mastering autocad civil 3d 2010

Mastering
AutoCAD
®
Civil 3D
®
2010

Mastering
AutoCAD
®
Civil 3D
®
2010
James Wedding
Scott McEachron
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
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Copyright
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Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-47353-5
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wedding, James, 1974-

Mastering Autocad Civil 3D 2010 / James Wedding, Scott McEachron. – 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-470-47353-5 (paper/website)
1. Civil engineering — Computer programs. 2. Surveying — Computer programs. 3. Three-dimensional
display systems. 4. AutoCAD Civil 3D (Electronic resource) I. McEachron, Scott, 1965- II. Title.
TA345.W44752 2009
624.0285’836–dc22
2009019191
TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission.
AutoCAD and Civil 3D are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
10987654321
Dear Reader,
Thank you for choosing Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010. This book is part of a family of
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For Mom.
— JW
For Grandma.
— SM
Acknowledgments
This book is a team e ffort, with more authors than on are the front cover. We both have people to
thank and acknowledge. Thank you to our clients and peers. Their generous sharing of data, time,
and energy made many of the exercises and lessons in this book possible. We learn as much from
ourclientsasweeverteachthem.
Thank you to the team at Wiley: Willem Knibbe, Pete Gaughan, Jonathan Stewart, Kathryn
Duggan, and Liz Britten. This team of editors performed an incredible job of guiding us through a
faster production process than many thought possible.
Thank you to our friends in Manchester, New Hampshire. Autodesk has some truly great
people working there, delivering the best product they can to users worldwide. Helping us with
our q uestions the whole time they were preparing this release, the development team at Autodesk
is an invaluable resource for this authoring team.
From The Authors
I have to first thank Scott. He took on the lion’s share of the effort this year, and without him, some
other t eam would have created the 2010 edition you have in your hands. Thanks to my partners at
EE for understanding my love for this odd pet project, and for keeping the engine running while
I was authoring. Thanks to Dan, Dave, Pete, Nick, Jessica, Dana, and Dana for being part o f my
sounding board and solution team this year. Your generous sharing of time and knowledge makes
a task like this possible. Thank you Melinda and the girls for humoring all the ‘‘Hemingway’’ days
and for still being excited about Daddy’s books. And thanks Willem — you know why.
— James Wedding, P.E.
First and foremost I want to thank James for giving me the opportunity to work on this. This
also couldn’t have been possible w ithout the trust of the EE team, and for that I’m grateful. I
have to thank Nick for having the ability to help me keep things in perspective, and Travis for
keeping me thinking outside the box. I need to thank my family and friends, and especially my
grandmother for having enough faith in me 20 years ago to help me get started. I want to thank

Greg and the team at Sherrill for giving me the opportunity to learn from the best, and Ross for
having the courage to give me the push I’ll always be grateful for. Finally, I want to thank Billy W.
for being the cheerleader I needed, when I needed it.
— Scott McEachron

About the Authors
This book was written as a team effort from day one. Scott and I have covered the country and
parts of the world training and teaching Civil 3D. Here’s a bit more about each of us.
James Wedding, P.E., spent nearly a decade in the Dallas/Fort Worth land development indus-
try before partnering with Engineered Efficiency (EE) in February 2006. A graduate of Texas Tech
with a BSCE in 1997, he worked as a design engineer focused on private development. His design
experience includes small commercial to multiphase single-family and master planned communi-
ties. James has served as president of the Preston Trail Chapter of the Texas Society of Professional
Engineers, and he was selected their Young Engineer of the Year in 2003.
One of the earliest gunslingers for the Civil 3D product, James has worked extensively with the
Autodesk product team to shape and guide the software’s development. James is a highly rated
repeat presenter at Autodesk University and a presenter on the Friday Civil 3D webcasts.
Scott McEachron, an Iowa native, received his Associate of Technology in Engineering Tech-
nology from the Morrison Institute of Technology in Morrison, Illinois in 1993. Prior to that he
had been using AutoCAD and DCA in practice, but it wasn’t until the spring of 1993 that he
began a career in the civil/survey world in Edwardsville, IL. Scott began working in the Reseller
community in 1998 and found his love for consulting then. Scott has been a speaker at Autodesk
University for the past six years and is well known for his real-world approach to solving com-
mon civil/survey technology–related issues. Scott is known for his work in implementing Civil
3D under difficult circumstances and had one of the first documented success stories nearly five
years ago.

