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June 10th, 2019

Using Templates and Cartoon Settings for Civil 3D Implementation

Introduction

AutoCAD® Civil 3D® is complex software with many different and connecting parts working together to provide solutions to ceremonious design projects. In this article we are going to explore how to use template files to capture characteristic and object settings that you tin can use to get-go your new drawing or reference into an existing drawing. For a successful implementation, the CAD manager or designer can create, update, and distribute template files to all users to ensure a standard and compatible approach to pattern work.

Templates

Whatsoever new drawing in Civil 3D starts with a default drawing template or a custom template you can create. Drawing template files are drawings that store styles, settings, layers, and layouts in a cartoon including championship blocks.

Standard Template Procedure

When yous create a new drawing based on a drawing template, the new drawing gets a re-create of the styles in the template, only information technology is a onetime re-create. The connectedness is not maintained; therefore, if you update the template it will not update your drawing file. For example, if yous update the surface styles in your template and you wanted your drawings to get those same updates, yous needed to manually copy or import those changed styles into your drawings.  Y'all can exercise this by dragging and dropping or selecting the import tab on the Ribbon every bit shown in Figure i.

Figure 1: Import styles

Templates are also listed under the Cartoon Templates collection in the Prospector tree Main View as shown in Figure 2.  Find the ii Civil 3D templates supplied from Autodesk.

Figure two:  Templates under the Master View in Prospector

Two templates are provided when y'all install Civil 3D.  The path for these templates tin be found within the options dialog box under the Files > Templates binder.  We are going to open up the _Autodesk Civil 3D (Majestic) NCS.dwt and save this to C3D_Standard.dwt. The two AutoCAD Ceremonious 3D cartoon templates are based on the Us National CAD Standard®.

• _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Regal) NCS
• _AutoCAD Ceremonious 3D (Metric) NCS

These templates incorporate an extended set of styles and settings. When you lot start a new cartoon with the New command on the Application menu, you lot can choose which template you want to use.

The QNEW command, which is available on the Quick Access toolbar, automatically uses the template specified in the AutoCAD Options dialog box.

Figure 3: The master templates provided

We are now going to change the settings of our template file (Figure 4). Open up the template file yous created named C3D_Standard.dwt on the Home tab of the Ribbon > Palettes console > Open Toolspace.

1. On the palette, move to the Settings tab.
2. Brand certain you lot are in the Active Drawing Settings View and right-click C3D Standard as shown.
3. Select Edit Drawing Settings.

Note: If you move up and down on this palette there are hundreds of different settings that can exist applied to all types of Civil 3D object data.

Effigy 4: Cartoon settings

C3D Drawing Settings

Settings in Civil 3D command many preset values, such equally drawing units, scale, and coordinate system. Civil 3D has drawing, feature, and command settings. All three levels of settings in AutoCAD Civil 3D are saved with the drawing, and they can be saved to a drawing template.

1. Drawing settings: Establish values for the whole drawing.
2. Characteristic settings: Command beliefs for a feature, such as Surfaces or Parcels.
3. Control settings: Utilise to individual commands within a feature, such as the AddParcelAreaLabel command within the Parcels feature.

You alter each level of settings at a unlike location in the Settings tree, as shown in Figure 5.

Effigy 5: Setting tree

Let's focus on the main drawing Drawing-Level Settings and Feature Level Settings. To access drawing-level settings, right-click the drawing name C3D_Standard in the settings tree and click Edit Drawing Settings equally shown in Effigy 6.

Effigy 6:  Edit Drawing settings

At the drawing level, the Edit Settings dialog box contains general tabs for the drawing (or template) every bit shown in Figure 7.  We do not want to alter any of these settings except for the Object Layers. Ambient Settings tin can be contradistinct, but volition be overridden by the drawing and feature settings.

Figure seven: Cartoon settings

To illustrate how this works, we will edit one of these settings in the Object Layers section.  Move to the Object Layers tab on the dialog box and curlicue down to Tin Surface every bit shown in Effigy 8. We are going to add a suffix to the default label using a wildcard to ensure that our surface is always on the C-Topo- layer with a suffix of the surface name (i.eastward., C-Topo-EG).

Figure 8: Object layers

1. Move to the C-TOPO layer.
2. Change the value to Suffix.
3. Add a -* to the value field.  The hyphen will be added to C-TOPO and the surface name will be appended to the end of the layer (i.e., C-TOPO-EG).

You have now created a standard for Tin Surface layers in Civil 3D and can implement this process. Explore other options at the drawing settings level to ensure your template is fix to go.

Effigy 9: Object Layer modifications

Characteristic-Level Settings

Use the object collection level in the Settings tree to command all settings that pertain to the object type. Admission the object or feature-level settings by right-clicking the object collection in the Settings tree and clicking Edit Characteristic Settings.  For this example, we are going to select the Indicate Collection.

