Community
Civil 3D Forum
Welcome to Autodesk’s Civil 3D Forums. Share your knowledge, ask questions, and explore popular AutoCAD Civil 3D topics.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Surveying Issue with dimensions and distances - AutoCAD Civil 3D

25 REPLIES 25
SOLVED
Reply
Message 1 of 26
Brandon1865
1173 Views, 25 Replies

Surveying Issue with dimensions and distances - AutoCAD Civil 3D

Hi there.  First off I'd like to say that I'm in the land surveying field, so I'm new to the layout of AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013.  Previously I have used AutoCAD Land Desktop.

 

I work primarily in 2d space and have set up my templates and settings to reflect those I used in Land Desktop.  Working on a few drawings today, I noticed when I went to dimension a building to the boundary line, the perpendicular command would become skewed and snap to a point far down the line.  When pulling the lengths with the distance command, the same thing would happen.  When I pulled the lengths and checked my math, I noticed the dimensions were utilizing delta-z dimensions rather than the delta-x or delta-y.

 

I know these two are related and I have searched the web for an answer, but I couldn't find anything related to surveying.  Thank you in advance for any help.

25 REPLIES 25
Message 2 of 26
jmayo-EE
in reply to: Brandon1865

You are snapping to points with different z values.

 

When measuring, dimensioning you may want to set the OSNAPZ system variable to 1.

 

If you are snapping to points you may want to use point styles (or edit the one you use) that display the points at z=0

John Mayo

EESignature

Message 3 of 26
Brandon1865
in reply to: jmayo-EE

Thanks for the quick reply John!

 

My OSNAPZ settings were at 0.  When I changed it to 1 it made the skew much worse.  As far as adjusting the display to be z=0, I deal with northing and easting location.  Could it be when I rotate the boundary its skewing the dimensions because I've messed up its alignment with GPS or some other thing?  I'm currently working my way through a "how-to" book but I have not seen anything about altering a project-wide rotation base.

 

Thanks again.

Message 4 of 26

Sounds like your UCS is off.  Reset it by UCS>World, then PLAN>World.



Todd Rogers
BIM Manager
Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn

Message 5 of 26
jmayo-EE
in reply to: Brandon1865

Ok first, in my last post I should have started with, "I think.." 😉

 

Without seeing exactly what you are snapping two and what comands you are using this is tough. Posting a file would help.

 

If you draw a polyline across the dim lin does it skew?

 

Are you in a plan view? World coords?

 

Are there multiple objects under the line you are snapping perpindicular to?

 

I wouldn't think this has anything to do with GPS. I am still thinking this is the measure or dim is working with an elevation change somewhere. If you temporarily go to a Right View, does everything appear to overlap as a line at elev 0?

 

 

John Mayo

EESignature

Message 6 of 26
jmayo-EE
in reply to: ToddRogers-WPM

The dist and dimension object commands should work fine with a rotated UCS.

John Mayo

EESignature

Message 7 of 26
jmayo-EE
in reply to: jmayo-EE

.. But the x,y, and z will be switched.

 

Yes the UCS will set that back but the values are good. I would think there is something else if the dimensions are skewing.

John Mayo

EESignature

Message 8 of 26
SurveyorLee
in reply to: Brandon1865

My bet is on the points being inserted at elevation.  I'm a surveyor too, and it drove me crazy, until if found how to insert the points at 0.  Another issue that may be encountered is line styles may look wrong.  A dashed line with a large z difference will not look correct when plotted, especialyy is there is a large difference in the z value. 

 

Surveyor Lee

Message 9 of 26
MtnMax700
in reply to: Brandon1865

As a surveyor, the FLATTEN command has become my best friend in CIVIL3D.

 

David

Message 10 of 26
SurveyorLee
in reply to: Brandon1865

yes, i use it often, but when you have unlocked points in the dwg, you have to crash out to keep it from changing all of them.  Is there a way to cancel without crashing the dwg?

Lee

Message 11 of 26
Brandon1865
in reply to: SurveyorLee

Thanks for all the help guys and sorry for the late responses, been a hell of a few months here.

 

Surveyor Lee, I have that exact same problem.  I've been scratching my brain trying to eliminate the elevations on point data when I import points.  How did you manage to do that?

 

Thanks again,

Brandon

Message 12 of 26

Brandon,

You will need to change the point style to reflect flattening them to elevation 0...

 

4-4-2012 8-46-10 AM.png



Todd Rogers
BIM Manager
Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn

Message 13 of 26
jmayo-EE
in reply to: ToddRogers-WPM

I agree Todd, set the point style to insert the point objects at z=0. This will not effect the elev shot.

John Mayo

EESignature

Message 14 of 26

Thanks Todd, I think that might just work.  One quick question: If I reinserted points into a drawing with this point, would that flatting of the elevations fix whatever issues were present?

 

Currently I'm working on a project and turning angles from the radius point, the angles come out shorter than the data I put in (turn an angle of 4 degrees 13 minutes, when dimensioned it reads 4 degrees 7 minutes 48 seconds), but this drawing was having the z-axis issues before flattening the elevations.

 

Thanks again,

Brandon

Message 15 of 26

It should if you Overwrite points instead of Renumber points.



Todd Rogers
BIM Manager
Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn

Message 16 of 26

Okay, I reinserted and still no change.  I've attached an image to show the skew where I'm trying to do a perpindicular dimension from the point to the purple line, and it is a different angle of skew for each point. 

 

Could this be because I'm rotating the point file as a whole to match a plat bearing?

Message 17 of 26
jmayo-EE
in reply to: Brandon1865

Rotating the points should not be affecting this. It would be a lot easier for us to help if you could post a dwg.

 

The line you are snapping to, is there another line under it? Acad does not like overlapping objects.

John Mayo

EESignature

Message 18 of 26
Brandon1865
in reply to: jmayo-EE

Sorry about that, wasn't sure what would be helpful.  The full drawing file is attached.  As far as the line, it is the only one there.

 

Thanks for everyone's help! 

Message 19 of 26
AllenJessup
in reply to: Brandon1865

Reviewing THIS thread might also help with other options.

 

Allen Jessup



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 20 of 26
jmayo-EE
in reply to: Brandon1865

Where is the dim line you are trying to get perpindicular?

 

 

John Mayo

EESignature

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask the community or share your knowledge.

Post to forums  

Rail Community


Autodesk Design & Make Report