Settings And Styles - Civil 3D

Settings and Styles Overview This lesson describes various settings and styles that are used in AutoCAD Civil 3D. A strong understanding of these basics leads to more efficient use of the software and more consistency in the creation of design and production drawings.

Objectives After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe the types of Civil 3D objects and their interactions.

Create styles that control the display of Civil 3D objects.

Create styles to annotate Civil 3D objects.

Make modifications to object and label styles.

Copy styles from one drawing to another drawing.

Change drawing level, parent level, and child level styles and settings.

Use drawing settings and viewport scaling to control text size.

Use command settings to set default styles and object naming templates.

Create a drawing template (DWT) file with customized styles and settings.

Exercises The following exercises are provided in a step-by-step format in this lesson:

1. Examine Existing Object Display Styles

2. Create Object Display Styles

3. Create Object Annotation (Label) Styles

4. Modify Object and Label Styles

5. Use Styles Hierarchy to Modify Styles and Settings

6. Modify Drawing Settings, Viewport Scaling, and Text Size

Lesson

3

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010

Education Curriculum Student Workbook

Unit 1: Civil 3D Environment

Unit 1 – Lesson 3: Settings & Styles Civil 3D 2010 Student Workbook ▪2

7. Use Command Settings to Set Default Styles, Naming Templates, and Parameters

8. Create a Custom Drawing Template (DWT) File

About Objects Civil 3D is an object-oriented design environment that makes use of objects to display design components such as points, surfaces, alignments, profiles, pipe networks, and corridor models.

Objects are used to represent the survey, design, and construction elements you need to complete your site design or transportation design project. Objects have inherent properties that are used to control how the object is displayed and labeled, and how it functions.

Objects have relationships that enable them to react to each other. These dynamic relationships are referred to as object reactivity. A few of these object relationships are highlighted in the following table.

Objects Functional relationship

Points and Surfaces Changing the elevation of point objects results in automatic updates to surface objects that reference the point objects.

Alignments and Surface Profiles

Changing the position or geometry of an alignment results in an automatic update to the surface profile objects.

Surfaces and Surface Profiles

Changing a surface results in an automatic update to surface profile objects that reference that surface.

Assemblies and Corridors Changing the geometry of the assembly object (typical section) results in an automatic update to the corridor (road model) object.

Parcels and Parcel Segments

Bisecting an existing parcel object with another parcel segment or alignment object subdivides the original parcel object into two parcel objects.

Grading Object and Surfaces

Moving a grading object or changing a target surface results in automatic updates to the daylight line.


You can automatically assign a name to objects when they are created. You can use object naming templates to facilitate the assignment of meaningful names to objects. You can override the name assigned with the object naming template. Object naming templates are defined and saved in a drawing template file.

For some objects, you can assign default input parameters. For example, you can specify default elevations and descriptions for points, maximum triangle length for a surface, or an assembly insertion frequency for corridor models.

Objects are used to address all aspects of the planning, survey, and detailed design phases of site development and transportation projects.

About Settings and Styles AutoCAD Civil 3D is an object-oriented design environment with defined interactions between civil design objects. When you modify object and label styles associated with an object, the display of the object automatically updates.

Whether you work for yourself, a small company, a large engineering firm, or a government agency, drawing settings and styles are among the most important elements for creating design files. Proper settings and styles can greatly aid in the efficiency and sharing of data. Significant time can be wasted creating layers in files and inserting common blocks, when the same tasks can be handled automatically with template drawing files.

You create and modify object and label styles in the Settings tab of Toolspace. Object styles are assigned to objects and control the display of objects. Every object in Civil 3D is displayed with an object style.


Label styles define the behavior, appearance, and content of labels. Label styles control the settings for the annotation and labeling of these objects.

Object and label styles can assign the display properties (color, linetype, and lineweight) from directly within the style. This is referred to as By Style. Object and label styles can also assign the display properties (color, linetype, and lineweight) from a layer. This is referred to as By Layer.

All Civil 3D label styles have a dragged state display property. This property controls the display of the label when it is dragged away from the object it is labeling.

All Civil 3D labels scale with the drawing setup scale. This means that you do not need to create multiple sets of text to suit different scale requirements.

All Civil 3D labels can be oriented to the object, view, or the world coordinate system.

Types of Label Styles

In the Toolspace Settings tree, the Label Styles collections contain one or more types of label styles that represent unique aspects of specific objects. You can create label styles for all objects, including points, surfaces, parcels, and alignments.

