Survey Figure Layer in 2011

[petrocat]

It appears that the layer that I am setting the using the Figure Prefix Database is being overridden by the layer from the drawing settings of the drawing when bringing in Figures from a survey database in 2011. In the drawing settings figures are set for Layer 0; in the Figure Prefix Database I have them coming in on different layers based on name; they all com in on layer 0. I did not have this problem in 2010. The doesn't seem to be any difference between the two versions. (another annoying thing about 2011 is that the dialog for the prefix database manager seems to lag and resize column is you stretch the box). I attached the file.

Is anyone else seeing this?

Mark

Civil3d 2011 (32 bit for now)

[petrocat]

Anyone...?

Bueller? ... Bueller? ... Bueller?

Please tell me this is fixable.

[Jason.Hickey]

I am unable to reproduce this in Civil 3D 2011. However, I did notice one thing that you did not include - what layer is your survey figure style set to? I made it match my Figure Prefix Database layers and everything came in correctly, ignoring the drawing object settings.

[petrocat]

Thanks for the response Jason.

So let me see if I understand. Do you have a different Figure Style for each item listed in your Figure Prefix Database? Seems like a lot of extra work to setup. Whatever happend to the Lord of the Rings mentality of "one layer to rule them all"? (Which again brings to question why are there so many places to establish a layer for an object).

The way I have it set up is:

Drawing Object layer = 0

standard Figure Style layer = 0 with ByBlock set for all

Figure Prefix Database all use the standard figure style, layer dependent on name of figure: sidewalk, fence, building, curb, gutter...

So I would think, erroneously, that when Civil3D brings in a Figure it would use the layer that I have set in the Figure Prefix database, in the same way that it brings in a point and sets the layer based on the description key manager. If I have to set up a figure style for each type of figure, why give the option of setting a layer in the Prefix database. Doesn't seem right to me.

Could this be happening because I migrated the Figure Prefix Database from 2010?

Mark

Civil 3D 2011

[Jason.Hickey]

No, In my test I used one figure prefix and one figure style. However, in a given working environment, I would definitely have multiple styles in use with my figures. 

The answer is simple - you have the figure style set to layer 0. This is why your figure is coming in on layer 0. It is overriding the layer that is assigned in your figure prefix database. It has nothing to do with the fact that you migrated the database, it's just how the style is set up.

Think of surfaces - your surface can be on layer C-TOPO, while your minor contours can be on layer C-TOPO-MINOR and your major contours can be on layer C-TOPO-MAJOR. Turning off the C-TOPO layer turns the whole surface off. Turning off C-TOPO-MINOR just turns off the minor contours. It's all about the various components and how they are set up.

[petrocat]

Jason,

Thanks again. This is still a bug, in my opinion, because at no point does it accept the layer determined by the Figure Prefix DB, nor does it appear to be assigning it to the correct figure  style, just the default. This is new in 2011, and didn't happen in 2010; same setup. For example, I have points with descriptions of "crb1". In the Figure Prefix DB (capitals in names not accepted in the figure prefix db)  :

Name Breakline Lot line Layer Style Site

"crb" "yes" "no" "CURB" "Curb" "Survey Site"

The program won't even assign the figure to the style, not to mention the layer. It defaults everyting to layer 0 and the default style.

I think I need to submit a service request if no one here is haveing the same problem. I'm using the trial version to see if we will upgrade yet or not. Can I submit a service request on something that we haven't upgraded to yet?

As for using the surface analogy, each surface is placed on an individual layer. Yes, there are sub-items (contour, etc)  that can be controlled by different layers, but the surface is the object. Isn't each figure the object, not the collective figures? Typically there are no sub-items in a figure.

I feel Figures should act as Points. Figures being linework that represent things like curb and sidewalk, they should be drawn on specific layers, just as points imported from the survey DB can be placed on specific layers determined by the description key. Points get inserted onto a point layer (eg. curb-pts), if I explode it enough time, the marker and the label will default to layer 0 or whatever master point layer i set in the point style (no option in the drawing settings). The Figure Prefix Database layer should be the "one layer to rule them all", just like the points layer, and if I explode it enough times, it should go to the layer of the style.

The work around is to bring them in and then change the layers in the "edit figures" panorama. Not ideal and definiitely more time consuming.

Sorry for the long post, but this is frustrating.

[Jeff_M]

Did you see the post earlier today about the Survey hotfix for 2011? One of the things listed as being fixed:

Figure prefix databases will now match lower case figure names.

It looks like this may have been the problem with your prefixes.....

[petrocat · Accepted solution]

I just saw that when I got the notice of your reply.

I'm installing the hot fix......

Opening...

Shazaaam! Looks like the hot fix did the trick.