NOTES Module 03 Settings and Styles In this module, you learn about the various settings and styles that are used in AutoCAD Civil 3D. A strong understanding of these basics leads to more efficient use of the software and more consistency in the creation of design and production drawings. Objectives After completing this module, you will be able to: Create styles that control the display of Civil 3D objects. Create styles to annotate Civil 3D objects. Make modifications to object and label styles. Copy styles from one drawing to another drawing. Change drawing level, parent level, and child level styles and settings. Use drawing settings and viewport scaling to control text size. Use command settings to set default styles and object naming templates. Create a drawing template (DWT) file with customized styles and settings.
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES Notes This module introduces you to various styles and settings in the AutoCAD Civil 3D working environment. Data for this module resides in the..\autocad Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum\Module 03 - Settings and Styles\ folder. The drawing data for this module is independent of units. You will find the required drawings in both the\imperial and \Metric folders. Student Exercises The following exercises are provided in step-by-step format. Open the AutoCAD Civil 3D program prior to beginning the lesson by double-clicking the Civil 3D icon on your desktop. This module is not dependent on units, so there are no separate imperial and metric drawings. You are required to work with the drawing provided with each exercise. The exercises for Module 03 are as follows: 1. Examine Existing Object Display Styles 2. Create Object Display Styles 3. Create Object Annotation (Label) Styles 4. Modify Object and Label Styles 5. Use Styles Hierarchy to Modify Styles and Settings 6. Modify Drawing Settings, Viewport Scaling, and Text Size 7. Use Command Settings to Set Default Styles, Naming Templates, and Parameters 8. Create a Custom Drawing Template (DWT) File 03-2
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES Settings and Styles AutoCAD Civil 3D is an object-oriented design environment with defined interactions between civil design objects. When you modify object and label styles associated with an object, the display of the objects automatically updates. Drawing settings and styles are among the most important elements to understand for creating design files; whether you work for yourself, for a small company, or for a large engineering firm or government agency. Proper settings and styles can greatly aid in the efficiency and sharing of data. Much time can be wasted creating layers in files and inserting common blocks, when this can be handled automatically with template drawing files. Standards for such items as layer names, block symbols, label conventions, and profile plots help organizations deal with drawings that are shared between different groups or individuals. Clients for civil engineering firms have requirements for standards to fit their particular needs and companies must submit design drawings using these standards. Frequently, companies do not pay sufficient attention to standardization or to analyzing drawing content. Without standardization, sharing data, copying objects, or inserting objects from one drawing to another is more difficult. The National CAD Standard (NCS) is an United States industry consortium that promotes the use of common standards (http://www.nationalcadstandard.org/ ). AutoCAD Civil 3D contains several template drawing files created to conform to the NCS standards. 03-3
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES Key Terms Object Styles Label Styles Style Hierarchy Viewport Template Files AutoCAD Standard Settings and Styles Civil 3D Standard Settings and Styles Object styles control the display of Civil 3D objects. Every object has an assigned object style. Different object styles serve different purposes during the design process. Label styles control the display of the annotation assigned to objects. Label styles are chosen when objects are created. You can change the labels assigned to an object anytime. You choose different label styles to annotate different types of information. Settings and styles are saved in a descending hierarchy. Drawing settings and styles are the top level, followed by collection settings, and then individual settings. Lower level settings and styles can override a higher level default value. A layout (paper space) object that allows a view into model space for plotting purposes. A viewport s scale determines the final plotted scale on paper. A layout can have multiple viewports with different shapes and scales. Template files can contain standard AutoCAD settings, layers, linetypes, and text style definitions. In addition, template files can include any Civil 3D drawing information in either the Settings tree (including Civil 3D settings, styles, label styles, tables, description keys, and point import/export formats) or the Prospector tree (including any Civil 3D object, such as point groups). Template files have a.dwt extension and should be located on a network drive for all users to share. For example; layer names and visibility settings, text styles, dimension styles, paper space layout definitions, and symbol definitions. Drawing settings, object styles, label styles, predefined point groups, and predefined surfaces 03-4
