Using Alignment Styles

As with other styles you have learned about, alignment styles are, as their name implies, used to control the appearance and behavior of alignments. By applying different styles, you can graphically distinguish between existing centerlines, proposed centerlines, and so on. You can even use styles to display alignments as something completely different, such as a property line or even a utility line. Figure 6.1 illustrates how styles enable alignments to represent many different things.

Figure 6.1  Different alignment styles are used to represent the right-of-way, edges of pavement, and centerlines in this drawing.

Alignment styles have two major ways of affecting the appearance of alignments. First, they control which components of the alignment are visible, and second, they control the graphical properties such as layer, color, and linetype of the components that are displayed.

To use alignment styles to control the appearance of alignments in a drawing, complete the following steps:

The Exercise File can be downloaded at the end of the article  

1. Open the drawing named Alignment Styles.dwg located in the Chapter 06 class data folder. The drawing contains a dozen different alignments that are intended to serve different purposes. Currently, all alignments look the same because they have all been assigned a style of Standard.

   Tips :Since alignments are strictly 2D objects, the drawings in this chapter have not been configured with multiple viewports.

2. Select the alignment representing the centerline of Emerson Road, right-click, and select Properties.
3. Change the style to C-ROAD-CNTR-E, as shown in Figure 6.2. This will display the alignment as a simple series of lines and curves on the existing road centerline layer.

   Figure 6.2  Assigning an alignment style within the Properties window.

4. Press Esc to clear the selection of the alignment. Select the Jordan Court centerline alignment and change its style to C-ROAD-CNTR.
   This will display this alignment as a simple series of lines and curves on the proposed road centerline layer.
5. Now change the style of the Jordan Court centerline alignment to C-ROAD-CNTR with Markers. With this style, markers are placed at the beginning, end, points of curvature (PCs), points of tangency (PTs), points of reverse curvature (PRCs), and points of intersection (PIs). In addition, line extensions are displayed with the tangents extending to the PI markers. You would use this style for the polished look of a final plan but probably not for design.
6. Change the style of the Madison Lane centerline alignment to Layout. You would use this style for analysis purposes during design, not for the polished look of a final plan.
7. For the alignments that run parallel to the Jordan Court centerline and extend the full length of the centerline, assign the C-ROAD-RWAY style. This displays the alignments on the right-of-way layer, enabling them to take on the appearance of property lines.

   Tips :You can select both right-of-way alignments and assign the C-ROADRWAY style to both of them at once using the Properties w

8. For the remaining alignments that represent the edges of pavement, change the style to C-ROAD-EDGE. This displays the alignments on the edge-of-pavement layer.

Download Exercise File :

• C06 - Using Alignment - Metric     --- ( 907.37 KB )
• C06 - Using Alignment - Imperial  --- ( 1.05 MB )
• Civil 3D All Exercise Files - Chapter 06