Civil 3d 2016 Link to a Data Shortcut Dialog Box

Here at Ideate, I’ve been looking over the new features in Civil 3D 2016. There is a new dialog box “Link to a Data Shortcut” which makes updating and using data shortcuts even easier.

You can find this new function on the manage tab in the data shortcuts panel, as seen below. 

Image: Select the Manage Data Shortcuts button to access the Link to a Data Shortcut dialog box

You can use this box to see repair data shortcuts and to replace data shortcuts.

It’s most useful improvement is to replace drawing objects with a different data shortcut. As an example, let’s say you have a corridor built on one alternative of a road alignment. The alignment comes from a data shortcut. The same road has a few other alignment alternatives in the file that has the original alignment. You’d like to switch the alignment in the corridor to a different alternative for analysis. In previous versions of the Civil 3D you would have to create a data reference for the alternative alignment and then recreate the corridor, which is a multi-step process. 

Now you can simply replace the alignment that the corridor was made with the other alignment through the Link to a Data Short Cut dialog box. The column on the left represents the objects that exist in the drawing. The column on the right are the objects in the data short cut project. You simply select the alignment on the left that you’d like to replace. You then select the alignment on the right that you’d like to replace it with and you select the link button in the middle. This replaces the old alignment with the new one and the corridor is automatically updated. Refer to the image below.



Image: Link to data shortcut dialog box being used to replace an alignment.

 For more information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

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Kate Ming

AEC Application Specialist

Kate is a California licensed civil engineer with a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley. Prior to Ideate, she worked at a multinational company for four years doing general civil design on large infrastructure projects. She is versed in roadway, rail, utility design and site development. She also has experience with utility demand analysis and Low Impact Development plans. As a Civil 3D Autodesk Certified Professional Kate provides training and support for Civil 3D, AutoCAD, and InfraWorks.

The One Pipe Labeling Command That You Always Wanted In Civil 3D Has Arrived

Ever wanted to label the station and/or elevation of pipes crossing an alignment and wondered how.

Wait no more – that functionality has arrived with Civil 3D 2016.

Yes, you can now label station & elevation (see figure below for more crossing pipe labeling options) for a storm, sanitary and pressure pipes in profile.

It’s really easy - invoke the usual labeling command from Annotate tab > Add Labels. (Click on the top half as highlighted below, not the bottom half of the split icon)

 

This will display the Add Labels dialog box as below.

 

In the dialog box, select Pipe Network under feature and Single Part Profile or Entire Part Profile for Label type and, as highlighted above, you will see a new option for Crossing pipe label style in Civil 3D 2016. Click Add and pick the pipe crossing the alignment in the profile view.

And there you have it. Simple, isn’t it?

See the label I added below showing the station and elevation for outside top and bottom of storm pipe.
 

 

For more information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

 

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Guarav Bagga

Senior Application Specialist Infrastructure 

Gaurav is a Senior Application Specialist for Infrastructure Solutions at Ideate based out of San Francisco. He has over 18 years of experience in construction and related software industry. With this extensive design technology background he helps engineering and surveying companies, federal and state government agencies, and ENR 500 firms critically analyze and improve their construction drawing production process. He implements Civil infrastructure design technology led by InfraWorks and Civil 3D and has helped Ideate grow Civil Infrastructure Services. Being an industry recognized speaker he has presented cutting edge design technology at several industry conferences such as Autodesk University. @BeGeez

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016 Mid-Year Enhancements

Within the past month there were three enhancements to AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016 that may have gone unnoticed by most Civil 3D users.  They were Service Pack 1, Productivity Pack 1, and subscription access to three Civil Design Modules.  Let's take a quick look at what they are.

Traditionally, service packs just resolve issues with the software. However, Civil 3D 2016 Service Pack 1 also includes improvements to the Export Civil 3D drawing utility and to 3D polyline linetype display.  These enhancements reduce post export cleanup for users who need to convert their Civil 3D drawings to DGN format.

Civil 3D 2016 Productivity Pack 1 includes several import/export tools to share design data between Civil 3D and Bentley InRoads-GEOPAK.  This is done via an online cloud service called the Autodesk Civil Engineering Data Translator.  Another tool in the pack that caught my attention was the Earthworks Plan Production tool. This tool automates the insertion of earthworks data labels in a grid pattern previously accomplished through several manual steps.   



Tools in the new Civil 3D 2016 Productivity Pack 1
 

To get to Civil 3D Productivity Pack 1, logon to your Autodesk Account and then select the Product Enhancements Quick Link. You can also install the productivity pack via the Autodesk Application Manager.

While you are logged in to Autodesk Account, you may want to get the three design modules that install on Civil 3D; Autodesk Geotechnical Module, Bridge Modeler Module, and the River and Flood Analysis Module.  To find them, select the Product Updates link.  Prior to August, these modules were accessible only to Infrastructure Design Suite Premium or Ultimate subscribers.

