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June 10th, 2019

Using Templates and Drawing Settings for Civil 3D Implementation

Introduction

AutoCAD® Civil 3D® is circuitous software with many different and connecting parts working together to provide solutions to civil design projects. In this article we are going to explore how to use template files to capture feature and object settings that yous tin can utilise to start your new drawing or reference into an existing drawing. For a successful implementation, the CAD director or designer can create, update, and distribute template files to all users to ensure a standard and compatible approach to design work.

Templates

Any new drawing in Civil 3D starts with a default cartoon template or a custom template you can create. Cartoon template files are drawings that store styles, settings, layers, and layouts in a drawing including championship blocks.

Standard Template Process

When you create a new drawing based on a drawing template, the new drawing gets a copy of the styles in the template, just information technology is a one-fourth dimension copy. The connection is not maintained; therefore, if you update the template it will not update your drawing file. For case, if you update the surface styles in your template and you lot wanted your drawings to become those aforementioned updates, you lot needed to manually copy or import those changed styles into your drawings.  You tin can do this by dragging and dropping or selecting the import tab on the Ribbon as shown in Figure 1.

Figure ane: Import styles

Templates are also listed under the Drawing Templates drove in the Prospector tree Chief View as shown in Figure ii.  Detect the two Ceremonious 3D templates supplied from Autodesk.

Figure 2:  Templates under the Main View in Prospector

2 templates are provided when y'all install Civil 3D.  The path for these templates tin can exist found inside the options dialog box under the Files > Templates binder.  Nosotros are going to open the _Autodesk Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS.dwt and save this to C3D_Standard.dwt. The two AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing templates are based on the United States National CAD Standard®.

• _AutoCAD Ceremonious 3D (Imperial) NCS
• _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Metric) NCS

These templates contain an extended ready of styles and settings. When yous starting time a new drawing with the New control on the Application bill of fare, yous can choose which template you desire to use.

The QNEW command, which is available on the Quick Access toolbar, automatically uses the template specified in the AutoCAD Options dialog box.

Figure 3: The principal templates provided

We are now going to modify the settings of our template file (Effigy 4). Open the template file you created named C3D_Standard.dwt on the Dwelling tab of the Ribbon > Palettes console > Open Toolspace.

1. On the palette, motion to the Settings tab.
2. Make sure you are in the Active Drawing Settings View and right-click C3D Standard as shown.
3. Select Edit Drawing Settings.

Note: If you move upwardly and down on this palette in that location are hundreds of different settings that can exist applied to all types of Civil 3D object information.

Figure 4: Drawing settings

C3D Drawing Settings

Settings in Civil 3D control many preset values, such as drawing units, scale, and coordinate arrangement. Ceremonious 3D has cartoon, feature, and command settings. All iii levels of settings in AutoCAD Ceremonious 3D are saved with the cartoon, and they can be saved to a drawing template.

1. Drawing settings: Establish values for the whole drawing.
2. Feature settings: Control behavior for a feature, such as Surfaces or Parcels.
3. Control settings: Use to private commands within a feature, such as the AddParcelAreaLabel command within the Parcels characteristic.

You change each level of settings at a unlike location in the Settings tree, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Setting tree

Let'due south focus on the main cartoon Cartoon-Level Settings and Characteristic Level Settings. To admission drawing-level settings, right-click the cartoon proper noun C3D_Standard in the settings tree and click Edit Drawing Settings as shown in Figure half dozen.

Figure 6:  Edit Cartoon settings

At the drawing level, the Edit Settings dialog box contains general tabs for the drawing (or template) equally shown in Figure 7.  Nosotros do not want to alter whatsoever of these settings except for the Object Layers. Ambient Settings can be altered, but will be overridden by the drawing and feature settings.

Figure 7: Drawing settings

To illustrate how this works, we volition edit one of these settings in the Object Layers section.  Motion to the Object Layers tab on the dialog box and scroll down to Tin can Surface as shown in Figure viii. We are going to add a suffix to the default label using a wildcard to ensure that our surface is always on the C-Topo- layer with a suffix of the surface proper name (i.due east., C-Topo-EG).

Figure 8: Object layers

1. Movement to the C-TOPO layer.
2. Change the value to Suffix.
3. Add a -* to the value field.  The hyphen will exist added to C-TOPO and the surface name will be appended to the cease of the layer (i.eastward., C-TOPO-EG).

You have now created a standard for Can Surface layers in Civil 3D and tin can implement this process. Explore other options at the cartoon settings level to ensure your template is ready to go.

Effigy 9: Object Layer modifications

Feature-Level Settings

Employ the object collection level in the Settings tree to control all settings that pertain to the object blazon. Access the object or feature-level settings by right-clicking the object collection in the Settings tree and clicking Edit Feature Settings.  For this example, we are going to select the Indicate Collection.