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES EXERCISE 1: EXAMINE EXISTING OBJECT DISPLAY STYLES In this exercise, you examine the existing styles for objects and labels. No visible changes will be made to the drawing during this exercise. For this exercise, open...\module 03 Settings and Styles\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX1.dwg. Examine the existing point and point label style in use. 1. In Prospector, click Points to view the points in the drawing in the Item View area. 03-5
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 2. Right-click any point in the Toolspace Item View area and select Zoom To to navigate to the selected point. The point uses a point style showing an X and a point label showing the point number, elevation, and description with three different colors. The description spot indicates that this is a spot elevation. 3. Expand the Point Groups tree. 4. Right-click _All Points and click Properties. 03-6
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES Notice that the _All Points point group has no active point or point label style. 5. Click Cancel to close the Point Group Properties dialog box. Examine the point settings for the Existing Topo point group. 6. Right-click Existing Topo and click Properties. Notice that this group uses the Basic point style and the Point#-Elevation- Description point label style. In the Properties dialog box, you can change the point and point label styles that are assigned to the point groups. 7. Click the down arrow for the default point style to view the point style selection options. 03-7
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 8. Click the down arrow again to close the list without making a change. 9. Click Cancel to close the Point Group Properties dialog box. You can assign a point style and point label style to each point group. All points are a member of the _All Points point group. Therefore, if a point is a member of another point group, such as Existing Topo, it is a member of two groups, each of which can have its own point and point label styles. It is common practice to set the styles for the _All Points point group to None, but there is a priority order for the point group styles. This is called point group sort order. 10. Right-click the Point Groups tree and select Properties. The list of point groups appears in the top to bottom priority order. The 03-8
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES arrow keys on the right enable you to alter the Point Group sort order. 11. Click _All Points and click the up arrow. Click OK. The points are no longer visible because the point style and label style assigned to the _All Points point group takes priority. 12. Repeat step 11 and move the Existing Topo point group to the top of the list. The points are visible again. 13. In Toolspace, click the Settings tab. 14. Expand the Point tree, and then expand the Point Styles tree. You see the same point styles that were available in the Point Group Properties dialog box. The orange triangle marker to the left of the Basic style indicates that it is in use, either for a point group or for a description key. 15. Click the minus sign (-) to close the Point Styles tree. 16. Expand the Label Styles tree. Notice the Point#-Elevation-Description label style is active, which you 03-9
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES saw in the properties for the Existing Topo point group. 17. Close the drawing and do not save the changes. 03-10
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES EXERCISE 2: CREATE OBJECT DISPLAY STYLES In this exercise, you create new styles to control object display. When you complete this exercise, your screen should resemble the following illustration: For this exercise open \Module 03 Settings and Styles\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX2.dwg. 1. In the Toolspace Settings tab, expand the Point and Point Styles trees. 2. Right-click Point Styles and click New. 3. On the Information tab, for name, enter Topo. 4. For Description, enter Ground Shots. 5. Click the Marker Tab. There are three options for the type of marker: 1) The AutoCAD Point marker 2) A custom marker 3) An AutoCAD Block symbol A custom marker X is the current choice and a preview of the point and point label style is shown on the right. 03-11