Contents at a Glance
Foreword xxiii
Introduction xxv

Chapter 1
•
Getting Dirty: The Basics of Civil 3D 1
Chapter 2
•
Back to Basics: Lines and Curves 29
Chapter 3
•
Lay of the Land: Survey 67
Chapter 4
•
X Marks the Spot: Points 97
Chapter 5
•
The Ground Up: Surfaces in Civil 3D 137
Chapter 6
•
Don’t Fence Me In: Parcels 193
Chapter 7
•
Laying a Path: Alignments 243
Chapter 8
•
Cut to the Chase: Profiles 291
Chapter 9
•
Slice and Dice: Profile Views in Civil 3D 329
Chapter 10
•
Templates Plus: Assemblies and Subassemblies 369

Chapter 11
•
Easy Does It: Basic Corridors 397
Chapter 12
•
The Road Ahead: Advanced Corridors 429
Chapter 13
•
Stacking Up: Cross Sections 483
Chapter 14
•
The Tool Chest: Parts Lists and Part Builder 509
Chapter 15
•
Running Downhill: Pipe Networks 553
Chapter 16
•
Working the Land: Grading 601
Chapter 17
•
Sharing the Model: Data Shortcuts 645
Chapter 18
•
Behind the Scenes: Autodesk Data Management Server 663
Chapter 19
•
Teamwork: Vault Client and Civil 3D 683
xii CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
Chapter 20
•

Out the Door: Plan Production 713
Chapter 21
•
Playing Nice with Others: LDT and LandXML 739
Chapter 22
•
Get The Picture: Visualization 757
Chapter 23
•
Projecting the Cost: Quantity Takeoff 781
Appendix
•
The Bottom Line 799
Index 845
Contents
Foreword xxiii
Introduction xxv
Chapter 1
•
Getting Dirty: The Basics of Civil 3D 1
Windows on the Model 1
Toolspace 1
Panorama 15
Ribbon 16
It’s All About Style 17
Label Styles 17
Object Styles 24
The Underlying Engine 26
The Bottom Line 26
Chapter 2

•
Back to Basics: Lines and Curves 29
Labeling Lines and Curves 29
Coordinate Line Commands 30
Direction-Based Line Commands 33
Creating Curves 39
Standard Curves 40
Re-creating a Deed Using Line and Curve Tools 43
Best Fit Entities 46
Attach Multiple Entities 49
The Curve Calculator 50
Adding Line and Curve Labels 51
Converting Curve Labels to Tags and Making a Curve Table 54
Using Transparent Commands 55
Standard Transparent Commands 55
Matching Transparent Commands 57
Using Inquiry Commands 57
Establishing Drawing Settings 60
Drawing Settings: Units and Zone 60
Drawing Settings: Ambient Settings 61
Checking Your Work: The Mapcheck Analysis 63
The Bottom Line 65
Chapter 3
•
Lay of the Land: Survey 67
Understanding the Concepts 67
Databases Everywhere! 70
The Equipment Database 71
xiv CONTENTS
The Figure Prefix Database 72

