Sunday, November 28, 2010

AU 2010!

My wife and I arrived in Las Vegas a few days early. We visited a number of cool places such as the Hoover Dam and the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Being new to the blogging world, I'm looking forward to meeting new people at the blogger social meet and the AU conference.


See everyone tomorrow.
Vince

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Civil 3D Edit Geometry Tools For Everyday Drafting

Most of the Edit Geometry Tools in Civil 3D can also be used for 3D Poly Lines and Poly Lines. The tools are as listed.






  • Insert PI
  • Delete PI
  • Join
  • Reverse
  • Fillet
  • Fit Curve
  • Weed
  • Stepped Offset
Insert PI
When adding a vertex to a 3D poly, you can specify an elevation or choose a reference Civil 3D surface to the newly added vertex. Since Poly Lines retain the same elevation throughout, the newly added vertex will be the same elevation as the rest of the poly.


Delete PI
Delete PI simply deletes the selected vertex along a 3D Poly and Poly Line.



Join
It will join two 3D Poly Lines into one continuous 3D Poly Line. This tool does not work on Poly Lines.



Reverse
The Reverse tool will simply reverse the direction of a Poly Line and 3D Poly Line. This will affect labeling and how a line type is displayed.


Fillet
The Fillet tool is like the AutoCAD fillet command. It works for both Poly Lines and 3D Poly Lines.



Fit Curve
The Fit Curve tool will fit a curve between two points along a line segment. This tool does not work on 3D Poly Lines.



Weed
The Weed tool will remove unnecessary points along a Poly Line and 3D Poly Line.



Stepped Offset
The Stepped Offset tool is like the AutoCAD offset but will also let the user specify a difference in elevation for the new Poly Line and 3D Poly Line.


These tools can be used in everyday non Civil 3D drafting. I find the tools make it easy editing hatch boundaries and other open or closed Poly Lines and 3D Poly Lines.