The Macro:

^C^Cscript;P:/GIS/XREF-CITY-MAP.scr;(alert "Pick two diagonal points to define the import area.");(setq firstp (getpoint "Pick first point: "));\(setq secondp (getpoint "Pick second point: "));\script;P:/GIS/IMPORT-STREETNAMES.scr;

I’ll break it down for you.

The first part of the macro…

script;P:/GIS/XREF-CITY-MAP.scr;

…XREFs a map into the drawing so you can visually pan and zoom to your location. Here is the contents of “XREF-CITY-MAP.scr”:

-layer
n
X-BASE
s
X-BASE

-xref
a
P:\GIS\City-Map.dwg
0,0,0
1
1
0

The middle part of the macro…

(alert "Pick two diagonal points to define the import area.");(setq firstp (getpoint "Pick first point: "));\(setq secondp (getpoint "Pick second point: "));\

…creates an alert box telling the user to pick two diagonal points to define a rectangular area which will be used in the query. Notice that I am defining the coordinates for “firstp” and “secondp” and using back slashes (\) to pause for user input.

The last part of the macro…

script;P:/GIS/IMPORT-STREETNAMES.scr;

…defines and executes the Map 3D query. Here is the contents of “IMPORT-STREETNAMES.scr”:

-xref
d
*
ADEDRAWINGS
al
d
P
a
P
P:
x
at
P:\GIS\Street_Names.dwg
x
adequery
c
p
c
x
d
l
w
c
!firstp
!secondp
p
and
la
*
x
e
d
ADEDRAWINGS
de
Street_Names.dwg
x

Notice that I used “!firstp” and “!secondp” in the script to input the coordinates defined earlier in the macro.

I hope this helps you see the power of macros and scripts. If this is foreign to you, take some time to learn the basics of creating macros.

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.

Check out these Civil 3D inquiry commands:
CGCLIST – Lists line and arc information.
CGSLIST – Lists slope information.
CGCDIST – Measures distance from either a single base point or continuous distances added up.
CGADIST – Add distances by typing a number, clicking two points, or selecting numeric text.
CGANG – Returns the angle between two lines.

If you are at all familiar with creating queries in Map 3D, you already know it is possible to do what I mentioned above. If you are not familiar with queries, simply put, a query is a way to grab entities from another drawing, based on object data and properties, and bring it into your current drawing. In this tip I am not going to get into the details of creating queries, but I am going to show you how to make a simple macro to import everything from one drawing into another, within the area of a rectangle. You need Map 3D or Civil 3D to do this.

Create a button, and add this code to the command macro:

^C^Ccmddia;0;ZOOM;EXTENTS;ADEDRAWINGS;at;C:/YOUR/DRAWING/PATH/DrawingName.dwg;x;adequery;p;of;x;c;d;l;w;c;\\p;and;la;*;x;e;d;ADEDRAWINGS;de;DrawingName.dwg;x;cmddia;1;REGENALL;

Replace “C:/YOUR/DRAWING/PATH/DrawingName.dwg” with the path to the drawing from which you want to import objects. Be sure to use forward slashes (/). If you use back slashes (\) it will pause the macro for user input.

Also be sure to replace the second “DrawingName.dwg” with the name of the same drawing you specified above.

That’s all there is to it! Click on the button you created, click two points to create a rectangle, and if there are objects in the rectangular area you specified, they will appear in your current drawing.

I even created a button with a macro to automate the insertion and clipping of the ortho photo:

^C^Cfiledia;0;cmddia;0;-LAYER;N;Z_ORTHO;S;Z_ORTHO;C;1;Z_ORTHO;P;N;Z_ORTHO;;MAPIINSERT;S:/DATA/ortho/cortho2005.sid;Y;ZOOM;E;filedia;1;cmddia;1;-LAYER;S;0;;(ssget "x" (list (cons 8 "Z_ORTHO")));DRAWORDER;P;;B;(alert (strcat "Pick 2 points to draw a rectangle in the area you want to show the ortho photo."));IMAGECLIP;P;N;\\^C^CZOOM;E;(alert (strcat "Click on the RED box to make the photo appear. Otherwise hit ESC a few times."));\MAPISHOWIMAGE;