Pipe styles revert to default style in SP2

[svandop]

So I noticed that my data reffed pipes were reverting back to their default styles in my production drawings.  This wasn't a problem with SP1.  I made a support call to our reseller and they mentioned that the only work around was to completely uninstall Civil3d, then reinstall back to SP1.  He mentioned that he was passing the information on to Autodesk and he would let me know if they had a fix.  Naturally that kind of timing or solution doesn't really work for me or our tech support group. This problem will effect any drawing I have that has pipes in it, and it's a lot of time/money to fix it all!

So in this post I'm hoping for two things. 

1.  I want to know what you have done to work around this?  Is there a better solution than uninstalling Civil3d?

2.  I want to make some noise about this because word is that Autodesk reads these forums (it is their forum afterall).  If you have encountered this problem, please post!  Maybe we can get Autodesk to send out a fix.

Steve.

[kbiggs]

I suspect this is simiilar to the issue raised in this thread:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Civil-3D/C3D-2012-SP2-Problem/m-p/3536118/highlight/true#M1814...

Not sure what the intent of the SP2 fix for syncronizing pipes was, however, the issue we are also dealing with is that any pipe styles that we have created for crossing pipes etc, are now reverting to the default pipe style, which is not what we want to show. We use the same pipe size in many different pipe networks, exisitng, proposed, storm, sanitary, water, etc and require stylizing the pipes differently, regardless of their size. This was working in Civil 3D 2010 and Civil 3D 2012 SP1, now it is not.

What is the solution to this issue? Until a fix is provided by Autodesk, we can worked around this issue to manually draw pipe crossings for new drawings. However, the major issue is our current and past drawings will now not display the pipe crossings correctly. Not sure if our clients will understand why we have to fix our drawings to resolve this issue. Also not sure our IT department will understand why we will want to uninstall Civil 3D 2012 SP2 and reinstall to SP1.

I am hoping someone has a solution for us.

Keith Biggs

CAD Tech Coordinator

RF Binnie & Associates Ltd

[kbiggs]

I believe I may have found a solution to this problem. As mentioned before, it seems that when I sync my pipe network using data shortcuts, the pipe network style changes to the pipe style set in the parts lists in the source pipe drawing. The issue is that I may want to change the pipe style in the data shortcut drawing, in order to have it appear differently than the source drawing. For example, the source drawing would have the pipe style set to display the pipe in plan and profile, however, in the data shortcut drawing I may want to show the pipe as a crossing pipe in the profile. Previously, before SP2 was installed, I could simply override the pipe style in the profile view to change it to a crossing style, and I was done. Now, with SP2 installed, the override styles are not retained when I sync the pipe networks with the source drawing.

Part of the issue with the styles and overrides is that I was using the STANDARD parts list for existing and proposed utilities, for storm, sanitary and water pipes. As such, I would have to draw the pipe network and then change the pipe style accordingly. This may not have been the most effective way to draw pipe networks, but it worked.

The solution, I believe, is rather than use the STANDARD parts list, to now have a separate parts list for existing and proposed pipes, for storm, sanitary and water mains, resulting in six parts lists. I can then can set the default style for all pipes in each parts lists accordingly. To show pipe crossings in a profile view, I can change the pipe network style to the crossings style in my current data shortcut drawing by changing parts lists. That is, when I data shortcut in a pipe network into my plan/profile drawing, I can change the pipe network to use my current drawing parts lists, which I can modify to use the crossings pipe style.

This allows me to have multiple parts lists and styles, which I can then assign to any pipe network in any drawing. This, I believe, will save time as I do not have to apply override styles to each pipe separately, I can simply set the style in my current drawings parts list to suit my profile view.

There may be drawings that this will not be the complete solution, though. For example, I may have a profile view for Road A that requires me to show the existing sanitary pipe network. However, I may have another profile view in the same drawing, say Road B, that intersects with Road A and need to show the existing sanitary as a crossing pipe. Since I can have only one style per pipe size per drawing, I now have to create a separate drawing for Road B, and change the existing sanitary pipe style to a crossing pipe. While this may take a bit more effort to setup, I believe it is a workable solution until Autodesk provides a fix for this issue. Autodesk has reported this issue to their development team, who is working on a solution, although there is no time frame for when this is to be resolved. Autodesk has suggested that we can revert back to SP1 if we prefer how the style overrides worked previously; however, this would involve having our IT department completely uninstall Civil 3D 2012 and reinstall it to SP1, for 50+ seats. I do not believe that is a solution, I do believe the solution I have provided is workable until Autodesk provides a permanent fix for this service pack issue.

Keith Biggs

CAD Tech Coordinator

RF Binnie & Assoiciates

[areese9779]

Hi Steve,

We are having the exact same issue, and have also confirmed that the issue is orginating in the 2012 Update 2 by unistalling 2012 and reinstalling upto the first update.  I am going to create a support request through our subscription service in addtion to this post.  Perhaps if additional people create similar tickets, it will get the attention of the powers that be more quickly.  Hopefully they will have a solution!

Sincerely,

[kbiggs]

Andy:

I also submitted a case through our subscripition account, and got this response from Autodesk:

I understand you are experiencing issues with pipe styles after the installation of Update 2 for 2012. This is actually a known issue with the installation of Update 2. Development is currently evaluating the cause of the issue.

That being said, the suggested way around this issue is to set the desired style to be default in the Parts List in the destination drawing. Although not ideal, this should bypass the issue for the time being.

Since this issue is already being worked on by Development; per our policy we will now go ahead and close this case, leaving it linked to Development’s issue. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I subsequently contacted our reseller to ask for clarification on this issue, as I was not sure Autodesk understood the impact of this issue, or the effect of their solution to our production. Our reseller contacted Autodesk, who responded with this:

Thank you for contacting Autodesk Support. I understand you are experiencing issues with pipe styles and data shortcuts after the installation of Update 2 for 2012. This is actually a known issue with the installation of Update 2. Development is currently evaluating the cause of the issue. That being said, the suggested way around this issue is to set the desired style to be default in the Parts List in the destination drawing. Although not ideal, this should bypass the issue for the time being. Since this issue is already being worked on by Development; per our policy we will now go ahead and close this case, leaving it linked to Development’s issue. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Sincerely, Product Support Specialist – AEC Infrastructure Autodesk Global Services http://beingcivil.typepad.com/

I can confirm their solution does work, although it has some limitations, as I noted in my previous post. Hopefully if Autodesk gets enough feedback from their customers, they will respond quickly with a hotfix for this SP2 issue.

Keith Biggs

RF Binnie & Associates Ltd.