Wish #15 – Ability to rotate individual points about there node.

[Anonymous]

Wish #15 – Ability to rotate individual points about there node. The only way this can be done now is with assigning a different Label Style with the rotation specified.

In other words just like LDT. It is important to be able to do this when you are laying out a Finished ground, i.e. parkinglot and you need to display the FG elevations of break points. They need to be rotated at different angles inorder to be seen and not overlapping other features/lines in the dwg.

Bill Neuhauser P.E.
Alignex Inc.

[jharris]

I'm a little confused about your post?

Are you saying that if we post this request to the wish list that it'll get done? Think again! AutoDesk has its own agenda, and very rarely do they look to these forums for new ideas. That has been proven time and time again.

You say to go to the wish forum and tell Autodesk how to fix it? Hell take a look as Jeff Mishler post. He came up with his own solution. Why? Because Autodesk hasn't.

Most of the people that come to these forums are here for support, and the reason they need support is because C3D is not ready for prime time (though it would make sense that if Autodesk sells it that is should be ready).

You hear complaints because Autodesk forces into Subscriptions that yield us software that is far less capable than its predecessor. We are basically paying Autodesk to beta test their latest software.
With each new version of C3D I start with a project and work it from start to finish. Let me tell you, its far less capable. Granted the foundation C3D is laying is great, I love the idea of dynamic alignments, profiles, pipes, etc.., but the software just isn't there yet. LDD is still far more efficient.

How long will it take for C3D to become King? My opinion is that at the pace their going, It'll be another 10 years before the market fully accepts it. Autodesk knows this, which is why they are forcing it down our throat!

Are you complaining that we are all to young to remember the 486?
I use to do CAD on a 286 16mhz. My first PC was an 8086. And my first computer didn't even have a floppy drive.

What does hardware have to do with anything? Hardware isn't going to get my plans out any faster. Try telling a contractor that he has to wait another week because his plans aren't ready because you decided to use C3D instead of LDD!

We complain because out hands are tied.
Before you even start, I've heard it all before.
"So don't Upgrade"
If I don't upgrade then I have to pay full price for each seat when Autodesk finally does release a descent version of C3D.

"If you are unhappy Terminate your Subscription"
If I let my subscription laps, then when I do renew a few years from now, I have to pay retro on the subscription!

"Don't Like it get another CAD Package"
Buying new software, retraining, and loss of efficiency while getting everyone up to speed isn't a viable option!

The fact is that there are people that love to be on the bleeding edge. I'm usually one of them. In a business environment, its just not practical. C3D is still far to bleeding edge for most.

-Jeff Harris

[Anonymous]

That's really nice, Jeff. I'm sure AG will be along to post it in the
Community, but I'd like to post it on Civil3d.com as well, with your
permission obviously.

Drop me an e-mail so I can credit you properly or to tell me no? Thanks.

--
James Wedding, P.E.
Engineered Efficiency, Inc.
Civil 3D 2007
XP Tablet, SP2, 2GHz, 2G
www.eng-eff.com
www.civil3d.com

[Anonymous]

Sorry Trevor - I didn't read deep enough into the posts. You are correct and
what Jeff has come up should be implemented in the next SP/version of C3D!
Kudos to Jeff.

Rick

wrote in message news:5323599@discussion.autodesk.com...
I think you miss my point, Rick. My symbols are in fact Point Markers. The
QSelect will only select a Point Group, not the sub-objects we call Points.

Unfortunately, at this stage, the only way to modify the rotation factors of
Point markers is one at a time through the Edit Points vista. Of course,
I'll be glad to be corrected; it would save considerable time after
importing points.

Trevor

[Anonymous]

All of this ranting just because you can't rotate text?

Well while you're here complaining (this is the wish list site not the I have problems site) I have many customers that are beating your bids because they have taken the time to learn the software and at the same time learn some workarounds.

So complain all you want! Come on here and tell us that its not yet up for production! We'll maybe for you but not a lot of my customers.........they have spent the time and have learned the software and are better and faster and beating you at the bid.. period....

They are listening and reading these post! Can they fix every little thing in one month service packs? Not likely! But I have seen many of my wishes/requests get added to 2007,many!

One question? Do you know of any company still making typewriters? or ink drafting pens? Sounds like you might? You competition would gladly give you there's...........

Sounds like you have already spent the money, so what do you have to gain by tearing down Autodesk/C3D? It's these kind of posts that they ignore..... 🙂

[Anonymous]

Thanks! Yes, you may post it to Civil3d.com and Anthony may also post it to
the Community.

