New to civil 3D modeling..Help with channel design

[sonnyamorales]

Ok, so I am new to desiging with civil 3d and have been reading and searching froums to help answer some questions, but i am still finding it hard to understand and know if i am doing it right.

So here is were i am at.

I have:

EG surface

EG profile

Proposed alignment

Proposed channel profile

I am having trouble using/understanding the channel subassembly.

1.  If i have already set my bottom elevation of channel, what do i put in for the "depth" parameter within the assembly? does not allow "0"

2.  need my side slopes to be 3:1 until the hit the EG.  what controls all this?  the side slope parameter creats the slope, but than it just runs up to the "attachment point" im assuming....do i need anything in the other parameters or do i just set their targets to my EG surface and it will daylight to it?

3.  along the same lines of the above question, what if i need my side slopes to be 3:1 for 5' than 2:1 till EG? 

4.  Do i need a daylighting subassembly to accomplish what i want?

If this does not make sense, please let me know and i will do my best to explain my confusion.  I have posted on other forums with some help, but am still onfused so thought id try a different one.

[troma]

I'm not the best subassembly guy around, but I found something that might be helpful:

http://docs.autodesk.com/CIV3D/2013/ENU/index.html

[toyhonda86]

Rather then using the Channel subassemblies I would try using link subassemblies.  The generic links have a lot of useful tools for customizing the way your channel can work and daylight.

[sonnyamorales]

so your saying dont even touch the channel subassembly that is in the tool pallette?

I can just used the Link ones found under "generic" to model the channel??

soif i use this one

http://docs.autodesk.com/CIV3D/2012/ENU/filesCSH/GUID-234C46D7-B685-42BF-A7D0-91092C5772A-73.htm

and set width to 10' and slope to 0 (creating one for right and left side) that would act like my channel bottom?

[troma]

Yes Adam, I would probably do the same.  There's some folk here that really know what they're doing with corridors and subassemblies, but I've never needed to do anything that couldn't just use a generic link.

[troma]

That's what I would do.  Use a series of them to construct one side of your channel: this distance at such a slope, then so far at this slope etc.  When you're finished with one side, select all the links on that side and right-click.  You should have the option to mirror the subassemblies.  Select  the central marker point to mirror them to the other side.  Then you can edit them on that side if you need to, or just leave them the same so the channel is symmetrical.

[sonnyamorales]

I will give this a try.  Thanks alot, I have been messing with this for days and no one ever put it so simple.  

thanks again, will get back if i run into any problems.

[sboon]

The generic subs are simple, and easy to use, but you may find it difficult to use them for complex sections.  One advantage of the more complex subassemlies is that they already have the point, link and shape codes set up so that you can use them with the OOTB code sets to control the display and calcuate quantites etc.

If the channel sub doesn't do what you need then you might try one of the TrenchPipe subs.

[troma]

Hey, I was waiting for one of you experts to pop in!

Steve, do you have any suggestion of an answer to the original question about the "depth" parameter not allowing zero?  If I was designing a channel, it seems obvious that I would design the profile along the bottom of channel elevations.

[AllenJessup]

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@sonnyamorales wrote:

1.  If i have already set my bottom elevation of channel, what do i put in for the "depth" parameter within the assembly? does not allow "0"

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I haven't dealt with ditches. But when I hit a similar situation with a road, curb or walk subassembly. I enter a value like 0.0000001. That effectively gives you 0 without upsetting the program.

[sboon]

I'm speculating here, but often the programmers often start with an existing subassembly when they build a new one.  If I recall correctly when the first release which included pipes came out the TrenchPipe subassemblies were included.  Those subs are clearly intended for a profile that follows the invert or the center of a pipe, with a parameter to allow for the pipe wall and bedding etc.  The other more recent subassemblies in this group all seem to start from a similar premise.

[troma]

Sounds plausible!

BTW, good idea Allen too.

[sonnyamorales]

Thanks for all the replies guys.  I used the links to creat my channel and seems to do what i want, though i have a few more questions..

1:  Someone replied that by using the other subassemblies i would be able to calcualte quantities and such.  will i not be able to do that here?  I would need to calculate my cut/fill and such (which is another thing i need to read up on 🙂 )

2.  When it comes to creating a surface from the corridor,  I see you can add different links info, I am assuming to give more detail to the surface, so my question would be, would the top link be enough? I did all four (top, datum, dalight cut, and daylight fill) but not sure what it all does.  and it makes multiple surfaces when i just need one.

Than im assuming i should be able to combine the EG surface and Channel surface to get a new final surface, right?

I have attached a few pics, one of the assemblies and one of the channel (with top surface) just so you guys get an idea of what i am doing here.

Again thanks for the help!!!  Now if i can only get Autocad to work with my new Windows 8 PC that would be great!!

[toyhonda86]

By adding the different codes to the links you should have no problem with creating a surface based on the Top coded links.  You can then do a surface comparison or a quantity take-off to generate your earthwork volumes.  Glad the general links worked for you.  

You are also correct in coming up with a combined finish grade surface.  Just create a new FG surface from your existing ground and paste in the channel surface.

[sboon]

The software uses the point, link and shape codes in several ways.  You can use a code set to specify how objects display in plan, model or section views.  You also build corridor surfaces by choosing all of the links which have a particular code - say all of Top links for example.  If you assign codes to the subassembly points then the corridor will draw feature lines connecting all points with the same code.

The OOTB subassemblies already have the appropriate codes assigned, so that you can use them without having to think about this stuff.  In this case you are going to have to make sure that the generic subs have the correct codes for what you need to do.

[sonnyamorales]

"By adding the different codes to the links you should have no problem with creating a surface based on the Top coded links."

sorry you lost me with this sentence.  This is what the "codes"  tab on all my links looks like.  Did i miss a step?

[sboon]

You've found the code set, which controls the default display for this subassembly.  Switch to the parameters tab and look for the point codes and link codes there.

Please note - the codes are case sensitive.  A list of multiple codes can be entered - separated by commas.

[sonnyamorales]

SBoon,

I cant seem to get the sub assemblies to work the way i want which is why i am going this other route.  If the Channel sub assembly would work how i need it, i would definetly go that route.  But there are to many questions with it that i cant seem to find an answer for 🙂

so hopefully the way i am going about it will get the desired results, just a matter of learning how civil 3d "reads" things.

Again cant thank you guys enough for the help i have gotten on here

[sboon]

No problem - we've all been down the same road that you're travelling right now. 

[sonnyamorales]

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@sboon wrote:

You've found the code set, which controls the default display for this subassembly.  Switch to the parameters tab and look for the point codes and link codes there.

Please note - the codes are case sensitive.  A list of multiple codes can be entered - separated by commas.

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Ok i see.  I did not change any of this so it is the default ones for the given links.

I think i am getting the desired result :)..need to try combining the surface and see what that looks like i guess