Applications

From Design to Construction

How to Utilize Your Design to Gather and Convey Important Information about How the Project will be Built and What it will Cost

Additional Exercise;

In this exercise, you learned how to utilize your design to gather and convey important information about how the project will be built and what it will cost. One might argue that a design is only as good as the information it is able to convey. As you learned in this discussion, the models you create in Civil 3D must provide adequate and accurate information to be taken into the field and constructed using real materials such as soil, asphalt, and concrete.

In the additional exercise, you will employ your knowledge of the quantity analysis and sheet production functions that you studied in this chapter to convey even more information about the example design.

Open the drawing named Sheets and Quantities Beyond.dwg located in the Chapter 19 class data folder.
This drawing contains an alternate layout for the detention pond in a different location. Complete the following tasks to generate information about the design and create documentation of the design.
  • Use QTO Manager to assign the Chain Link Fence pay item to the fence around the pond and on the north side of the conservation area. Run a report to determine the length of the fence.
  • Compute materials for the corridor along the Madison Lane alignment and create a material volume report to determine the volume of asphalt, base, subbase, and curb.
  • Create view frames and plan and profile sheets for Madison Lane.


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Creating Sheets

Once the view frames are in place, you can then use the Create Sheets command to automatically generate layouts that display what is contained within the view frames. In the case of plan and profile sheets, the Create Sheets command will also create a profile view for each view frame that corresponds to the station range shown in plan view. Each plan and profile view will then be arranged in a single sheet, providing two views of the same design area. This plan and profile sheet configuration is a very common way of documenting the design of linear features such as roads, railroads, and pipelines.

To create plan and profile sheets based on the view frames in your drawing, follow these steps:
  1. Open the drawing named Creating Sheets.dwg located in the Chapter 19 class data folder.
  2. Click the Output tab of the ribbon, and then click Create Sheets. This will open the first dialog box in the Create Sheets Wizard: Create Sheets – View Frame Group And Layouts.
  3. Verify that the All Layouts In Current Drawing option is selected under Layout Creation and that North is selected under Choose The North Arrow Block To Align In Layouts. Click Next.

    4. Sheet Placement and Storage

    When you’re using the Create Sheets command, there are three options for the final destination of the sheets that you create. The option used in this exercise is to simply create the new sheets as additional layout tabs in the current drawing. You could also create a new drawing and place all of the new layout tabs there. In this case, your current drawing would be XREFed to provide the graphical information for the plan view. An XREF, or external reference, is the way AutoCAD shows one drawing within another. For the profile view, the alignment, profile, and pipe network (if applicable) would be data referenced into the resulting file and used to create a new set of profile views. As you learned in “Leveraging a Dynamic” Environment, Civil 3D uses data references to show one drawing’s design data within another. Yet another option is to create multiple new drawing files with a set number of layouts in each drawing. If your goal is to improve the performance of each individual sheet, then this option is the best choice. If your goal is simplicity and accessibility, then the option used for the exercise is the best choice.
  4. Examine the settings in the Create Sheets – Sheet Set dialog box. Notice that the Create Sheets command integrates with the AutoCAD Sheet Set Manager function. This added benefit enables you to store and manage the resulting sheets in an AutoCAD sheet set if desired.
  5. Click Next. This will advance the wizard to the Create Sheets – Profile Views dialog box.
  6. Under Other Profile View Options, click the Choose Settings option. Then click Profile View Wizard. The Create Multiple Profile Views – Profile View Height dialog box opens. This is the first in a series of dialog boxes contained within the Create Multiple Profile Views Wizard.
  7. Change the Profile View Datum By option to Mean Elevation. Click Next to advance to the Create Multiple Profile Views – Profile Display Options dialog box.
    Tips:This option will cause the profile to show in the middle of the profile view, roughly halfway between the top and bottom of the grid.
  8. Scroll to the right until you see the Labels column. For the Jordan Court FGCL profile, select the Curves-Grades-Breaks label set. For the EG – Surface (11) profile, select the _No Labels label set Figure 1.
    Assigning label sets to the profiles
    Figure 1.  Assigning label sets to the profiles
  9. Click Finish to return to the Create Sheets – Profile Views dialog box.
  10. Click Create Sheets. A warning dialog box will open, informing you that you must save the drawing to continue. Click OK.
  11. When you’re prompted for the profile view origin, pick a point in the open area to the north of the site. Four new profile views will be created along with four new layout tabs. Also, the Sheet Set Manager window will open, displaying the names of four sheets Figure 2.
    The results of the Create Sheets command
    Figure 2.  The results of the Create Sheets command
  12. Click the first new layout tab. Note how the layout has been automatically configured to show the plan in the top view and the corresponding profile in the bottom view Figure 3.
    A plan and profile sheet resulting from the Create Sheets command
    Figure 3.  A plan and profile sheet resulting from the Create Sheets command
  13. Click the remaining layout tabs to review the sheets that have been configured. Notice how all of the lot labels read upright, regardless of their orientation of the plan view. This is a function of the area label style used to label the lot numbers.
Creating Multiple Sheets Using Plan Production
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Creating View Frames

