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April Expert Elite Highlight | AutoCAD Civil 3D by Todd Rogers

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ToddRogers-WPM
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April Expert Elite Highlight | AutoCAD Civil 3D by Todd Rogers

Autodesk is thrilled to highlight Todd Rogers in our April edition of the 2016 Expert Elite Highlight series on AutodeskHelp blog. Todd has over 23 years worth of experience in the engineering field, and is an Autodesk Instructor and Tech Support Specialist. Here Todd shares with us recommendations on how to customize labbel style for structures in profile view. Please also read on to find out more about Todd's impressive background and experience.


HeaderBanner.pngAs many of you know, the label style for structures used out-of-the-box (OOTB) are not very compliant to what is needed in a production environment.

  

Most people prefer the structure callout to be at a 90-degree direction, at the bottom of the grid, and with a line projected from the middle of the bottom of the structure. That is what we are going to accomplish.

 

Our finished product will look like the image on the left below…

 

Image1.png

 

The first thing you will want to do is copy one of the existing styles from OOTB.  In this example, I am copying the Name Only (Sanitary) label style from under Structure>Label Styles…

1-26-2016 3-47-25 PM.png

 

 On the Information tab, give the style a name. I am naming mine 'Proposed Sanitary MH (Profile)'.

1-26-2016 3-52-31 PM.png

 

Now click on the General tab. Here you will assign your layer and text style. The only thing I am changing here is the text style. I am changing it to ROMAND. I am leaving the layer set to C-SSWR-TEXT.

 

Next, click on the Layout tab. This is where the magic begins. Notice under the Component name, the only component in the list is Structure Text. We will start with that. The first thing we will do is go to the Text Contents and start our label style. Click in the Value column, Contents row, under Text. An ellipsis will appear. Click the ellipsis…

1-26-2016 4-01-41 PM.png 

 

This will open up the Text Component Editor. Highlight <[Name(CU)]> on the right side of the dialog box and delete it. You should now have a clean, blank box. Place your cursor in the blank box and type PROP. SAN. MH, then hit the ENTER key to start a new line of text. Type RIM ELEV. = … 

1-26-2016 4-12-25 PM.png
 

Now click on the Properties pulldown and select Insertion Rim Elevation.  Click the arrow to insert it under the PROP. SAN. MH…

1-26-2016 4-21-55 PM.png

  

Place your cursor after the string and hit the ENTER key to start a new line of text. Type STA. [space].  Under the Properties pulldown, select Structure Station, change the precision to 1, then click the arrow to insert it…

1-26-2016 4-50-05 PM.png

 

That’s all we need for this part of the callout.  Click OK, and you will see the results to the right in the Preview box. 

Alternatively, you can opt to place the offset after the station, but that usually is for the plan view callout.

 

Now we will put the flowlines (inverts) on the label. To do this, we need to create a new component.  Then new component will be 'Text for Each'.  Click on the arrow to the right of the Component Name and select Text for Each…

1-28-2016 3-05-34 PM.png

  

There will be a dialog box that pops up to select the type.  Select Structure All Pipes and then click OK…

1-28-2016 3-07-51 PM.png

  

Under the General property for Name, change the Name to INVERT.  For the Anchor Component, change it to Structure Text.  This will anchor it to the text we just created prior to the flowline (invert). Change the Anchor Point to Bottom Left.

1-28-2016 3-11-35 PM.png

 

Now we will create the text for the flowlines. Just like before, we are going to click on the ellipsis for the Text Contents… 

1-28-2016 3-13-57 PM.png

 

Highlight the text “Label Text” and delete it. Notice there is a Format tab besides the Properties tab. Click on the Format tab and change the justification to Left. Click back on the Properties tab…

1-28-2016 3-16-32 PM.png

 

From the Properties pulldown, select Connected Pipe Inner Diameter or Width, change the Precision to 1 and hit the arrow to insert it.
Place your cursor after the string and type the quotation mark “ [space] FL = …

1-28-2016 3-21-34 PM.png

 

Go back to the Properties pulldown and select Connected Pipe Invert Elevation, keep the Precision at 0.01, then hit the arrow to insert it. Place your cursor at the end of the string and hit the spacebar for a space, then type an open parenthesis ( …

1-28-2016 3-28-40 PM.png

  

Now, back under the Properties pulldown, select Connected Pipe Direction and then click the arrow to insert it. Place your cursor after the string and type a closed parenthesis ) …

1-28-2016 3-30-39 PM.png

  

We are now finished with this portion of the label. Click the OK button.

 

You will now need to change the Attachment to Top Left. Notice that the flowlines are now lined up with the rest of the label…

1-28-2016 3-34-29 PM.png

 

The last portion of this is to add another component for the line. Then we will go back and tweak a couple of settings for the other components, as well as the Dragged State.