The Survey Database 74
The Linework Code Sets Database 78
Creating a Field Book 82
Working with Field Books 83
Other Survey Features 94
The Bottom Line 95
Chapter 4
•
X Marks the Spot: Points 97
Anatomy of a Point 97
Creating Basic Points 97
Point Settings 97
Importing Points from a Text File 99
Converting Points from Land Desktop, Softdesk, and Other Sources 101
Getting to Know the Create Points Dialog 106
Basic Point Editing 109
Physical Point Edits 109
Properties Box Point Edits 109
Panorama and Prospector Point Edits 109
Changing Point Elevations 110
Point Styles 111
Point Label Styles 114
Creating More Complex Point and Point-Label Styles 118
Point Tables 121
User-Defined Properties 122
Creating a Point Table and User-Defined Properties for Tree Points 122
Creating a Point Group to Control Visibility and Moving a Point Group
to Surface 125
Working with Description Keys 128
The Bottom Line 134

Chapter 5
•
The Ground Up: Surfaces in Civil 3 D . 137
Digging In 137
Creating Surfaces 138
Free Surface Information 139
Inexpensive Surface Approximations 142
On-the-Ground Surveying 146
Refining and Editing Surfaces 147
Surface Properties 147
Surface Additions 150
Surface Styling and Analysis 165
Surface Styles 166
Slopes and Slope Arrows 172
Comparing Surfaces 175
Simple Volumes 175
CONTENTS xv
Volume Surfaces 176
Labeling the Surface 180
Contour Labeling 180
Surface Point Labels 183
The Bottom Line 190
Chapter 6
•
Don’t Fence Me In: Parcels 193
Creating and Managing Sites 193
Best Practices for Site Topology Interaction 193
Creating a New Site 197
Creating a Boundary Parcel 199
Creating a Wetlands Parcel 201

Creating a Right-of-Way Parcel 202
Creating Subdivision Lot Parcels Using Precise Sizing Tools 206
Attached Parcel Segments 206
Precise Sizing Settings 207
Slide Line – Create Tool 209
Swing Line – Create Tool 212
Creating Open Space Parcels Using the Free Form Create Tool 212
Editing Parcels by Deleting Parcel Segments 213
Best Practices for Parcel Creation 217
Forming Parcels from Segments 217
Parcels Reacting to Site Objects 218
Constructing Parcel Segments with the Appropriate Vertices 226
Labeling Parcel Areas 228
Labeling Parcel Segments 233
Labeling Multiple Parcel Segments 233
Labeling Spanning Segments 235
Adding Curve Tags to Prepare for Table Creation 238
Creating a Table for Parcel Segments 240
The Bottom Line 241
Chapter 7
•
Laying a Path: Alignments 243
Alignments, Pickles, and Freedom 243
Alignments and Sites 243
Alignment Entities and Freedom 244
Creating an Alignment 245
Creating from a Polyline 245
Creating by Layout 248
Creating with Design Constraints and Check Sets 254
Editing Alignment Geometry 258

Grip-Editing 258
Tabular Design 260
Component-Level Editing 261
Changing Alignment Components 262
xvi CONTENTS
Alignments as Objects 264
Renaming Objects 264
The Right Station 267
Assigning Design Speeds 268
Banking Turn Two 270
Styling Alignments 272
The Alignment 272
Labeling Alignments 274
Alignment Tables 283
The Bottom Line 288
Chapter 8
•
Cut to the Chase: Profiles 291
Elevate Me 291
Surface Sampling 292
Layout Profiles 297
Editing Profiles 307
Profile Display and Stylization 313
Profile Styles 314
The Bottom Line 326
Chapter 9
•
Slice and Dice: Profile Views in Civil 3D 329
A Better Point of View 329
Creating During Sampling 329

Creating Manually 330
Splitting Views 332
Profile Utilities 337
Superimposing Profiles 338
Object Projection 339
Editing Profile Views 341
Profile View Properties 341
Profile View Styles 350
Labeling Styles 361
The Bottom Line 368
Chapter 10
•
Templates Plus: Assemblies and Subassemblies 369
Subassemblies 369
The Corridor Modeling Catalog 369
Building Assemblies 371
Creating a Typical Road Assembly 372
Alternative Subassemblies 376
Editing an Assembly 379
Creating Assemblies for Nonroad Uses 381
Working with Generic Subassemblies 385
Enhancing Assemblies Using Generic Links 385
CONTENTS xvii
Working with Daylight Subassemblies 389
Enhancing an Assembly with a Daylight Subassembly 389
Saving Subassemblies and Assemblies for Later Use 393
Storing a Customized Subassembly on a Tool Palette 394
Storing a Completed Assembly on a Tool Palette 395
The Bottom Line 396
Chapter 11

