You have already seen how section styles can be used to change the appearance of sections, but what about corridor sections? As stated earlier, the way this is handled is quite different and is done through the use of a code set style. The setup of
code set styles is quite complicated, and it is often left to the expertise of a CAD manager or very experienced Civil 3D user. However, once code set styles are created and made available to you, the task of assigning them to a corridor section is fairly simple.
Code Set Styles
Let’s take a closer look at code set styles. First, it will be easier if you think of a corridor section as an assembly. You have already learned that assemblies are made up of smaller parts called
subassemblies. You have also learned that subassemblies are made up of smaller parts called
points,
links, and
shapes. Points, links, and shapes all have at least one code assigned to them, and this little string of text is the key to how code set styles work.
For example, one code that is used quite often is Pave. The BasicLaneTransition subassembly in your corridor uses a rectangular shape to represent the lane itself, and the Pave code is assigned to this shape as a property of the subassembly.
Shapes have styles just like all of the other Civil 3D objects that you have studied. For example, you can create a shape style called Hatched Pavement that displays the outline of the shape and fills it with a dot hatch to represent the pavement material. Another shape style might be Basic Pavement, which shows just an outline and no hatching.
Even for a simple assembly, the number of codes that are involved can grow quickly. And the number of styles can grow quickly as well—for example, you may want to apply a different style to each code to visually differentiate pavement from curbing from sidewalk, among other things. One job of a code set style is to match up multiple codes with multiple styles and store them all under one name. So, for example, you may have a code set style called Basic that uses the Basic Pavement style for any shape coded Pave. This might be only one of several or even dozens of match ups between style and code within this code set style. Then, in another code set style named Detailed, you may decide to use the Hatched Pavement style for any instances of the Pave shape code. Again, this might be one of many code-style match ups.
Now, with both code set styles in place, you can quickly change the appearance of your corridor section to take on either a
Basic or
Detailed appearance by simply switching the code set style, as shown in the following diagrams.
To change the appearance of corridor sections by assigning different code set styles, follow these steps:
- Open the drawing named Applying Code Set Styles.dwg located in the Chapter 11 class data folder. The drawing is zoomed in to thesame three section views from the previous exercise.
- Click the corridor section in the bottom section view, and then click Section Properties on the ribbon.
- On the Information tab of the Corridor Section Properties dialog box, change Object Style to Road Sections and click OK. The appearance of the corridor section changes to a more basic outline.
- Using the same procedure, change the style to Road Sections – Top Highlighted.
- Turn the lineweight display on for the drawing by clicking the Lineweight icon on the status bar at the bottom of your screen. You will now see the top surface of the corridor section highlighted in red.
- Change the style of the corridor section to Presentation. With this style, the pavement is hatched with a different pattern than the curbs.
- Press Esc to clear the previous selection. Zoom out and pan to the north where the sheets of section views are located. Click one of the section views, and select View Group Properties on the ribbon. This opens the Section View Group Properties dialog box.
- Click the Sections tab. In the Style column, change the style for Jordan Court to Presentation.
- Click OK to dismiss the Section View Group Properties dialog box and return to the drawing. Zoom in and study the change to the section views. As you can see, the code set style has been assigned throughout the entire section view group (see Figure 11.3).
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| Figure 11.3 The Jordan Court corridor section with the Presentation code set style applied. |
