AutoCAD Civil 3D

[#1]

Hi there,

I am getting a lot of grief xrefing a C3D file into an AutoCAD drawing. A bit of background...

Fairly large development project with 270 new familiy houses. The sanitary sewer (SS) network was created using AutoCAD only. All layout drawings and xrefs were created using AutoCAD using AutoCAD templates. Then, here I am, putting the entire SS network in C3D, with its fancy labels and relevant long sections. Now I am supposed to display this C3D network in all the layout plans and get rid of the old 2D SS xref. Well, the blody thing doesn't work! If I try to xref the original C3D file, it will only display the labels. All pipes and structures and long section do not display. Yes, I checked all layers are turned on. I tried using data shortcuts instead, bringing first the relevant part liist and styles. No luck. Again neither a single pipe nor structure is diplayed, although the prospector in the toolspace shows the network is referenced in the drawing. I am not sure if this matters, but the C3D source drawing contains a second pipe network referenced using data shortcuts which, by the way, doesn't display either when xrefing. I tried xrefing the C3D file using my C3D template and it works fine. So I guess that, somehow, the AutoCAD template used to creat the drawings is preventing some C3D objects to be displayed when xrefed. Any idea how to fix this?

I know I could recreate all our layout plans using my C3D template. Unfortunately, that would be a long process since we have quite a few and they're all heavily xrefed, with many layer properties overriden.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers

Javier

C3D 2011V2. Windows XP 64b

[#2]

The cause of your issue could be that AutoCAD doesn't know how to interpret the C3d Proxy graphics. 

There are two things you can do. 

1) One is to install the Civil 3d Object Enablers on the Autocad machines. 

or 2) The other is to Set the PROXYGRAPHICS = 1 and PROXYSHOW = 1.

[#3]

Thanks for your reply Silverphoenix.

The Object Enabler is not relevant in this case since I have full Civil 3D and I am using it to insert the XREF. Actually, I have it installed in my machine. I know it will need to be installed in all AutoCAD users' machines in order to display the C3D objects. Note that the labels are displayed when xrefing, which are C3D objects too. It's the actual pipe network, profiles & profile views that do not display.

I tried changing the variables you mentioned. The PROXYGRAPHICS was set to 0, so I changed it to 1. The PROXYSHOW was already set to 1. Still the same result. Frustrating...

Well, thanks again for your reply, mate.

Have a good one.

Cheers

Javier

[#4]

Hi all again,

I am going to give more details so hopefully there's somebody out there with a magic fix.

My drawing contains 3 pipe networks (SS, SS Property Branch & SW). Both SS networks were created on the drawing, while the SW is referenced using data shortcuts.

The 2 SS networks are divided in 4 stages using different styles for each stage. They all look the same, but they are placed in different layers with the suffix stage #.  Also, both SS networks are labeled showing pit names, IL's at pipes, grades, etc. The SW network is not labeled at all. There is a bunch of profiles showing  all 3 networks, some as crossing pipes. I also have some 3D polylines projected on the profile views, with their relevant labels. The alignments running along the SS network to display the profiles & profile views are in a frozen layer.

Well, when I xref it I can see all pipe and structure labels, all labels on profile view, including the band labels.

I cannot see: all pipes and structures for all networks on plan and profile view, all profile view grids, band ticks and band boxes, band titles, profile view titles, surface profiles, projection of 3D polylines.

One would think that it doesn't display any C3D object but, I guess those labels are technically C3D objects too, right? Also, the alignments, in a frozen layer, I can turn them on after xrefing and they display fine.

The bottom line is that I have no clue what's going on. Somehow, this dwg is blocking most C3D objects, but I can't figure out how.

I tried thawing, freezing, attach, overlay, full path, relative path, purge, audit, etc. No success. Getting frustrated. If anybody out there has a clue it'd be much appreciated.

Regards

Javier

C3D 2011 V2. Windows XP 64b

[#5 · Accepted solution]

Try the command DISPLAY, then choose SETS... then left click on "Plan" in the left pane.  Right click on the "General" tab and choose "Select All".  

Sometimes in old ACAD drawings, I've found that the display of C3D objects is toggled off.

[#6]

Was the file you're Xreffing in to started from a different template or did you edit the styles in your pipe network drawing. I'm thinking that it may be a problem displaying the network. If you think this is a possibility. Try importing the pipe and structure styles from the original drawing. Just making a guess here but think it might be a possibility.

Allen

[#7]

Thank you so much SkipBurns! It did work! You just saved my life...

Only a minor thing, mostly for other users reading this post in the future.

The exact procedure is:

1. Type Display
2. Choose Sets
3. Left click on Plan in the left pane
4. Left click on Display Representation Control tab in right pane
5. Right click on General column heading (5th from the left) and choose "select all".

Awesome, have a great day!

Cheers

Javier

[#8]

Allen,

Thank you for taking the time to reply. Please see above for the solution.

Cheers

Javier