3 Line Profiles

One of the most important items in the creation of "Plan and Profile Construction Documents" in Southern California, and other locations, is what we refer to as a three line profile. Although, these are likely different than what others consider three line profiles. Why? Because the right and left profiles are vertically offset from the main profile (typically centerline profile) by some vertical clearance (see image below).


I recently demonstrated to some individuals (including Autodeskers) how I create this type of three line profiles using Autodesk Civil 3D.

The ability is summed up by placing three profile views directly on top of one another (they have the same insertion point and occupy the same exact space). The key is that these three profile views have different datum which will create the required vertical offset that I mentioned.



This technique in conjuction with my last post about design profile views vs. construction document profile views allows me to create a three line profile (So. Cal. style) that very exactly matches the construction document standard requirements.

In the above example the three profile views use datums of 95 (which will generate the lower of the three profiles), 85 (to generate the middle profile placement), and 75 (which will specify the upper profile location).

I have also been known to get slightly creative with the profile view styles so that I can select one profile view quickly out of the three that lie on top of one another. In the above example this was done by placing labels above, left and/or right, and below on the approriate/corresponding profile view. Look closely each profile view only has one set of labels. This can also be done by turning off the axis or the horizontal and vertical grid lines (whatever makes most sense to the group of users).

This is another example of how with a little creativity we can take advantage of the tremendous flexibility of Civil 3D to accomplish what we need.

p.s. I would like to hear from any regions (cities, counties, states, countries) that have similar requirements.