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES Your client prefers a different symbol to indicate a spot elevation. 6. Click the Box option in the custom marker section of the dialog box. This creates a compound marker made of a box and an X. Notice the preview window area. 7. Click the 3D Geometry tab. 8. To the right of the Point Display Mode Property, click in the Value box to view the down arrow. 9. Click the down arrow. When the graphic display is in 3D mode, the point style can use the three options displayed in the list as shown. 10. Click the down arrow again to leave the Use Point Elevation option unchanged. 11. Click the Display tab. Notice the View Direction box is set to Plan; both the Marker and the Label are set to be visible, on layer 0, and the color is by block. 12. Click the View Direction down arrow. Select Model. 03-12
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES Notice that the marker and the label will not display when viewing in Model (3D) view. 13. Click the Summary tab. Expand the various Property trees. These properties can be modified on this tab by clicking in the Value fields. 14. Click OK. The new Topo point style is created and appears in the Point Styles list. 15. Click the Prospector Tab. 16. Right-click the Existing Topo Point Group. Select Properties. 17. Click the Point style down arrow. Click Topo to make this the active style for this Point Group. 03-13
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 18. Click OK. 19. Right-click a point in the Item View. Select Zoom To. Notice that the points are displayed using the new point style. 20. Close the drawing and do not save the changes. 03-14
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES EXERCISE 3: CREATE OBJECT ANNOTATION (LABEL) STYLES In this exercise, you create label styles for point objects. When you complete this exercise, your screen should resemble the following illustration: For this exercise open \Module 03 Settings and Styles\ I_SettingsAndStyles-EX3.dwg. 1. In Toolspace, click the Settings tab. 2. Expand the Point tree, and then expand the Label Styles tree. Notice that the Point#-Elevation-Description label style is active. 3. Right-click the Point#-Elevation-Description label style. Click Copy. You will make a new style similar to this one, so using the Copy command is efficient. 4. Click the Information tab. 5. For Name, enter Elevation Only. 03-15
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 6. Click the General tab. 7. Under Label, click the Value for Visibility. Click the down arrow and select False. Notice the preview window changes by only showing the point marker with no label. All three label components are not visible. Also notice the layer on which the labels will be placed is V-NODE-TEXT. This setting will not work because you want the elevation label component to be visible. 8. Return the value to True. 9. Click the Layout tab. 10. At the top of the tab, click the down arrow under Component name. Notice that the properties in the box below can be modified for the selected component. 11. Select the Point Description component. Change the General Visibility value to False. 12. Select the Point Number component. Change the General Visibility value to False. 03-16
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES 13. Select the Point Elev component. 14. Click the Text-Text Height value cell. Enter 0.08. 15. Click the Text- Color Value cell. Click the small color palette icon on the right of the cell. 16. Click green (color 3) in the Select Color dialog box. Click OK. The preview box should show only a green elevation property. 17. Click the Summary tab to view the properties for the components. 18. Click OK to create the new label style. Notice that the new style appears in the list of available label styles. 19. In Toolspace, click the Prospector tab. 20. Expand the Point Groups tree. 21. Right-click the Existing Topo Point Group. Click Properties. 22. In the Default styles section of the dialog box, click the down arrow below Point label style. 03-17
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 23. Select the Elevation Only style. 24. Click OK to make this the current label style for the Existing Topo point group. 25. Zoom into a point to view the new style. You can create a style and copy it to another drawing. 26. Click the Prospector tab. Switch to Master View. 27. Expand the Drawing Templates tree. 28. Right-click the top choice (Autodesk Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS Base. Click Create New Drawing. The new drawing is now be the active drawing. 29. Click the Settings tab. 30. Switch to Master View to see the styles for both open drawings. 31. In Settings, expand Points and Label Styles for I_SettingsAndStyles-EX3. 32. Drag the style and drop it into the graphic window of the new drawing. 33. In the Settings tab, expand Points and Label Styles for Drawing2.dwg, the new drawing. The style has been added to the new drawing. 03-18