•
Easy Does It: Basic Corridors 397
Understanding Corridors 397
Creating a Simple Road Corridor 397
Utilities for Viewing Your Corridor 400
Rebuilding Your Corridor 401
Common Corridor Problems 401
Corridor Anatomy 403
Points 404
Links 404
Shapes 405
Corridor Feature Lines 405
Adding a Surface Target for Daylighting 409
Common Daylighting Problems 411
Applying a Hatch Pattern to Corridor 411
Creating a Corridor Surface 414
The Corridor Surface 414
Creation Fundamentals 415
Adding a Surface Boundary 418
Performing a Volume Calculation 421
Common Volume Problem 422
Creating a Corridor with a Lane Widening 423
Using Target Alignments 423
Common Transition Problems 425
Creating a Stream Corridor 425
The Bottom Line 427
Chapter 12
•
The Road Ahead: Advanced Corridors 429
Getting Creative with Corridor Models 430

Using Alignment and Profile Targets to Model a Roadside Swale 430
Corridor Utilities 430
Modeling a Peer-Road Intersection 434
Using the Intersection Wizard 436
Manually Adding a Baseline and Region for an Intersecting Road 442
Creating an Assembly for the Intersection 444
Adding Baselines, Regions, and Targets for the Intersections 446
Troubleshooting Your Intersection 451
Building a First-Draft Corridor Surface 455
xviii CONTENTS
Perfecting Your Model to Optimize the Design 456
Refining a Corridor Surface 462
Modeling a Cul-de-sac 466
Adding a Baseline, Region, and Targets for the Cul-de-sac 467
Troubleshooting Your Cul-de-sac 468
Modeling a Widening with an Assembly Offset 471
Using a Feature Line as a Width and Elevation Target 478
The Bottom Line 481
Chapter 13
•
Stacking Up: Cross Sections 483
The Corridor 483
Lining Up for Samples 484
Creating Sample Lines along a Corridor 487
Editing the Swath Width of a Sample Line Group 488
Creating the Views 489
Creating a Single-Section View 490
It’s a Material World 494
Creating a Materials List 494
Creating a Volume Table in the Drawing 496

Adding Soil Factors to a Materials List 497
Generating a Volume Report 500
A Little More Sampling 501
AddingaPipeNetworktoaSampleLineGroup 501
Automating Plotting 503
Annotating the Sections 506
The Bottom Line 507
Chapter 14
•
The Tool Chest: Parts Lists and Part Builder 509
Planning a Typical Pipe Network: A Sanitary Sewer Example 509
The Part Catalog 511
The Structures Domain 512
The Pipes Domain 515
The Supporting Files 516
Part Builder 517
Parametric Parts 518
Part Builder Orientation 518
Adding a Part Size Using Part Builder 520
Sharing a Custom Part 522
Adding an Arch Pipe to Your Part Catalog 523
Part Styles 523
Creating Structure Styles 523
Creating Pipe Styles 528
Part Rules 533
Structure Rules 534
Pipe Rules 536
Creating Structure and Pipe Rule Sets 538
CONTENTS xix
Parts List 540

