Scaling All Bocks - without Changing Insertion Location

I know, I know.  I'm not blogging as often as I should.  But the weather has been absolutely gorgeous in Wisconsin and I'm busy working on losing my geeky pallor in the summer sun.

If you can't get enough of my nuggets of wisdom you can always follow me on Twitter, or better yet BUY MY BOOK (see sidebar). Or even BETTER yet - hire me as a consultant in your Civil 3D implementation via MasterGraphics.

So here's a simple but fundamental post:

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Recently a customer asked me if I knew of any LISP routines that would allow users to select blocks, then rescale them without changing their location in the drawing as the regular scale command would do.


There are LISP routines out there, but in my opinion they are completely unnecessary.


Note: IF the blocks you are working with are from Civil 3D, you'll need to edit the Style that is bringing them in.  For example, if the block is there because it represents, say a fire hydrant from a survey – you'll need to find the fire hydrant symbol in the Settings tab of Civil 3D.


If they really are plain AutoCAD blocks, the best thing I to do is:

1. Find the Quick Properties Icon. This is on the Home Tab or in the Properties dialog.
   
2. In the Quick select dialog, pick the following options. Apply to: Entire drawing, Object Type: Block reference, Operator: Select All (You could also search for a specific block name if you wanted – this example will give you all of the blocks in the drawing – as long as they are not on a frozen layer, of course.)
   
   
   
   
3. Click OK and all the blocks become selected.
   
4. Lastly, change the scale to whatever you like.  It will not change the base-point of any of the blocks.
   
   
   
   
   
   Hope this helps!
   
   
   Have a super-sunny-fantastic day! -Lou
   

Civil 3D 2012 to Navisworks Manage

What is Navisworks Manage?

Navisworks is a project review tool that is a relative newcomer to the Autodesk family of products. I think of Navisworks as a universal viewer and CAD-aggregator. There are several varieties of Navisworks, Navisworks Manage is the fullest functionality flavor of the product. I've got several customers using the heck out of it for scheduling and staging construction activity. With Navisworks you can pull together many different file types including DWG, DGN, point clouds, Revit, Inventor, 3DS Max, Sketchup and Pro E files (just to name a few).

Getting Started:

In Navisworks Manage, you will want to change a setting that will make it much easier to update the model from the Civil 3D file.

From the Navisworks Application Menu click Options (similar to how you jump into Options in AutoCAD).

Expand the Model category on the left part of the Options Editor and highlight Performance.

Place a checkmark next to Close NWC/NWD files on load.



This option allows us to keep the Navisworks project open and export a new output file (NWC as I create later in this post). If I kept it on, it would not allow me to overwrite the NWCs as updates occur. For those of you familiar with the XLOADCTL variable, think of this option as changing XLOADCTL from 0 to 2.

In Civil 3D 2012 (this will also work in 2011, btw):

Freeze unwanted layers and hide items you don't want displayed in Navisworks. Generally, the only things you want to bring in are pipes, surfaces, corridors and parcels that have elevation to them. I recommend creating a Layer State specifically for NWCOUT.

At the command line, type NWCOUT. Civil 3D will prompt you to save an NWC file. Save it in a sensible location with the rest of the project you are working with. This file provides the link between Civil 3D and Navisworks, so renaming it, moving it or deleting it once it is in use would break the link. Wait a moment or two for the NWC file to generate.

In Navisworks:

In Navisworks, click Append.



Once the file has been imported, use the view cube and the navigation bar to look around in the project, similar to how you would in the Civil 3D object viewer.

In my example, I have pipes that I'd like to see, but in most views they are obscured by the surface model. I can make the surface model transparent.

Select the surface in Navisworks by clicking on it. A context tab pops up and you can override the default color and transparency here.



If you have made changes to the project in Civil 3D and wish to update the Navisworks side, click the refresh button in Navisworks' Quick Access toolbar.



As you go back and forth between civil 3D, any overrides you place on objects in Navisworks hold - even after a refresh. Do not re-Append the NWC or you will end up with duplicate data!

That's all for now. I plan to add more information about working with Civil 3D objects and Timeliner (the scheduling piece of Navisworks). See you soon!

It's About Damn Time: A Post About Microstation to Civil 3D

Hey all!  I've been on hiatus from blogging due to the fact that I've been cranking out words to be included in the soon-to-be-released Mastering Civil 3D 2012.  You should buy this book.  REALLY you should.

So I'm back...and here's like a post and stuff:

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In 1959, a revolution rocked the world and the only people who noticed were surveyors and mapping professionals. This was the year that the US and its buddies decided to change the formal definition of a foot from 1ft = 0.3048006096 meters to 1 ft = 0.3048000 meters.


