Undocumented AEC style commands Civil 3D 2011

Everyone is discussing the new undocumented style commands in 2011. They are AECCIMPORTSTYLES and AECCIMPORTSTYLESANDSETTINGS. I have finally sat down to test both of these. I had very high hopes and anticipated these commands would allow users to open any drawing or template and select a group of styles or settings to pull into a master dwg or template. Unfortunately it is meant to import all of your styles from one drawing or template to another. I do encourage the use of AECCIMPORTSTYLES, but be careful. It will override / update any existing style with the same name automatically. It is always cool to find undocumented features, but we have always been able to drag and drop individual and groups of styles from one drawing to another. To import all styles from one drawing or template to another in 2011 or prior versions simple create a new point style. Select the marker tab, check Use AutoCAD BLOCK symbol for marker, right click in block area and select browse. Set dwt or dwg at the bottom and select source. Click ok and all styles are imported to the drawing. The only difference is this does not override existing styles that already exist in the drawing. Yes AECCIMPORTSTYLES is quicker, but it will override existing styles and it only works in 2011.

AECCIMPORTSTYLESANDSETTINGS I thought was going to be the command of the year. Finally I bring all of my default settings from one drawing to another. NOT SO FAST! I set my pipe network feature settings to label my pipes in profile to the top of the structure; I set label defaults and my object layers. Type AECCIMPORTSTYLESANDSETTINGS and nothing updated. This command only brings over a select few of command settings attached to styles. That is it. The name can fool you and now I see why it is undocumented.

Notes:

The drawing or template extension must be typed at the command line along with the name.

The drawing that is being imported must be closed.

Styles with the same name are overridden.

Steps above allow all styles to be imported for prior versions.

There are 3rd party solutions available to pull individual groups over one at a time.

Cursor pauses are annoying

Shortly after opening a client drawing my mouse continuously paused every time I moved the mouse over points. I thought this was due to QP being on at the bottom, but it continued after I turned it off. I also noticed a couple of hundred point styles and about that many labels styles. I blamed that until I opened a new drawing with NSC template and imported all of these styles. I soon realized it was because of the points in the drawing. To remove annoying pauses from points type CUI at the command line. Locate rollover tips, and unselect display elements for cogo points. To turn all rollover tips off at once type it at the command line and enter 0.

Civil 3D 2011 VBA conversion dialog

Shortly after opening Civil 3D 2011 you will open your existing 2010 files and the dialog box below is displayed.

Below is an explanation of each option, the short version is to convert to .NET if you started using Civil 3D in 2009 or 2010. I have downloaded the VBA module to remove the error every time I open a drawing in a previous version and I convert VBA-based subassemblies to .NET to achieve optimal performance when generating corridor models.

The 1st option – recommended for 2009 and 2010 users

Convert the VBA content to .NET, this will enhance performance (corridor design). It is not recommended to convert the data if the pipe rule set was modified in Civil 3D 2008, or earlier versions of Civil 3D because you will lose any VBA changes you made to C3DPipeNetworkRules.dvb.

The 2nd option – recommended to remove error message and for 2008 or later dwgs.

I would only suggest downloading VBA for anyone using VBA, tired of receiving the message or are working with modified rule files from 2008 versions. If you have downloaded VBA Modules you can still convert to .NET by simply typing _AeccConvertVBARulesToDotNet at the command line for pipe rules and _AeccConvertVBASAsToDotNET for Assemblies and subassemblies.

The 3rd option – not recommended

The only reason I can think of, would be if you can’t download the VBA data or not going to save the drawing in 2011. I was hoping this option would allow opening drawings in 2011 and still sharing my drawings with 2010 users, but it didn’t prevail. Like prior versions once the object data is saved in 2011 it shows as proxy objects in prior versions.

*Civil 3D Object data must be exported as XML and imported for previous versions to recognize them for editing.

*Not sure what version the pipe rules were created in? Download VBA, the error message will not be displayed and the only thing you may notice would be some performance when applying rules. Besides a single network can have a mix of parts that point to VBA-based and .NET-based part rules.

The Ribbon, and the Quick Access Toolbar

The first time I opened Civil 3D 2010 and saw the RIBBON my head spun around like the girl in the Exorcist. Remember that movie? I will spare you the pictures of it, but I’m not kidding; everything I learned up to that point in Civil 3D had been moved or modified. I couldn’t believe it, and I didn’t see any advantage at the time. After taking a deep breath and spinning my head back to the forward direction I have become a custom to it. Pick any Civil 3D object and the ribbon automatically arranges commands to help you find the correct tools.
Now, I was taught back in the DOS days that the fewest amount of clicks made users more efficient. So using the ribbon choose the modify tab, actually pick any tab except for Home. Notice the layer option is gone. It will take one click to select home and another to get back to layers. An easy way to set the most common commands is to modify each ribbon or easily assign them to the access toolbar.

Default Quick Access Toolbar

 
 
 
 
 
 

Simply right click on any command and add it to the quick access toolbar.