Points: You can create label styles for point objects to indicate information such as number, elevation, and description.

Surfaces: You can define label styles for surface objects such as slopes, spot elevations, watersheds, and contours.

Parcels: You can create label styles for parcel objects such as areas, lines, and curves.

Alignments: You can create label styles for alignment objects such as stations, station offsets, lines, curves, spirals, and tangent intersections.

The following illustration shows a point style of an X with a point label style of point number, elevation, and description, all using different colors.

Style Hierarchy Civil 3D is designed to handle individual objects, and at a higher level, collections of objects. Settings or styles that are set for a collection of objects are referred to as parent, or higher level settings. Individual objects, or child, settings can be altered to override a parent setting. The drawing level is the highest level, and settings altered at this level set the values for settings in the entire drawing.


Drawing Settings Drawing Settings are important to check for a variety of reasons. You can set the units, the coordinate system, the model space scale, and a number of other parameters. These settings can be saved in a template file for future use.

Changing the drawing units from feet to meters or vice versa in the Drawing Settings dialog box does not result in a rescale of the drawing from feet to meters. In civil engineering design, you typically keep in mind whether an AutoCAD drawing unit refers to one foot or one meter. The value in this dialog box changes the AutoCAD units variable, which affects the length values generated for object label styles and also controls the optional scaling of objects inserted from other drawings with different units. It is a good idea to try and work at a model space scale that is similar to your final output scale.

The settings in the Zone section of this dialog box affect which datum, projection, and coordinate system are being used in the drawing. If the coordinates do not align with any larger coordinate system and are strictly local coordinates, this should be set to No Datum, No Projection.

Viewport Scaling and Text Size Most plotting is done from a layout (paper space) and not model space. The scale of the viewport(s) in the layout tab defines the scale on the printed paper. The text height settings in the Settings tab refer to the plotted height on paper, not the height of the text in model space. Text in model space can appear to be very large or small depending on the model space scale


setting. It is good practice to set the model space scale the same, or close to, the final plotted scale.

About Command Settings Every feature category has command settings that can be found by expanding the Commands tree for the feature in the Settings tab of the Toolspace window.

Command settings exist for every feature command. You modify command settings to assign default parameters such as styles, naming conventions, and algorithm parameters for objects. For example, the following illustration shows some of the command settings for the Create Profile From Surface command.


About Template Files Drawing templates are among the most important elements to understand when creating and producing engineering and construction drawings. Configuring drawing templates based on your corporate or client's standards results in greater efficiency when creating drawings and sharing data. Standardized components are essential for consistency in engineering and construction drawings. Hence, all new drawings are created from drawing templates.

Standards for such items as layer names, block symbols, label conventions, and profile plots help organizations manage drawings that are shared between different groups or individuals. Clients for civil engineering firms have requirements for standards to fit their particular needs, and companies must submit design drawings using these standards. Frequently, companies do not pay sufficient attention to standardization or to analyzing drawing content. Without standardization, sharing data, copying objects, or inserting objects from one drawing to another is more difficult.

The buildingSMART alliance (www.buildingsmartalliance.org) is a consortium that promotes the use of common standards and open interoperability throughout the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. The alliance supports the United States National CAD Standard (NCS) (www.buildingsmartalliance.org/ncs/), a consensus standard for organizing facility drawing information. AutoCAD Civil 3D contains several template drawing files created to conform to the NCS standards.

There are several template settings you can configure, both for AutoCAD elements and for Civil 3D elements. Some of the AutoCAD standardized elements in a drawing template include:

Layer names and visibility settings (color, linetype, lineweight, and so on).

Block definitions.

Text and dimension styles.

Page setup definitions with viewports and title blocks.

Miscellaneous system variables.

Some of the Civil 3D standardized elements in a drawing template include:

Object and label styles.

Drawing settings.

Command and feature settings.

Drawing templates are preconfigured by a corporate CAD manager (or team) and should be centrally located on a network for all users to access. It is the role of the CAD manager to maintain the drawing templates, not that of the individual users.

http://www.buildingsmartalliance.org/

http://www.buildingsmartalliance.org/ncs/


Key Terms

Object Styles Object styles control the display of Civil 3D objects. Every object has an assigned object style. Different object styles serve different purposes during the design process.

