Being Civil

Infrastructure Modeler Performance tip #1

Don't like seeing this in Task Manager when trying to multitask?

Before working on your first Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler (AIM) model, be sure to go into the options under 3d Generation and restrict the number of Generator threads that the software can run simultaneously.  I find that 1 or 2 fewer than the total number of cores works will - it lets me work in Map 3D, run Outlook and a browser, etc, and AIM still processs pretty quickly.

On the plus side, AIM has true multithreading!  The CPU time below reflects all the cores in use, so rather than waiting 4 actual hours to get this much processing done, it's only been about 23 minutes (x 12 cores).

 

And yes, I fogot to use my own tip. :)

 

Quick Tip: Civil Objects disappeared after using the Section Editor?

Have you ever noticed after editing your corridor in the Section Editor, then closing the Editor that everything in Model Space doesn't look quite right? Civil Objects seem to be missing, and the drawing appears empty? This may occur after an improper shutdown of the Corridor Section Editor. For example a sudden close or crash when working in the Editor.

What appears to happen is the Plan view in model space needs to be reset. Simply type in the command PLAN, then hit ENTER, ENTER. This should bring Model Space back to its original state and all your objects should be present and accounted for.

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.

Recycled post: Fork in the Road: How to Start Troubleshooting

Before we all are off to a well-deserved weekend I just wanted to make you aware of a great post that our own former co-worker and manager Justin Ziemba wrote about troubleshooting. Believe us, it is all common sense but worth mentioning over and over again. It also brings soem very imporant topics regarding storage, security of data and best practices. Please take a few minutes and read it. 

http://beingcivil.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/08/fork-in-the-road-how-to-start-troubleshooting.html

Thank you and have a nice weekend!

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:

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 New Features: Check TIN for Max Angle

Now that we started slicing and dicing new features in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 one feature caught my eye. In Surface Properties, Definition tab, there is a setting that does pretty similar task as “Use maximum triangle length”. This one is found right above it. It’s called “Maximum angle between adjacent TIN lines”. What does it do, you may ask? Well it is basically set to analyze and build surface more intelligently by eliminating TIN lines that exceed desired maximum angle. To see more, click on continue reading.

Infrastructure Modeler - getting started

We're getting started with Infrastructure Modeler here in support - here are few things that I've found useful, and you might enjoy:

Great video of what can be done:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGXtgW6yQyM&feature=related As I understand it, this customer produced the video 3 days after first downloading the software.

Video tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEV7qstN__8

The product family blog has lots of good information: http://atlandsend.typepad.com

More coming soon, but let us know if you've tried it out, and if there's anything you'd particularly like to learn more about!

Here's a screenshot of a sample model I'm working on.  Bonus points if you can identify where it is.  With any luck, it'll have some imported building models in the next post.

 

AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 New Features: Surfaces in Volume Dashboard

For quite a few years, we have been able to compare two surfaces (existing and proposed, for instance) and get some cut and fill values. Volume Dashboard takes it a step further because it allows you to break down your surfaces in phases or for some particular area of your concern such as a lot (parcel). Basically any kind of closed polygon defined as boundary will do.

Volumes dashboard gives us a tool to calculate multiple volumes for a corridor surface, or a surface that lies below multiple parcels. It also calculates volume for the entire object. For example, if you have a corridor design that is broken into phases, you can calculate the volume’s cut/fill for each phase and also put it all together or combine to see what your Phase 1, Phase 4 and Phase 5 have while leaving out Phase 2 and Phase 3.

Another scenario that is documented in help (there is a video too) talks about having 4 parcels and driveway on top of the surface.

Not only that but it gives you an opportunity to adjust cut and fill volumes and factors for specific areas as you change it-in real time! From there you can create a report or paste the calculation in your drawing. Volume Dashboard command is found in Analysis ribbon. Create Volume Surface in Dashboard by comparing two surfaces (EG and my Top corridor surface).

 More about it after the jump.