Alignment extensions

[C3D_RickGraham]

Hi all,

Is there a way to have an alignment extended, but do not show the extended
line geometry?

In other words, I have an anlignment that 0+00 starts at an intersection of
a road. I want to extend the line to the road ROW, but do not want to see
any lines or stations for that extended piece in the plan view. I *DO*,
however want to see the extended linework show up in my profile. This will
allow us to show any utilities that fall near this intersection and how they
will tie in to the new road.

Also, in the profile, I want the last station to be carried out to 2 decimal
places (12+34.56), but I don't want the rest of the alignment to do this.
Any tips here?

Am i trying to complicate matters? Am I clear as mud?

--
Rick

C3D 2007 SP3
Dell DuoCore 2.66GHz 2GB Ram 256 Dual DVI Dual monitors! 🙂

[kcobabe]

I think the only way to do this is by superimposing another profile of the ROW to intersection into the profile of the road alignment.

I don't think you can change alingment properties by parts. It reads an alignment as 1 object.

[mmccall]

Hmmmm ....

#1) 2 Alignments. One for show, one for go. (not really liking
this)

#2) Hide the extended alignment with another line that plots white. (not really liking this either)



The station precision question: Is this label from a profile view style, profile band style, profile label, or a profile view label style.

[Anonymous]

Rick:

On to your second question. Will not "Drop decimal for whole numbers" work?

Bill

[T_Bernhard]

I did a similar thing to Mark's suggestion #1 for a pipeline where I needed to show the existing pipeline that was being joined to on the long section (Profile View) but not in plan. That was okay, but every time I changed the proposed alignment I had to move the visible alignment, switch on the components of the labelled alignment, move the alignment and then switch it off again. Not really an option until very late in the process and only for drafting semantics.

Question: Why not show the alignment into the ROW, but have station 0.0 outside the ROW and start the labelling at 0.0? (You change the labelling range in the Alignment Proerties dialog, Labels tab.) That'd make your Profile View clearer anyway.

Trevor

[Anonymous]

Mask it. FACEMASK if I recall correctly. It's one of those fun ADT things
that Peter likes to pull out like card tricks at a Shriner's convention.

I can never remember all the steps, but it's cool.

--
James Wedding, P.E.
Engineered Efficiency, Inc.
Civil 3D 2007
XP Tablet, SP2, 2GHz, 2G
www.eng-eff.com
www.civil3d.com

[Anonymous]

I'll put together the steps for this tonight and post it. It uses a "Mask
Block" that works like a wipe out, but you can limit it to a single object,
and we can even lock it to the alignment so that if it moves the mask will
move with it.

Cheers,

Peter Funk
Autodesk, Inc.

[mmccall]

I wonder if an alignment line segment label might work well for this. A segment label style that only has the direction arrow, with no arrow, length set to false so it spans the length of the segment, and a color that plots white so it can block the line it's labelling. It would be dynamically linked to the alignment and could be applied to just that one segment.

[C3D_RickGraham]

Peter,

Did you get a chance to put this together?

Rick

; "Inc" wrote in message
news:5453598@discussion.autodesk.com...
I'll put together the steps for this tonight and post it. It uses a "Mask
Block" that works like a wipe out, but you can limit it to a single object,
and we can even lock it to the alignment so that if it moves the mask will
move with it.

Cheers,

Peter Funk
Autodesk, Inc.

[dana.probert]

When are you unveiling the "Chronicles of Funk" blog?

(I know you are so excited that you will see me in 11 days!!)

[Anonymous]

There are a couple of ways to mask an alignment, using the AutoCAD mask,
that masks everything and uses draw order, or use an AEC Mask Block (part of
the under documented AEC Utilities that ship with Civil 3D). This tip uses
the AEC mask block because it allows a more selective mask, and we can
anchor the mask to the alignment.



Here are the steps...



1. Draw a closed polyline around the area to wipe out on the alignment

2. Use the command: ConvertLineworkToMaskBlock

a. Select the polyline you just made

b. Change the radio button in the dialog to "Select AEC Objects to Mask"

c. Select "Erase layout geometry"

d. Hit OK

e. Select the alignment. This should hide your alignment, but you'll may
still see the outline of the mask.

3. Change the layer of the new mask to the "Defpoints" layer or another no
plot layer.



ALTERNATIVE to the DEFPOINTS:

3. Select the Mask, right click and select "Edit Mask Definition..."

4. In the "Mask Block Definitions Properties" dialog,

a. change the tab to the "Display properties"

b. double click on the "General" line

c. Change the layer of the "Boundary Profile" display component to
something that won't plot. You could also turn it off, but then it becomes
very hard to select. I made a noplot layer and then changed its color to 251
(almost black).

d. hit OK a couple of times.



You should now be back in the drawing, and have a mask applied only to the
alignment.



EXTRA COOL:

1. Draw a long thin closed polyline (about the length that you want to mask)
along the x axis. This doesn't have to be along the alignments

2. Follow the steps above to convert the polyline to a mask block.

3. Use the "Anchor" command with the "CUrve" option.

a. Select the mask to anchor

b. Select the alignment to anchor to.

4. The mask will jump to the alignment and will be anchored to it. you can
slide the mask along the alignment using the grip. If the alignment moves,
the mask will move with it.



If you need to change the size of the mask, right click and choose "Edit
Profile in Place" (the profile is the outline of the mask).



Hope this helps!



Peter Funk

Civil 3D Product Manager

[T_Bernhard]

That is SWEET! I will never use overlapping alignments again. Thanks, Peter!

Things I will note from my play with the Extra Cool command:
* After selecting the CUrve option, Civil 3D gives the message: "Curve anchor [ATtach object/Set curve/X position/Y position/Z position/Rotation/set ANchored end]:". I used ATtach object. I assume that's the right thing to do.

* The mask block that's created seems to be somewhat random about where its insertion point, and thus its grip, is placed. Any insights into that would be appreciated.

* If the grip is a wrong/strange place, the "Edit Profile in Place" command seems to enable one to rectify the issue.

* I'm guessing that the X/Y/Z positions in the command refer to the grip's position along the alignment (object/curve). For the purposes of the "position along (X)", the object is exactly 1 unit long regardless of the dimensions of the actual mask. Could someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm hoping that there's documentation for this command in the 2008 release, it's too useful not to be included. Loving it!

Trevor

[T_Bernhard]

Just found a downside to using the mask: doing so on an alignment forces all of the text attached to the alignment to display as txt.shx regardless of what's specified in the text style or label style.

See http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?threadID=535495 for more info.

Trevor

[matthew.risch]

Has anyone else noticed that the use of this command "ConvertLineworkToMaskBlock", changes the font in use by the station labels?
I have a font style called Simplex that the uses Simplex.shx font, and I also have the Standard font style set to use Simplex.shp since it defaults to txt.shx.
When I use this command to mask my alignment, the font the station labels uses changes to txt.shx. Even though all the settings say it's still using the Simplex.shx font.
Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

That's one reason why this is an undicumented command. It seems to be just
the way it is for 2007. I believe it has been fixed for 2008 however.

Matt

[matthew.risch]

Just tested it in 08, and it has been fixed. Hooray!
Thanks Matt.