Being Civil

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 New Feature: Important changes to drawing templates in Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014

The import styles and settings command can assist you in updating your existing drawing templates with the new settings and styles.

Drawing Settings

Feature	Description
Drawing Settings dialog box, Object Layers tab	Pressure Network Section layer: C-WATR-SCTN Pressure Part Table layer: C-WATR-TABL

General Settings

Feature	Description
Multipurpose Styles	Projection Style: Solids Identical to the existing Basic projection style except for the following: As Drawn check box on the Section Tab: Selected Section check box on the Section Tab: Selected

Pressure Network Settings

Feature	Description
Command Settings: AddAppurtTable	Table Creation properties: Table Style: Standard Split Table: True Maximum Number of Rows: 20 Maximum Tables Per Stack: 3 Table Spacing: 0.5" / 40.00 mm Tile Direction: Across
Command Settings: AddFttingTable	Table Creation properties: Table Style: Standard Split Table: True Maximum Number of Rows: 20 Maximum Tables Per Stack: 3 Table Spacing: 0.5" / 40.00 mm Tile Direction: Across
Command Settings: AddPressurePipeTable	Table Creation properties: Table Style: Standard Split Table: True Maximum Number of Rows: 20 Maximum Tables Per Stack: 3 Table Spacing: 0.5" / 40.00 mm Tile Direction: Across
Command Settings: CreatePressureNetworkFromObj	All settings inherited from Pressure Network Feature Settings
Command Settings: CreatePressureNetworkReference	All settings inherited from Pressure Network Feature Settings
Styles	Existing pressure pipe, fitting, and appurtenance styles have been modified to include settings for the Section View Direction on the Display tab: Walls: Visible Hatch: Not visible Existing fitting and appurtenance styles have been modified to include settings for the Section tab: Display Section option: Selected
Table Styles	Basic styles have been added for pressure pipe, fitting, and appurtenance table styles.

Section Settings

Feature	Description
Command Settings: Default Name Format	Section Name Template changed to the following: <[Sample Line Group(CP)]> - <[Sample Line Name(CP)]> - <[Section Surface Name(CP)]>(<[Next Counter(CP)]>)

New Layers

Feature	Layer Name	Description
Pressure Networks	C-WATR-SCTN	Water Network: section
	C-WATR-TABL	Water Network: table
	C-WATR-APPT-PATT	Water Network: appurtenances, hatching
	C-WATR-FITT-PATT	Water Network: fittings, hatching

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 New Feature: AutoCAD features

As you have heard our newset versions are seeing the light these days. Since Civil 3D is built on top of AutoCAD we figured that it would be good idea to mention a few things that AutoCAD 2014 brought into Civil 3D 2014. I am sure you will be reading about some of these enhancements in the next several weeks from other sources but these are some of the most interesting from my perspective.

The very first thing you will notice is the File tabs: This way you can quickly switch between drawings or you can turn the file tabs bar on or off. File tabs are displayed in the order they were opened but you can drag tabs to change their order the same way you would do it in your preferred browser. 

Why PDF Created From Civil 3D Opens in Wrong Version of Adobe

This may not be the issue you may encounter very often but if it happens you may have hard time to figure it out. In that case you may appreciate it. In any case, it’s not bad idea to be aware of it even if it never happens to you. I have to admit, most of these blog posts I use for my personal reminders….Here is the story:

Customer has Adobe Acrobat 6 and Adobe Reader 10. When he tries to plot using DWG to PDF.pc3 while having an option to automatically open PDF upon creation, the PDF is being opened in Adobe Acrobat 6. This would not be so much of the issue if version of PDF was not newer and as result it would not open in older version of Adobe. Naturally, the user would check Windows defaults settings. But that was not it and it did not help, by the way. One way to open PDF was by double clicking PDF; that works fine. Again, the issue was that when set to automatically open it would open in wrong version of Adobe.

So to resolve this issue there are two known ways:

Quick Tip: Abbreviations

When dealing with complex designs and issues day in and day out, sometimes it is the simplest things that trip us up. I fall into that particular catergory today. I had what seemed to be a simple question from a customer who wanted to change the default PT and PC abbreviations to something that complied to the local regulations. Of course I overcomplicated things and ended up spinning my wheels when the answer was right in front of me the whole time: DRAWING SETTINGS>ABBREVIATIONS tab. Here you can change all the default abbreviations found in Civil 3D.

Although this is probably something a lot of you already know, it really isn't a frequently visited part of Civil 3D so hopefully this quick reminder will help someone else out there!

