1. Export the network you want to put into another pipe network to a LandXML file.
2. Next delete the just exported pipe network and rename the remaining pipe network to the name of the exported pipe network.
3. Then import the xml file back into the drawing.
4. The two pipe networks will now be combined into one (this also works with pipe networks in different files).

When you do this make sure the pipes and structures have different names or change them after you do the import. Having pipes or structures of the same name will most likely cause problems in the drawing.

I will use a base map XREF as an example. The layer we put our base map XREFs on is called “X-BASE”. This is great, but all the XREF layers are still hard to read and sort:

To change the XREF layer names so they sort properly, the external reference needs to be renamed.

In the External References (XREF) palette you can edit the “Reference Name” (in the “Details” section of the palette) for each XREF.

Now the XREF layer names look much better.

Rick has been involved with the Civil/Survey/Mapping industry and Autodesk products since the early 90s in a variety of roles ranging from a Civil designer and CAD Manager to a trainer, consultant and author.

I’ve taken a number of Civil 3D and Map 3D classes taught by Rick including one at Autodesk University 2008. He is an excellent teacher and writer.

Check out his blog at diggingintocivil3d.blogspot.com.

Download Tutorial (PDF – 3.66 MB)

If you have Civil 3D, the point-style method works the best but today I am going to show you how to use fields to make this happen.

This is our goal:

This block contains a point, an X position field, and a Y position field.

THE POINT

First type POINT on the command line and place the point anywhere in your drawing. Type DDPTYPE to modify the size and style of the point if you’d like. I set mine to a plus sign and set the size to 0.125 in absolute units.

THE NORTHING

Next we are going to create the Northing field. To do this, type ATTDEF. Take a look at the picture to see how I setup the attribute definition.

Your standard text settings may look different than mine, but you get the idea. Make sure “Annotative” is unchecked.

Click the Field button to add a field to the Default attribute:

In the Field dialog box, click the “Select Object” button:

…and select the point object. You will then get something like this:

Select the “Position” property. Set the Format and Precision properties and uncheck the X and Z check-boxes. We are choosing only the Y coordinate because Y equals Northing. Hit OK.

This is the final result in the Attribute Definition dialog box for the Northing attribute.

Hit OK.

THE EASTING

Then follow the same steps for the Easting field by typing ATTDEF…

When creating the Easting field, be sure to check the X check-box and uncheck the Y check-box.

The Attribute Definition dialog box should look something like this:

Notice I checked the box that says, “Align below previous attribute definition”. This will place the EASTING directly under the NORTHING attribute:

FINAL STEPS

Finally WBLOCK the point and attribute definitions. Make sure your insertion point is set to the NODE of the point.

Insert your newly-created block and it should display the Northing and Easting wherever you insert it. Copy it around if you like or array it on a grid.

If you have more time, add even more functionality to your block by turning it into a dynamic block.

What a day it has been! I took classes that gave in-depth instructions on developing pipe structures in Civil 3D, utilizing Map 3D to make drafting easier, editing pipe networks in LandXML, and setting up an multi-user project in Civil 3D without Vault.

But of course I have to tell you about my favorite class…

My favorite class today was titled The Secrets of Cutting Plan and Profile Sheets in AutoCAD Civil 3D taught by Michelle Rasmussen. When Michelle started the class, she put up a slide right away that said, “Efficiency is intelligent laziness – Anonymous.” Wow! Good way to say it. That is exactly what I believe. Throughout the presentation she emphasized the fact that she is lazy and always tries to find the easiest, quickest way to get stuff done. I love it.

The secret to cutting plan and profile sheets in Civil 3D is in the template. Setup your template correctly and you can use it over and over again on various projects. I plan on taking what I’ve learned and applying it back at the office. Some neat things Civil 3D can do for you are:

• Use different profile grids for the design (model space) and plotting (paper space).
• North arrows inserted in paper space can automatically be rotated to match the plan view rotation angle.
• Match lines and text can be customized and formatted in many ways.
• Views can be rotated automatically to align with the alignment.
• And so much more…

So as you can see, these classes are full of really great information that you can take and apply back at the office.

