Profile Horizontal Scales

[mrthra]

Hi All,

I have a drawing with profiles that are drawn at 1:500 and sections that are drawn at 1:200 in scale. Modelspace set to a 1:500 scale (metric).

My profiles work perfectly in modelspace and paperspace as the viewport is set to 1:500.

However! My cross sections are different. If I set the viewport scale to 1:200 they look great in paperspace, however, in modelspace they are obviously at 1:500 - and far too big to work with. Please see images below firstly of modelspace (1:500), then secondly, paperspace viewport (1:200):

Firstly, can I disable the drawing annotative scaling (CANNOSCALE) all together as quite frankly I dont want / need it. Secondly, if I cant, how can i get my all my 1:200 cross sections to appear at 1:200 in modelspace rather than 1:500!!?? If I change the drawing scale to 1:200 the profiles will then be wrong!

Thanks for your wisdom in advance!

[Pointdump]

Mrthra,

You can't disable CANNOSCALE. Keep in mind that all C3D objects are annotative. If you want your Sections and Profiles to appear the same size, you'll need to change one of the styles to match the other.

Dave

[andrewpuller3811]

Don't be bothered that the sections don't look right in model space when the scale is set to 1:500.

This is normal for civil 3d.

The sections will plot correctly in a 1:200 viewport and the profiles will plot correctly in a 1:500 viewport.

As you have figured out, work in model space with the sections/profiles etc at the scale that you want those particular objects.

[Cadguru42]

This is a good reason why we separate the different parts of C3D into different drawings. Because of scaling problems, we have sections in their own drawing. You also get the added bonus of C3D just working faster when you split the drawings up. We keep alignments, profiles, and view frames in a drawing, then DS those. We have a present layout drawing, a proposed layout drawing, an existing ground drawing, a corridor drawing, and a cross section drawing. By using XREFs and data shortcuts the speed of C3D is greatly enhanced and it's easier to manage this way. 

[jmayo-EE]

I agree. Particularly with the dual scale requirements the sections should be in a separate file. Separate files would also be recommended to optimize performance.

[ccoles]

We've had to deal with this issue on occasion, and just set-up the paperspace viewport to show it as we need it. If we need to make adjustments, it is easier to do it in model mode within the paperspace window than to go to modelspace and keep changing the CANNOSCALE variable. Ultimately, separate drawing files would be the best way to handle it.

[mrthra]

Thank you for your contributions!

I understand the answer is to use separate drawings for different elements of the project. As mentioned, this will save memory and resolve the issue with different objects at different scales!

I would however suggest that there be an option to disable CANNOSCALE or the scaling. This would enable quick output of data without the need for separate drawings or scales. Other Engineering software I have used doesn't have this functionality and still does the job with the same efficiency. Having data at different scales works but my personal opinion is that this should be a function which the user can enable / disable.

I am a competent xref user, so my only question is how to separate an existing drawing (with surfaces, alignments, profiles etc) into multiple drawings and they all associate with each other??

[ccoles]

Actually, data shortcuts is the way to go. We use data shortcuts all the time, and for large projects with many designers working on elements at the same time, it prevents a lot of headaches. On small projects, we may keep most of the design elements in a single file, but for large projects, splitting them up and using data shortcuts makes life so much easier. External references are also used, but data shortcuts are the main way to go.

As an example, the profile within data shortcuts is a part of the alignment. If you data reference an alignment, you can also reference the profiles attached and set up the profile to work best with your sheet layout, but in the original file the alignment resides in, you can set the profile display to work best with your design efforts. Surfaces are the same way, as well as pipe networks.

As for cross-sections, we found that if you data reference in the alignment but x-ref in the design with the corridor, final and existing surfaces, you can sample the xref'ed data with the sample lines you set up with the data-referenced alignment, including assembly call-outs!

[mrthra]

DATA SHORTCUTS! Got it!