A view frame is a rectangle that represents the area that Plan Production is supposed to show in the plan view of a given sheet. Because a view frame is a Civil 3D object, you can assign a style to it and label it. View frames are accompanied by match lines that identify where two sheets meet. Match lines are also Civil 3D objects, capable of being stylized and labeled.

The Create View Frames command launches a wizard that steps you through the process of creating view frames. The size and scale of the view frames originate from a drawing template that you specify. The default settings of the wizard will create evenly spaced view frames that cover the entire alignment and are oriented to it. Once the view frames have been created, you can move and rotate them to the desired configuration.

To begin setting up plan and profile sheets for Jordan Court by creating view frames, follow these steps:
  1. Open the drawing named Creating View Frames.dwg located in the Chapter 19 class data folder.
  2. Click the Output ribbon tab, and then click Create View Frames. The first dialog box of the wizard, Create View Frames – Alignment, is displayed.
  3. Select Jordan Court as the alignment and click Next. The Create View Frames – Sheets dialog box opens.
    Tips:Notice that you can apply a user-specified station range for cases where you do not want sheets created for an entire alignment.
  4. Click the ellipsis for Template For Plan And Profile Sheet. The Select Layout As Sheet Template dialog box opens.
  5. Click the ellipsis for Drawing Template File Name. This opens the Select Layout As Sheet Template dialog box.
  6. Browse to the Chapter 19 class data folder, and select Civil 3D (Imperial) Plan and Profile.dwt (Civil 3D (Metric) Plan and Profile.dwt). Click Open.
  7. Select ARCH E Plan And Profile 20 Scale (ISO A0 Plan And Profile 1 To 250) and click OK. You are returned to the Create View Frames – Sheets dialog box.

    8. It’s All about the Template

    In steps 6 and 7 of this exercise, you chose a template as part of the process of creating view frames. This template is very important because it sets the size and scale of the view frame(s) and provides the title block and other important components of the final sheets. If you want to use Plan Production in your office, ask your CAD manager to set up a series of Plan Production templates for you.
  8. Click Next. Examine the settings in the Create View Frames – View Frame Group dialog box. Click Next without making any changes.
  9. Examine the settings in the Create View Frames – Match Lines dialog box. Click Next without making any changes.
  10. Examine the settings in the Create View Frames – Profile Views dialog box. Click Create View Frames without making any changes. Four view frames are created in the drawing along the Jordan Court alignment, as shown in Figure 1.
    Tips:It may seem strange to select a profile view and band set so early in the process, but these choices factor into how the profile view will fit within the view frame.
    Four view frames created along the Jordan Court alignment
    Figure 1.  Four view frames created along the Jordan Court alignment
  11. Click one of the view frames, and then click the diamond-shaped grip that appears at the center of the view frame. Move your cursor along the alignment and observe how the view frame maintains its orientation to the alignment as it moves.
  12. Test the function of the square grip and the circular grip. Notice that the square grip moves the view frame in any direction without changing its rotation. The circular grip rotates the view frame about its center point. When you begin the next exercise, the view frames will have been repositioned for you to get the best sheet configuration possible. These grips were used to reposition the view frames.
Creating Multiple Sheets Using Plan Production
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Creating Multiple Sheets Using Plan Production