Adding Part Families on the Pipes Tab 540
Adding Part Families on the Structures Tab 543
Creating a Parts List for a Sanitary Sewer 545
The Bottom Line 550
Chapter 15
•
Running Downhill: Pipe Networks 553
Exploring Pipe Networks 553
Pipe Network Object Types 553
Creating a Sanitary Sewer Network 555
Creating a Pipe Network with Layout Tools 555
Establishing Pipe Network Parameters 555
Using the Network Layout Creation Tools 556
Creating a Storm Drainage Pipe Network from a Feature Line 563
Creating a Storm Drainage Network from a Feature Line 563
Changing Flow Direction 565
Editing a Pipe Network 566
Editing Your Network in Plan View 566
Making Tabular Edits to Your Pipe Network 570
Shortcut Menu Edits 572
Editing with the Network Layout Tools Toolbar 573
Creating an Alignment from Network Parts 574
Drawing Parts in Profile View 576
Vertical Movement Edits Using Grips in Profile 578
Removing a Part from Profile View 580
Showing Pipes That Cross the Profile View 581
Adding Pipe Network Labels 583
Creating a Labeled Pipe Network Profile Including Crossings 585
Pipe Labels 587
Structure Labels 588

Special Profile Attachment Points for Structure Labels 588
Creating an Interference Check between a Storm and Sanitary Pipe Network 595
The Bottom Line 599
Chapter 16
•
Working the Land: Grading 601
Working with Grading Feature Lines 601
Accessing Grading Feature Line Tools 601
Creating Grading Feature Lines 602
Editing Feature Line Horizontal Information 610
Editing Feature Line Elevation Information 615
Stylizing and Labeling Feature Lines 626
Grading Objects 629
Defining Criteria Sets 629
Creating Gradings 632
Editing Gradings 635
xx CONTENTS
Grading Styles 637
Creating Surfaces from Grading Groups 640
The Bottom Line 644
Chapter 17
•
Sharing the Model: Data Shortcuts 645
What Are Data Shortcuts? 645
Publishing Data Shortcut Files 646
The Working and Data Shortcuts Folders 647
Creating Data Shortcuts 649
Using Data Shortcuts 651
Creating Shortcut References 651
Updating and Managing References 655

The Bottom Line 660
Chapter 18
•
Behind the Scenes: Autodesk Data Management Server 663
What Is Vault? 663
ADMS and Vault 664
ADMS and SQL 664
Installing ADMS 665
Managing ADMS 670
ADMS Console 670
Accessing Vaults via Vault 676
Vault Management via Vault 678
Vault Options 678
Vault Administration and Working Folders 678
The Bottom Line 680
Chapter 19
•
Teamwork: Vault Client and Civil 3D 683
Vault and Project Theory 683
Vault versus Data Shortcuts 684
Project Timing 684
Project Workflow with Vault and Civil 3D 685
Feedback from the Vault 686
Working in Vault 687
Preparing for Projects in Civil 3D 687
Populating Vault with Data 690
Working with Vault Data References 695
Pulling It Together 700
Team Management in Vault 706
Vault Folder Permission 706

Restoring Previous Versions 708
The Bottom Line 711
Chapter 20
•
Out the Door: Plan Production 713
Preparing for Plan Sets 713
Prerequisite Components 713
CONTENTS xxi
Using View Frames and Match Lines 714
The Create View Frames Wizard 714
Creating View Frames 721
Editing View Frames and Match Lines 722
Using Sheets 725
The Create Sheets Wizard 725
Managing Sheets 730
Supporting Components 733
Templates 733
Styles and Settings 735
The Bottom Line 737
Chapter 21
•
Playing Nice with Others: LDT and LandXML 739
What Is LandXML? 739
Handling Inbound Data 741
Importing Land Desktop Data 741
Importing LandXML Data 744
Sharing the Model 749
Creating LandXML Files 749
Creating an AutoCAD Drawing 752
The Bottom Line 754

Chapter 22
•
Get The Picture: Visualization 757
AutoCAD 3D Modeling Workspace 757
Applying Different Visual Styles 758
Render Materials 760
Visualizing Civil 3D Objects 761
Applying a Visual Style 762
Visualizing a Surface 762
Visualizing a Corridor 765
Creating Code Set Styles 765
Visualizing a Pipe Network 767
Visualizing AutoCAD Objects 770
Creating a 3D DWF from a Corridor Model 773
Creating a Quick Rendering from a Corridor Model 774
The Bottom Line 779
Chapter 23
•
Projecting the Cost: Quantity Takeoff 781
Inserting a Pay Item List and Categories 781
Keeping Tabs on the Model 786
AutoCAD Objects as Pay Items 786
Pricing Your Corridor 788
Pipes and Structures as Pay Items 791
Highlighting Pay Items 796
Inventory Your Pay Items 796
The Bottom Line 798
xxii CONTENTS
Appendix
•