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES 34. Click the Prospector tab. Right-click the new drawing name and click Close. Click No to the save drawing query. 35. Close both drawings and do not save the changes. 03-19
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES EXERCISE 4: MODIFY OBJECT AND LABEL STYLES In this exercise, you modify existing styles for parcel objects and labels. When you complete this exercise, your screen should resemble the following illustration: For this exercise, open \Module 03 Settings and Styles\ I_SettingsAndStyles-EX4.dwg. 1. In Toolspace, click the Prospector tab. 2. Expand the Sites tree, and then expand the Block Parcels site. 3. Click Block Parcels. Notice the preview of the Block Parcels in the Item View below. There are two settings required to activate the preview. First, ensure that the magnifying glass icon at the top of the Toolspace window is turned on. Second, right-click Parcels in the Block Parcels site and select Show Preview. 03-20
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES 4. Click in the preview and drag to rotate it in 3D. 5. Expand the Parcels tree. Click Single-Family: 8. Notice the preview of Parcel 8 in the Item view below. 6. Right-click Single-Family: 8. Select Zoom To. Parcel 8 appears to have two separate colors bounding it. There are actually two separate parcel boundary styles being used; one for the 03-21
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES overall Parcels collection and another for the individual parcels. 7. In Prospector, right-click Single Family: Parcel 8. Click Properties. 8. Click the Information tab. Notice that the Object Style for Parcel 8 is Single-Family. 9. Click Cancel. 10. Right-click the Parcels tree. Click Properties. Notice that the Site parcel style is Property and the Site area label style is Parcel Number. In the Parcel style display order, note the two parcel styles and the up and down arrows on the right. 11. In the Parcel style display order box, click Single-Family. Click the up 03-22
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES arrow. Click OK. You should see the boundary of Parcel 8 change to magenta because the Single-Family style is taking precedence. If not, regenerate the drawing. 12. In Toolspace, click the Settings tab. 13. Expand the Parcel tree, and then expand the Parcel Styles tree. 14. Right-click Single-Family. Click Edit. 15. Click the Display tab. Notice that the Parcel Segments are visible, but the Parcel Area Fill is not. 16. Click the Visible icon (lightbulb) to turn on the Parcel Area Fill. Click OK. 17. Zoom out to see all the parcels on the site. Notice that all of the parcels are filled with a magenta hatch. 18. Right-click the Single-Family Parcel style. Click Edit. 19. Click the Display tab. Turn off Parcel Area Fill. Click OK. 20. Zoom into Parcel 8 again. 21. Click Parcels > Add Parcel Labels > Add Parcel Labels. 03-23
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES Notice the Label style is Single Segment, so one line segment is labeled. The Line Label style is Bearing Over Distance. 22. Click Add. 23. Click each of the four boundary lines surrounding Parcel 8. 24. Click Close. 25. In the Settings tab, expand the Parcel tree. 26. Expand the Label Styles tree and expand the Line tree. 03-24
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES Notice that the Bearing over Distance style is in use. 27. Right-click the Bearing over Distance style. Click Edit. 28. In the Label Style Composer dialog box, click the Layout tab. 29. Change the Component name to Bearing. 30. Click in Text Color. Click the color palette. 31. Click red (color 1) and click OK. 32. Click OK to accept the changes to the Bearing over Distance style. Notice that the bearings on the Parcel 8 line labels change to red. You may have to enter REGEN and press ENTER to see these changes. 33. Close the drawing and do not save the changes. 03-25
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES EXERCISE 5: USE STYLES HIERARCHY TO MODIFY STYLES AND SETTINGS In this exercise, you modify drawing and collection level settings, which can modify multiple styles at once. The hierarchy of these settings and how overrides work is thoroughly explained. It is vital to understand that Civil 3D is designed to handle individual objects, and at a higher level, collections of objects. Settings or styles that are set for a collection of objects are referred to as parent, or higher level settings. Individual objects, or child, settings can be altered to override a parent setting. The drawing level is the highest level and settings altered at this level set the values for settings in the entire drawing. When you complete this exercise, your drawing will be returned to its original state: For this exercise, or open \Module 03 Settings and Styles\ I_SettingsAndStyles-EX5.dwg. 1. Click the Settings tab. 2. Expand the Point tree and the Label Styles tree. 3. Right-click the Point#-Elevation-Description style. Click Edit. 4. Click the Layout tab. 5. Set the Component name to Point Description and change the Text Text Height value to 0.4. Press ENTER. 03-26
