Live Map Service - Civil 3D 2014

In Civil 3D 2014, Autodesk has introduced a live map service to acquire satellite images.  In order to to use this service, the user first needs to log into Autodesk 360, and have a coordinate system assigned to the drawing.  After logging in, the user simply needs to type GEOMAP on the command line.

The user is presented with several choices.  The first choice is Aerial.

The second choice is Road.

The third choice is Hybrid.  This is a combination of Aerial and Road.

Lastly, the user can simply select off to hide the imagery.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 - New Features

As you probably know by now, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 has been released to the masses.  I will try to summarize the list of new features that have been added or enhanced in this years version.  A good place to start as always is the help files.

• Pressure Pipe Enhancements
• Create Network from Objects
• Can be added to cross section views
• Can have assigned pay items in the Parts List
• Can be used via the data shortcut
• Sort parts lists by size
• New annotation options
• Can be added to plan production sheets
• Extract Corridor Solids
• Data references are saved in the drawing
• Improved interoperability with InfraWorks (Otherwise known as AIM)
• Survey Queries Import and Export

One of the more interesting features in Civil 3D 2014 is its backward compatibility with Civil 3D 2013.  This means that 2014 files can be opened and edited in 2013.  However, there are some limitations due to enhancements in 2014.  The screen capture below talks about the limitations.  This can also be found in the following link Round-Tripping Data between versions.

Lastly, here is the new logo for Autodesk going forward. 

Geotechnical Module for Civil 3D

Roughly a month ago, Autodesk released the Geotechnical module for subscription customers.  It can be found under the Productivity Tools for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013.

It is important to note that installation of SQL server as well.  After installing the module, you will see the following addition to the ribbon.

To begin the process of importing soil boring data, we will select import.  Before we can import any boring data, a drawing will need to exist, which means it must be saved.

The import data box allows us to select the appropriate files to be imported.  I'm bringing in data via csv.  There are also options to import data via AGS 4 and AGS 3.1.  Here is a link to AGS that discuses in further detail the formatting and group headings.  Since I have chosen a csv file type, I will be importing to files HOLE.csv and GEOL.csv.  It is important to note that in this version of the module, the csv files must be named exactly as I stated, including case sensitivity.  Samples of these files can be found at Keynetix, along with sample tutorials for using this module.

After selecting import, your boring data will be brought into your drawing.  As you can see from the screen capture, the borings are brought in with an x,y, and z location.  Note in the view on the right, the borings are broken down into various stratum.

From the Borehole Manager tab, when can select which borings we will like to include, along with assigning an appropriate style for the type of boring as seen below.

From the Strata Manager, we can select which surfaces we would like the module to create within Civil 3D.

The Hatch Manager allows the user to assign various colors and hatch patterns to an array of soil boring materials.  

Finally, the Create options allows the user to add the soil borings to profile view for a given alignment.

The borehole selection screen allows the user to choose which borings will be added to the profile view.

Now simply select create, and the soil boring data is added to the profile view.

Issues with using Corridor Extents as Surface Boundary

While teaching recently a Civil 3D 2013 class we came upon an interesting dilemma with Corridor Surfaces.  When trying to constrain a Corridor surface using the corridor itself is now always presented as an option by default.  It may not always be to our advantage.

The issue is evident when the a subbase extends further out than the proposed TOP surface.  When trying to constrain the proposed TOP surface with the Corridor Extents, the surface will go further out than the Daylight.

The fix here is to constrain the surface using Add Automatically using Daylight or Add From a Polygon.

Help missing from Hydraflow Hydrographs

Today, one my clients was trying to look up some information for Hydrographs in the help content, but there was a problem, nothing happened.  Typically when selecting content from this program or any of the various Autodesk products, the user's guide pops up with content, index, and search options for the specific software.

After spending some time searching for a solution, I simply went back to an older version, in this case Civil 3D 2012, copied the following file, and overwrote the same one in Civil 3D 2013.

C:\ProgramFiles\Autodesk\AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012\HHApps\Hydrographs.chm

The hep content now works as expected.  The file in 2013 must be corrupt.  If you do not have access to a previous version of the software, please let me know and I would be happy to send the file.

Adding Labels to Specific Links within a Code Set Style

From time to time, we may want Civil 3D label certain subassemblies within our corridor model.  The problem with the Top or Default code is that we get those links we want labeled, plus many others.  As you can see from the image below, this isn't what we want.

In order to get around this, we can go into our code set style and add some additional link codes that we will assign to just the links we wish to label.

Once we are editing the code set style, we can right click on links, and hit add.  Here we can add a link code for such things as foreslope, ditch, etc.  These additional codes will allow us to specifically assign them to certain links.  After selecting add, it will ask for the link style witch isn't important.

After selecting the link style, you will notice that it makes a new link code named new code.  We can rename this to Ditch, or whatever additional feature we wish to label.  Here we can also assign an appropriate label style to label elevation, slope, or whatever data we wish to convey.

The following screen capture depicts what the new code set style should look like after creating the additional codes with an appropriate label style.

Now that we have created the two additional link codes, we can go into the subassembly properties of the two individual links.

From the parameters tab, we simply go to the link codes, put in a coma, and add the appropriate code we just created, in this instance we would add ditch.  It is important that we spell the code to match exactly with the code created, upper or lower case does matter.

We can do the same for the foreslope as well.  Here is what the subassemblies look like.

This process will save time on labeling, and these styles can ultimately be added to the corporate template for  others to use.

Assemblies: Look Wrong but Build Right

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I hope I can prepare you when it happens to you.

When laying out Assemblies sometimes the overall look can wrong, some subassemblies will even include a label “Layout Mode” to let you know that when processed in a corridor will look right.

Assemblies are building blocks to build a corridor, and are NOT intended to be plotted, we have Standard Details Sheets for that. . I’ve notice this behavior in the Generic Link to Marked Point and some Medians.

Looking at a MEDIAN assembly, this one is closing the gap from Left to Right hooking to the MarkedPoint (triangle), with positive grades crowning upward.

When built in the corridor and placed in the cross section, the positive grades.

Now using the same subassembly on the other side of the median, closing the gap from Right to Left. This time we will hooked to the MarkedPoint (triangle) will cause the subassembly to flip.

Because the median subassembly had to flip to connect, the original positive grades are now inverted too.