The AutoCAD Civil 3D Environment - West Virginia …ddean/CE210/AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009... · NOTES Module 02 The AutoCAD Civil 3D Environment In this module, you learn about the user

NOTES

Module 02

The AutoCAD Civil 3D Environment

In this module, you learn about the user interface components and the working

environment of AutoCAD Civil 3D. Familiarity with the interface is critical to

getting the information you need to create your design. It is important to have

a solid understanding of the Toolspace window, workspaces, template files,

and the help system.

Objectives

After completing this module, you will be able to:

Choose the appropriate workspace for the current task.

Find and modify basic information about civil design components using

the Toolspace window.

Identify various settings and styles in the Settings tab and modify which

styles are active for data using the Prospector tab.

Use the Panorama window to view processing messages, errors, and

modify object data.

Use floating dialog boxes to view and alter settings during a command.

View context sensitive Help.

Create new drawings based on template files.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES

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Notes

This module introduces you to the AutoCAD Civil 3D working environment.

You need to understand the user interface and feel comfortable navigating it.

It is important that faculty emphasize the use of the Civil 3D design tools to

create intelligent objects that interact with other objects in the design. Simply

drafting lines or circles to make the drawing look right results in problems

down the road. This is the fundamental difference between AutoCAD as a

drafting tool and AutoCAD Civil 3D as design software.

You should have completed Module 1 on AutoCAD Basics prior to moving

into these exercises. A familiarity with the AutoCAD environment is assumed

and this module focuses on the Civil 3D aspects of the environment.

Data for this module resides in the \AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education

Curriculum\Module 02- AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Environment\ folder.

The drawing data for this module is independent of units. You will find the

required drawings in both the\Imperial and \Metric folders.

Student Exercises

The following exercises are provided in step-by-step format. Open the

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 program prior to beginning the lesson by double-

clicking the Civil 3D icon on your desktop.

Drawing files in this exercise are unit independent. All drawing names begin

with the letter I.

You are required to open the drawings provided with the exercises.

The exercises in this module are as follows:

1. Workspace and Toolspace Basics

2. The Prospector Tab

3. The Settings Tab

4. The Panorama Window

5. Menus, Floating Dialog Boxes, and Help

6. Using Template Files

Module 02 – AutoCAD Civil 3D Environment NOTES

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AutoCAD Civil 3D Environment

AutoCAD Civil 3D is an object-oriented design environment with defined

interactions between civil design objects. For example, changes made to the

elevations of a surface result in changes to surface profiles and cross sections.

Civil 3D uses major land development components as interactive objects. The

result is a software environment suited to design, with production drafting as a

by-product of the design process.

There are several components that make up the AutoCAD Civil 3D

environment as shown in the following image.

It is important to organize the AutoCAD Civil 3D environment efficiently so

you easily find and use the commands you need.

Key Terms

Object -Oriented Object-oriented refers to the programming method used in Civil 3D and

many other programs. Civil engineering components used in site

development and highway design are programmed as “objects” that have

associated properties and actions that often interact with other objects;

for example, surface edits impact existing profiles or cross sections.

Civil 3D Objects Civil 3D objects are programmed into the software with behaviors,


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properties, and interactions similar to the real objects that engineers use

in design. The table below shows object names and icons:

Workspace Workspaces are a collection of menus, toolbars, and palettes that load

automatically.

Toolspace The Toolspace window holds the Prospector and Settings tabs and is a

major user interface element that the user must understand.

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).


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EXERCISE 1: WORKSPACE AND TOOLSPACE BASICS

In this exercise, you learn about the different workspaces available in Civil 3D,

as well as the major interface window, Toolspace.

For this exercise, open …\Module 2 – AutoCAD Civil 3D

Environment\I_AutoCADCivil3DEnvironment-EX1.dwg.

1. If Toolspace is not already visible, click General > Show Toolspace, or

enter ShowTS on the command line.