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES Notice the change in the Point Description size in the Preview window. 6. In the Preview window, roll your mouse wheel to zoom in or out, and click and drag to modify the preview to a rotated and/or 3D view. 7. Click OK. You will need to assign this point label style to the Existing Topo point group in order to see the changes. 8. Click the Prospector tab. Expand the Point Groups tree. 9. Right-click Existing Topo and click Properties. 10. Click the down arrow under Point Label Style and change the current style to Point#-Elevation-Description. 03-27
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 11. Click OK. The point label style changes for point group. 12. Click the Settings tab. 13. Right-click the Label Styles collection. Click Edit Label Style Defaults. Changing values for the defaults will affect the entire collection. 14. Expand the Components tree. Examine the values. Notice the Text Height is set to 0.1. Also, in the Child Override column, both Text Height and Color have an arrow. This means that at a lower (individual object style) level, different values are currently set to override the values for the collection. Remember that you set the Text Height for one style to 0.4. You can turn off the override, reversing the style change you made previously. Note: You may not see the arrows in the Child Override column. 15. Click the arrow for Text Height in the Child Override column. 03-28
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES A red X appears on top of the arrow. 16. Click OK. 17. Enter REGEN. Press ENTER at the command line. Notice on the graphic screen that the Point Description component has reverted to the 0.1 default value, overriding the change made earlier. 18. Under the Point tree, right-click the Label Styles collection. Click Edit Label Style Defaults. 19. Expand the Components collection. Notice the empty check boxes in the Override column. You can use these boxes to override a higher level (drawing) default value. You can also use the lock icons to disallow override values. 20. Expand the other Property trees to examine the other settings and style that can be set at the Point Label Styles level. 21. Click Cancel. 22. Right-click the Point collection. Click Edit Label Style Defaults. The setting and style defaults at this level control all collections inside the Point collection. 23. Click Cancel. 24. Again, right-click the Point tree. Click Edit Feature Settings. 25. Expand the Default Styles tree. Notice the default Point and Point Label Styles that are set. These are the styles that are assigned to points when they are first created. 03-29
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 26. Expand other Property trees to examine the settings and styles that can be set at the Point collection level. 27. Click Cancel. 28. Right-click the drawing name at the top of the Settings View. Click Edit Label Style Defaults. 29. Expand the Components tree. Here you can edit the label style defaults for all labels in the drawing: point labels, parcel labels, or any other kind of label. 30. Expand the other Property trees to examine the other settings and style that can be set at the drawing level. 31. Click Cancel. 32. Close the drawing and do not save the changes. 03-30
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES EXERCISE 6: MODIFY DRAWING SETTINGS, VIEWPORT SCALING, AND TEXT SIZE In this exercise you learn how style settings and Layout Viewport scales work together to give correct text size on a final drawing plot. Most plotting is done from a layout (paper space) and not model space. The text height settings in the Settings tab refer to the plotted height on paper, not model space height. Text in model space can appear to be very large or small depending on the model space scale setting. It is good practice to set the model space scale the same, or close to, the final plotted scale. When you complete this exercise, your screen should resemble the following illustration: For this exercise, open \Module 03 Settings and Styles\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX6.dwg. 1. Click the Settings tab. 2. Right-click the drawing name and click Edit Drawing Settings. 03-31
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 3. Click the Units and Zone tab. Changing the drawing units from feet to meters or vice versa in this dialog box does not result in a rescale of the drawing from feet to meters. In civil engineering design, you typically keep in mind whether an AutoCAD unit refers to one foot or one meter. The value in this dialog box changes the AutoCAD units variable, which affects the length values generated for object label styles and also controls the optional scaling of objects inserted from other drawings with different units. You can set the Angular units to Degrees, Grads, or Radians. The settings in the Zone section of this dialog box affect which datum, projection, and coordinate system are being used in the drawing. If the coordinates do not align with any larger coordinate system and are strictly local coordinates, this should be set to No Datum, No Projection. 03-32