Label Styles Label styles control the display of the annotation assigned to objects. Label styles are chosen when objects are created. You can change the labels assigned to an object anytime. You choose different label styles to annotate different types of information.

AutoCAD Standard Settings and Styles

For example; layer names and visibility settings, text styles, dimension styles, paper space layout definitions, and symbol definitions.

Civil 3D Standard Settings and Styles

Drawing settings, object styles, label styles, predefined point groups, and predefined surfaces.

Style Hierarchy Settings and styles are saved in a descending hierarchy. Drawing settings and styles are the top level, followed by collection settings, and then individual settings. Lower level settings and styles can override a higher level default value.

Viewport A layout (paper space) object that allows a view into model space for plotting purposes. A viewport’s scale determines the final plotted scale on paper. A layout can have multiple viewports with different shapes and scales.

Command Settings Command settings are available for each feature object in the Settings tab of Toolspace. These settings assign default parameters such as styles, naming conventions, and algorithm settings for the objects.

Template Files Template files can contain standard AutoCAD settings, layers, linetypes, and text style definitions. In addition, template files can include any Civil 3D drawing information in either the Settings tree (including Civil 3D settings, styles, label styles, tables, description keys, and point import/export formats) or the Prospector tree (including any Civil 3D object, such as point groups). Template files have a .dwt extension and should be located on a network drive for all users to share.


Exercise 1: Examine Existing Object Display Styles In this exercise, you examine the existing styles for objects and labels.

No visible changes will be made to the drawing during this exercise.

For this exercise, open …\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX1.dwg

1. In Prospector, click Points to view the points in the drawing in the Item View area.

2. Right-click any point in the Toolspace Item View area. Select Zoom To to navigate to the selected point.

The point uses a point style showing an X and a point label showing the point number, elevation, and description with three different colors. The description spot indicates that this is a spot elevation.

3. Expand the Point Groups tree.

4. Right-click _All Points. Click Properties.


Notice that the _All Points Point Group has no point style or point label style.

5. Click Cancel to close the Point Group Properties dialog box.

Examine the point settings for the Existing Topo point group.

6. Right-click Existing Topo. Click Properties.

Notice that this group uses the Basic point style and the Point#-Elevation-Description point label style. In the Properties dialog box, you can change the point and point label styles that are assigned to the point groups.

7. Click the down arrow for the point style to view the point style selection options.

8. Click the down arrow again to close the list without making a change.

9. Click Cancel to close the Point Group Properties dialog box.

You can assign a point style and point label style to each point group.

All points are a member of the _All Points point group. Therefore, if a point is a member of another point group, such as Existing Topo, it is a member of two groups, each of which can have its own point and point label styles. It is common practice to set the styles for the _All Points point group to None, but there is a priority order for the point group styles. This is called point group sort order.

10. Right-click the Point Groups tree. Click Properties.

The list of point groups appears in the top to bottom priority order. The arrow keys on the right enable you to alter the Point Group sort order.

11. Click _All Points and click the up arrow. Click OK.

The points are no longer visible because the point style and label style assigned to the _All Points point group takes priority.

12. Repeat step 11 and move the Existing Topo point group to the top of the list.

The points are visible again.

13. In Toolspace, click the Settings tab.


14. Expand the Point and the Point Styles trees.

You see the same point styles that were available in the Point Group Properties dialog box.

The orange triangle marker to the left of the Basic style indicates that it is in use, either for a point group or for a description key.

15. Click the minus sign (-) to close the Point Styles tree.

16. Expand the Label Styles tree.

Notice the Point#-Elevation-Description label style is active, which you saw in the properties for the Existing Topo point group.

17. Close the drawing and do not save the changes.


Exercise 2: Create Object Display Styles In this exercise, you create new styles to control object display.

When you complete this exercise, your screen should resemble the following illustration.

For this exercise open …\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX2.dwg.

1. In the Toolspace Settings tab, expand the Point and Point Styles trees.

2. Right-click Point Styles. Click New.

3. On the Information tab, for name, enter Topo.

4. For Description, enter Ground Shots.

5. Click the Marker Tab.

You have three options for the type of marker:

1) The AutoCAD Point marker

2) A custom marker

3) An AutoCAD Block symbol

A custom marker X is the current choice and a preview of the point and point label style is shown on the right.

Your client prefers a different symbol to indicate a spot elevation.

6. Click the Box option in the custom marker section of the dialog box.

This creates a compound marker made of a box and an X. Notice the preview window area.

