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Can't change reference surface for Pipe Network

7 REPLIES 7
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Message 1 of 8
eschey
2223 Views, 7 Replies

Can't change reference surface for Pipe Network

Seems like this is a never ending battle with Civil 3D data shortcuts, but I'll see if anyone has any ideas.

 

So I first created a drawing which included a surface called "CONTOURS" and an existing sewer pipe network. I then created a data shortcut of the existing sewer network and started a new drawing with a proposed sewer pipe network.

 

When I received better contour data, I created a new "10FT EXIST CONTOURS" surface in the existing sewer drawing and switched the reference surface for the existing sewer structures and pipes to the new "10FT EXIST CONTOURS" surface. And of course I deleted the old "CONTOURS" surface because I no longer needed it. 

 

Now, the part that makes me want to pull all my hair out! When I open the proposed sewer drawing I get all the error messages that "Reference surface 'CONTOURS' not found in reference drawing" for all 22 of the existing sewer structures.

 

I've tried deleted the existing sewer network in the proposed sewer drawing and recreating the data shortcut but nothing makes the errors go away. Is there any other way the existing sewer structures could be referencing the deleted surface that I have not thought about? Any other ideas to get the error messages to clear?

 

Thanks,

Eric 

 

7 REPLIES 7
Message 2 of 8
Jay_B
in reply to: eschey

Its possible that in the Existing Sewer pipe network properties in both the source PN drawing and the proposed sewer dwg where the existing sewer is data referenced that the "contours" surface was set as the reference surface for the network. So even if "contours" was deleted from source dwg C3d is still telling you it's missing in the reference drawing. Also be sure "contours" is removed from data shortcuts in prospector listing. Without seeing the files best advice is to trace all steps and delete any references found to the "contour" reference may be hiding such as prospector>surface of all related dwgs.
C3D 2018.1
C3D 2016 SP4

Win 7 Professional 64 Bit
Message 3 of 8
mathewkol
in reply to: eschey

Therr are usually 2 things to check when you get this error.

1. Make sure ALL pipes and structures have their individual reference surfaces set to the new surface. Simply changing the network property will not be enough.
2. Make sure that the network properties itself has the new surface specified.

In the future, it would be best not to create a new surface when new info becomes available, remove the aged info from the surface definition and add the new.
Matt Kolberg
SolidCAD Professional Services
http://www.solidcad.ca /
Message 4 of 8
eschey
in reply to: mathewkol

Thanks for the suggestions Matt, but I have confirmed that both the individual pipes and structures are referencing the new surface and network properties has the new surface.

The curious thing is that there isn't any errors in the existing sewer drawing, but I still get errors in the proposed sewer drawing.

Definitely good advice on not creating new surfaces, or renaming surfaces, as I'm finding out it causes numerous errors. Seems like the best practice is to start with a surface name your going to use for the rest of the project and just add notes in the description when you update the surface with new information.
Message 5 of 8
Jay_B
in reply to: eschey


@eschey wrote:
The curious thing is that there isn't any errors in the existing sewer drawing, but I still get errors in the proposed sewer drawing.

The Dref in the Proposed drawing is subject to the same object level override possibilities Matt mentioned.

Did you also verify in the Proposed dwg that the individual "Structure properties" don't have "Contours" as reference surface and also at the Pipe Network properties level?

 

 

C3D 2018.1
C3D 2016 SP4

Win 7 Professional 64 Bit
Message 6 of 8
eschey
in reply to: Jay_B

Well, I've tried everything I can think of to no avail. All pipes and structures are set to the correct surface in the existing sewer drawing. The network properties are set to the correct surface in the existing sewer drawing.

 

When I data reference the existing sewer into the proposed sewer drawing the pipes come in referenced to the correct surface, but the reference surface for the structures and in the network properties are blank. But even after I set both of these to the correct surface I still get the "reference surface not found in reference drawing” error.

 

There are two things though that may be connected to the errors. One is the Map Message (attached) I get when I data reference the Existing Sewer into the proposed drawing.

 

The other is that I attempted to bring the "CONTOURS" surface back into the existing sewer drawing to get rid of the error. When I did so and synced the existing sewer network in the proposed sewer drawing I got a bunch of notices that said something like "AcDb3dPolyline(29F51)" vertices has been updated. When bringing the "CONTOURS" surface back into the existing sewer drawing failed to get rid of the errors in the prosed drawing I deleted the surface once a again a ran an audit which again returned information on polylines stating that "AcDb3dPolyline(29F51) could not be repaired.  It will be Erased." Are there 3D polylines that are associated with a surface which are created as part of the pipe network?

Message 7 of 8
emelendez
in reply to: eschey

I share the same thoughts as Matt and Jay. One other suggestion, which shouldn't have to be done, is to use data reference manager and load your data references into there. Then force all references to the contours to look at the other surface. Since you recreated the data reference, this should not have to be done but it's worth a shot.

Another "in the future" suggestion would be, if you do create a new surface instead of just updating the one you have, I would suggest to make the data reference as you would normally. Then, before you open any file that the new surface needs to replace the old one, use the data refence manager and replace the data references there. That way the files you open should automatically "repath" to the new data reference.

Edwin Melendez
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 Certified Professional
Certification No. 00319327
Message 8 of 8
eschey
in reply to: eschey

Final solution was to export the existing sewer network to a Land XML file and bring it back in and give it the correct reference surface. Once the existing sewer data shortcut was recreated and brought back into the proposed sewer drawing, there are no more errors!

 

Thank you all for your help!

 

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