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES 4. Click the down arrow for Categories in the Zone section of the dialog box. Notice the various coordinate systems available for the drawing. 5. Click the down arrow again to leave the value unchanged. 6. Click the down arrow under Scale at the upper right of the dialog box. Examine the various scales that are available. The scale setting affects model space annotation as well as the scale used if plotting from model space. Plotting from model space is not a common practice; most users plot from paper space. This setting does not affect paper space scaling. Distances on the drawing measured by the DIST command will not be affected by the scale setting. However, the relative size of the features (alignments, parcels, and so on) to the Point and Label Style sizes will change depending on the model space setting. The text changes size, not the objects. 7. Click on 1 = 100. 8. Click Apply. Notice that the text labels and symbols appear to be very large. You do not modify the label and style settings to change this, you only need to change the model space scale. The text labels and feature symbol sizes controlled in the Toolspace Settings tab are intended to set the final plotted size on paper. 03-33
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 9. Change the scale setting back to 1 = 40. Click Apply. 10. Click the Object Layers tab. Here you can set all of the default layer names for all of the objects in Civil 3D. Take note of several of the layer names: Alignments are set to C-ROAD; Assemblies are set to C-ROAD-ASSM. 11. In the Drawing Settings dialog box, click Cancel. 12. Click the down arrow for the Layer Properties palette. Notice the layer names in the drawings match the Drawing Settings dialog box. Layer names should be set up before beginning a project either by creating your own layer names, or preferably using a template file with layers already defined. 03-34
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES 13. Right-click the drawing name. Click Edit Drawing Settings. 14. Click the Ambient Settings tab. Expand and close trees to view the many types of drawing settings that can be modified. The next section of this exercise discusses the issues of plot scales and label sizes. You should be familiar with the basics of layouts and viewports. First, you verify the model space scale setting. 15. Click the Units and Zone tab. The scale setting should be 1 = 40 ; otherwise, change it. It is a good idea to try and work at a model space scale that is similar to your final output scale. 16. Click OK. Next, you review the text height settings for points. The text height setting reflects the actual printed height of the text on paper and will not change if the viewport scale is changed. 03-35
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 17. In the Settings tab, expand the Point tree and then expand the Label Styles tree. 18. Right-click the Point#-Description-Elevation style. Click Edit. 19. Click the Layout tab. Verify that the Text Text height is set to 0.1. This is the actual plotted height for the point label text. 20. Click Cancel. 21. Click the Layout1 tab at the bottom of the drawing area. The text appears to be very large when compared to the parcels. You need to check the viewport scale. 22. Click the viewport border. Right-click and click Properties. 23. Click the down arrow in the Standard scale cell and select 1 =40. 03-36
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES The drawing zooms to the 1 = 40 scale, but the text appears extremely large. You need to regenerate the drawing while in model space. 24. Enter regenall. Press ENTER. The text resizes to the 0.1 height setting. 03-37
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES Remember not to zoom while in model space because you will change the viewport scale. Try this process for other scale settings. 25. Close the drawing and do not save the changes. 03-38
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES EXERCISE 7: USE COMMAND SETTINGS TO SET DEFAULT STYLES, NAME TEMPLATES, AND PARAMETERS In this exercise, you use the command settings to set default styles, object naming templates, and default parameters for some of the objects. No visible changes will be made to the drawing during this exercise. For this exercise open \Module 03 Settings and Styles\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX7.dwg. 1. Click the Settings tab. 2. Expand the Point tree. Expand the Commands tree. You can specify defaults for styles, parameters, and naming conventions for each command in the Objects collection. 3. Right-click the CreatePoints command. Select Edit Command Settings. 4. Expand the Default Layer and the Default Styles trees. Notice the default layer is 0, the default point style is Basic, and the default Point Label Style is Point#-Elevation-Description. When new points are created, these styles will be used unless you modify these settings beforehand. 03-39