7. Click the 3D Geometry tab.

8. To the right of the Point Display Mode Property, click in the Value box to view the down arrow.

9. Click the down arrow.

When the graphic display is in 3D mode, the point style can use the three options displayed in the list as shown.

10. Click the down arrow again to leave the Use Point Elevation option unchanged.

11. Click the Display tab.

Notice the View Direction box is set to Plan; both the Marker and the Label are set to be visible, on layer 0, and the color is by block.

12. Click the View Direction down arrow. Select Model.


Notice that the marker and the label do not display when viewing in Model (3D) view.

13. Click the Summary tab. Expand the various Property trees.

These properties can be modified on this tab by clicking in the Value fields.

14. Click OK.

The new Topo point style is created and appears in the Point Styles list.

15. Click the Prospector Tab.

16. Right-click the Existing Topo Point Group. Click Properties.

17. Click the Point style down arrow. Click Topo to make this the active style for this Point Group.

18. Click OK.

19. Right-click a point in the Item View. Select Zoom To.

Notice that the points are displayed using the new point style.



Exercise 3: Create Object Annotation (Label) Styles In this exercise, you create label styles for point objects.

When you complete this exercise, your screen should resemble the following illustration:



2. Expand the Point tree, and then expand the Label Styles tree.

Notice that the Point#-Elevation-Description label style is active.

3. Right-click the Point#-Elevation-Description label style. Click Copy.

You will make a new style similar to this one, so using the Copy command is efficient.

4. Click the Information tab.

5. For Name, enter Elevation Only Green.

6. Click the General tab.

7. Under Label, click the Value for Label Visibility. Click the down arrow and select False.

Notice the preview window changes by showing only the point marker with no label. All three label components are not visible. Also notice the layer on which the labels will be placed is V-NODE-TEXT.

This setting does not work because you want the elevation label component to be visible.

8. Return the value to True.

9. Click the Layout tab.

10. At the top of the tab, click the down arrow under Component name.

Notice that the properties in the box below can be modified for the selected component.

11. Select the Point Description component. Change the General Visibility value to False.

12. Select the Point Number component. Change the General Visibility value to False.

13. Select the Point Elev component.

14. Click the Text-Text Height value cell. Enter 0.08.

15. Click the Text- Color Value cell. Click the small color palette icon on the right of the cell.


16. Click green (color 3) in the Select Color dialog box. Click OK.

The preview box should show only a green elevation property.

17. Click the Summary tab to view the properties for the components.

18. Click OK to create the new label style.

Notice that the new style appears in the list of available label styles.

19. In Toolspace, click the Prospector tab.

20. Expand the Point Groups tree.

21. Right-click the Existing Topo Point Group. Click Properties.

22. In the Default styles section of the dialog box, click the down arrow below Point label style.

23. Select the Elevation Only Green style.

24. Click OK to make this the current label style for the Existing Topo point group.

25. Zoom into a point to view the new style.

You can create a style and copy it to another drawing.

26. Click the Prospector tab. Switch to Master View.

27. Expand the Drawing Templates and AutoCAD trees.

28. Right-click the top choice (_AutoCAD Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS). Click Create New Drawing.

The new drawing is now the active drawing.

29. Click the Settings tab.

30. Switch to Master View to see the styles for both open drawings.

31. In Settings, expand Points and Label Styles for I_SettingsAndStyles-EX3.

32. Drag the Elevation Only Green style and drop it into the graphic window of the new drawing.

33. In the Settings tab, expand Points and Label Styles for the new drawing.

The style has been added to the new drawing.

34. Click the Prospector tab. Right-click the new drawing name and click Close. Click No to the save drawing query.

35. Close both drawings and do not save the changes.


Exercise 4: Modify Object and Label Styles In this exercise, you modify existing styles for parcel objects and labels.



1. In Toolspace, click the Prospector tab.

2. Expand the Sites tree, and then expand the Block Parcels site.

3. Click Block Parcels.

Notice the preview of the Block Parcels in the Item View below. There are two settings required to activate the preview. First, ensure that the magnifying glass icon at the top of Toolspace is turned on. Second, right-click Parcels in the Block Parcels site and select Show Preview.

4. Click in the preview and drag to rotate it in 3D.

5. Expand the Parcels tree. Click Single-Family: 8.

Notice the preview of Parcel 8 in the Item view below.