For certain types of projects, you may need to create multiple sheets that are similar in format and in the type of information they show. A classic example of this is the plan and profile sheet used for linear projects such as roads or pipelines. This type of drawing is typically smaller scale, so it requires multiple sheets to cover the whole project. Each drawing in the series is the same except that it shows a different part of the site. Civil 3D provides Plan Production tools, which are used for creating multiple sheets in a series. Using Plan Production involves two primary steps: creating view frames and creating sheets.
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Creating Individual Sheets

One of the most important tasks you will perform as a designer is the effective documentation of your design. Regardless of how accurate and well designed your models may be, most of the construction that takes place will be based on paper drawings. As the preparer of these drawings, you are responsible for ensuring that your design documentation contains all of the essential information and that it is displayed in a way that’s suitable for construction. Fortunately, Civil 3D has tools that will automatically extract the information you need and expedite this process.

Although creating individual sheets is more of a basic AutoCAD task, it is a good place to start because it gets you thinking about the process of documenting your design. It also enables you to familiarize yourself with the Civil 3D label properties that make sheet creation easier. For example, Civil 3D will automatically resize labels based on the drawing scale or viewport scale as well as orient labels to a specific view.

To create an Overall Plan sheet, follow these steps:
  1. Open the drawing named Creating Individual Sheets.dwg located in the Chapter 19 class data folder.
  2. If you do not see the Model and Layout1 tabs at the bottom of your screen, right-click the Model icon and select Display Layout And Model Tabs, as shown in Figure 1.
    Displaying layout and model tabs
    Figure 1  Displaying layout and model tabs
  3. Right-click the Layout1 tab and select From Template. The Select Template From File dialog box opens.
  4. Browse to the Chapter 19 class data folder. Click Civil 3D (Imperial) Plan Only.dwt (Civil 3D (Metric) Plan Only.dwt), and then click Open. The Insert Layout(s) dialog box opens.
    Tips:“From Template” means to create a new layout by selecting a template drawing (.dwt).
  5. Click ARCH E Plan Only 50 Scale (ISO A0 Plan Only 1 To 750), and then click OK.
  6. Click the ARCH E Plan Only 50 Scale (ISO A0 Plan Only 1 To 750) layout tab to make it active. Then double-click it, and change the name to Overall Plan. You can now see the newly created layout that is currently an empty title block.
  7. Double-click in the center of the layout to activate the viewport.
  8. At the command line, type ZE and press Enter to perform a Zoom – Extents. The drawing objects will now come into view.
  9. Pan and zoom within the viewport so that the plan view of the project fills the viewport. Note the size of the lot labels, which appear to be much too large for the current display scale.
    Tips:Make sure to keep the viewport activated for the next few steps.
  10. Change the viewport scale to 1" = 50' (1:750) by selecting it from the menu at the bottom of your screen, as shown in Figure 2. The viewport scale changes slightly, and all of the labels resize according to the newly selected scale.
    Changing the scale of the viewport
    Figure 2.  Changing the scale of the viewport
  11. On the Home tab of the ribbon, click Layer Properties. The Layer Properties Manager window opens.
  12. Under Filters, click All. Then right-click one of the layer names in the Name column and click Select All on the context menu, as shown in Figure 3.
    Selecting all layers in the Layer Properties dialog box
    Figure 3.  Selecting all layers in the Layer Properties dialog box
  13. Scroll right and click any icon in the VP Freeze column. This will freeze all layers in the current viewport.
  14. Under Filters, click Overall Plan. Right-click one of the layer names in the Name column, and then click Select All.
  15. Click any icon in the VP Freeze column, and then close the Layer Properties Manager window. This thaws the selected layers in the current viewport. You now have a layout that shows a simplified overall plan for the project Figure 4. This type of plan is usually placed in the front of a plan set to serve as a low-detail, comprehensive view of the project.
    A simplified overall plan for the project
    Figure 4  A simplified overall plan for the project
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