2. If the Tool Palette is visible as shown below, click on the X to close it.

Civil 3D is fully within the AutoCAD environment. The graphic editing

space, command prompt, menus, toolbars, and commands should look

very familiar. You have the ability to modify this environment to fit the

task you are working on. You can change the menus and view different

toolbars as you choose. First, take a look at the workspaces that are

available inside of Civil 3D.

Workspaces are a collection of menus, toolbars, and palettes that load

automatically. You can choose a preformatted workspace or customize

your own. A window opens when Civil 3D starts, giving you a choice of a

workspace. If this window does not appear, the same choices are still

available using a menu item or a toolbar.


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If the Workspaces toolbar is not open already, open it.

3. To open the Civil 3D Workspaces toolbar, right-click anywhere in the

toolbar area. Select AutoCAD > Workspaces to open the toolbar.

Note: If Workspaces is already selected, the toolbar is open.

Notice that the default choice is Civil 3D Complete. The Workspaces

toolbar may already be opened and docked.

4. Click the down arrow to view the choices, then select another workspace

and observe the changes to the menus and palettes.

The workspaces are beneficial when you want to focus on a particular set


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of tasks, such as working in Map 3D for Geospatial.

5. Return to the Civil 3D Complete workspace when finished.

There are four primary methods of interacting with Civil 3D: 1) the

command line (typing), 2) menus, 3) the graphic screen/mouse, and 4) the

Toolspace window. With knowledge of AutoCAD basics, you are familiar

with the first three types of interaction. The Toolspace window presents an

immense amount of data about the drawing and project simultaneously and

is important to master. The Toolspace window can float or dock, become

semitransparent, and automatically hide itself.

6. Click and drag the top double bar of the Toolspace window to change it

from a docked to a floating position. You can also double-click the top

double bar to undock the window.

You can click and drag the Toolspace title bar on the left to move the

window.

7. Undock the Toolspace window, right-click the Toolspace title bar and

clear Allow Docking.

8. Right-click the Toolspace title bar.


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9. On the menu, click Auto-hide and remove the mouse from the window.

The Toolspace window disappears leaving the left bar visible. This is a

toggle switch. Repeat the action to undo it. The same can be done by

clicking Auto-hide on the Toolspace title bar.

Major features of this window include the Prospector and Settings tabs on

the right (Prospector is currently active), the icons at the top of the

window, the drop-down list, the objects listed in the Prospector main

window, and the item view list below.

10. Resize the Toolspace window by using the double-headed black arrows on

the top, bottom, right side, or the bottom right corner. Also, resize the

Item view space at the bottom of the box by dragging the separator bar.

11. Dock the Toolspace window on the left or right side to complete the

exercise.

12. Keep the drawing open. You work with the same drawing in Exercise 2.


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EXERCISE 2: THE PROSPECTOR TAB

In this exercise, you learn about the Prospector tab in the Toolspace window.

The Prospector tab is where you access Civil 3D drawing object data, and is

shown in the following image.

You continue working with the same drawing from Exercise 1.

The Prospector tab displays the Civil 3D objects in the drawing. Points, Point

Groups, Surfaces, Alignments, Sites, and Corridors are a few of the important

elements in any civil engineering site or highway project.

1. Undock Prospector and turn off Auto-hide.

2. In Prospector, click Points to view the individual points in the Item View

window below. Expand and resize the windows to see the point data.

3. Right-click one of the points and click Zoom To.


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The selected point is zoomed to in the drawing area.

4. In Prospector, click the plus sign (+) to expand the Surfaces collection and

show the EG surface.

5. Click the plus sign (+) next to the EG surface to see the surface

components.


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Each surface may have masks or watersheds, but each must be defined by

one or more elements.

6. Click the plus sign (+) next to Definition to view the elements that define

the EG surface.

Notice that the EG surface is defined from boundary and point group data.

7. In Prospector, right-click EG and click Surface Properties.


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You can find information and modify surface properties using this

technique.

8. Click Cancel to close the Surface Properties dialog box.


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9. In Prospector, expand Sites and Block parcels.

