See What You Want

I am now more frequently using the Isolate/Hide objects capability in Autodesk Civil 3D 2005 (it can also be found in Autodesk Land Desktop 2005). This allows you to Isolate objects or Hide objects independent of their layers.

One way to use these commands is to:

1. Select the object(s) you wish to Hide or Isolate.
2. Right-click, and click Isolate Objects > then choose either "Hide Selected Objects" or "Isolate Selected Objects".

To end the Hide or Isolation:
1. Right-click, and click Isolate Objects > "End Object Isolation"

A small light bulb in the drawing window status bar (lower right hand corner) indicates whether any object(s) are currently Isolated or Hidden.
Yellow means NO object(s) are Isolated/Hidden.
Red means object(s) ARE Isolated/Hidden.

Right-click on the light bulb also gives you these options.

Parcel Labels Part II

I used to believe that in Autodesk Civil 3D 2005 it was only possible to change the area labels of parcels one at a time. What that means is that if I labeled many lots and then created a new label style, I would only be able to change the labels one at a time to the new style.

Well, after some clues found in the Discussion Groups I found that if I selected multiple lots in the Toolspace then Right-Clicked on the column that I wished to change, i.e. "Area Label Style", I could then choose "Edit..." This would bring up the "Select Label Style" dialog box. When a style is selected and the "OK" button is pressed, that style would be assigned to ALL of the selected Parcels.

This removes one item from my wishlist.

Corridor Boundaries

In Autodesk Civil 3D 2005, corridor boundaries can be very useful for defining and displaying corridor surfaces.

The most important part is to define it properly. The trick is to pick each segment in the direction that you want them to connect.

Once a boundary is defined it is very useful to ask the software to verify that you defined a valid boundary. The software can also draw the boundary as it is defined on the screen. This can assist in reordering the segments or reversing their direction in order to make a valid boundary.

Now You See It. Now You Don't.

I learned something very useful from the Autodesk Civil 3D Discussion Group. It had to do with turning off any particular label.

Specifically, Someone asked how to turn off an alignment station label that he did not want to see at the end of an alignment. I posted a much more round about process. But, Scott McEachron of DC CADD Company (Dallas) answered.

Pick the label > Right Click > Label Properties > Set Visibility to "False".

I found this to be a quick process.

Tell Me All The Dirt

When it comes to doing earthwork volume calculations Autodesk Civil 3D 2005 makes the entire process very streamlined.

The process boils down to initiating the "ReportSurfaceVolume" command, from one of the various methods, then telling the software I wish to do a new calculation. Lastly, I select the two surfaces that I wish to compare. The Panarama window instantly provides the results. These results include the "Cut", "Fill", and "Net".

The software uses the composite method for the calculations. Civil 3D Help explains this method as "...using the points from both surfaces, as well as any location where the triangle edges between the two surfaces cross. The new composite surface elevations are calculated based on the difference between the elevations of the two surfaces."

Parcel Labels

Of the many labels for parcels that come with Autodesk Civil 3D 2005 there are two very interesting ones.

The first uses a block (_Wipeout_Circle) which contains a wipeout. It is a parcel label style called "Iron Pipe Node Label". When this label is used, the label places the block at the endpoints of a parcel line. The block "hides" the area beneath it. The benefit of this label is that when parcel lines are labeled with length the label displays the actual entire length of the line (not the shortened visible length).

The second interesting label for parcels, is any label style that has the "Span outside segments" set to true. This label can apply a single label with an overall length to segments that run along the outside edge of multiple parcels.

Make Your Point

On August 24th, I mentioned some methods for creating points in Civil 3D 2004. The methods for point creation have been expanded in Autodesk Civil 3D 2005. The enhancements, as mentioned in help, include:

New point creation commands.
Redesigned Create Points dialog box for better consistency with Autodesk Civil 3D user interface.
XDREF functionality (override an attribute of a point with information stored in an external database).
Enhancements to Description Key dialog box to ease use of scaling parameters.
Enhancements to the geodetic calculator, including the ability to select an X,Y coordinate, and integration into the Prospector tab.
Enhancements in the selection of points and point groups in the AutoCAD Object Properties window.

Civil 3D Disscusion Group

A very important resource for information is the Autodesk Civil 3D Discussion Group.

Users can post questions and receive answers for topics related to Civil 3D. The discussions found here can very very insightful and enlightening.

Click here to connect via you internet browser.

Click here to choose newsreader access.

AU Day 2

Lots of classes about Civil 3D. I learned several little things that will make a big difference. Several things were clarified. I will be passing this info along shortly.

I have met several Autodesk employees I had not met before.