Being Civil

Corridor Top link label tip!

Somebody asked me this not too long ago… Is it possible to not show the word “Horizontal” on my cross section views when adding labels to the top link code using rise:run if my slope is 0 (zero)?

The word “Horizontal” will show automatically every time that the top surface is represented with a horizontal line, like the bottom of a ditch.
So here is what Matt B. from our QA Team came out with…

Label Background Mask Covers My Label

In a span of a couple of days I got an interesting report that had us all scratching our heads for some time. Eventually, it got me thinking whether this is worth sharing or not. Fortunately, the other report came in (which is a typically bad or a good sign, depending on the perspective) which scattered my doubts. So, here it is.

In Civil 3D’s Label Styles with background mask turned on, the labels showed as obscured by the black masking as black boxes in paper space. I remember seeing this many times and almost each time it was an issue related to a bad plotter driver. What made this one different is that there was no plotting involved. It would all show up fine in model space and plot preview. Even plotting was not showing any issues. To help you “picturize” it see the images:

 

So since there was no plotting involved, there was also no need to check drivers. And not all styles experienced this issue, so it seemed to affect older drawings only. That was a good start.

Eventually two things emerged from it. One is that the style had background masking turned on in Dragged State. Go into each label style and check Background Mask settings. If you see any overrides most likely they are the cause of the original issue.

 

One other way to resolve this issue, in case styles are all set up is to go into Page Setup and uncheck “Display plot styles”.

 

 After this the label should display correctly.

 

I hope this helps somebody save some time looking for a settings to adjust.

 

 

Why My Point Labels Flip to the Side When Description Keys Were Used

 

I realized it's been quite a while since we wrote a post about labels. As you know one of the powers of Civil 3D is being able to dynamically label Civil objects. Other argument that lablling tools are pretty similar all accross different types of objects. Al right, enough about that. This is one of those issues that are easier to see than to explain. So here is the picture on the right.

If you take a look you will notice that the label’s distance from marker increases with its size. The points were inserted from point file and filtered through the Description keys.

If we take a look at description key we may see the entire picture. 

 

To see how to resolve - just continue reading. 

Line and Curve… Curve Delta (∆) symbol Label issue…

Hi everybody… This one has been around for a little while. When you use a Line and Curve Label over a curve the delta symbol will not display. It will show as "D" but when you drag the label it will show the delta symbol. You can get in the label style composer and no matter what you do the delta symbol will not show. So now, how do I make this work?

Here is a little trick to make the impossible possible...

First you need to:

1. Go to the Setting tab -> Parcel -> Label Styles -> Curve, select the Delta over Length and Radios labels.

2. Right-click on it and choose Edit to get into Label Style Composer

3. In the Label Style Composer's Layout tab, select the Delta component. and click on Contents

4. Go to the Text Component Editor - Contents, highlight the component of the label and Copy it (CTRL + C)

5. Then cancel all out.

6. Now edit the Distance - Radius and Delta label for Line and Curve:

7. On the Layout tab, select the Delta component.

8. Go to the Text Component Editor again.

9. Paste the content that you just copied from the Parcel label; this will add an extra component on the properties of the label that wasn't available before.

10. Make your changes and adjustment for Precision and Format.

11. Save the label.

This will fix the delta issue. In case that you get lost trying to follow the steps, here is a video so you can see how to make it work.

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 New Feature: Label Between Two Points

By now, we all know that Civil 3D is not a new version of Land Desktop and that almost all we could do with Land Desktop we could do in Civil 3D, but lot quicker and in my opinion much more elegant. There are still a (very) few things that Land Desktop users asked to have but were unable to find in Civil 3D. One of those was the ability to label bearing and distance (or anything available, really) by selecting two spots on the screen. These spots do not necessary need to be two COGO points. The functionality added to Civil 3D 2013 is  called “Add line between two points label” and it’s found in Annotate ribbon, Add Labels > Line and Curve> Add Line Between Two Points Label

 

As the command states, with this feature user could just pick any start and end points and the label will be drawn for you right between those spots. If you get something like this then you did it right!

One other thing, worth mentioning – Even though the line connecting those two spots on the screen is invisible, it does exist as a temporary line allowing user to see where it starts and ends, which may be useful in very busy drawings. As you may notice in the image below, it also updates dynamically any time you move it up and down.

 

Finally, you may notice two kinds of grips if you select the label. The diamond shaped one allows you to move your label along the “invisible” (well, it’s hard to call something invisible if you can see it) and selecting little squares will give you the options to Stretch the line (all directions) or Lengthen to shrink or lengthen the line.

 

Stay tuned for more!

 

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 New Feature: Labeling Survey Figures

All of you that work with Survey Databases and Survey Figures… How many times you have wished to label your figures without having to convert them into a parcel?

We were able to label survey figure lines and curves earlier, but now we are able to label survey figures so that information is displayed in other label types, such as the General Note label.

The Survey Figure properties that can be labeled include figure properties, as well as any user-defined properties for your figures.

Labeling with Math Functions

With the arrival of Enhanced Styles in AutoCAD Map (and Civil) 3D 2012, a change was made as to how the program interprets the Math Functions in Expression Builder (Really, "Expression Builder" is just it’s street name. The official name of this is the Create/Modify Expressions dialog, that you get when you select an FDO layer, click Style, click under Feature Label, and in the Text context drop down choose Use Expression). In the past, when building a math expression, the Expression Builder expected a numeric value, and the syntax would have looked something like this:

Rotate Point Marker and Label Independently

Ability to rotate point marker and label independently in Civil 3D was customers’ wish for a while.  With Civil 3D 2012 that wish has been granted.  You could have read about Rotating Labels on Being Civil site. You may also remember how tedious this task was in previous versions. Our own, Seth Hall blogged about it before in his Rotate Point Marker Independently of the point Label post; but new way is easier, more elegant and does more. The following post goes one step further and explains other options available with this tool. If you click on the marker symbol of a point, you will notice options which would allow you to move point, rotate marker and rotate both label and marker altogether.

Clicking on upper grip (rectangular) will give you options to do move or rotate label as well as “Toggle sub item grips”. With this option you can grip edit individual pieces of label and position it the way you want it.

If your point marker and point label are already rotated you may notice some more options. Reset all will bring point marker and label to its default position. Others are self explanatory.

Enjoy!