The Bottom Line 799
Chapter 1: Getting Dirty: The Basics of 3D 799
Chapter 2: Back to Basics: Lines and Curves 802
Chapter 3: Lay of the Land: Survey 804
Chapter 4: X Marks the Spot: Points 805
Chapter 5: The Ground Up: Surfaces in Civil 3D 808
Chapter 6: Don’t Fence Me In: Parcels 809
Chapter 7: Laying A Path: Alignments 811
Chapter 8: Cut to the Chase: Profiles 814
Chapter 9: Slice and Dice: Profile Views in Civil 3D 815
Chapter 10: Templates Plus: Assemblies and Subassemblies 819
Chapter 11: Easy Does It: Basic Corridors 820
Chapter 12: The Road Ahead: Advanced Corridors 821
Chapter 13: Stacking Up: Cross Sections 822
Chapter 14: The Tool Chest: Parts List and Part Builder 823
Chapter 15: Running Downhill: Pipe Networks 826
Chapter 16: Working the Land: Grading 828
Chapter 17: Sharing the Model: Data Shortcuts 832
Chapter 18: Behind the Scenes: Autodesk Data Management Server 833
Chapter 19: Teamwork: Vault Client and Civil 3D 835
Chapter 20: Out the Door: Plan Production 837
Chapter 21: Playing Nice With Others: LDT and LandXML 839
Chapter 22: Get The Picture: Visualization 841
Chapter 23: Projecting the Cost: Quantity Takeoff 842
Index 845
Foreword
When we began the development of AutoCAD
®
Civil 3D
®

software we had three key goals in
mind:
◆ Provide automation tools for creating coordinated, reliable design information for a range
of project types including land development, transportation, and environmental.
◆ Enable project teams to use the design information to accurately visualize, simulate, and
analyze the performance of the project to come up with the best solutions.
◆ Facilitate delivery of higher quality construction documentation.
Our approach for achieving these goals was to develop a 3D information model that could
accurately represent the civil engineering workflow and design process. The model, which dynam-
ically connects design and construction documentation, has facilitated new ways of working and
has helped civil engineers complete projects faster and with improved accuracy. Engineers are
able to make design changes quickly and evaluate more alternatives, identify design issues and
conflicts earlier in the process, and deliver higher quality designs faster.
These concepts have revolutionized the Civil Engineering process such that the plan produc-
tion phase does not have to wait for the design to be completed. As a result, AutoCAD Civil 3D
provides efficiencies in both the design automation and plan production stages of a typical design.
This is a departure from traditional 2D drafting based design software and it has a great poten-
tial to enhance design productivity and quality of design work. With AutoCAD Civil 3D, the entire
design te am can work from one model so that all phases of the project, from survey to construction
documentation, remain coordinated.
The authors of Mastering AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 have embraced this vision from the start
of its development. As the product has matured, I have had many conversations with James
Wedding and the team at Engineered Efficiency to discuss product decisions and direction. I can
recall conversations where James Wedding and I would discuss the reaso ns why we designed
the product to work the way it does. As a result, this book contains much more than ‘‘picks and
clicks.’’ It has insightful tips, workflow recommendations, and b est practices for using AutoCAD
Civil 3D in a coordinated team environment.
On behalf of the e ntire AutoCAD Civil 3D product development team, I hope that AutoCAD
Civil 3D enables you to work in ways that allow for creativity and profitability. This book is a
great way to expand your understanding of the product and will help you gain the most out of

the software.
Daniel A. Philbrick
Software Development Manager
Autodesk, Inc.