Points Creation and Default Styles

When creating points in your drawing, you have the option of being prompted for elevations, point names, and descriptions (see Figure: Verify the point object layer before creating points). This process can be changed to take advantage of the intelligent environment of Civil 3D in the case of creating points from alignment geometry, when you can choose to have points pick up descriptions using the Automatic – Object option. Initially, the Default Description options are blank. In many cases, you’ll want to leave these options set to Manual. That way, the command line will ask you to assign an elevation and description for every point you create. Even though the point names option is available, it is best to avoid using them in general; therefore, leave the Prompt For Point Names option set to None.

If you’re creating a batch of points that have the same description or elevation, you can change the Prompt toggle from Manual to Automatic and then provide the description and elevation in the default cells. For example, if you’re setting a series of test pits with variable elevations, you can establish settings as shown in the Figure.

Default settings for placing tree points at an elevation of 10'.

Note that these settings apply only to points created from this toolbar. The settings do not affect the elevation or description of points imported from a file.

Also note that the use of description key sets can be disabled in the creation of points, when the Disable Description Keys option is changed from the default False to True. The status of this toggle also defines the availability of options in the Default Styles section of the dialog. When the toggle is set to allow the use of key descriptors, then the Default Point and Label Style options are grayed out since the descriptors will define those settings. But when the use of key descriptors is disabled, the default styles for points and labels can be customized. However, the default styles used in the creation of points can be changed even with the description keys enabled.

Creating Basic Points

• Point Settings
• Default Layer
• Points Creation and Default Styles
• Default Name Format and Point Identity
• Importing Points from a Text File
• Custom Point File Formats and Advanced Options
• Importing a Text File of Points
• Converting Points from Non–Civil 3D Sources
• Converting Points
• Converting Blocks
• A Closer Look at the Create Points Toolbar