6. Right-click Single-Family: 8. Select Zoom To.

Parcel 8 appears to have two separate colors bounding it. There are actually two separate parcel boundary styles being used; one for the overall Parcels collection and another for the individual parcels.

7. In Prospector, right-click Single Family: Parcel 8. Click Properties.

8. Click the Information tab.

Notice that the Object Style for Parcel 8 is Single-Family.

9. Click Cancel.

10. Right-click the Parcels tree. Click Properties.

Notice that the Site parcel style is Property and the Site area label style is Parcel Number. In the Parcel style display order,


note the two parcel styles and the up and down arrows on the right.

11. In the Parcel style display order box, click Single-Family. Click the up arrow. Click OK.

You should see the boundary of Parcel 8 change to magenta because the Single-Family style is taking precedence. If not, regenerate the drawing.


13. Expand the Parcel tree, and then expand the Parcel Styles tree.

14. Right-click Single-Family. Click Edit.

15. Click the Display tab.

Notice that the Parcel Segments are visible, but the Parcel Area Fill is not.

16. Click the Visible icon (lightbulb) to turn on the Parcel Area Fill. Click OK.

17. Zoom out to see all the parcels on the site.

Notice that all of the parcels are filled with a magenta hatch.

18. Right-click the Single-Family Parcel style. Click Edit.

19. Click the Display tab. Turn off Parcel Area Fill. Click OK.

20. Zoom into Parcel 8 again.

21. On the Annotate tab, Labels & Tables panel, click Add Labels.

The Add Labels dialog box opens.

22. Change the Feature type to Parcel.

Notice the Label style is Single Segment, so one line segment is labeled. The Line Label style is Bearing over Distance.

23. Click Add.

24. Click each of the four boundary lines surrounding Parcel 8. Press ENTER.


25. Click Close.

26. In the Settings tab, expand the Parcel tree.

27. Expand the Label Styles tree and expand the Line tree.

Notice that the Bearing over Distance style is in use.

28. Right-click the Bearing over Distance style. Click Edit.

29. In the Label Style Composer dialog box, click the Layout tab.

30. Change the Component name to Bearing.

31. Click in Text Color. Click the color palette.

32. Click red (color 1) and click OK.

33. Click OK to accept the changes to the Bearing over Distance style.

Notice that the bearings on the Parcel 8 line labels change to red. You may have to enter REGEN and press ENTER to see these changes.



Exercise 5: Use Styles Hierarchy to Modify Styles and Settings In this exercise, you modify drawing and collection level settings, which can modify multiple styles at once. You explore the hierarchy of these settings and learn how overrides work.

For this exercise, open …\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX5.dwg.


2. Expand the Point tree and the Label Styles tree.

3. Right-click the Point#-Elevation-Description style. Click Edit.

4. Click the Layout tab.

5. Set the Component name to Point Description. Change the Text – Text Height value to 0.4. Press ENTER.

Notice the change in the Point Description size in the Preview window.

6. In the Preview window, roll your mouse wheel to zoom in or out Click and drag to modify the preview to a rotated and/or 3D view.

7. Click OK.

You need to assign this point label style to the Existing Topo point group in order to see the changes.

8. Click the Prospector tab. Expand the Point Groups tree.

9. Right-click Existing Topo. Click Properties.

10. Click the down arrow under Point Label Style. Change the current style to Point#-Elevation-Description.

11. Click OK.

The point label style changes for point group.



13. Right-click the Label Styles collection. Click Edit Label Style Defaults.

Changing values for the defaults will affect the entire collection.

14. Expand the Components tree.

Examine the values. Notice the Text Height is set to 0.1”. Also, in the Child Override column, both Text Height and Color have an arrow. This means that at a lower (individual object style) level, different values are currently set to override the values for the collection. Remember that you set the Text Height for one style to 0.4”. You can turn off the override, reversing the style change you made previously.

15. Click the arrow for Text Height in the Child Override column.

A red X appears on top of the arrow.

16. Click OK.

17. If necessary, enter REGEN. At the command line, press ENTER..

Notice on the graphic screen that the Point Description component has reverted to the 0.1” default value, overriding the change made earlier.

18. Under the Point tree, right-click the Label Styles collection. Click Edit Label Style Defaults.

19. Expand the Components collection.

Notice the empty check boxes in the Override column. You can use these boxes to override a higher level (drawing) default value. You can also use the lock icons to disallow override values.

20. Expand the other Property trees to examine the other settings and style that can be set at the Point Label Styles level.