The problem is, most land was already surveyed by 1959, so a change in the definition of a foot could change the recorded location of survey monuments up to several feet. This major moving of the proverbial cheese has been received with mixed acceptance. For the most part, surveyors still use the 1 ft = 0.3048006096 meter definition for their work.

Why does CAD care?

One of the fundamental differences between Microstation and AutoCAD is how the programs handle units and coordinate systems. Under the hood, Microstation only stores things in meters. To an end-user using feet, Microstation uses the International foot value to convert for display. It is on the data-end that programs like InRoads and Caice compensate for the slight discrepancies between US survey feet and International feet.

The DGN by itself is always stuck in International feet.

Attached to this post is the procedure for importing a DGN and getting it translated from International feet to US survey feet. The steps in the attached document outline how to manually force the program to translate the coordinates.

How to Import a DGN into Civil 3D CORRECTLY

Enjoy!

Civil 3D, WisDOT and Machine Controlled Grading



That's a grumpy looking badger.

 The Badgers might have lost the Rosebowl, but we're still full of WIN in Wisconsin!

My esteemed colleague Russ is presenting at the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors conference later this month and I'm blatantly stealing his research to blog about it.  The surveyors requested that he include information on how Civil 3D can work with machine controlled grading equipment.  Russ decided to ping  our buddies at WisDOT who are very familiar with Civil 3D and on top of the latest developments in grading technology.

WisDOT is now actively using and putting out data in Civil 3D 2010.  The first few Civil 3D projects are out the door and under construction.   Even before they went live with the product, they had been looking into mandating surface model files or a derivative thereof.  At the moment, they are nowhere near the point of requiring surface models, but they have several pilot projects in the hopper that will help them determine the future of Automated Machine Guidance for highway projects in Wisconsin.

Brad Hollister, PE, is part of the team at WisDOT that is integrating technology into the entire WisDOT work-flow.  In addition to being an all-around great guy, he is a big proponent of Civil 3D and the streamlining that can be done to the construction process with the data that results from corridor models (which he calls Roadway Models in the email that follows).

As part of Russ' research, he contacted Brad to see what the scoop was with AMG today.  Brad's email response is included here:

Right now WisDOT has language in our Standard Specifications addressing Automated Machine Guidance. The current spec places the burden of Roadway Model development on the contractor, a necessity considering our design environment which uses CAiCE. As our C3D implementation progresses, it will allow us to reconsider this policy regarding Roadway Model development.


We’ve already seen a few WisDOT design projects finished in C3D, and we are conducting a series of 4 pilot projects this year in which we are sharing Civil 3D proposed surfaces (Roadway Models) with contractors for Automated Machine Guidance operations. One important aspect of the pilots is that we are making our Roadway Models available to contractors prior to LET.


At a minimum, Automated Machine Guidance (AMG) operations will need roadway alignments and proposed surfaces from design, and control from project survey.


Project control consists of points, and can be shared in any number of formats, LandXML or text files work fine.


For roadway alignments, we are trying out LandXML version 1.2. This year’s pilots will tell us how well LandXML works for sharing our C3D alignments with contractor software.


For surface sharing, LandXML is an option but it is not the format we are using in the pilots. The reason we are not using LandXML is that given our typical project size the LandXML surface files can be pretty big, and we’ve seen import problems with these huge surface LandXML files in the past. Instead, we are taking our Civil 3D surface DWGs, viewing the surface with a triangles-only style, and exporting the file to AutoCAD 2004 DWGs. Each resulting surface DWG contains a single surface represented by 3DFaces. In the past we’ve had success sharing large surfaces with contractors using the AutoCAD DWG-3DFaces format. At some point in the future we may try surface sharing in LandXML again but for now we are recommending AutoCAD DWG.

We are sharing 4 Roadway Model surfaces for each construction stage of the project:

• Datum (for grading operations)
• BaseCourse (for base placing and trimming operations) 
• Top (to help contractors interpret design intent)
• Exist (for verification of Existing ground accuracy in the field, for earthwork quantity manipulation to aid in bid preparation, and to allow contractors to recompute earthwork quantities for alternative staging sequences)

  One other item of interest to consider is the overall intent of the Civil 3D design workflow we are using at WisDOT. One of the goals of our C3D design workflow is to develop construction-ready Roadway Model surfaces directly from design, surfaces that will not need additional modification by contractors for AMG operations. This year’s pilot projects will help us determine if our workflow meets this AMG-ready Roadway Models goal. Ultimately WisDOT is looking to make AMG-ready Roadway Models a deliverable of the design process on all our projects, although there are many considerations to address before the Roadway Model deliverable requirement is implemented.

Hopefully the next steps will have them digging deeper into the model (pun intended) and as technology evolves, integrating more direct links between Civil 3D and their contractors' software.

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.