Don't Exit Civil 3D Before You Exit the Corridor Section Editor!

This was the topic of two separate tech support calls this week.  If points make a line, two problems make a blog post.

First, I want to talk about the corridor section editor in general.  It is an AMAZING, powerful tool.  If you build a corridor and need to tweak the cross section at a station or a range of stations, this is how you do it.  Some users attempt to modify the cross section views.  The section views are only a reflection of the model and cannot be used to change your corridor in any way.

The best way to get into the corridor section editor is to click on the frequency line at the station whose section you wish to modify.  From the context-sensitive ribbon, click Section Editor.

You will be taken into a purely data-driven view of your cross section.

Now that you are here, you can modify your cross section data just at this frequency line or at a range of stations.  The best way to modify this thing is through the parameter editor.  The parameter editor lists all the subassemblies and their current values as they are applied to the corridor.    In my opinion, use the numeric values to adjust your section whenever possible.

Sometimes you just need to adjust a daylight line by snapping it to a specific location on the exiting ground.  To graphically edit the section, hold down control while you click the daylight line.  You will see grips that you can use to move the line.  Be patient, it is a little slower than traditional line editing.

Here's the rub - you *can* modify the section graphically, but you cannot mix graphic changes with numeric changes.  If you went through and tweaked a lane width numerically then graphically edit the daylight line, the graphic edit blows away all your numeric changes.  So...you need to decide how you are going to make the modifications and stick with it.

Ok - here's where I get to my original point:  When you are done making your edits, save the drawing, then close the section editor using the ribbon!  Even if you are done for the day and want to go home, close the section editor first.

If you forget, or you are unfortunate enough to crash while in the section editor - don't fret.  When you open your drawing back up - things will look weird.  You are still in a modified coordinate system.  To get back to reality, go to your view tab and click the World icon.   Now, type PLAN at the command line, (hit enter), then W for world (hit enter).

Life will go back to normal...at least where Civil 3D is concerned.

Flickery Dickory Dock, Civil 3D 2011 is Flickering Lots

This post is going out to my homeboy Troy who said something to me today along the lines of, "None of the blogs are giving any good information right now.  All anyone can talk about is AU!  I probably won't see any decent posts until late December."

Guilty as charged.  My challenge to fellow bloggers is: post something that has absolutely nothing to do with AU, before the Thanksgiving holiday.

In the last few days I've run into several people who are having problems with their Civil 3D 2011 graphics acting really annoying after service pack 1 was installed.   

Some are seeing the viewcube show up with a white background (even when their modelspace background is black!). 

Some are seeing this issue manifest itself as an error with "The configured Heidi driver cannot be loaded. Switching to default software driver."

Some are seeing "Exception in acmapworkspace.arx ARX Command" or "Unhandled exception 28ed90 (access violation reading 0x0028) at address blah blah blah..."

No matter how you are experiencing it, the root cause is the same: your graphics card is stressing out about Civil 3D. 

First thing to try:
Make sure your graphics card is up to snuff.  Is your card supported (or is it a cheap piece of crap that came with your box-store purchased machine)? 
If the card is supported, you may just need to update the driver.  Do that here: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=6711848&linkID=9240698
If it is a cheap p.o.c. look for a new card here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/bfp_autocad_2011.html

Second thing to try (stolen from: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=15851876&linkID=9240697):

1. Inside of your application, type 3DCONFIG at the command line.
2. In the dialog box that appears, select the Manual Tune button.
3. At the top of the Manual Performance Tuning dialog box, toggle the 'Enable hardware acceleration' option. 
4. Select OK and OK to return to the drawing workspace. 
5. Repeat steps 1-4 again to toggle the 'Enable hardware acceleration' option back to its original setting.

Note that it not necessary to disable the hardware acceleration. However, toggling this setting should resolve the issues.

 

 Third thing to try:

Go to Analyze tab,Inquiry panel and under station tracker select Off.  

The key-in for it is AeccHideDrawingTips

 

Peace out.

Where to Stalk Me at Autodesk University

This information is also handy for those of you trying to avoid me.

 

As of today, there are only 18 days left until AU.  My schedule is quite full for the week.  Here's an overview of where you will find me during the conference. 
 
Monday:

• Arrive in Las Vegas in the AM
• Nap
• Blogger Social 6-8pm
• Speaker Social 6:30-9pm (I've heard the bloggers are more fun, so I'm just going to pop my head in with the speakers.)

Tuesday:

• Sessions in the Civil Track all day
• Nap
• Go Out

Wednesday:

• More classes in the AM
• MY LAB: CV327-5L 1:30pm
• Depending on how the lab goes I'll either be going to more sessions or looking into changing my identity.
• Private Party: 9:30pm-?

Thursday:

• Nurse expected hangover.
• Sessions, sessions, sessions.
• 1:00pm @ Autodesk University Theater "Meet the Authors" session w/ Rick Graham and yours truly. (I'm working on the next edition of Mastering Civil 3D)
• Nap
• I heard something about a gift card?

Friday:

• Fly home. 

 See you there!

 

AUGI Cad Camp Minneapolis

Pictures of my boys at AUGI CAD Camp Minneapolis 2010. 

L to R: Robert Green, ME!, Rick Ellis



L to R: Eric Schubert, Mike Dunham, Mark Weizenegger of MasterGraphics



It was no AU, but by golly it was a good warm up.

I spoke about Point Cloud functionality in Civil 3D 2011.  A good time was had by all.

Civil 3D for Beginners - LIVE! One Night Only!

It will be cooler than Laser Floyd, but only involves a laser pointer.  Civil 3D for Beginners at AU!  

For those of you who were fortunate enough to get in (the class is filled up  - but I'm hoping for an encore) CV327-5L was the class to get.  This is a 1-hour hands-on lab (45 computers, 2 people to a computer).
Date/Time: 12/01/2010 - 1:30 PM

Here's what I'll be whipping through in the hour:

• What is Civil 3D?  Is it BIM?
• What is object-based design all about?
• Importing points, creating a surface, changing the surface's style.
• Changing alignment geometry and building a corridor.
• P&P sheets and cross section sheets.

Here's a sneak-peek at a graphic from the handout explaining what comes with Civil 3D 2011 (on subscription). 

I simply cannot wait! I'll have four very talented assistants keeping everyone in line and on-track.  They may even be handing out candy (I'm gunning for the first ever 10-star speaker rating). 

See you there!