Jeff Mishler
Santa Rosa, CA
miff AT sonic DOT net

wrote in message news:5325516@discussion.autodesk.com...
That's really nice, Jeff. I'm sure AG will be along to post it in the
Community, but I'd like to post it on Civil3d.com as well, with your
permission obviously.

Drop me an e-mail so I can credit you properly or to tell me no? Thanks.

--
James Wedding, P.E.
Engineered Efficiency, Inc.
Civil 3D 2007
XP Tablet, SP2, 2GHz, 2G
www.eng-eff.com
www.civil3d.com

[Anonymous]

Hi Jeff,
Look, I can understand frustration....to a point.

I've been using LDT since it was DCA, and to this day there are still things
that are either not done at all or not done correctly (for my area). Have I
filed wishes/complaints? Yes, with the proper people (reseller and
wish-list). Have any of my wishes/complaints been addressed? Yes, many. Yet
there still remains a number of deficiencies. I have a folder full of
lisp/VBA routines that I've written, along with another folder of other's
works, that address most of the areas that Autodesk has not. Do I bash the
software? No, I look for workarounds and/or solutions that I can do so I can
get on with my work. Many of these I post, some I offer for sale (mainly
those I've already written but add specific functions for specific
purposes), some I never talk about.

Your comment "...and very rarely do they look to these forums for new
ideas..." is way off base as far as C3D is concerned. I would say that a
high proportion of what you see in today's program is a direct result of
user feedback AND the perusal of these newsgroups by the folks that CAN make
the decisions to include them.

Again, this is a Wishes group where you can ask for things to be included
(or removed) from future versions. For problems there is the basic Civil3d
group, your reseller, and the emails direct to the folks working on the
program (no, I won't post them as they already have. Search for Dan P, Glen
A, Peter F, etc.....)

Respectfully,
Jeff Mishler

wrote in message news:5325382@discussion.autodesk.com...
I'm a little confused about your post?

Are you saying that if we post this request to the wish list that it'll get
done? Think again! AutoDesk has its own agenda, and very rarely do they
look to these forums for new ideas. That has been proven time and time
again.

[Anonymous]

http://discussion.autodesk.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2465498

does this sound familiar? Feature lines anyone? Feature line editor? Where are my royalties?????

This is a prime example of a wish being answered! This was prior to me ever seeing C3D and maybe prior to any release of C3D.....March 11, 2004

Bill Neuhauser P.E.
Alignex Inc.

[jharris]

I'm done with this thread. I don't even use C3D anymore.
My rant goes way beyond being able to rotate text, but this forum isn't the place for it.

Good luck to everyone.

-Jeff

[jharris]

Am I mistaken or was it you who started this rant?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"ability to individually rotate points"

I just talked to AD about this because there was nothing in SP1 about this.

The question to everyone out there is this not HUGE?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've taken the time to learn the software. There are just to many workarounds needed to get a project out as quickley as LDD.

I've tried it with C3D 2005, 2006, and now 2007. Each release is better than the previous, but its just not ready, not for me anyhow. There are still to many things missing or not working as they should, and I'm not willing to spend countless hours figuring out workarounds for them all. If your customers want to then more power to them but its their profit margin not mine.
Your customers may be using it in production, but not as efficiently as they were with LDD. Unless the only thing they do is create simple profiles all day long.

You go on and on about 486DX2-66's, Leroy Lettering machines, and Typewriters. Do you have something against Yesterdays technology? You must fly a UFO to work every day because Automobile technology is more than 120 years old, and hell the wheel is even older! I guess we should all get rid of those tires for something better? Oh wait, we can't because its not practical! Just as C3D isn't practical.

It sounds to me like you teach classes on Autodesk products. Makes sense that you would push the latest software otherwise you would have nothing new to teach.

Praise it all you want but its not ready, and I'm not the only one whisteling this tune.

-Jeff

[Anonymous]

Yes, having the ability to attach a dynamic block to a point and give it the ability to use the dynamic properties. Also the ability to insert a block with a point and not have the hatching of the block go away. In addition for the Point Style, having the ability to show the block and a AutoCAD point or marker with the block to show the insertion point of the surveyed point.

Peter S.