21. Click Cancel.

22. Right-click the Point collection. Click Edit Label Style Defaults.

The setting and style defaults at this level control all collections inside the Point collection.

23. Click Cancel.

24. Again, right-click the Point tree. Click Edit Feature Settings.

25. Expand the Default Styles tree.

Notice the default Point and Point Label Styles that are set. These are the styles that are assigned to points when they are first created.

26. Expand other Property trees to examine the settings and styles that can be set at the Point collection level.

27. Click Cancel.

28. Right-click the drawing name at the top of the Settings View. Click Edit Label Style Defaults.


29. Expand the Components tree.

Here you can edit the label style defaults for all labels in the drawing: point labels, parcel labels, or any other kind of label.

30. Expand the other Property trees to examine the other settings and style that can be set at the drawing level.

31. Click Cancel.



Exercise 6: Modify Drawing Settings, Viewport Scaling, and Text Size In this exercise, you learn how style settings and Layout Viewport scales work together to give correct text size on a final drawing plot.

Most plotting is done from a layout (paper space) and not model space. The text height settings in the Settings tab refer to the plotted height on paper, not model space height. Text in model space can appear to be very large or small depending on the model space scale setting. It is good practice to set the model space scale the same, or close to, the final plotted scale.




2. Right-click the drawing name. Click Edit Drawing Settings.

3. Click the Units and Zone tab.

Changing the drawing units from feet to meters or vice versa in this dialog box does not result in a rescale of the drawing from feet to meters. In civil engineering design, you typically keep in mind whether an AutoCAD unit refers to one foot or one meter. The value in this dialog box changes the AutoCAD units variable, which affects the length values generated for object label styles and also controls the optional scaling of objects inserted from other drawings with different units.

You can set the Angular units to Degrees, Grads, or Radians. The settings in the Zone section of this dialog box affect which datum, projection, and coordinate system are being used in the drawing. If the coordinates do not align with any larger coordinate system and are strictly local


coordinates, this should be set to No Datum, No Projection.

4. Click the down arrow for Categories in the Zone section of the dialog box.

Notice the various coordinate systems available for the drawing.

5. Click the down arrow again to leave the value unchanged.

6. Click the down arrow under Scale at the upper right of the dialog box.

Examine the various scales that are available. The scale setting affects model space annotation as well as the scale used if plotting from model space. Plotting from model space is not a common practice; most users plot from paper space. This setting does not affect paper space scaling.

Distances on the drawing measured by the DIST command are not affected by the scale setting. However, the relative size of the features (alignments, parcels, and so on) to the Point and Label Style sizes changes depending on the model space setting. The text changes size, not the objects.

7. Click 1” = 100’.

8. Click Apply.

Notice that the text labels and symbols appear to be very large. You do not modify the label and style settings to change this, you need to change only the model space scale.

IMPORTANT: The text labels and feature symbol sizes controlled in the Toolspace Settings tab are intended to set the final plotted size on paper.

9. Change the scale setting back to 1” = 40’. Click Apply.

10. Click the Object Layers tab.

Here you can set all of the default layer names for all of the objects in Civil 3D. Notice several of the layer names: alignments are set to C-ROAD; assemblies are set to C-ROAD-ASSM.

11. In the Drawing Settings dialog box, click Cancel.

12. On the Home tab, Layers panel, click the down arrow for the Layer Properties palette.

Notice that the layer names in the drawings match the Drawing Settings dialog box. Layer names should be set up before beginning a project either by creating your own layer names, or preferably using a template file with layers already defined.


13. Right-click the drawing name. Click Edit Drawing Settings.

14. Click the Ambient Settings tab.

Expand and close trees to view the many types of drawing settings that can be modified.

The next section of this exercise discusses the issues of plot scales and label sizes. You should be familiar with the basics of layouts and viewports. First, you verify the model space scale setting.


The scale setting should be 1”= 40’; otherwise, change it. It is a good idea to try and work at a model space scale that is similar to your final output scale.

16. Click OK.

Next, you review the text height settings for points. The text height setting reflects the actual printed height of the text on paper and does not change if the viewport scale is changed.

17. In the Settings tab, expand the Point tree and then expand the Label Styles tree.

18. Right-click the Point#-Description-Elevation style. Click Edit.

19. Click the Layout tab. Verify that the Text – Text height is set to 0.1”.

This is the actual plotted height for the point label text.