 

Modified Quick Access Toolbar

Instantly apply description key file to update points

I recently taught a class, and it reminded me of all the little commands that I have taken for granted or practically forgot about until prompted to remember. I  plan to post at least one per day and eventually post them on my website into categories to share with you and to help me remember all of the little commands that save us time.

 





The pictures speak for themselves, edit point description, right click; apply description keys and the point styles are updated instantly.
 

 

Maximize Corridor performance

Rebuilding large corridors is very time consuming due to the amount of data that is calculated. A straightforward and essential way to improve corridor performance is to concentrate on individual regions at a time. This is accomplished by using the Isolate Region command. Corridor rebuilds only calculate the isolated portion.

The Isolate region command is available from the right click menu after selecting the corridor. The selected region will be isolated.

The Modify Ribbon is another simple way to isolate a region. The steps below are for the 2011 release, and are in 2010. Use Show all regions to display the entire corridor.

This is one solution to assist in corridor performance, review the assembly frequency rate, section swath

width, and code set styles to achieve optimal results.


Below is a custom command for working with multiple corridors. It offers rebuilding all of them or only the out of date corridors. (corridors not regions)
http://www.stefandidak.com/ramble/2009/11/12/rebuilding-all-or-all-out-of-date-corridors-in-autodesk-civil-3d-2010/

Graphically edit Cut and Fill Slopes

Civil 3D has so many colabrative tools, this one is a hidden function that is very useful and easy to use.

Graphically editing cut and fill slopes provide intuitive design edits and updates on the fly. After creating and sampling corridor sections. Use the View/Edit Corridor Section command; locate the station required for editing.

Hold down control and select the cut or fill slope.

Grips will appear for editing purposes. Select the square grip where the slope meets the surface.

To assure the slope meets existing ground use the nearest osnap when selecting the surface. The modified slope should now be inside the ROW for this section.

Each section is modified individually and updates are shown in planview as well.

Edits are quick and efficient, but not suitable for all designs. If this is a consistent issue, look at different subassembly for desirable results. I would recommend DaylightInsideROW to start.

Structure Leader Solu-Around

The new Label Leader command in Civil 3D 2010 has provided us with a very popular SOLU-AROUND. We now have the ability to drag the profile structure label left or right of the structure and the leader remains at the top of the structure.

No I’m not kidding, I haved looked for this since the 2007 version!

Let’s look at 3 simple steps to conclude this solution.

• Select the label and drag it directly above the structure. (Confirm ortho is on before dragging)
• Right click, and select Toggle Label Pin
• 
  
  Select the rectangular grip (marked with the pin) and drag it to display properly

Video Tech Tip of this feature will be posted on ADSKsolutions.com when available.

Newer version of Civil 3D will require users to follow these updated steps.

Turn ortho on (must do this)

Drag the label straight up

Select the + grip that is ½ way up and drag it out

Right click to pin the leader

Now select the label grip and move it to the right location.

Civil 3D 2011 here before the Easter Bunny

First the good news, when you open 2011 the interface remains the same so you won’t say Oh S#*%! this year.

It is now available in 64-bit operating systems.



Very popular - split and merge pipe networks

No more solu-around for Data shortcuts
Associate Project to Current Drawing
Associate Project to Multiple Drawings

Bounded Volumes command now allows you to set the datum elevation instead of using 0

Subscription pack commands have been included

See all new features, and enhancements......

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=8777380#channels_BIM%20for%20Civil%20Engineering

TEMPLATE POB (Point of Beginning)

Clients implementing Civil 3D the first time are constantly asking for advice setting up their template and building styles. Most clients are torn between the two templates that Autodesk provides with Civil 3D, the Initial Setup-Civil-Imperial.dwt and the _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS.dwt.

Both templates have their own advantages.

The Setup template allows a user to start from scratch, build their own styles and add layers. This ensures a clean template when it's complete, but you have no examples of styles to work off of and typically involves more time.

The National CAD Standards template seems perfect at first, it's filled with content, but users soon realize that you have to manage way too many layers, and you can't delete layers because they are attach to styles.
Most common suggestion is to open the NCS template and use these styles as an example to recreate the styles in the Setup template. It would be convenient to drag these layers from one template to another, but the layers are attached and will come into your clean template.

TEMPLATE POB (Point of Beginning)  SOLU-AROUND

Open NCS template and in seconds remove all layers from the template. This provides the necessary styles and examples to configure. Browse the settings tree and simply input your layers in each style as required. Please remember this only provides a POB. Content through-out the template remains to be configured. This includes object layers.

*This solu-around also provides clean styles for use in any drawing or template.

Start a new drawing based on the NCS template and type LAYMRG at the command line or from the home tab, locate the layers ribbon and click the pulldown. Select merge from the right hand side. Once the command is invoked type N at the command line to select names, highlight all layers and click ok, press enter to complete the task, and type N again at the command line. Make sure layer 0 is highlighted and click ok. Answer yes and all layers have been merged to layer 0. All styles are now set to layer 0 and are ready to be assigned or dragged to another drawing.