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June tenth, 2019

Using Templates and Drawing Settings for Ceremonious 3D Implementation

Introduction

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

Templates

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

Standard Template Process

When y'all create a new drawing based on a drawing template, the new drawing gets a copy of the styles in the template, but it is a ane-time copy. The connexion is non maintained; therefore, if you update the template it will not update your cartoon file. For example, if you update the surface styles in your template and you wanted your drawings to get those aforementioned updates, you needed to manually copy or import those inverse styles into your drawings.  You lot tin can practise this by dragging and dropping or selecting the import tab on the Ribbon every bit shown in Effigy 1.

Figure 1: Import styles

Templates are also listed under the Drawing Templates collection in the Prospector tree Main View as shown in Figure ii.  Notice the two Civil 3D templates supplied from Autodesk.

Figure 2:  Templates under the Principal View in Prospector

Two templates are provided when you lot install Ceremonious 3D.  The path for these templates can be constitute within the options dialog box under the Files > Templates folder.  We are going to open the _Autodesk Civil 3D (Majestic) 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 (Purple) NCS
• _AutoCAD Ceremonious 3D (Metric) NCS

These templates comprise an extended set of styles and settings. When you start a new drawing with the New command on the Application carte du jour, y'all can choose which template you want to employ.

The QNEW control, 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 change the settings of our template file (Effigy four). Open the template file yous created named C3D_Standard.dwt on the Habitation tab of the Ribbon > Palettes panel > Open Toolspace.

1. On the palette, move to the Settings tab.
2. Brand certain you are in the Agile Drawing Settings View and right-click C3D Standard as shown.
3. Select Edit Drawing Settings.

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

Figure iv: Cartoon settings

C3D Drawing Settings

Settings in Ceremonious 3D control many preset values, such as drawing units, scale, and coordinate system. Civil 3D has drawing, feature, and command settings. All three levels of settings in AutoCAD Ceremonious 3D are saved with the cartoon, and they can exist 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. Command settings: Utilize to individual commands within a characteristic, such equally the AddParcelAreaLabel control within the Parcels feature.

You lot modify each level of settings at a different location in the Settings tree, equally shown in Effigy v.

Figure five: Setting tree

Permit'southward focus on the main drawing Drawing-Level Settings and Feature Level Settings. To access cartoon-level settings, correct-click the drawing name C3D_Standard in the settings tree and click Edit Drawing Settings as shown in Figure six.

Figure 6:  Edit Drawing settings

At the drawing level, the Edit Settings dialog box contains general tabs for the drawing (or template) as shown in Figure seven.  We do not want to change any of these settings except for the Object Layers. Ambient Settings can be altered, merely volition be overridden by the drawing and feature settings.

Effigy 7: Drawing settings

To illustrate how this works, nosotros will edit one of these settings in the Object Layers section.  Move to the Object Layers tab on the dialog box and coil down to Tin Surface as shown in Figure 8. Nosotros are going to add together a suffix to the default characterization using a wildcard to ensure that our surface is always on the C-Topo- layer with a suffix of the surface proper name (i.e., C-Topo-EG).

Figure viii: Object layers

1. Move to the C-TOPO layer.
2. Change the value to Suffix.
3. Add a -* to the value field.  The hyphen will be added to C-TOPO and the surface proper name will be appended to the end of the layer (i.due east., C-TOPO-EG).

Yous accept now created a standard for Tin Surface layers in Civil 3D and can implement this procedure. Explore other options at the drawing settings level to ensure your template is ready to go.

Figure 9: Object Layer modifications

Characteristic-Level Settings

Use the object drove level in the Settings tree to control all settings that pertain to the object type. Access the object or feature-level settings by correct-clicking the object collection in the Settings tree and clicking Edit Characteristic Settings.  For this case, we are going to select the Point Collection.

Figure 10: Point Feature settings

At the object level, this dialog box besides contains object-specific settings, such as default bespeak styles. In this section nosotros can control how our indicate label styles are in our drawing equally default. If we desire all the points to be brought in as a detail style or maker, we can edit these values every bit our default within our template file. Effigy 11 shows the Point Label Fashion and the dialog box to alter the value within the object feature 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-command footing. You tin can also specify command-specific settings. Access the command-level settings past expanding the Commands collection for an object type in the Settings tree, correct-clicking the command, and clicking Edit Command Settings. Figure 12 shows us editing the command level settings for a surface.

Effigy 12: Command-level setting

Layer Standards in Templates

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

For consistency, save 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 want to enforce the standards, yous can click the Settings button and activate notifications of standards violations or override such violations. For additional information on the CAD Standards Manager see CSI: CAD Standards Implementation at Autodesk University 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 information about the National CAD Standard layering settings, see http://www.nationalcadstandard.org.

Now that you have many of your standards in place for your template, nosotros need to ensure that the template is used on new drawings.  From the application bill of fare, select New and your open dialog box volition be displayed as shown (Figure thirteen). Select the C3D_Standard.dwt and all your settings will be inside the new drawing.

Figure 13: New template

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

Reference Templates

New to Civil 3D 2022 is a procedure called reference templates. The command tin can be found on the Manage tab of the Ribbon > Styles palette > Reference, as shown in Figure 14

Effigy 14: Import styles

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

Effigy 15: Attach Reference Template

Every bit we work on our project, changes to the reference templates are pushed to the drawing so it is kept up 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 drawing if the styles are not in use. If a style is in apply, a local copy of the manner is made 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 cartoon are marked with a paper clip icon as shown in Effigy xvi.  Notice how the surface styles are now existence controlled by the reference template and not the cartoon settings.

Figure sixteen: The Paper Clip

Every bit you continue to update and/or add new styles to the projection standards template, those changes are pushed to the drawings that reference that template.

The following AutoCAD Civil 3D components tin can be imported and referenced past a reference template.

• AutoCAD Layers
• AutoCAD blocks, text styles, and linetypes
• Settings
• Drawing Settings
• Abbreviations
• Ambient Settings
• Object Layers
• Feature Settings
• Label Style Defaults
• Styles
• Characterization Styles
• Object Styles
• Table Styles
• Piping and Structure Rules
• Pressure level Network Parts lists
• Quantity Takeoff Criteria

If you try to edit a surface fashion (i.eastward., rename a layer color) y'all will get the following error indicating that your style is being controlled by a referenced template or a visitor standard. Yous do have options to override the setting every bit shown in Figure 17, but this is a good reminder to all of us while nosotros work on drawings and maintain our company standards.

Figure 17: The warning

Conclusion

In a perfect world, your cartoon templates and settings will have the perfect set of styles for your projects. This typically takes time to grow and can be 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 data needed to begin your blueprint project efficiently. You can create styles and templates for many different disciplines and however follow your company standard. Keep the implementation process going and create your template to help guide your users and your company to a better, more than standard approach to pattern piece of work.

Sam Lucido is a CAD Services Manager with Haley & Aldrich, Inc. He has more 25 years of experience involving design, user back up, and customization. Sam is an Autodesk certified professional and an Expert Elite Member. He uses his vast knowledge near AutoCAD and Civil 3D to help provide support to engineering and design teams by property hands on workshops and online grooming. Sam is a top-rated Autodesk University and Midwest Academy Speaker as well as beingness an AUGI Board Member. You tin can achieve Sam at CADProTips.com or past e-mail
at lucido1373@gmail.com.

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