Easier way to 'automate' road layout?

[rgraham764]

Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick

[Anonymous]

There is, but I doubt many people would find it convenient/appropriate for
showing horizontal geometry. The feature lines *could* be used for the
curb/sidewalk lines on the final drawings, but I would likely fire someone
for doing so. With roadways being designed by section, the horizontal
information is 'lost'. The corridors inherently model section to section,
so everything is a straight line segment.

Your first paragraph kind of indicates you're 'missing the point', so to
speak. The corridor is a design tool, not intended for generating
construction plans. Yes, the plans are the final product, but I don't think
you would really say that is the most important part. If the design is
poor, no matter how good the plans look, it's a poor product. The only part
of a corridor that could end up being a part of a final drawing would be
contours from a surface, of which the corridor could be one part.

HTH

wrote in message news:5207379@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick

[rgraham764]

Tom,

Yeah, I did 'miss the point' I re-read what I sent and it didn't make sense.
But to answer the meat of my question - you offset the CL for road, curb,
sidewalk, etc.? I guess what I'm saying it that I use the alignment,
parcels, etc. for generating final drawings (all of this hypothetical of
course since I'm no where near rolling out C3D to my users) but cannot use
the corridor for anything except generating contours on a final plan? That
sounds a bit backward to me.

Thanks for your reply.

Rick


"TomD" wrote in message
news:5207582@discussion.autodesk.com...
There is, but I doubt many people would find it convenient/appropriate for
showing horizontal geometry. The feature lines *could* be used for the
curb/sidewalk lines on the final drawings, but I would likely fire someone
for doing so. With roadways being designed by section, the horizontal
information is 'lost'. The corridors inherently model section to section,
so everything is a straight line segment.

Your first paragraph kind of indicates you're 'missing the point', so to
speak. The corridor is a design tool, not intended for generating
construction plans. Yes, the plans are the final product, but I don't think
you would really say that is the most important part. If the design is
poor, no matter how good the plans look, it's a poor product. The only part
of a corridor that could end up being a part of a final drawing would be
contours from a surface, of which the corridor could be one part.

HTH

wrote in message news:5207379@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick

[Anonymous]

I don't see it the same way you do. The corridor 'cannot' do what you're
hoping. It is based on cross-sections, which are inherently all straight
line.

wrote in message news:5207690@discussion.autodesk.com...
Tom,

Yeah, I did 'miss the point' I re-read what I sent and it didn't make sense.
But to answer the meat of my question - you offset the CL for road, curb,
sidewalk, etc.? I guess what I'm saying it that I use the alignment,
parcels, etc. for generating final drawings (all of this hypothetical of
course since I'm no where near rolling out C3D to my users) but cannot use
the corridor for anything except generating contours on a final plan? That
sounds a bit backward to me.

Thanks for your reply.

Rick


"TomD" wrote in message
news:5207582@discussion.autodesk.com...
There is, but I doubt many people would find it convenient/appropriate for
showing horizontal geometry. The feature lines *could* be used for the
curb/sidewalk lines on the final drawings, but I would likely fire someone
for doing so. With roadways being designed by section, the horizontal
information is 'lost'. The corridors inherently model section to section,
so everything is a straight line segment.

Your first paragraph kind of indicates you're 'missing the point', so to
speak. The corridor is a design tool, not intended for generating
construction plans. Yes, the plans are the final product, but I don't think
you would really say that is the most important part. If the design is
poor, no matter how good the plans look, it's a poor product. The only part
of a corridor that could end up being a part of a final drawing would be
contours from a surface, of which the corridor could be one part.

HTH

wrote in message news:5207379@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick

[kevincurrey]

We offset lines from alignments for curb & gutter & etc, but corridors for us have more use than just contours. We base grading from the corridor, and use the surface to label slopes & elevations as well.

[Anonymous]

What Rick is asking for should be a part of the total design process. The
drafting should be able to pull the required geometry from the model. Thus
if a corridor lane is transitioned, the drafting geometry should reflect
that. This seems to be a broken link in the process.

wrote in message news:5207379@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick

[Anonymous]

If I may supplement my post: Inventor users have this ability. The model is
used to generate the drafting. They do not have to manually draft 2D
geometry to create the manufacturing plans. Autodesk has the technology to
accomplish the task.

"neilw" wrote in message
news:5207819@discussion.autodesk.com...
What Rick is asking for should be a part of the total design process. The
drafting should be able to pull the required geometry from the model. Thus
if a corridor lane is transitioned, the drafting geometry should reflect
that. This seems to be a broken link in the process.

wrote in message news:5207379@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick

[ekubaskie]

Some of those offset lines can be done as alignments themselves, for modeling turn lanes, cul-de-sacs & knuckles, etc. in your corridor. The alignments can even have their own profiles as targets for subassemblies.

By setting up an alignment style that has no labels, you can create alignments that serve both the model and your need for quality linework.

[Anonymous]

Hi Rick,

The Corridor is your Design object.

How it appears in plans depends entirely on the appearance settings (Style)
you use.

You can create Styles to display the components of the corridor you want to
see and leave out the ones you don't want to see. After the style is
defined, then all you need do is to assign that style to the corridor.

I would suggest you do an "Introduction to Civil 3D" training course.
--

Laurie Comerford
CADApps
www.cadapps.com.au
wrote in message news:5207379@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick

[Anonymous]

Tom, I agree and I disagree: I personally do most of my horizontal geometry using polylines prior to starting any of the Civil 3D
design features (alignments, etc.), so it's not an issue for me that the Corridor Surface and feature lines straight-line based. The
finished surface contours, which are the main output I use the Corridor for, are close enough for my needs: the information I based
the design on, the existing surface, was straight-line based too.

