Defining Point Styles in AutoCAD Civil 3D

[blakelawson]

Trying to figure out how to define the folder I want my drawing to search in to find a specific set of point styles we have set-up. As it is set up right now, I am not sure where the program is looking to find the standard set of point styles it is showing, but its just showing basic civil point (ie. CB's, IP's, BM's, etc.). I have tried a few things to make it automatically grab the point styles I have in a set-up folder but is won;t display them.

The reason I need this, is that I want to set it up so that when I import points from my survey file, I want them to automatically insert into my drawing as the correct block (or point style), based on the survey code used.

Thanks again!

[mathewkol]

Civil 3D does not look in a folder when importing point. The styles need to be defined in the current drawing file.

[sboon]

As you build up a drawing with the settings and styles that you like you should be copying them over to your template drawing for future work.  You may also want to document what you're doing for other users - style naming conventions and using the description box in the Properties dialog are going to be important for you now.

[blakelawson]

Another issue I have run into is I can't move my COGO points manually in the drawing. I need to move all the survey data that I imported into the drawing to match the correct coordinates and I can't figure out how it is done, unless I explode everything and make the points just blocks?

[mathewkol]

Look into the translate survey database tool.

[blakelawson]

I get a error stating - "The survey database is not writable. You might not have access permission to the file or directory. If the survey database is part of a project, insure that you have checked out the survey database before attempting edits"

Any suggestions.

[MMiyamoto]

When opening/connecting to the database through the Survey tab, be sure to use the "Open for edit" option rather than "open read-only"

[Sinc · Accepted solution]

Yes, annoying, isn't it?  And using the "Translate Survey Database" tool is rather annoying, as well.  Autodesk doesn't really understand Survey.  They view the "lock down" as beneficial for Engineers, so that's what C3D does.  Survey is ignored.

As of C3D 2010, there is an option to import points into a drawing, then create linework by selecting the points in the drawing.  This lets you have "free" points that you can move/rotate as-needed.

There are also third-party tools like the Sincpac-C3D, which have MovePoints and RotatePoints commands that will even work on the locked-down Survey Points, making it much easeier to do Survey work in C3D.  (I have a demo of this posted on the Quux Software website.)

Another option is to use "Unlock in Drawing" on the Survey tabl in Prospector, then you can move/rotate the points.

One trick I sometimes use (since I tend to avoid FBK files) is to import all the points FIRST from a CSV files, using the Insert -> Points From File command, rotatate/move/scale them as necessary, then export them back out as a new CSV file.  THEN I''ll use the "Import Survey Data" wizard to pull the points back into a new drawing, which also creates all the linework.

[Sinc]

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@Sinc wrote:

There are also third-party tools like the Sincpac-C3D, which have MovePoints and RotatePoints commands that will even work on the locked-down Survey Points, making it much easeier to do Survey work in C3D.  (I have a demo of this posted on the Quux Software website.)

 
Oops, sorry, I don't think that demo actually shows me using the MovePoints, RotatePoints, or ScaleXY commands...  That's something in the follow-up demo, which I haven't posted yet, which will show even more "tricks" for working with Survey in C3D...  I'll get that posted soon.