I plan on posting a few tricks that I picked up at AU in the coming days. There is so much to process this week but after it’s all over I will do some experimenting with some cool tools and blog about what I discover.

#AU2008

P.S.
I am looking forward to the AU party and the Design Slam finals tonight.

Simply start a blank drawing, import the ESRI contour shape file using Map 3D, save the drawing as “contour.dwg” (without quotation marks), and close it.

Then customize a script to import the contours and automatically put them on actual elevations based on their object data. Here is an example script to import contours from another drawing:

cmddia
0
ADEDRAWINGS
at
C:\[path-to-folder-with-contour-drawing]\contour.dwg
x
adequery
c
p
on
d
e
:ELEV@Default_contour
x
x
d
l
all
p
and
la
*
x
e
d
ADEDRAWINGS
de
contour.dwg
x
cmddia
1
 

First, copy and paste the above code into Notepad (or similar text editor) and change the path:

C:\[path-to-folder-with-contour-drawing]\contour.dwg

…to point to where your contour drawing is stored.

Second, find the code:

:ELEV@Default_contour

…and modify it. This is a Map 3D expression and it should be modified to match the object data embedded in your contours. To figure out how to create your own expression to work with your data, let’s break it down. The basic expression is as follows:

:[FIELD]@[TABLE]

The code [FIELD] is a field name in an object data table called [TABLE]. If you were to type ADEEDITDATA on the command line and select a contour polyline, you would see something like this:

Notice the table name in this case is called “Default_Contour” and one of the field names is called “ELEV”. Hit OK to close the “Edit Object Data” dialog box.

Another way to look at object data is through the Properties palette. Click on a contour polyline, right-click and select “Properties…”

At the bottom of the “Properties” palette you will find the object data section that looks something like this:

In this example you would take this expression:

:[FIELD]@[TABLE]

…and replace [FIELD] with ELEV, and replace [TABLE] with Default_contour so it looks like this:

:ELEV@Default_contour

Save the file with a .scr extension. Type SCRIPT in AutoCAD to browse for your script file and open it. It will run immediately and you should see your contour data come in on the correct elevations.

Type NOTES on the command line in Civil 3D and you will be prompted to select objects. After you make a selection you will get this dialog box:

Notes tab:

Reference Docs tab:

TIP: To open a reference document, simply double-click on it.

If you add notes or documents to an object, that information will be shown as “Extended Data” in the properties dialog box (click on the “Extended Data” tab):

Click on the Hyperlink field and you will see this:

Click on the Notes field and you will see this:

Click on the Reference Documents field and you will see this:

This is a great way to add additional reference data to objects. For example, you could attach an as-built plan reference to an existing item shown in a base map drawing. This way someone could easily see the source where that item came from.

Command: QSELECT
QSELECT (Quick Select) is a powerful tool to include or exclude objects from a selection set based on Object Type and Properties. Apply it to either the entire drawing or selected objects. I wish there was a command-line version of QSELECT.

Command: FILTER
This is a very advanced tool to filter selections based on object type and properties. The nice thing about the FILTER command is that you can use it transparently within another command: ‘FILTER

Express Tools Command: GETSEL
This command will first prompt you to “Select an object on the Source layer” and then “Select an object of the Type you want”. This will select similar object types on similar layers. After you use GETSEL to create a selection set, run a command (such as MOVE, COPY, etc.) and when it prompts you to select objects, type P for previous.

Civil 3D Command: SelectSimilar
Since I use Civil 3D most of the time, this command is very useful for me. All I have to do is click on one or more objects, right-click and click on “Select Similar” (or type SelectSimilar on the command line). This selects similar object types on similar layers immediately. I can then run a command on those objects.

With the INSPECT command you just hover over entities and it tells you all kinds of useful information quickly.