Under the pulldown arrow to create a new component, choose Line…

1-28-2016 3-37-28 PM.png

 

 For the Name, rename it to Line Extension. Change the Use End Point Anchor from False to True. For the End Point Y Offset, change it to -3.0000”…

 

1-28-2016 3-44-10 PM.png 

If your label style looks like mine in the Preview pane, as shown above, then you are doing everything correctly so far. If not, you will want to backtrack to find out where you went wrong.

 

Back under the Component Name, select Structure Text. This is the first component we created…

 

1-28-2016 3-48-01 PM.png

 

 

Under General, change the Anchor Component to Line Extension and then change the Anchor Point to End…

 

1-28-2016 3-50-24 PM.png

 

 

Under Text, change the Rotation Angle to 180.0000, the Attachment to Top Left, and the Y Offset to -0.1650. I am changing my color to Yellow because that is my “proposed” pen color, and it works good with the ROMAND text style…

 

1-28-2016 3-54-56 PM.png

 

We are almost there. All we have to do now is change a couple of settings in the Dragged State. Click on the Dragged State tab. Once there, under Leader, change the Arrow Head Size to 0.0000”. Now under Dragged State Components, change the Display to As Composed…

 

 

1-28-2016 3-58-47 PM.png

 

 

Our label style is complete. Click OK.

 

Now let’s test this out! Create a profile with some structures, or use an existing one. Add this label style to the structures in profile view. Once you add the label style to the structures, you should see this in profile view…
1-28-2016 4-14-05 PM.png

 

It’s still not quite right. Do you happen to know why? Don’t forget the Dragged State. Click on the label and grab the grip at the end of the line. Turn on your Ortho, and drag the label to the bottom of your grid. And there you have it, a nice line from the BOTTOM of the manhole attached to your text…

 

 

1-28-2016 4-24-03 PM.png

 

 

This label style will also allow you to stagger the labels by adding vertices to the line in dragged state. That's it!

 

If you liked this article, and you would like to know how to stagger the lines, let me know and I will post it. Thanks for checking this out!

 

 

About Todd Rogers, Expert Elite, AutoCAD Civil 3D

 

Bio Pic.4jpg.jpgMy name is Todd Rogers.  I am a certified Partner Service Expert (P.S.E.) and Certified Autodesk Instructor (A.C.I.) with over 23 years of experience in teaching, managing, and, providing hardware and software solutions for hundreds of engineering firms throughout the greater Houston, Texas area.  

 

In 1995, I began my professional career after graduating from the Art Institute of Houston where I earned my degree in Computer Aided Drafting and Design.  Today, I am a valued member of the Engineering, Natural Resources & Infrastructure (ENI) division for Total CAD Systems, Inc., where I work as an Autodesk Instructor and Technical Support Specialist.

 

I have held the “Autodesk Expert Elite” status since April 2013.  I am also on the Autodesk Infrastructure Participatory Design Council.  I share my enthusiasm for Autodesk with my community, as well as represent the voice of the customer back to Autodesk.  

 

Presently, I'm earning my Bachelors of Science in Information Technology and keep up to date with the latest in technology and trends by attending seminars and conferences worldwide.  I am an active blogger. Through my personal blog website (civil3dj.wordpress.com), I share tips and solutions on Autodesk software. 

 

 

A big thank you to Todd for this valuable step-by-step instructions on Label style for structures in AutoCAD Civil 3D. Autodesk appreciates Todd's contributions and experience in the CAD field. 

Please subscribe to the AutodeskHelp blog to learn about helpful product tips and tricks like these.



Todd Rogers
BIM Manager
Blog | Twitter | LinkedIn

5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
draftsdi
in reply to: ToddRogers-WPM

Very helpful, would like to know how to stagger the lines.

Message 3 of 6
LesterDJ56
in reply to: ToddRogers-WPM

Super Duper Post. Always wanted to place text label in this manner.

 

 CADFUN.JPG

Message 4 of 6
brin-sr
in reply to: ToddRogers-WPM

Great stuff!

Yes i would like to know how to stagger. Also can I put MH# , Sta., & Rim on the top of the manhole, with flowlines at the bottom?

Message 5 of 6
dzanta
in reply to: ToddRogers-WPM

Whoa!....It's the man!...Great post Todd!  Hope to see you again sometime soon...perhaps AU 2016 !!


Dzan Ta, AEE, ASM, ACI.

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Message 6 of 6
nonbeard13
in reply to: ToddRogers-WPM

thank you sir for a very good explaination of one label style.

too bad autodesk civil 3d needs several hundred to produce a civil plan set.

so much for mtext and lines.  .. . . .

dynamic is not a good thing when it requires so much polish you do not have time to to the actual drawing design work.

 

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