A site can contain alignments, feature lines, grading groups, and parcels.

You should be able to see the preview of the site in Item View at the

bottom. If you cannot see the preview, be sure the magnifying glass icon

at the top of the Prospector tab is pressed in.

10. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the Parcels in the Block Parcels site and

select one of the parcels. Again, you should see a preview, but you can

check by right-clicking the Parcels collection, and then clicking Show

Preview.


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EXERCISE 3: THE SETTINGS TAB

In this exercise, you learn about the Settings tab in the Toolspace window.

The Settings tab is where you manage the object styles, label styles, and

drawing settings for Civil 3D.


1. Click the Settings tab to view the collections of settings available for the

many civil objects.

2. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the Point tree.


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There are many settings and styles that can be used for points.

3. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the Point Styles tree.


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The possible styles that can be used for points in this drawing are

displayed. The orange triangle next to the Basic style indicates that this

style is currently in use.

4. Click the minus sign (-) to collapse the Point Styles tree. Click the plus

sign (+) to expand the Label Styles tree.

The Point#-Elevation-Description Style is active.

5. In Toolspace, click the Prospector tab, expand the Point Groups. Right-

click Existing Topo, and then click Properties.

Notice that the Existing Topo Point Group Properties have specified the

Basic point style and the Point#-Elevation-Description Label Style.

6. Click Cancel to close the dialog box.

7. Zoom in to a point and view the point and label styles.

8. Click the Settings tab again. Expand the Surface settings and the Surface

styles.


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The Contours 1’ and 5’ (Background) style is active. Review the graphic

screen to see that the EG surface displays contours at 1’ and 5’.

9. Click the Prospector tab and expand the Surfaces collection. Right-click

the EG surface and select Surface Properties.

10. On the Information tab, change the Surface style to _Triangles. Click OK.

View the resulting display change for the surface.



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EXERCISE 4: THE PANORAMA WINDOW

In this exercise, you learn about the different forms of the Panorama window.

The Panorama window is used for many different tasks in Civil 3D. It also

displays processing messages and warnings.


1. Click the Prospector tab.

2. Right-click Points and click Edit Points.


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The Panorama window displays the Point Editor. Panorama windows

report the data pertaining to civil objects, enable editing of some

information, and report processing messages.

3. Select one of the point rows. Select one of the numbers in the Northing

column and notice that the number can be modified.

4. Close the Point Editor Panorama window by clicking the X at the top left

or the check mark at the top right.

Panorama windows come in different forms, but the underlying purpose is

to present and edit data about civil objects, and report processing

messages.

5. In the Prospector tab, expand Alignments to view the five existing Orchard

Road alignments. This is the east-west road at the top of the site.

6. Using the menu, not the Prospector tab, select Alignments > Edit


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Alignment Geometry. At this point, the command window prompts you to

select an alignment to edit.

7. Select the Orchard Road centerline.

The Alignment Layout Tools toolbar is displayed.

8. Click Alignment Grid View.

9. The Panorama window opens with a tab labeled Alignment entities.

Use the slider bar at the bottom to pan across to view information about

the alignment. Any information that is gray is not editable.

10. Close the Panorama window and the Alignment Layout Tools toolbar to

complete the exercise.



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EXERCISE 5: MENUS, FLOATING DIALOG BOXES, AND HELP

In this exercise, you learn about the menu system, interacting with floating

dialog boxes, and the Help system.


The Civil 3D Complete Workspace menus are designed to follow the

workflow of a project from left to right. Many of the menu commands can also

be executed from the Toolspace window.

You need to become familiar with the types of commands in the menus; there

are often many options available.

1. Click Points > Create Points – Miscellaneous.

View the cascading menu displaying the variety of methods for creating

points.


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2. Click Points > Create Points.

This toolbar contains similar options for creating points.

3. Click the black down arrow on the left side to view some of the available

methods to create points.


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Parameters for creating points are available to view or modify directly in

this floating dialog box.