Figure 10: Point Feature settings

At the object level, this dialog box as well contains object-specific settings, such as default betoken styles. In this section we can control how our indicate label styles are in our drawing every bit default. If we want all the points to be brought in every bit a particular style or maker, we tin edit these values as our default within our template file. Figure 11 shows the Point Label Style and the dialog box to change the value within the object feature settings.

Figure 11: Edit Feature settings

Control-Level Settings

Use the Commands collection level in the Settings tree to override both the object-level settings and cartoon ambient settings on a control-by-control basis. Y'all can likewise specify command-specific settings. Access the command-level settings by expanding the Commands collection for an object type in the Settings tree, right-clicking the command, and clicking Edit Command Settings. Figure 12 shows us editing the command level settings for a surface.

Figure 12: Command-level setting

Layer Standards in Templates

Maintaining a standard for the utilize of layers in your cartoon is easier if you accept a cartoon template with predefined layers, and styles that reference those layers when objects are created.

For consistency, save your template as an AutoCAD® standards file (.dws format). So, in the template, enter the STANDARDS command and in the Configure Standards dialog box, link the standards file to the template. If yous want to enforce the standards, y'all can click the Settings button and actuate notifications of standards violations or override such violations. For additional information on the CAD Standards Manager run across CSI: CAD Standards Implementation at Autodesk Academy 2017. https://autode.sk/2T0ozBa

The layers created in the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 templates follow the National CAD Standard (NCS) rules. For more information about the National CAD Standard layering settings, encounter http://world wide web.nationalcadstandard.org.

At present that you have many of your standards in identify for your template, we need to ensure that the template is used on new drawings.  From the application menu, select New and your open up dialog box will be displayed as shown (Figure thirteen). Select the C3D_Standard.dwt and all your settings will be inside the new drawing.

Figure 13: New template

Notation: To control the location of template files and QNEW, review the options under the FILES bill of fare > template settings.

Reference Templates

New to Civil 3D 2022 is a procedure called reference templates. The command can be found on the Manage tab of the Ribbon > Styles palette > Reference, every bit shown in Effigy 14

Figure xiv: Import styles

When you attach a reference template to a cartoon, the AutoCAD Civil 3D styles that are in that reference template are copied into the drawing, and the connexion between the cartoon and the reference templates is maintained. Drawings tin exist updated on an ongoing basis either automatically or manually with changes to the styles in the templates.  Nosotros are going to add a reference to our electric current cartoon file (Figure fifteen).

Figure xv: Adhere Reference Template

As nosotros piece of work on our project, changes to the reference templates are pushed to the drawing and then it is kept up to date:

• New or changed styles in reference templates are copied to the drawing.
• Styles that are deleted from reference templates are removed from the drawing if the styles are not in utilise. If a style is in utilize, a local copy of the way is made in the drawing.

Select the update button for the template to be added to the drawing. In the Toolspace Settings tree, styles that have been referenced into the drawing are marked with a paper clip icon equally shown in Figure sixteen.  Discover how the surface styles are now beingness controlled by the reference template and non the drawing settings.

Figure sixteen: The Paper Clip

As you continue to update and/or add together new styles to the project standards template, those changes are pushed to the drawings that reference that template.

The following AutoCAD Civil 3D components can exist imported and referenced by a reference template.

• AutoCAD Layers
• AutoCAD blocks, text styles, and linetypes
• Settings
• Cartoon Settings
• Abbreviations
• Ambient Settings
• Object Layers
• Feature Settings
• Label Style Defaults
• Styles
• Label Styles
• Object Styles
• Tabular array Styles
• Pipe and Structure Rules
• Force per unit area Network Parts lists
• Quantity Takeoff Criteria

If y'all attempt to edit a surface style (i.e., rename a layer color) y'all will get the following fault indicating that your style is being controlled by a referenced template or a company standard. You do have options to override the setting as shown in Figure 17, but this is a good reminder to all of us while nosotros work on drawings and maintain our company standards.

Figure 17: The warning

Determination

In a perfect world, your drawing templates and settings will have the perfect set of styles for your projects. This typically takes time to grow and can be considered a living template. Consider designing styles to reflect the data requirements at unlike times in the project.  The templates are at that place as a guide to provide you with the basic information needed to begin your design projection efficiently. You tin can create styles and templates for many different disciplines and still follow your company standard. Keep the implementation process going and create your template to help guide your users and your company to a better, more standard approach to design work.

Sam Lucido is a CAD Services Managing director with Haley & Aldrich, Inc. He has more than than 25 years of feel involving design, user support, and customization. Sam is an Autodesk certified professional and an Expert Elite Member. He uses his vast knowledge about AutoCAD and Ceremonious 3D to help provide support to technology and design teams by holding hands on workshops and online training. Sam is a top-rated Autodesk University and Midwest Academy Speaker likewise as existence an AUGI Board Member. You can reach Sam at CADProTips.com or by email
at lucido1373@gmail.com.

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