AutoCAD Civil 3D

[#1]

How can you get seperate layers for the Point #, Elevation and Description.  At the moment everything is set up for V-Node Text.  I'm still new with Auto Cad and everyone that has help has been understanding and helpful. 

So far I'm still playing around with the Autocad trying to get a feel for it.  I've actually managed to import my points through asci file.  Fieldbook file i'm still trying to learn.  I don't have any description keys set yet.  That'll probably be my next task to work on for a while.  But playing around with the job i've imported and trying to create a topo.  I actually created a topo previously without any breaklines so this time I'm trying again by creating the breaklines myself.  Connecting the points using the 2d polyline.  But would love to turn off the elevation layer and point # layer to clear up the screen for shots close to each other.  At the moment everything is tied into one layer.  Thanks

Rob

[#2]

". . .seperate layers for the Point #, Elevation and Description . . ."

Go back and run all the tutorials for points.  You are not in Kansas anymore, this is a different game.

Here is a summary of what is going on.

1.  All the information is available in the point.

2.  What you want to do is display the information in any combination, whether it is , point only, point and description, point, description and elevation, etc.

3.  Place points in a point group.

4.  Now you use a style (or make your own) and have the point group style display it.

This is just a short method, there are others.

FORGET YOU EVER USED LAND DESKTOP!

Bill

[#3]

Thanks Bill,

I'll look into that.  I've actually never used land desktop.  Just an older version Eagle Point (95) and 07 Carlson.  I guess another question is after the tutorials and I start making my own styles do I make them in my DWT drawings so they are used all the time?

[#4]

It would be better for you to create different point styles for what you want, no elevation shown, elevation shown, description shown or not shown and so on and so on.  Then you could change the points to whatever style you need.

I think you would need to use the Create Blocks from Cogo Points to be able to do what you want. 

[#5]

This is an example of a Label Style that shows only the description. Along the left you will see other styles for different labeling options.

Allen

[#6]

Yes, make your styles in your DWT (or if you happen to make them in another drawing, drag them to your DWT.

I found it best for me to start with the _AutoCAD Civil 3d (Imperial) NCS  DWT, and started modifing those styles.  I'd create a new style from an old one & edit it until I got what I was looking for.

Styles are incredably versitile, but also complicated at first.  Once you get into them, and begin to understand some of the nuances with them, you'll feel more at home with C3d.  Most of the time invested will be with styles to get drawings to look like you want.

Along with the NCS DWT is the NCS layering standard.  It can be a little daunting at first, but it can also be adapted to any office's preferences.

Good Luck !!

Reid

[#7]

Allen,

Thanks for the picture to help clarify things.  One more question about it.  I noticed there are several options in the label styles with Description only, elevation only and point numbers only.  I went into them and changed each layer for them.  Then noticed there was a Point #-Elev-Descripton option also.  This has only one layer option I'm noticing for all three.  I guess i'm kind of lost on this option and was wondering if you can help me a little further on this part.  When I manually place a node onto the screen just to see if the layers change to seperate stuff.  All it shows is a X.  No Point #, Elev. or Desc.

[#8]

 Hi Rob,

You're not going to be able to set a different layer for each part of the text. I know you're thinking you can turn off the layer for Point # and Elevation and be left with the Description. That's not how it works in C3D. What we need to do, now that you've seen the different Label Styles, is to go to the next step. Point Groups. This is how I control point display.

On the prospector tab you'll see a section for Point Groups just under points. If you right click on that you'll be able to create new Point Groups. The program uses this tree to set the Point Styles and the Label Styles. The highest on the tree, that contains a point, controls that point display. Where they fall in the tree is controlled by rt-clicking on the Point Groups heading and selecting properties.

I'll use one of my groups All Points - No Display as an example. In the first attached picture you can see that I've created both a Point Style and a Point Label Style called _NoDisplay. In the second one you'll see I have also set these styles to override any others. So when I move the All Points - No Display group to the top. No points or point markers are shown.

You'll also notice there are other Point Groups. These control how the points in those groups are shown when they’re at the top. Remember that a point is controlled by the first group that contains it. So Even if the Test Pits group is fifth in the list the test pit points will show as pits as long as the points aren't a member of any group above it that's set to override it.

I've been talking about both Point Label Styles and Point Styles. While the Label Style controls how the point is labeled, the Point Style controls how the point looks. You can have your simple X as a marker or use any of the normal custom markers or any Block that is defined in the drawing. So since my template contains the standard Test Pit symbol. The test pit points display that block as a marker.

This process pretty much is a good example of the whole program. Power = Complexity. It's a bit harder to set all this up. But once it's done you have great control over everything.

Allen