[Anonymous]

Just a head's up for anyone using this routine. I just discovered that if
the Point Style has a rotation, it gets applied as well as the individual
point's rotation angle. So what you expect may not be what you get! If this
happens, check the Style for a rotation of /= 0 AND the Point Group Style.

wrote in message news:5324074@discussion.autodesk.com...
Awesome! Thanks, Jeff! That's going to save a bunch of effort. Thanks for
sharing!

Trevor

[Anonymous]

second that ledhed, went back to land desktop, when drawing topos in civil 3d, if you create a group say for ground shots, it takes forever to grip and just move the elevation so that it doesn't overlap the other elevations, ridiculous. the other problem with points or (objects as they call them) is that there is no way to edit the actual point, say i have storm manhole and create a label style to label it as such and show the rim elevation with it, now how do i add the inverts without adding text under it or adding a note label to it? I will keep working in ldd just for the simple fact it doesn't bog down like civil will when you have more than 1000 points.
end........

[Anonymous]

Here is a fix I've come up with for this posting of mine from way back in May!

First thing is lets cure the rotation problem!

From an above posting by a Jeff Mishler! Great job done here!

Cut and past the below .lsp code into notepad and then rename it to RT.LSP and then go into C3D and do an Appload and add this to the history. Now go to the express tools and run the Command Alias editor and add a new alias running the above lisp routine. BINGO rotating points now solved...

KEEP READING BELOW FOR MORE!

(defun c:rotate_markers (/ *acad* C3D C3DDoc pnts rotAng selectedPnts)
(setq *acad* (vlax-get-acad-object))
(setq C3D (vla-getinterfaceobject
*acad*
"AeccXUiLand.AeccApplication.4.0"
)
)
(setq C3Ddoc (vla-get-activedocument C3D))
(setq pnts (vlax-get C3Ddoc 'points)
rotAng (getangle "\nNew rotation angle for points: ")
)
;;ask to select points
(princ "\nSelect points to rotate: ")
(setq selectedPnts (vlax-invoke C3Ddoc 'SelectPoints))
(foreach pnt selectedPnts
(vlax-put (vlax-invoke pnts 'find pnt) 'rotation rotAng)
)
(mapcar 'vlax-release-object (list pnts C3Ddoc C3D *acad*))
(princ)
)





Now the rotate points has been solved how about the problem with point groups and the ability of turning points off and on like we did in LDD by layer.......

First what we need to do is disable the Point Groups layer override. This is easy but like many things undocumented! All you need to do is go to the Tool space> Settings tab> and Object Layers Tab and go to the Point Group object and change the Layer to 0. This will disable the layer override. What this really does is let the Description keys somewhat do there job now. So speaking of description keys…

Now for your description keys the key here is that we need to now create a Point Style for each description key that is using a different layer. Inside the Point Style style under the Display tab you will see that the Marker and Label can be on two different layers. Meaning this is where we tell C3D what layers we want this point/symbol/label to be on. By doing a different point style for each description key that needs a different layer we now have the power to freeze/thaw layers and have the Labels and the Markers and Symbols be turn off and on independently.

example 1: Ex. Hydrant

This should have a symbol of a hydrant and this should have text turned on for the desc and the elev and maybe even the pt#.

Layers would be the following. (display Tab)

V-NODE-STRM-HYD-SYMBOL (Marker component)
V-NODE-STRM-HYD-LABEL

Example 2: Flowline shot or FL

No symbol is needed but this might have a different type of marker. Circle with X?

Layers would be:
V-NODE-ROAD-MARKER-FL
V-NODE-ROAD-LABEL-FL


Now there could be double use of some of the Point Styles, this would lower the total amount of Point styles. The description key layer that was brought over with the LDD description keys are still useless, but at least now we can turn things off and on, while at the same time us the new added features of C3D description keys. i.e. ability to add different Labels styles to each description key.

Hope this helps with your move to C3D…..

Bill Neuhauser P.E.
Alignex, Inc.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Bill, appreciate the help, wish you were our tech support, because our tech suppport, (the company in which we purchased our subscription form) did not have an answer to our problem, said they were contacting ad and would let us know.......

[Anonymous]

f.y.i

Try not to use point groups unless you have too. They are real slow, especially if you have a lot of points.

[Anonymous]

.

[Anonymous]

OK - Maybe thiis has been hit on before....
But here's something that erks me a bit.
If I have a Point Description only style, when I rotate the point, the x,y offsets are not applied to the description relative to the marker (new rotation). They seem to be relative to the orig. rotation.) See attached.