Civil 3D Productivity Pack 1 and the Autodesk Civil Design Modules improve productivity and increase the value of your Autodesk subscription. For more details, take a look at Autodesk's official post on how these enhancements improve Interoperability between Autodesk and Bentley Solutions.
 

For more information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

 

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Daniel Armstrong

ENI Application Specialist

Daniel is an Application Specialist for Infrastructure Solutions at the Ideate Sacramento office. He is a California licensed Civil Engineer and LSIT with over 9 years land development design experience and 6 years Civil–GIS software consulting. Additionally, he provided 6 years of engineering support at a municipal public works department. At Ideate, Daniel assists Civil Engineering and Surveying firms in maximizing their utilization of AutoCAD Civil 3D through consulting, training, mentoring, and technical support. He conducts standard classroom and custom training on AutoCAD, Map 3D, and Civil 3D.

Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016 Feature Comparison

Now that AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016 is a few months into its release, more and more customers are evaluating the benefits of upgrading.  As an Autodesk Platinum Reseller, Ideate is always looking for information that can help our customers make the right decisions for their business.

One of the first places that I look for information on a new release is a Feature Comparison Matrix.  With each new release, Autodesk generally provides a link to a PDF or online document that lists a comparison of features from version to version.  Recently, one of our customers asked for a link to this for Civil 3D, and to my surprise, it was much harder to find than expected.  AutoCAD, Revit, and Design Suite links were easy to find, but Civil 3D did not show up in my initial search.

After some digging, I was able to find a Civil 3D specific feature comparison document available through a partner resource link from Autodesk.  Now that we have it, we’re posting it here to share with everyone else.

As a quick reference, here’s a list of new features and enhancements from the 2015 to 2016 versions of Civil 3D:

Project Management:

• Manage Data Shortcuts to repair broken shortcuts and replace DWG objects

• Display vault project objects that exist in subfolders within object type

• Create data references to objects that exist in different vault projects

Collaboration and Data Exchange:

• Import and Export IFC (Industry Foundation Class) Files

Corridor Modeling:

• Select alignments by layer to be used as width and targets

Sections & Section Views:

• Control the direction of sections in section views

Subassembly Composer:

• Loop geometry support

Pipe Networks:

• Create exclusionary catchments

Annotation:

• Crossing pipe and pressure pipe profile view labels

• Pressure pipe labels in section views 



AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016 Comparison Matrix

 

For more information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

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Daniel Armstrong

Ideate ENI Application Specialist 

Daniel is an Application Specialist for Infrastructure Solutions at the Ideate Sacramento office. He is a California licensed Civil Engineer and LSIT with over 9 years land development design experience and 6 years Civil–GIS software consulting. Additionally, he provided 6 years of engineering support at a municipal public works department. At Ideate, Daniel assists Civil Engineering and Surveying firms in maximizing their utilization of AutoCAD Civil 3D through consulting, training, mentoring, and technical support. He conducts standard classroom and custom training on AutoCAD, Map 3D, and Civil 3D.

Get it. Know it. Use it.

Four Hidden Surface Commands You Must Know in Civil 3D 2016

While you may have been using Civil 3D for quite some time it’s possible that you may have missed some of these time saving commands. In particular there is a new one in Civil 3D 2016.

Well, they are not so hidden, it is easy to miss them without paying close attention! They are all situated within the Tin surface contextual tab of Civil 3D 2016 as shown above.

Create cropped surface lets you create a small cropped surface from a large surface that may have initially started out small but grew as the project size grew.

Extract Solids is a command new in Civil 3D 2016 and lets you create an AutoCAD 3D solid object from a surface object.

 

The picture below shows the Civil 3D surface in plan view to the left and the 3D solid extracted in 3D view to the right.

 

  

Extract Objects lets you extract surface components such as border, contours etc. from a surface as AutoCAD entities such as creating polylines from surface contours. The figure below shows the extract objects dialog box for a surface that displays all its components.

 

 

Export to DEM creates a DEM file from the Civil 3D surface object that can be used in other applications, typically GIS, that use DEMs.

 

 

For more information on training and consulting for the various products Ideate services, visit our website at www.ideateinc.com

 

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Gaurav Bagga

Ideate ACI-Senior Application Specialist Infrastructure

Gaurav is a Senior Application Specialist for Infrastructure Solutions at Ideate based out of San Francisco. He has over 18 years of experience in construction and related software
industry. With this extensive design technology background he helps engineering and surveying companies, federal and state government agencies, and ENR 500 firms critically analyze and improve their construction drawing production process. He implements Civil infrastructure design technology led by InfraWorks and Civil 3D and has helped Ideate grow Civil Infrastructure Services. Being an industry recognized speaker he has presented cutting edge design technology at several industry conferences such as Autodesk University. @BeGeez

Get it. Know it. Use it.