Corridor - Daylight Cut and Daylight Fill

In some areas for roadway projects people are required to show ---C---- or ------F------ linetypes where the roadway daylights. Using corridors it’s possible to do this using the feature lines which are created during the corridor building process.

Go into the Corridor Properties, Feature Lines tab and select the appropriate Feature Line Style. One may want to have the Daylight Feature Line Style to one that doesn’t show up to not conflict with the Daylight Cut or Daylight Fill Feature Line Styles.

One problem with this method is that if the corridor is spaced far apart the cut and fill feature lines won’t meet at the C/F transition point. I usually add some additional corridor section samples to get the cut/fill feature lines to meet, or come close to meeting.

Navisworks Manage – Materials

Sometimes materials may not show properly in Navisworks.

Things to look for:

• Make sure the correct Texture Space is applied for the object.
  Depending on the shape of the object a different texture space is required. In the case of a fence it appears that a plane texture space works best, which is what is shown above.
• Use the Edit button, and make sure the Normal and Up directions are correct. In picture above the Normal values are incorrect. They should be 1,0,0 instead of 0.02,0.005,0.9 that Navisworks chose to use.

Here’s the picture of the fence with better settings.

Editing Civil 3D Reports

If you are trying to edit a Civil 3D Report, make sure the target .NET framework exists on the machine. The source files target .NET version 2.0 and may need to be revised to target version 3.5 (or maybe another one). To change the target go to the project’s Properties and choose Advanced Compile Options.

Also need to make sure to target the correct CPU.

This post is useful if when trying to customize the reports nothing happens or when netloading the dll comes up with lots of error messages.

Custom Daylight Bench Subassembly

Have you noticed something missing from the DaylightBench subassembly that ships with Civil 3D? I have, its missing some of the items required by the Uniform Building Code and International Building code (IBC). Specifically Appendix J: Grading, Section J109: Drainage and Terracing of the IBC. The section require terraces, with a ditch or swale, to be placed on slopes greater than 3:1 and at a not to exceed 30 foot vertical intervals. The swale or ditch is required to have a minimum slope of 5%. While not applicable in flat areas, it is required in the hilly portions of the world. 

In order to solve this issue I come across every once in a while; I decided to create a custom subassembly that targets a profile to be able to create the minimum slope of the swale. Subsequent bench spacing is based on the Maximum Cut or Fill height specified. Below is a plan view of a corridor using the custom subassembly.

If you want more information on how the subassembly works check out the help file on Google Docs.

In order to help pay blog related activities (such as crashing Autodesk University, going to AEC DevCamp or snacks while writing blog posts) I’m offering the custom subassembly for sale. Select the version you want, and press the buy now button. Once I get it in the email, I’ll email or send a link for the packet file and provide instructions on how to import the packet file into Civil 3D. I’ll also provide support for the custom subassembly, fixing any bugs that may come up.

Version

Civil 3D 2010 $100.00 Civil 3D 2011 32Bit $100.00 Civil 3D 2011 64Bit $100.00

Got a need for a custom subassembly or other customization of Civil 3D? Send me an email of what you want to accomplish and I’ll provide a quote to provide that service.

The custom daylight bench subassembly does not provide for a wider middle bench as required by the IBC if more than two benches are required.

Have you voted yet?

http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=au2010_youtube_contest

Want share this special voting opportunity with others? Download and print this AUv video flyer for my video and distribute to those who might be interested in learning more about Autodesk University Virtual and voting for me!

Thank you!!! And SnagIt Editor really needs a spell checker.

Custom Bench Subassembly

I haven’t had much time to remind you to vote for your favorite AU #2010 video. Cast your votes for any you like, but I’d prefer that you vote for my AU video entitled AUVideoLong (Contest Entry fredbobchris).

I’ve been busy creating a custom bench subassembly. The subassembly includes a swale at the bench and the ability to target a profile elevation for the centerline. After targeting the first bench the rest are spaced based on the max fill or cut height specified for the subassembly. Here’s some screen shots of what I’ve done so far.

And finally a top view of the corridor, if you look closely you can see the benches don’t follow the roadway, but are placed based on the profile target elevation.

AU Voting and a Sample Line Tip

I just checked the AU 2010 voting and I have a total of 30 votes, way behind the lead vote getter of 74 and just behind the IndyDrafter and KungFu Drafter. Now I thought I had more readers who cared than 30, so if you haven’t done so already please take the time to sign up for AUv and vote. If you need some help figuring out were to go I created this video to help you out.

Thanks!

And now for a Sample Line tip. If you have xrefed in your corridor and data shortcutted in your Alignment you can still create sample lines from a corridor even though the corridor isn’t in the drawing. Just choose the option from the Sample Line dialog and Civil 3D will pull the stations to add sample lines from the XREF.

And if you go and vote now and I get a bunch more votes, I’ll add a post on how to modify the Slope Stake Report to get it to run when the corridor is XREFd, currently I’m told it doesn’t run when set up in the above video.

Autodesk University Voting Time

This year I decided to create a video for the AU 2010 YouTube Contest. My video is called AUVideoLong under the username of fredbobchris. Please take a few minutes of your time and sign up for AU Virtual (it’s free) and then vote for my video. The voting location link is in the Autodesk University Virtual 2010 lounge, which you will be provided access to after registering for AU Virtual. Thank You for voting!

Slope 5H:1V

OK, this is for the one or two people who need to have an H included in a surface slope label. Its easy to accomplish, first create an expression to get the H value. Its a complex formula where you take the Surface Slope and divide it into 1. I know, crazy talk.

Next add the expression to a slope label, put an H behind it then :1V. Then label away on the surface.

Navisworks – Expanded Material Options

It appears that the default setting for materials is Basic and only includes a limited number of options when editing a material. To get more material options go to Options and change the Presenter Profile from Basic to Advanced.

Additional options then will be available to edit the materials such as Color, Reflectance, Transparency, Displacement and 2D Texture Space.

Civil 3D Surfaces and Navisworks

Navisworks does not appear to recognize materials applied to Civil 3D surfaces, either applied as a mask or in Surface Properties.

 

To apply materials to a surface one needs to utilize Presenter to assign the material within Navisworks. If Presenter isn’t on go here to turn it on:

Then drag the material you want from presenter onto the Civil 3D object.

While it doesn’t look any better from this view, it does now have a material of Large Gravel assigned to it. If you want different materials applied to different areas you have to break up the surface into different surfaces based on what you want the material to be. Not a fun prospect in my opinion

Creating a Chainlink Fence in Navisworks Using Civil 3D

Figuring out how to create different objects to show your model in Navisworks can be difficult, mainly because Civil 3D isn’t a BIM product, in other words we don’t create models utilizing an actual object to represent itself. For instance instead of using a curb object we utilize a corridor object or a collection of feature lines. One such object that is difficult to figure out how to get to show up in Navisworks is a Chainlink fence. Kevin Lind pointed me in the correct direction on how to create a chainlink fence utilizing Civil 3D.

• The first step is to create a feature line at the location where the fence is going to be.
• Next sample from surface to get the feature line draped across the surface.
• If you want the fence to end short of the surface, now is the time to move it up.
• Now offset the feature line a small distance over and the appropriate distance up.
• Now create a surface and add the feature lines to it.
• If your fence has bends in it, add a boundary.

Since Navisworks does not recognize materials assigned in Civil 3D, a material will need to be created in Navisworks. The material will need to approximate a grid and have transparency. Here’s a picture of what I came up with for my first try. Not perfect, but I think it conveys the location and look of a fence fairly well.