AutoCAD Civil 3D

[#1]

When a pipe network is referenced into a drawing in Civil 3D 2013 there is an option to set the layer for the pipes and structures.  After the layer is set, the parts go onto these layers until the network is syncronized.  After the network is synronized the parts revert back to whatever layer is set in the object layers in the drawing settings.  Has anyone else noticed or had an issue with this?

Craig

Civil 3D 2013 SP1

HP z400 Workstation

Intel Xeon CPU W3520 @ 2.66 GHz

NVIDIA Quadro FX 580

Windows 7 64bit

12 GB RAM

[#2 · Accepted solution]

They are behaving as-expected here. We do have a little different setup. I use the "-*" wildcard modifier so each network is on a seperate layer. They do hold the layers in the original file and our plan production drawing where they are data shortcut into. I forced a Sync and no change.

[#3]

I have been seeing this issue for several versions of Civil 3D. Changing the layers in the supplied Layer dialog box doesn't hold. It reverts to the default layer settings in the Object Layers tab of Drawing Settings. Here's the current workaround.:

1. Import/update the pipe network parts list from the source drawings.
2. Toolspace-right click on the drawing name-Edit Drawing Settings-Object Layers tab.
3. Set the default layers for Pipe, Pipe Network Section, Pipe or Structure Profile, and Structure to the layers you want for the current pipe network that you will dref into the drawing then OK.
4. Create the dref in the drawing without making any changes in the Layers dialog.
5. Change other settings as required (parts list, surface overrides, etc.) then OK.

To make the process slightly faster, here are the layer settings we use:

-UNDR-N     Prefix     C-UTIL-STRM

-STRC-N     Prefix     C-UTIL-STRM

-PROF-N     Prefix     C-UTIL-STRM

-SECT-N     Prefix     C-UTIL-STRM

Before each dref is added, I change the prefix portion only (C-UTIL-ELEC, C-UTIL-NGAS, C-UTIL-COMM, etc.) in the Object Layers tab then import that dref. This setting will hold for future changes/synchronizations to the pipe networks.

Hope that helps.

[#4]

It's been my expereince that you have to check the default settings in Prospector for it to work consistently. If I go to Settings tab > Pipe Network, right-click Edit Feature settings and set all the "Default" settings for that drawing, then it will work.

[#5]

For me, it's only an issue when creating a dref of pipe networks. Making changes to the layers dialog when creating a pipe network from scratch works as expected.

In fact, if you make changes to the layers dialog when creating a pipe network from dref the layers will initially look and work correctly. Close and reopen the drawing and you'll see that the layers have been reset to whatever the default pipe/structure settings were when you created the pipe network from dref. So bascially it accepts the layer change but the layers that get saved for future are the current default layer settings. Since the layers are grayed out in a pipe network dref, you can't change them after the dref is created.