20. Click Cancel.

21. Click the Layout1 tab at the bottom of the drawing area.

The text appears to be very large when compared to the parcels.

You need to check the viewport scale.

22. Click the viewport border. Right-click and click Properties.

23. Click the down arrow in the Standard scale cell and select 1”=40’.

The drawing zooms to the 1”= 40’ scale, but the text appears extremely large. You need to regenerate the drawing while in model space.


24. Enter regenall. Press ENTER.

The text resizes to the 0.1” height setting.

Remember not to zoom while in model space because you will change the viewport scale. Try this process for other scale settings.



Exercise 7: Use Command Settings to Set Default Styles, Name Templates, and Parameters In this exercise, you use the command settings to set default styles, object naming templates, and default parameters for some of the objects.

No visible changes will be made to the drawing during this exercise.



2. Expand the Point tree. Expand the Commands tree.

You can specify defaults for styles, parameters, and naming conventions for each command in the Objects collection.

3. Right-click the CreatePoints command. Select Edit Command Settings.

4. Expand the Default Layer and the Default Styles trees.

Notice the default layer is 0, the default point style is Basic, and the default Point Label Style is Point#-Elevation-Description. When new points are created, these styles will be used unless you modify these settings beforehand.

5. Under Default Styles, click the Value cell

for Point Style. Click the icon.

6. Select the Topo style from the drop-down list. Click OK.

Notice the default point style has changed, and a check mark has been placed in the override box to the right because this setting now overrides the settings at a higher level.

7. Click OK in the Edit Command Settings dialog box.

8. In the Settings tab, expand the Surface and Commands trees.

9. Right-click the AddContourLabelingSingle command. Click Edit Command Settings.

Note: You can also double-click AddContourLabelingSingle to edit the command settings.

10. Expand the Labeling tree.

The Labeling Prompt Method is set to Command Line.


11. Click Command Line to see the drop-down arrow. Click the drop-down arrow to see the choices.

You can control how Civil 3D interacts through these settings. Many of these settings are the same within the Surface Commands collection.

12. Click Cancel to close the Edit Command Settings dialog box.

13. Right-click the CreateSurface Command. Click Edit Command Settings.

14. Expand the Labeling tree to view the Labeling Prompt Method.

15. Expand the Build Options tree.

These settings control various options used in building a surface. Notice you can control elevations above or below given values by changing the No value to a Yes value, and then entering an elevation in the following value cell. Maximum Triangle Side Length can be set the same way. You can allow or disallow crossing breaklines. These settings modify the algorithm to build surfaces.

16. Close the Build Options tree. Expand the Surface Creation tree.

The Surface Name Template defines the default name for a surface. It is currently set to Surface<[Next Counter(CP)]>, which means the default surface names will be numbered sequentially: Surface1, Surface2, and so on.

17. Click in the value cell. Click the icon.

The Name Template dialog box opens as a method to modify default names.

18. Highlight and delete Surface<[Next Counter(CP)]> in the Name field.

19. Click the down arrow for Property fields.

The Name Template dialog box is common to all types of objects. For Surfaces, only a Next Counter property is available. Other objects have multiple properties that can be used for default names.

20. Click Insert.

21. Click in the Name field to the left of the Next Counter.

22. Enter Surface #.

Note that the settings for incremental numbers can be modified in the lower section of the dialog box.

23. Click Cancel.

24. Expand the Volume Property tree.

Examine the type of settings that can be modified, such as the units, precision, rounding method, and sign convention.

25. Click Cancel.

26. Click File menu > Save to save the changes made.


Many types of default styles, naming conventions, and algorithm parameters can be set using the Commands tree.



Exercise 8: Create a Custom Drawing Template (DWT) File In this exercise, you customize styles and settings and save them in a template file.

No visible changes are made to the drawing during this exercise.

For this exercise open …\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX8.dwg. Use Windows Explorer to make a copy of the drawing as a backup.

Setting up a template drawing that contains all of the required settings, styles, layers, blocks, and parameters that can be used repetitively can save time and energy. If you are working in a drawing in which you have made the changes you want, you can save these settings to a template file.

In general, the following is a good procedure to create a template file from a working drawing:

Make a copy of your working drawing in case anything goes wrong.

Erase all objects in the drawing and purge any undesired blocks.

Ensure that you have a solid layer standard setup per your company or client requirements. The US National CAD Standard (NCS) is a good place to start.

