Being Civil

Error: No point file format match found

When importing points from point files one of the most common issues you may see is that the file does not parse correctly producing this error (No point file format match found) or a similarly sounding error. In almost all situations I have seen, it was due to the bad data within the point file. Whether we are looking at extra characters in the file or bad format it seems that it all relates to the points formatting. Recently, I have received a report from a customer where they were unable to import point file (CSV) into Civil 3D due to “No point file format match found” error. That gave me an idea for this post. Converting CSV to TXT or any other supported format did not help, by the way.

 

Add Latitude-Longitude points to a DWG

Say you are given a handful of coordinates from someone in the field who collected their points in Latitude-Longitude format. What is the fastest way to add these points to your project?

Map 3D has COGO. Civil 3D has a couple more methods of doing this:

• Create Line by Latitude/Longitude
• Create Points > Miscellaneous > Manual method

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. 

Converting Land Desktop Points and Preserving their Layers

With the release of the 2013 products we see Land Desktop finally becoming an upsupported product. I know many of you have already made the jump to Civil 3D in years past, but if you are still moving your older data forward you may come across this issue again.

When using the command CONVERTLDTPOINTS you may notice the option to "preserve the original point layers". What you may not see is the fact that you need to set the "Disable Description Keys" setting in the command settings to TRUE. By default this is set to FALSE. You can find this command setting in SETTINGS tab>POINT>COMMANDS>CreatePoints, right click on CreatePoints and select EDIT COMMAND SETTINGS:

How to Import Description Key Sets?...

I have been asked this question before and I thought that it will make a good post…

How can I use Description Keys from other drawings???... Can I import Description Keys on my drawing???... When I try to drag and drop them, it doesn’t work…

Sure it is way, just open one of your drawings that has your DescKey Set on it in Civil 3D 2010 or any older version, make sure that you delete all the information on it (for this call the ERASE (E) command from the command line and type ALL, please check that all your layers are ON, THAWED and UNLOCKED before doing this) and PURGE the drawing, do a save as just in case, so you don’t damage or overwrite something…

Now open your Civil 3D 2012 and insert the drawing that you just created and clean in 2010 or any oldest version using the INSERT (I) command.

This will bring any styles and also the Description Key set to your drawing in 2012 that you can save as a template or work on it.

Here is a short video that illustrates what I am saying, just in case that you are like me…

“If I can see it, I can recreate it”

How to Import Description Key Sets?...

Hope this will give you some ideas...

From the Grid to the Ground–a Conversion Walkthrough

Let’s talk about points, the grid, and the ground. Why not? All the surveyors are – everyone wants to project their grid points onto the ground, or vice versa, and so many users think that they’re doing the right thing when they’re really accomplishing nothing. Let’s take a look at the complete process for making this happen. Follow the link to read on…

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! 

 

Problem Importing Points? Are Your Point Numbers LARGE?

Sorry for the all caps up above, I was trying to prove a point. This one is short and sweet – have you ever had a problem importing points from an external file? Did your point numbers happen to be pretty high? I mean high as in the 4 billion range – that’s a 4 with nine zeroes after it. I haven’t – until a few days ago. A user sent in a point file with really high numbers, and they wouldn’t import. I had a hunch that the high numbers had something to do with it, so I spoke with some members of our development team about it. I’m about to get into a detailed math discussion, so you might want to learn more after the jump.