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 5. Under Default Styles, click Point Style. Click the icon. 6. Select the Topo style from the drop-down list. Click OK. Notice the default point style has changed and a check mark has been placed in the override box to the right because this setting now overrides the settings at a higher level. 7. Click OK in the Edit Command Settings dialog box. 8. In the Settings tab, expand the Surface and Commands trees. 9. Right-click the AddContourLabelingSingle command. Click Edit Command Settings. Note: You can also double-click AddContourLabelingSingle to edit the command settings. 10. Expand the Labeling tree. The Labeling Prompt Method is set to Command Line. 11. Click Command Line to see the drop-down arrow. Click the drop-down arrow to see the choices. You can control how Civil 3D interacts with you through these settings. Many of these settings are the same within the Surface Commands collection. 03-40
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES 12. Click Cancel to close the Edit Command Settings dialog box. 13. Right-click the CreateSurface Command. Click Edit Command Settings. 14. Expand the Labeling tree to view the Labeling Prompt Method. 15. Expand the Build Options tree. These settings control various options used in building a surface. Notice you can control elevations above or below given values by changing the No value to a Yes value, and then entering an elevation in the following value cell. Maximum Triangle Side Length can be set the same way. You can allow or disallow crossing breaklines. These settings modify the algorithm to build surfaces. 16. Close the Build Options tree. Expand the Default Name Format. The default name for a surface is defined here. It is currently set to Surface<[Next Counter(CP)]>, which means the default surface names will be numbered sequentially: Surface1, Surface2, and so on. 17. Click in the value cell, click the icon. The Name Template dialog box opens as a method to modify default names. 03-41
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 18. Highlight and delete Surface<[Next Counter(CP)]> in the Name field. 19. Click the down arrow for Property fields. The Name Template dialog box is common to all types of objects. For Surfaces, only a Next Counter property is available. Other objects have multiple properties that can be used for default names. 20. Click Insert. 21. Click in the Name field to the left of the Next Counter. 22. Enter Surface #. Note that the settings for incremental numbers can be modified in the lower section of the dialog box. 23. Click Cancel. 24. Expand the Volume Property tree. Examine the type of settings that can be modified, such as the units, precision, rounding method, and sign convention. 03-42
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES 25. Click Cancel. 26. Click File menu > Save to save the changes made. Many types of default styles, naming conventions, and algorithm parameters can be set using the Commands tree. 27. Close the drawing and do not save the changes. 03-43
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES EXERCISE 8: CREATE A CUSTOM DRAWING TEMPLATE (DWT) FILE In this exercise, you customize styles and settings and save them in a template file. No visible changes will be made to the drawing during this exercise. For this exercises open \Module 03 Settings and Styles\I_SettingsAndStyles-EX8.dwg. Setting up a template drawing that contains all of the required settings, styles, layers, blocks, and parameters that can be used repetitively can save time and energy. If you are working in a drawing in which you have made the changes you want, you can save these settings to a template file. In general, a good procedure to create a template file from a working drawing is as follows: Make a copy of your working drawing in case anything goes wrong. Erase all objects in the drawing and purge any undesired blocks. Ensure that you have a solid layer standard setup per your company or client requirements. National CAD Standard (NCS) is a good place to start. Check the drawing settings and be sure that the object layers are set up to coincide with the layer standards being used. Check the rest of the drawing settings, including units and ambient settings. Modify any lower level collection or individual styles and settings, including Command settings. Save the file as a template (DWT) file. All of these settings will be used for any new drawing that is created using this template file. 1. Click the Model tab. 2. Use Windows Explorer to make a copy of your current drawing as a backup. Erase all objects in the current drawing and purge undesired blocks. 3. Click Layer Properties Manager. Ensure that all layers are on and thawed. 03-44