I disagree in that the ability to tighten up the sections to more accurately reflect curves is there in the program and can be used
at any time. I agree, it loads up the system a bit, so you probably want to tighten it up one curve at a time until you're pretty
happy with the complete design, but there is no reason it can't be used for the final drafting to a resolution that is good enough
for scale plots. I think it's more a matter of "why would you bother?" if you've gone through the design process as in the above
paragraph.

I don't think I'm missing the point... am I? 🙂

Trevor

[Anonymous]

No, not at all, and I probably should have been more specific. In my
opinion, setting the corridor up to produce final plan geometry would likely
create enough of a performance issue and extra work that it would be
terribly counterproductive. All sorts of silly issues would start cropping
up, like labelling radius dimensions (or even checking them), etc. As you
said, you generally start with desired horizontal geometry and model the
road, seeing if it works, adjusting the design, seeing if it works, yet,
etc. What would be the point of trying to get that geometry (for the
purpose of a final drawing) from a corridor? Seems like backward logic, to
me.

I could certainly be wrong, and Heaven knows that we all have our own little
world to deal with. Many of these issues depend heavily on exactly what
scenario someone is facing.

"T_Bernhard" wrote in message
news:5210283@discussion.autodesk.com...
Tom, I agree and I disagree: I personally do most of my horizontal geometry
using polylines prior to starting any of the Civil 3D
design features (alignments, etc.), so it's not an issue for me that the
Corridor Surface and feature lines straight-line based. The
finished surface contours, which are the main output I use the Corridor for,
are close enough for my needs: the information I based
the design on, the existing surface, was straight-line based too.

I disagree in that the ability to tighten up the sections to more accurately
reflect curves is there in the program and can be used
at any time. I agree, it loads up the system a bit, so you probably want to
tighten it up one curve at a time until you're pretty
happy with the complete design, but there is no reason it can't be used for
the final drafting to a resolution that is good enough
for scale plots. I think it's more a matter of "why would you bother?" if
you've gone through the design process as in the above
paragraph.

I don't think I'm missing the point... am I? 🙂

Trevor

[Anonymous]

Yeah, true enough. I thought you were suggesting that HG _couldn't_ be taken from corridor, rather than that it generally shouldn't
be and shouldn't need to be.

Trevor

[rgraham764]

Laurie (et al),

Thanks for your responses. I will look into the corridor components again
(new week). as for training - it's on the books, just have to wait a bit.

My point is that tthe corridor is a nice tool, but I personally would find
it counterproductive to have to offset lines in order to get kerbs,
sidewalks, etc. And (as I understand it) it is VERY counterproductive to
have to totally redraw all of those lines when the project engineer decides
to move the c/l alignment. The corridor automatically follows the new
alignment but the offset lines do not.

I never thought of the memory issue (having the corridor resident in the
drawing), but it makes sense.

Rick
"Laurie Comerford" wrote in message
news:5208267@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi Rick,

The Corridor is your Design object.

How it appears in plans depends entirely on the appearance settings (Style)
you use.

You can create Styles to display the components of the corridor you want to
see and leave out the ones you don't want to see. After the style is
defined, then all you need do is to assign that style to the corridor.

I would suggest you do an "Introduction to Civil 3D" training course.
--

Laurie Comerford
CADApps
www.cadapps.com.au
wrote in message news:5207379@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick

[Anonymous]

Hi Rick,

Instead of rambling on, get some training and you will see that your fears
have no basis.

The only reason you would draw edge lines are to tell those components of
the corridor where to go when their edges aren't parallel to your
centreline.


--

Laurie Comerford
CADApps
www.cadapps.com.au
wrote in message news:5210487@discussion.autodesk.com...
Laurie (et al),

Thanks for your responses. I will look into the corridor components again
(new week). as for training - it's on the books, just have to wait a bit.

My point is that tthe corridor is a nice tool, but I personally would find
it counterproductive to have to offset lines in order to get kerbs,
sidewalks, etc. And (as I understand it) it is VERY counterproductive to
have to totally redraw all of those lines when the project engineer decides
to move the c/l alignment. The corridor automatically follows the new
alignment but the offset lines do not.

I never thought of the memory issue (having the corridor resident in the
drawing), but it makes sense.

Rick
"Laurie Comerford" wrote in message
news:5208267@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi Rick,

The Corridor is your Design object.

How it appears in plans depends entirely on the appearance settings (Style)
you use.

You can create Styles to display the components of the corridor you want to
see and leave out the ones you don't want to see. After the style is
defined, then all you need do is to assign that style to the corridor.

I would suggest you do an "Introduction to Civil 3D" training course.
--

Laurie Comerford
CADApps
www.cadapps.com.au
wrote in message news:5207379@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hi all,

Having finally gotten into playing around with Corridors (I can see some you
running away in horror now). I'm wondering how I can utilize the corridor
model in my drawing especially the finished plans that go out the door
(which IMO is the most important part of the process).

From what I can see, the C-M is just a layout tool that one uses to layout
roads, etc. When a user wants to take this design and JUST show edge of
road, curbing, sidewalk, etc. it has to be manually done??? In other words,
there is no part of the C-M that can be isolated to keep the roads,
sidewalks, etc?

Please tell me if there's another way.

Thanks,

Rick