Label Challenge - Curb Return Flow Directions

[kevinjackman]

Hi folks,

I am wondering if there is a way to make a label that looks like the attached image.

In many parts of Canada, we label curb return grades in Plan View.

The label I am looking to create is essentially a grade and distance around a curb return, along with a arrow showing flow direction.

The grade and distance part is easy. The arc and arrowhead are the hard parts.

For tangent sections of curb, this is easy via expressions.

Thanks a lot.

Civil 3D 2015, SP2

Windows 7

[odoshi]

I took a stab at it but I don't think there are enough properties in a label style to control the arrow start and end points.

Depending on the chord direction of the arc being labeled, my flow arrow would turn with it but there is no way to control the start and end of the arrow. At best, you could maybe center it on the curb return.

I didn't put in the test for the actual flow direction either. I think it would take 2 blocks, and a test for flow direction and an expression to make the unused flow arrow microscopic in size to "hide" it.

Either way, not the easiest. Maybe others can chime in.

[sboon]

An interesting problem.

I think I've got a solution, using a series of radial and chord lines to approximate the curved leader.  I also have expressions to turn the two arrowheads on / off depending on which direction the grade runs.

I still need an expression for determining whether the arc is clockwise or counter-clockwise.  I've built it before, but it's not available now.  I'll try to get a drawing with the style uploaded on Monday

Steve
Please use the Accept as Solution or Kudo buttons when appropriate

[kevinjackman]

Great! thanks Steve!

[sboon · Accepted solution]

I believe that I have it working correctly now.  This label will work for a curve less than 180 degrees.

The expression Angle 1 caclulates an angle which is 1/12 of the curve delta (+ve for right hand and -ve for left hand.)  The Label Radius expression calculates the length of a radial line with an additional offset to move the leader away from the curve.

The label style draws Radial.1 from the center to the BC using the Label Radius expression for length.  It then draws another 12 radial lines, using the two expressions to rotate each one around the curve.  Next, 12 chord lines are added, connecting the ends of the radials.  Please note that two of the chords are currently not visible; you could turn chord lines on or off depending on how long you wanted the leader to be.  The arrowheads are added next, with expressions to determine which one is visible depending on the grade.  The last step is the text.

Adjusting the size of the arrowheads and the leader offset requires editing the expressions.  You could also add more radial and chord lines if you wanted to make the leader appear to be smoother.

Steve
Please use the Accept as Solution or Kudo buttons when appropriate

[kevinjackman]

Nicely done Steve!

You've just saved me a pile of time.

Thank you so much.

[sljohnson]

Hello Steve, Thank you for sharing, This is very helpful. I tweaked the Start and End Slope Direction expressions to be agnostic to the direction of the feature line by replacing the {General Segment Grade} evaluation with comparisons of {General Segment Start Z} {General Segment End Z} values. Best, Shannon

[kevinjackman]

Hi Shannon, would you mind sharing your version of Steve's solution?

I was having some trouble getting the arrow heads direction to show properly. Thanks

[sljohnson]

Here it is Kevin.

Depending on which direction (uphill/downhill) you prefer to have the arrow point, you may need to change the < to > in the expression and vise-verse, verify that the arrow expressions in your drawings has been altered, they may not update if you update the style.

We only point our slopes down hill so I changed the direction of the expression and added a negative to the label text.

I've made a different downhill label in the attached file that reused the expressions from the uphill label with the End Flow Direction and Start Flow Direction swapped in the Start and End Arrow components of the style.

You may need to tweak the sizes, offsets, and scale adjustments to get them to look right on your drawings.

Best, Shannon

(EDITED because the forum doesn't play well with Firefox. File added in IE. Ahem Autodesk.)

[kevinjackman]

Thanks Shannon - but I didn't see a file attached to your post.

[aharrellYU6CX]

This is awesome, thank you for sharing! We do curved walkways/ramps all the time and the Surface > Slope > Two-Point labels were constantly showing smaller values than were graded using feature lines. The arrow and line aspect is crucial to match our company standards.

I learned a lot modifying your style (for instance, didn't know you could make custom label expressions - also awesome). I made the arrow line smaller and then made a child label style for "concave" or "inside" labels and duplicating and editing the Angle 1 expression (picture attached).

The only thing I couldn't figure out was moving the arrow based on the Label Location anchor instead of the Center anchor. It would be nice (but not crucial) to move the arrow and text incase it is intersecting with a contour, utility, site feature, etc.

 

[Neilw_05]

I haven't studied this solution but it seems to me a simpler approach is to create a block for the direction arrow. Of course it wouldn't have a variable length, but in most cases that is not needed, just a direction arrow by the slope label suffices. If you use that approach you can make the label slide along the arc such as you are wanting.