AutoCAD Civil 3D -2015-Alignments

[Muthya]

One polyline was imported and exploded (twice) to break them into several segments of Arcs and lines.

I created an Alignment by picking segments in proper order beginning from the first segment to the last segment progressing by Chainage.

The Alignment (TC08) is duely created.

BUT

When I pick any pert of the polyline, the entire polyline is selected (See *.doc, attached).

However, the properties > Station Control does not show me the full length. Different attempts yield different results!!

This happens with other polylines in the drawing also.

The full drawing file is also attached.

It is time consuming to elicit a desired result, very frustrating.

Help Please. 

[Pointdump]

Muthya,

I can't open the two .doc files. Can you post a screen grab in PNG to show the problem?

Dave

[wfberry]

It has been requested numberous times NOT to submit .doc files due to their "disease" capabilities.  Also, two of the same doc files were attached.

Now, I select the alignment and get the same thing as Dave, clearly showing the length of the alignment as 452.022 meters.

Also, why are you referring to this as a polyline?

Bill

[Muthya]

Dear  Bill / Dave:

Thanks for your prompt response.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

I attach *.png file as desired and also a *.pdf file. Hope one of them will be useful.

I again attach the *.dwg file.

If you closely observe the drawing, you will see the Stations Labelled by another author. The full length of the alignment TC08 must be 1090.557 m. (POE TC-RD-08). ( I have received only a simple CAD file and NOT a Civil 3D file for processing  - that is a long story)

On picking any where on the object, the entire alignment is selected, whereas the properties report it as 452.02 (or 954.04 etc at other times) instead of the correct value of 1090.557 m. If you look at the screen grab, you will notice that while the cursor is somewhere about Station 0+700, the window shows a value of 124.88 which is also wrong. Again the starting station is also incorrect, the direction is also wrong. I tried to reverse the direction and join the alignments, still did not work.

While we are at it, I am also trying to extract a full geometry report of any alignment, which I am unable. Don't know where the commands are !! Help files did not help !!!

Thanking you again,

[Muthya]

Dear  Bill / Dave:

Thanks for your prompt response.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

I attach *.png file as desired and also a *.pdf file. Hope one of them will be useful.

I again attach the *.dwg file.

If you closely observe the drawing, you will see the Stations Labelled by another author. The full length of the alignment must be 1090.557 m. (POE TC-RD-08). ( I have received only a simple CAD file and NOT a Civil 3D file for processing  - that is a long story)

On picking any where on the object, the entire alignment is selected, whereas the properties report it as 452.02 (or 954.04 etc at other times) instead of the correct value of 1090.557 m. If you look at the screen grab, you will notice that while the cursor is somewhere about Station 0+700, the window shows a value of 124.88 which is also wrong. Again the starting station is also incorrect, the direction is also wrong. I tried to reverse the direction and join the alignments, still did not work.

While we are at it, I am also trying to extract a full geometry report of any alignment, which I am unable. Don't know where the commands are !! Help files did not help !!!

Thanking you again,

[jmayo-EE]

Change the drawing scale so you can see the alignment's station labels not the text string station labels. You will see a bust in the geometry @ 0+00

Go back to the original geomerty and recreate the small arc between the line and arc with the fillet command. Recreate the alignment. See the attachment.

[Muthya]

Thanks for all help.

Could not quite get the labels in quite those font sizes. Also, I use the station format "1+000" It is ok in the Ambient settings. Still could not manage to get that on my file.

I could notice the bust at the said location, but could not rectify the same. 

I took a very conventional route. Switched workspace to "Drafting and Annotation". Created segments of Arcs and Lines. Reverted to the workspace "Civil 3D". Deleted the old Alignment TC08. Created a new Alignment with Lines and Arcs I had drawn. It worked with a 4mm error. For now I am accepting the same.

There are so many more alignments in the project. I am worried I may be forced to adopt this route for the rest of the alignments to match with theoretical values.

Also, some advise on how to export information in the Panaroma (Alignment details.png) to a txt or csv file, would be helpful.

Thanks to all.

[rendarin]

Just a question, why break a polyline into several lines and arcs to make an alignment, when you can just select the entire polyline to be converted

[jmayo-EE]

Model space plot scale should match what you intend the scale of your sheets to be. If you need to bump it up to see the alignment labels over a large site do so. This is a great visual indicator for your issue. If the stations don't run start to end the underlying 2d geometry has errors and needs to be fixed.

Use the fillet command to recreate curves or use a radius of zero to re-connect each segment. If everything is an AutoCAD line and curve with all z values at 0 the fillet command can be used on two curves or a line and curve.

Recreate the alignment from the corrected AutoCAD objects.

[Cadguru42]

---

@jmayo wrote:

Model space plot scale should match what you intend the scale of your sheets to be. If you need to bump it up to see the alignment labels over a large site do so. This is a great visual indicator for your issue. If the stations don't run start to end the underlying 2d geometry has errors and needs to be fixed.

Use the fillet command to recreate curves or use a radius of zero to re-connect each segment. If everything is an AutoCAD line and curve with all z values at 0 the fillet command can be used on two curves or a line and curve.

Recreate the alignment from the corrected AutoCAD objects.

---

I've got into a habbit of drawing tangents as polylines, then creating my alignment from design, not by object, and just snapping to the ends of the lines. It used to be that creating an alignment from objects would make it fixed and you couldn't edit, say, a curve radius. I've been doing that since C3D 2006, so I could be out-dated. Does C3D still make a fixed alignment if you do it by object? 

[mathewkol]

@engtech, Civil 3D alignments from polylines get you essentially the same alignment as if you did it using the layout tools.  This is assuming your curves are perfeclty tangent.  They are free curves in the resulting alignment if they are.  Your method used to be an acceptable way to go, but I abandoned that method years ago as there are very few reasons to do that now.

The only difference that I can see now is that you need to "solve" the PIs if you want the tangents extended all the way to the PIs.

[Muthya]

All the various posts have given me some ideas but not a definite solution. As I proceed with other alignments Ex TC 12, I encounter a different challenge. (I am unable to delete a segment of the alignment in the "Alignment - Edit Alignment Geometry". Command was disabled!!)

If some expert studies my dwg file carefully, may be he will be able to suggest a solution.

As yet, I have not got a convincing answer. Actually, the posts are going away from the core issue.

All the same thans a lot for various suggestions which surely will be of help elsewhere.

[Pointdump]

Muthya,

"I have received only a simple CAD file and NOT a Civil 3D file for processing..."

That's problem #1. Your alignment seems to be half-AutoCAD/half-C3D. No easy fix. I'd just start over and trace over the Xref'ed drawing.

"...extract a full geometry report of any alignment..."

The Reports Manager has a wealth of reports available.

Dave

[wfberry]

I am not sure in your case but normally when one of the "edit" toolbars shows disabled just save, close Civil 3D and re-start Civil 3D.

Bill

[Muthya]

Thanks for all help. 

I hope attached files may help you resolve the issue.

Regards