Figure x: Betoken Feature settings

At the object level, this dialog box also contains object-specific settings, such as default bespeak styles. In this section we can command how our signal characterization styles are in our drawing as default. If we want all the points to be brought in equally a particular mode or maker, we can edit these values as our default within our template file. Figure 11 shows the Point Label Mode and the dialog box to change the value within the object characteristic settings.

Figure 11: Edit Feature settings

Command-Level Settings

Utilize the Commands collection level in the Settings tree to override both the object-level settings and drawing ambient settings on a command-by-control footing. You can as well specify command-specific settings. Access the command-level settings by expanding the Commands collection for an object blazon in the Settings tree, right-clicking the command, and clicking Edit Command Settings. Effigy 12 shows united states of america editing the control level settings for a surface.

Figure 12: Command-level setting

Layer Standards in Templates

Maintaining a standard for the use of layers in your drawing is easier if you accept a drawing template with predefined layers, and styles that reference those layers when objects are created.

For consistency, salve your template as an AutoCAD® standards file (.dws format). Then, in the template, enter the STANDARDS command and in the Configure Standards dialog box, link the standards file to the template. If you desire to enforce the standards, you tin click the Settings button and activate notifications of standards violations or override such violations. For additional data on the CAD Standards Managing director run into CSI: CAD Standards Implementation at Autodesk Academy 2017. https://autode.sk/2T0ozBa

The layers created in the AutoCAD Ceremonious 3D 2018 templates follow the National CAD Standard (NCS) rules. For more than data about the National CAD Standard layering settings, see http://www.nationalcadstandard.org.

At present that you have many of your standards in place for your template, we need to ensure that the template is used on new drawings.  From the application menu, select New and your open dialog box volition be displayed as shown (Figure thirteen). Select the C3D_Standard.dwt and all your settings volition exist inside the new cartoon.

Effigy 13: New template

Note: To control the location of template files and QNEW, review the options under the FILES carte > template settings.

Reference Templates

New to Ceremonious 3D 2022 is a process called reference templates. The control can exist plant on the Manage tab of the Ribbon > Styles palette > Reference, every bit shown in Effigy 14

Figure 14: Import styles

When yous attach a reference template to a cartoon, the AutoCAD Civil 3D styles that are in that reference template are copied into the drawing, and the connection between the drawing and the reference templates is maintained. Drawings tin can exist updated on an ongoing ground either automatically or manually with changes to the styles in the templates.  We are going to add a reference to our current drawing file (Figure 15).

Figure 15: Attach Reference Template

As nosotros work on our project, changes to the reference templates are pushed to the drawing so it is kept upward to date:

• New or changed styles in reference templates are copied to the drawing.
• Styles that are deleted from reference templates are removed from the cartoon if the styles are non in use. If a style is in use, a local re-create of the fashion is fabricated in the drawing.

Select the update button for the template to be added to the drawing. In the Toolspace Settings tree, styles that have been referenced into the drawing are marked with a paper clip icon as shown in Figure 16.  Detect how the surface styles are at present being controlled by the reference template and non the drawing settings.

Figure 16: The Newspaper Clip

As y'all continue to update and/or add new styles to the project standards template, those changes are pushed to the drawings that reference that template.

The post-obit AutoCAD Civil 3D components can exist imported and referenced past a reference template.

• AutoCAD Layers
• AutoCAD blocks, text styles, and linetypes
• Settings
• Drawing Settings
• Abbreviations
• Ambient Settings
• Object Layers
• Characteristic Settings
• Label Mode Defaults
• Styles
• Label Styles
• Object Styles
• Table Styles
• Pipe and Structure Rules
• Pressure Network Parts lists
• Quantity Takeoff Criteria

If you attempt to edit a surface style (i.e., rename a layer color) you will get the following error indicating that your style is beingness controlled by a referenced template or a company standard. You do have options to override the setting every bit shown in Figure 17, but this is a proficient reminder to all of us while nosotros piece of work on drawings and maintain our company standards.

Figure 17: The warning

Conclusion

In a perfect earth, your drawing templates and settings will have the perfect set of styles for your projects. This typically takes fourth dimension to grow and can exist considered a living template. Consider designing styles to reflect the information requirements at different times in the project.  The templates are there every bit a guide to provide y'all with the basic information needed to brainstorm your design project efficiently. Y'all can create styles and templates for many unlike disciplines and still follow your visitor standard. Go on the implementation procedure going and create your template to aid guide your users and your company to a better, more standard approach to design work.

Sam Lucido is a CAD Services Managing director with Haley & Aldrich, Inc. He has more than 25 years of feel involving blueprint, user support, and customization. Sam is an Autodesk certified professional and an Expert Aristocracy Member. He uses his vast knowledge about AutoCAD and Civil 3D to aid provide support to engineering and design teams by holding hands on workshops and online training. Sam is a tiptop-rated Autodesk University and Midwest Academy Speaker as well as being an AUGI Board Member. You lot can achieve Sam at CADProTips.com or by email
at lucido1373@gmail.com.

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