Check the drawing settings and be sure that the object layers are set up to coincide with the layer standards being used. Check the rest of the drawing settings, including units and ambient settings.

Modify any lower-level collection or individual styles and settings, including Command settings.

Save the file as a template (DWT) file. All of these settings will be used for any new drawing that is created using this template file.

First, you erase all objects in the current drawing and purge undesired blocks.

1. On the Home tab, Layers panel, click the

Layer Properties Manager button.

Ensure that all layers are on and thawed.

2. Click Auto-hide on the Layer Properties Manager box.

3. Enter ZE. Press ENTER to zoom the drawing to full extents.

4. Use a right-to-left crossing window to select all objects in the drawing.

5. Press DELETE.

All objects are erased.

6. Enter Purge.

Note that you can purge all of the items shown in this box. If you do not purge the drawing, the template file holds all of these blocks, layers, linetypes, and so on. This means a larger file size and perhaps a confusing drawing.

The Purge dialog box opens.


7. Expand the Blocks tree.

8. Click the FireHydrant block. Click Purge.

9. Click to confirm the purge.

10. Examine the layers listed in the Layers tree.

Here, you can purge any that you do not want in the template file.

11. Click Close.

Next, you check the Drawing Settings.

12. In the Settings tab, right-click the drawing name. Click Edit Drawing Settings.


14. Change the Drawing Scale to 1” = 100’.

15. Click the Object Layers tab.

Examine the layer names that are associated with the objects, ensuring that this matches your conventions. You can modify any object layer by clicking the layer cell for that object.

16. Click the Ambient Settings tab.

17. Expand the Distance tree.

18. Modify the Precision setting from 3 to 2.

19. Click OK.


21. Expand the Point and the Label Styles trees.

22. Right-click the Point Number Only style. Click Delete. Click Yes on the Confirm deletion message.

At this point, you can modify or delete a collection or an individual style or setting as desired.

23. Click the Application Menu button >Save As > AutoCAD Drawing Template.

24. Enter City of Atlanta as the file name.

The template drawing file can be used for any new drawing used while working for the city, meeting their settings and styles standards.

25. Click Save and OK on the Save Drawing As dialog box.

26. Click OK on the Template Options dialog box.

27. Click the Prospector tab. Select Master View.

28. Expand the Drawing Templates tree.

If City of Atlanta.dwt does not appear on the list, right-click Drawing Templates and select Refresh to update the list of template files. You see a new City category in the list.


29. Right-click City of Atlanta.dwt. Click Create New Drawing.

Check some of settings that were modified above to inspect that this new drawing file has the same styles and settings you modified earlier.



Assessment

Challenge Exercise

Instructors can provide a challenge exercise for students based on this lesson.

Questions

1. What is a child override?

2. Which scale setting affects the plotted layout?

3. How does the text height value affect the drawing?

4. How do you modify the current point style marker to reference an AutoCAD block?

5. Why do you use the Purge command?

6. What is the major advantage of creating a custom template file?

7. Why is it important to create and work with standards?

Answers

1. A child override is an arrow in a high level style or setting that indicates that a lower level collection or individual style or setting differs from and will override the higher level style or setting.

2. The viewport scale setting determines the plot scale for the layout.

3. In any label style, the text height setting determines the plotted height on paper.

4. In the Settings tab, in the Point/Point Style, find the current point style. Right-click and click Edit. Click the Marker tab. Click Block and select a block to use. Click OK.

5. Drawings hold a lot of information internally; for example, layers and blocks. Purging unused blocks or layers creates a smaller, more organized drawing or template file.

6. A custom template file can hold all the settings, styles, and parameters that are commonly used for similar projects. Creating a new drawing using this template file can automatically create the layers and blocks and bring in the settings and styles that you want to use.

7. Sharing data, increasing efficiency, and conforming to client submission standards are all good reasons to use a consistent set of standards for your drawings. Standards can be set up in template drawing files for easy use.


Lesson Summary

This lesson focused on how to set up and modify settings and styles as a consistent standard for a company or a particular client. Object naming, layer naming, label and object styles, drawing settings, and using the hierarchy of settings and styles are all covered to emphasize the importance of standardization in design and production. Template drawing files should be set up to reflect the standards required for internal and/or external (client) requirements.

AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk, and Civil 3D are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Except as otherwise permitted by Autodesk, Inc., this publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form, by any method, for any purpose. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

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Settings And Styles - Civil 3D