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES 4. Click Auto-hide on the Layer Properties Manager box. 5. Enter ZE. Press ENTER to zoom the drawing to full extents. 6. Use a right to left crossing window to select all objects in the drawing. 7. Press DELETE. All objects are erased. 8. Enter Purge. Note that you can purge all of the items shown in this box. If you do not purge the drawing, the template file will hold all of these blocks, layers, linetypes, and so on. This means a larger file size and perhaps a confusing drawing. 9. Expand the Blocks tree. 03-45
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 10. Click the FireHydrant block. Click Purge. 11. Click Yes to purge. 12. Examine the layers listed in the Layers tree. Here, you can purge any that you do not want in the template file. 13. Click Close. Check the Drawing Settings. 14. In the Settings tab, right-click the drawing name. Click Edit Drawing Settings. 15. Click the Units and Zone tab. 16. Change the Drawing Scale to 1 = 100. 17. Click the Object Layers tab. Examine the layer names that are associated with the objects, ensuring that 03-46
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES this matches your conventions. You can modify any object layer by clicking the layer cell for that object. 18. Click the Ambient Settings tab. 19. Expand the Distance tree. 20. Modify the Precision setting from 3 to 2. 21. Click OK. 22. In Toolspace, click the Settings tab. 23. Expand the Point and the Label Styles trees. 24. Right-click the Point Number Only style. Click Delete. Click Yes on the Confirm deletion message. At this point, you can modify or delete a collection or an individual style or setting as desired. 25. Click File > Save As. 26. Modify the type of file to *.dwt. 27. Enter City of Atlanta as the file name. The template drawing file can be used for any new drawing used while working for the city, meeting their settings and styles standards. 28. Click Save and OK on the Template Options dialog box. 29. Click the Prospector tab. Select Master View. 03-47
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES 30. Expand the Drawing Templates tree. If City of Atlanta.dwt does not appear on the list, click the Drawing Templates Object and press F5 (Refresh) to update the list of template files. 31. Right-click City of Atlanta.dwt, and click Create New Drawing. Check some of settings that were modified above to inspect that this new drawing file has the same styles and settings you modified earlier. 32. Close the drawing and do not save the changes. 03-48
Module 03 - Settings and Styles NOTES Questions Answers 1. What is a child override? 2. Which scale setting affects the plotted layout? 3. How does the text height value affect the drawing? 4. How do you modify the current point style marker to reference an AutoCAD block? 5. Why do you use the Purge command? 6. What is the major advantage of creating a custom template file? 7. Why is it important to create and work with standards? 1. A child override is an arrow in a high level style or setting that indicates a lower level collection or individual style or setting differs from and will override the higher level style or setting. 2. The viewport scale setting determines the plot scale for the layout. 3. In any label style, the text height setting determines the plotted height on paper. 4. In the Settings tab, in the Point/Point Style, find the current point style. Right-click and Edit. Click the Marker tab. Click Block and select a block to use, click OK. 5. Drawings hold a lot of information internally; for example, layers and blocks. Purging unused blocks or layers creates a smaller, more organized drawing or template file. 6. A custom template file can hold all the settings, styles, and parameters that are commonly used for similar projects. Creating a new drawing using this template file can automatically create the layers and blocks and bring in the settings and styles that you want to use. 7. Sharing data, increasing efficiency, and conforming to client submission standards are all good reasons to use a consistent set of standards for your drawings. Standards can be set up in template drawing files for easy use. 03-49
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 Education Curriculum NOTES Module Summary This module focused on how to set up and modify settings and styles as a consistent standard for a company or a particular client. Object naming, layer naming, label and object styles, drawing settings, and using the hierarchy of settings and styles are all covered for the purpose of emphasizing the importance of controlling how design and production are accomplished. Template drawing files should be set up to reflect the standards required for internal and/or external (client) requirements. 03-50