4. Click the large blue down arrow on the right to expand the toolbar.

5. Expand several of the parameter categories to view the values.

Notice that clicking in the value column enables you to modify the value.

The Help system in Civil 3D is context sensitive.

6. Click the question mark (?) button in the upper right corner of the toolbar

to display the Help for Creating Points.


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Another set of tutorials is available for your use within the Help system.

7. Click the Contents tab, expand the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help tree, and

expand the AutoCAD Civil 3D Tutorials.

8. Close the Help dialog box and the Create Points floating dialog box to

complete the lesson.

9. Keep the drawing open. You continue working with the same drawing in

Exercise 6.


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EXERCISE 6: USING TEMPLATE FILES

In this exercise, you explore using templates to open new drawings. You see

the difference between the Active and Master Views in both the Prospector

and Settings tabs.


Turn your attention back to the Prospector tab of the Toolspace window. Near

the top of the tab is a drop-down list indicating Active Drawing View.

1. Click the drop-down arrow to view the choices.

You have been working with the Active Drawing View, which displays the

various components available in the active drawing.

2. Select Master View.


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The open drawing file and its components are still visible.

3. Select Open Drawings to view the list of drawings below.

4. Click the minus sign (-) to close the object list of the active drawing.

5. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the list of Drawing Templates.

Template files contain standard AutoCAD settings, layers, linetypes, and

text style definitions. In addition, template files include any AutoCAD

Civil 3D drawing information in either the Settings tree (including

AutoCAD Civil 3D settings, styles, label styles, tables, description keys,

and point import/export formats) or the Prospector tree (including any

AutoCAD Civil 3D object, such as point groups). This makes template

files a good choice to use for standardizing styles or objects in multiple

drawings and a good choice for reducing the amount of work necessary to

set up a drawing.

6. Right-click the top template drawing in the list (Autodesk Civil 3D

Imperial NCS Base).

7. Click Create New Drawing.

A new drawing is created using the Imperial NCS Base template file. NCS

stands for National CAD Standard. For more information, go to

www.nationalcadstandard.org. The new drawing is Active (bold) in the

Master View and is shown in model space.

8. Click the Settings tab, and expand the new drawing’s Surface collection.

http://www.nationalcadstandard.org/


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9. Expand Surface Styles to see that the Basic style is the only style present

in the NCS Base template file.

10. Click the Prospector tab and open another new drawing. Use the Autodesk

Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS Extended template file this time.

11. Click the Settings tab and expand the New Drawing’s Surface Settings

tree.

12. Expand the Surface Styles tree.

Many additional surface styles are included with the NCS Extended

template file.


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Questions

1. Define a Workspace.

2. Describe a quick way to zoom in to a particular point using the

Prospector tab.

3. Use Toolspace and I_AutoCAD3DEnvironment.dwg to name three types

of entities that define a surface.

4. True or False: Point styles and label styles are defined in the Settings tab,

but assigned in the Prospector tab.

5. What is a template file?

Answers

The answers to the questions are as follows:

1. A workspace in Civil 3D is a collection of menus, toolbars, and palettes

that will automatically load when you choose a particular workspace.

The default workspace is the Civil 3D Complete, but many others are

available depending on the type of task you want to perform.

2. Click Points, look in the Item View list at the bottom of the Prospector

tab to find the point of interest. Right-click the point row, and then click

Zoom To.

3. See the figure below for the answer:

4. True.

5. Template files can contain standard AutoCAD settings, layers, lines, and

text. In addition, template files can include any AutoCAD 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


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object, such as point groups).


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Module Summary

This module focused on introducing the student to the user interface and

design environment for AutoCAD Civil 3D. Civil 3D design projects have

components that are interactive; therefore, it is important for a user to

understand where to view or edit data quickly.

Documents

The AutoCAD Civil 3D Environment - West Virginia …ddean/CE210/AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009... · NOTES Module 02 The AutoCAD Civil 3D Environment In this module, you learn about the user