Author Topic: Establishing Civil 3D standards & standards in general  (Read 7211 times)

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Eclipse

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Establishing Civil 3D standards & standards in general
« on: August 01, 2013, 09:03:45 PM »
Hi all, I am hoping I might be able to get some advice and utilise the experience of those who have setup standards before.

Brief summary:
- I recently joined a new company and have to learn Civil 3D, this is going slowly so far so I will have other questions about this probably :) I am familiar with other civil engineering design software as well as AutoCad.
- This company has standards for AutoCad (which need to be updated though) although has no standards for AutoCad Civil 3D and currently all users do what they want with significant variations in styles and processes. 
- It is my job to oversee the (Australian) engineering CAD department, which includes updating the Autocad standards and establishing Civil 3D standards.

AutoCad standards are not an issue, I can work with those fine. Civil 3D is where I need tips on the 'best practices' so to speak.
First off, I have downloaded the Australian/New Zealand template packs on which to build the template(s). Do most firms use a single template that contains everything or do you use multiple templates such as a template for rural roads, a template for suburban/subdivision roads etc?

huiz

  • Swamp Rat
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  • Certified Prof C3D
Re: Establishing Civil 3D standards & standards in general
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2013, 03:08:55 AM »
It depends. There are several possibilities and you have to make a choice.

Some people rather have one template with 100s of styles predefined, other prefer several templates. There are also differences between AutoCAD and Civil3D. In AutoCAD you work layer based, in Civil3D you work with objects with a presentation style.

You better write down the pros and cons and then make a choice.
The conclusion is justified that the initialization of the development of critical subsystem optimizes the probability of success to the development of the technical behavior over a given period.

caddcop

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Re: Establishing Civil 3D standards & standards in general
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2013, 12:05:52 PM »
If you have downstream users or outside team members, you need to be sure they can work with your files. Even if they use the object enablers without Civil 3D, your object layers need to be clear and specific as non-civil 3D users of your files will only have layers to control the display of your data.
I have seen places have multiple templates for different disciplines but not necessarily for tasks within discipline but civil designers may need a different template than civil surveyors and in each of those areas, you might find other areas where different templates make sense. This might be only for basic things like object layers. A surveyors surface and alignments might need different layers than designers.

Eclipse

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Re: Establishing Civil 3D standards & standards in general
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2013, 07:44:01 AM »
Thank you for the suggestions so far.

I've not used Civil 3D much although it is clear that the current implementation of it at this firm is poor. Most of the object styles being used were fairly default with a lot of drafting being done manually afterwards in AutoCad to make long sections, annotation etc display how they were supposed too (i.e. mimic the look of output produced by a different design package that is also utilised).

Another 'issue' is stormwater/drainage. The current practice here is to use an external program for stormwater pipe analysis and design. While I don't have any problem with this, I am wondering what is the normal practice for stormwater & Civil 3D? Is the Sewer/Sanitary program that ships with Civil 3D not very good? I intend to try it out myself in due course and see whether it is suitable for the work undertaken here.

My preliminary template setup is going slowly. I've got road long sections looking somewhat okay with only minor quirks to work out and cross sections are looking somewhat like I need them too. My thought is to get a working draft version of the template down pat, then try using it for a week with the program (which I am still learning) and improving it. After that, roll it out to a couple of the better designers here and let them use it for a bit so that improvements and adjustments can be made as necessary to further improve their work flows etc.

If you have downstream users or outside team members, you need to be sure they can work with your files. Even if they use the object enablers without Civil 3D, your object layers need to be clear and specific as non-civil 3D users of your files will only have layers to control the display of your data.

How do you convert a Civil 3D file to an AutoCad file? I've tried using the export option from Civil 3D and while it was generally acceptable, such things such as parts of the long sections becoming 3d faces is a bit of a pain.

A surveyors surface and alignments might need different layers than designers.

The survey division is outside my realm of responsibility. They use a different CAD program again.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2013, 07:48:31 AM by Eclipse »

caddcop

  • Guest
Re: Establishing Civil 3D standards & standards in general
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2013, 09:40:09 AM »
I have always felt like the software needs to be like tools in a toolbox or workshop. You don't use a saber saw when a circular saw makes sense. You don't use a hammer to drive a screw.
If a tool is working and doing its job, migrating to a new one just so it is integrated is not necessarily ideal.
We use the Export to AutoCAD as a last resort. We try and encourage the use of object enablers so we don't have version issues. We are still very early in our Civil 3D implementation so I cannot speak on how well the export to AutoCAD works with every object.