SQOTD: Moving Points

Q. Is there a way in C3D that I can do an elevation adjustment on all of my points? They are survey points, and I need to lower each point by
2.11 feet to get them onto the correct vertical datum.

A.

If they are survey points (a.k.a. brought in through an FBK file) you'll need to do this first:

If you go to the Survey tab, drill down to your points and right-click Survey Points and choose Unlock in Drawing.

Once you have unlocked them you can move the points as described below.

If they are points brought in by a text file, the process is pretty
simple:

First, Right-click on the point group you would like to move and select Edit points. (If you are moving all of them, just use the _All Points group that Civil 3d automatically creates)



Next, select all the points. You can use the control-A keyboard trick to select the whole list.



Now, right click anywhere on a highlighted point, and choose Datum.

In the CAD command line you can type in the distance (in feet) you'd like them to move. In your case -2.11. (Don't forget the negative sign or they'll go up!) Hit enter and that's it!

Navigating the Discussion Groups

(I know I said I would be quiet this month, but posting distracts me from pre-wedding twirliness)

If you are a real C3D newbie there are a few things to know about the discussion groups. Allow me to offer some advice.

http://discussion.autodesk.com/forum.jspa?forumID=66

DO's:

• Research your problem a first. The Lord helps those who help themselves...and so do other Civil 3D users. Hit F1 for context-sensitive help from the program itself. If you can't find the answer - at the very least you'll have more exposure to the lingo. In the discussion groups, look for other posts that might help you before you post your own. If you navigate via webpage , the search is in the upper left hand corner. Use quotes to find phrases. Once you have a search complete, I recommend sorting the results by post date.

• Be as specific as possible. Tell the group what version and service pack you are using. Operating system helps. What were you doing when the error occurred? What are you trying to accomplish?
  

• Tell people what you've tried. "I've audited the drawing and placed a burning bundle of sage in front of my monitor."

Don'ts:

• Be rude. The people who answer your questions are not getting paid for their time. Be respectful. Thank them for their help. A little heinie smooching goes a long way.
  
• Ask lame-ass questions. It's ok to be a newbie, but here are some examples of stupid questions that will invoke sarcasm within the posters:
• How do I build a surface? (answer: "Get some training." or "Read the tutorial")
  
• What's a corridor? (answer: "Get some training." or "Read the tutorial")
• Why does Autodesk hate me? (answer: "It's not just Autodesk. We all hate you.")
  
• How can I get Civil 3D to behave more like Terramodel? (answer: "Did you mother drop you when you were a child?")
  
• What happens when I push this button? (answer: "To find out, push it.")
  
• Rant. Fine, we get it. You are not happy with the software. Don't spread your negative karma to people who are trying to get work done. Flaming posts are not constructive to anyone. You are more likely to be seen as a loose cannon than someone anyone would actually listen to. If you think you've seen a bug or have a wish-list item, post it here.
• Promote your fly-by-night software company. Other people disagree with this one, but I think its a little tacky to say, "You, know...I've got this script I'll charge you $500 for - but it will work around the feature gap for now." Odds are this new program will be pointless in future versions of Civil 3D. If you wrote a script thats handy for the masses - give it away as shareware.
  

Interested in Selling Civil 3D?

Let me know. I've got an opportunity for you at a really great Autodesk reseller.

MN DOT Links

A few links of interest pertaining to last month's I35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This bridge collapse has been a HUGE deal in the Midwest. Personally, I travel to Minneapolis often and have lots of friends and family there. As many of you may know the bridge which is smack-dab in downtown Minneapolis, had a catastrophic failure August 1st, killing 13 people.

This is a link to the rebuild plans (they shouldda posted in DWF...)
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/i35wbridge/rebuild/plans.html

This is a link a friend of mine sent me of the cleanup. This is how it looked as of this morning, approximately 8 am.
http://picasaweb.google.com/electronhose/35WBridge?authkey=p3CoD3j22GM

SQOTD: Two Common Questions

Q1: Why Can't I Find all My Style Settings?

A1: In the settings tab there are now multiple ways to "sort" the list of items.

If you want to see it all, change the settings drop down to Active Drawing Settings View.

Master View Shows you everything from all open drawings. You'd need this set to Master View to check things in and out of Vault. For people who don't use Vault - Master View is a tad confusing.
Active Drawing Labels Only is a subset of Active Drawing Settings View, minus things like Code and Marker Styles and Corridor Styles. Basically, this view omits all object styles.

Labels Only View will show omit object styles, and it will show you label styles for all open drawings. Kinda weird.

Long story short: You probably want to be in Active Drawing Settings View.

Q2: How can I turn off frequency lines without turning off the rest of the corridor lines?


A2: First, jump into your corridor properties and figure out what Code Set Style you are currently using. In this case, All Codes. Make a copy of All Codes and call it NO SHOW or something like that.



We will also need a _No Marker style and a _NO SHOW LINK Style.




In the Code Set Style dialog box, set all the link styles to the _No Show Link. Set all the Point styles to _No Markers.

Click OK a couple of times and your frequency lines should be hidden.

To get them back, just change the code set style.

Not bad.

Have I been Spamming you?

My apologies to people who have me on RSS feed, since you may get what seem like crap posts.

That's cuz I'm experimenting with publishing Word docs through Google. I've got a 15 page tutorial thingy I want to post but I'm having difficulty. Blogger's picture interface is not the best for lots of screen caps. So I post and yank.

Things will be quiet on this blog this month because I'm GETTING MARRIED in 8 FRIGGING DAYS. EEEK!