AutoCAD Civil 3D Crashes When Rotating

Over the years on Being Civil we have written numerous articles about crashes and how and what caused them and how to avoid them, yet they still occur and we keep writing more and more. Just as a refresher I am throwing some links from this article: Troubleshooting 101

I am sure all of you out there have seen your fair share of crashes not only from AutoCAD but from other programs, too. Besides trials and errors it is really hard (and I think impossible) to come up with a silver bullet that resolves it once for all. It may happen one day, but most likely not in my professional lifetime. Until then we have to go back and investigate crash by crash, case by case. If you happen to get one, please don’t forget to send CER report and get familiar by it from this post: Reminder: The Importance of Customer Error Reports (CER)

So now, let’s see what’s “the crash of the day”.

One user reported that he was having some trouble with Civil 3D when trying to rotate views. Every time he attempted to rotate his view or change visual styles program would just collapse. Worth mentioning (and a good tip for us to narrow down the cause) is that this happened with some complex drawings and large files.

Why is this tip for us? Well, it seems that program was having hard time processing graphic changes caused by rotation since it involves regenerating everything. That gives us a clue that it may involve graphics hardware or driver especially given that simple drawings are performing OK.  

Generally, the issue of crashes when rotating large objects is due to the display issues, perhaps insufficient graphic card memory. Always a good place to start troubleshooting is by checking graphic card drivers and settings. Please see if you can go to the following link and see if your graphic card is listed there and if there is better driver for your machine. http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/cert?siteID=123112&id=16391880. It is known that uncertified devices have stability and other issues such as missing cursors, View Cube, Smooth Display Issues, etc. 

 If your graphic card is supported and preferably certified and your driver up to date then see if you are using hardware acceleration. Also, see if you can contact graphic card manufacturer and see if they have better driver optimized for AutoCAD. 

1.     In command line type 3DCONFIG 
2.     Click on Manual Tune 
3.     On top of the next dialog check “Enable hardware acceleration” toggle
4.     Repeat step 1 and now go to “Check for Updates” and update driver if necessary 

This helped my customer, I hope it will help you too. If not, and you are Autodesk Subscription Customer you can always contact Autodesk Product Support. 

Object Properties Missing After ProjectWise Is Installed

This week I learned about an issue that I would like to share with you. I don’t think many users will be affected by it, but I thought it was worth sharing because there was no information I could easily find online. The credit for this post goes to a customer of ours (Kevin Sabo – Thank you, Kevin) who raised the issue and was able to confirm a solution for us.

Basically, everything was working fine until they decided to install Bentley ProjectWise SS3 (we were noting this version 08.11.09.122 but other may apply, as well). In case you were not familiar with ProjectWise, that is Bentley’s content management and collaboration tool similar as Autodesk Vault). Now, fast forward...Ever since then they lost their AutoCAD object properties functionality. The way to access properties was by typing CH in command line, but then wanted to know what caused it and how to permanently resolve it. Luckily the issue was immediately noticed but uninstalling ProjectWise and reinstalling it with integration for ProjectWise switched off did not help. The reason for this is that the version of TLB file found inC:\Program Files\Bentley\ProjectWise V8i SS3\Bin\RealDWG was not for the version of AutoCAD we were using.

To see how to resolve this issue continue reading.

1. Close Civil 3D
2. With Windows Explorer go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\ and copyaxdb18enu.tlb file
3. Now, go to C:\Program Files\Bentley\ProjectWise V8i SS3\Bin\RealDWG
4. Paste axdb18enu.tlb file
5. Restart Civil 3D and confirm that Properties are now populated.

 

I hope this helps some out there.

Customer Feedback: Updates/Service Packs/Hotfixes

The powers that be would like to better understand how you, the everyday user, make decisions on the installation of product updates:

Dear Autodesk Customer,

In order to better understand the impact of product updates, we are conducting this survey to get feedback about service packs and hotfixes we release.  We would appreciated your feedback on how you and your organization make decisions and manage the installation of Autodesk product updates.

Autodesk is committed to releasing quality products and resolving defects reported by customers. We appreciate your time in providing feedback.

If you would like to provide feedback please follow this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TW9XSYS It is much appreciated!

 

Windows 8 Support and Infrastructure Products

I know some of you have been asking about Windows 8 support for Civil 3D and the rest of the Infrastructure products. Just released is the current list of support Autodesk products on the new Windows 8 platform. At this time none of the Infrastructure products (Map 3D, Civil 3D, Infrastructure Modeler, etc.) are included in this list. The only one that is supported from the Infrastructure Design Suite at this time is 3DS Max Design.

Please follow this link to the technical solution for more information: http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS19048377 

This technical solution will be updated as new Windows 8 compatibility information becomes available.