Data) know how incredibly valuable the data can be. Living in the digital age of the 21st century, the one thing always more valuable than processing data is the ability to share it. Perhaps the most common file format for geospatial data is the ESRI SHP file. Although phenomenally powerful, the format is quite frankly rather clunky. It takes 5 separate support files to make a single SHP file to work. With Design Review becoming a free download the collaborative powers of the DWF format can now be realized. Of the powers packed into the DWF format is the ability to embed geospatial data into a DWF file. It is possible to embed geospatial data into a DWF, and it be available in Design Review.

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AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 is here!

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AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 is here! windowslivewriterauotcadcivil3d2008ishere 126dcirs thumb2 Just as the IRS is out to take our money, Autodesk has released AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008 which drastically streamlines the design process. A streamlined design process means working more efficiently, and working more efficiently means being more profitable. As outlined before, introduces a lot of new features. Just as Annotation Scaling is the big new thing for AutoCAD 2008; the BIG new thing for Civil 3D 2008 is Plan Production. The veterans out there likely remember a little thing called “Sheet Manager”.

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