Transitional Lanes and Link Slope to Surface

[jgracia8750]

I am having trouble getting my assembly to work in my corridor.  I have a Basic Lane Transition subassembly with a Link Slope to Surface subassembly attached to it.  The assembly follows my centerline alignment and the lane widens as designed out to my offset alignments.  The slope grading to daylight works fine until the transitional lane starts to widen, then the slope assembly stays at the same point on the lane and does not stay linked to the end of the lane.  What am I doing wrong?

I am also having trouble getting the subassemblies to attach to the proper points.  I keep trying different OSnaps unitl one seems to work, but I am never sure the subassemblies are connected properly. 

Please help, someone!

[Jeff_M]

Make sure your CodeSetSTyle used to display the Assembly is using one which shows the PointMarkers. Then you just select the marker to attach to, no osnaps needed.

[sboon]

Select your subassembly and right-click.  If it's not already connected to an assembly then you should get an option on the popup list to fix that.  I am betting that your LinkSlopeToSurface is actually connected directly to the assembly with an offset instead of to the outside of the lane sub.  Use the Clear offset option first, then the Move option to connect it to the correct point on the outside of the lane.

[jgracia8750]

Thanks. I tried that already and it didn't seem to work this time either. The Modify subassembly panel does not allow me to access that command (it is faded out), so there must not be an offset.  Is there a link somewhere that I have screwed up?   I have tried numerous different settings on the Panorama Editor and none of them makes a difference.

Jim

[jgracia8750]

The selection function on my sub-assemblies is very erratic.  When I try to select the marker point on the original base assembly, it works, but when I try to attach a sub-assembly it goes haywire.  It doesn't always attach to the marker point I am selecting.   As in a Lane Sub-assembly, the daylight sub will attach to the bottom node of the gravel, or even back to the crown at the main Assembly marker.  it is erratic and I can't figure out why it is happening.  I think this has a lot to do with the overall failure of this assembly to work in my corridor.  It is a very basic driveway along a side slope with some cuts and some fills.  I just can't get the daylight part to stay attached to the transitional lane as it widens.

Jim

[Jeff_M]

If you'd like to post or email your dwg, I'd be happy to take a look at it for you.

As for the erratic connections of the subassemblies, make sure you have the pointmarkers displayed, and also be zoomed in close enough to be selecting the correct one. My first few corridors I also has problems like this, but now, with lots of practice, I rarely get connection issues. When I do have problems, it's usually due to the zoom factor.

[jgracia8750]

Thanks Jeff.

I would have sent this sooner, but Autodesk kicked my problem up to their support team.  I replied and sent the drawing file, as you also asked, and I have not heard anything since I sent it yesterday morning, about 26 hours ago.  I thought they would be quicker in responding to me.  The last time I had help within a couple of hours.

Jim

[Jeff_M]

Hi Jim,

Steve explained the problem quite well. If you select one of the subassemblies in the drawing, then right-click, you will have an option the Clear Offsets. Once you do that, select the subassembly again (it will move to be on the assembly line), right-click, select MoveTo, then pick the circle on the Lane Subassembly where you want it to attach to. Do this for both sides of the road. You will have to re-apply the targets for the daylight surface. It should then be as you desire.

[sboon]

Steve has seen this particular issue enough times on this board to have the explanation and solution pretty much memorized.

[mathewkol · Accepted solution]

Probably the most common cause of many corridor problems besides not setting targets.

[jgracia8750]

Well guys, I seem to have it fixed, but I am not sure why it was fixed based on what I did.  Put this one in your memory banks for the future.  I tried all the recommendations you had sent, but nothing seemed to work.  What was different was that my right click function was set to go directly to a QSave and not bring up the short cut menu.  I didn't think that really mattered because when I selected the subassembly, I could always access all those commands (Move To, Mirror, Copy To) on the ribbon in the Modify Subassembly panel.   Unfortunately, they would not work for me.  I decided to change my right click mouse config to go back to the short cut menus, in case there was something on the short cut menus that was not in the panel.  Then I erased the old assembly and started over again.  This time when I added subassemblies to the base assembly, things connected as they should.  Now, when my transition lane widens, the Slope to Surface sub goes with it.

I still don't know why, when I originally tried to select the attachment points on each sub, it was just not selecting them.  For some reason, with this right click change to my mouse, it works now.  Thanks for your help.

[jgracia8750]

Jeff,

Sorry top bother you again, but hw do I do a screen shot like you sent to me?

Jim

[Jeff_M]

I use Snagit: http://www.techsmith.com/snagit.html

Win7 has a built-in similar tool found in Accessories on the Start Menu: Snipping Tool

[Jeff_M]

Now this is definitely wrong....and I can see how you may have gotten confused.

I didn't notice the ribbon wasn't giving the option to Clear Offset in Assembly since I've always used the right-click method. 

[NatyRofner]

Hi Jim, 
Even having already answered you by email, I will share the suggestions - once may be usefull for another users. 

1)Try to change your lane subassembly to 'BasicLaneTransition';
2)Change the Insertion Point to "Edge of Travel Way" to get it to target the way you want it to.
3) Also change the Transition to"Change Offset and elevation" (or "Hold elevation, change offset", as appropriate).

Once you make these adjustments, you should have a good corridor. You may also need to adjust the frequency.

The following two documents will guide you through these steps.

http://www.cadalyst.com/general-software/cad-clinic-introduction-civil-3d-corridors-3145

http://augiindia.augi.com/content/library/au07/CV114-4PScottMcEachron.pdf

If also can work through the corridor tutorials included in the program – they have one specifically for transition lanes.

Regarding the corridor surface issue, did you added a boundary into your corridor surface (through Corridor Properties > Boundaries Tab > Right click on 'Britton Corridor Surface')?
Usually this fixes the surface contour, despite sometimes a manual adjustment be necessary (through Surface Properties > Edit Surface).

Please, let me know if you have any further questions and I will be happy to help you.

Naty

[jgracia8750]

Naty, Thanks for your help. Unfortunately, I don't have as much time to devote to my AutoCad work as I would like, since it is only one small part of my overall job, but I do enjoy learning to use the program whenever I can. The subscription center has always been a big help whenever I have hit a brick wall. Everyone is very eager to offer advice on how to solve a problem. For now, I guess you can close out my file, but I am sure I will have other issues pop up as I go along. Jim ___________________________________________________________________ James A. Gracia, PE City Engineer Easthampton DPW 109 Hendrick Street Easthampton, MA 01027 Tel. 413-529-1423 Fax. 413-529-1431 jgracia@easthamptonwater.com This e-mail and any related attachments may include confidential information not subject to public disclosure and is intended for the person or entity to which it is addressed. If you have received this message and are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message is prohibited. If you have received this correspondence in error please notify the sender by replying to the message and immediately deleting it, and any attachments you received.