Similar to the process of creating plan and profile sheets, creating section sheets is a two-step process. First, you have to create a section view group that determines the layout, labeling, and styles of the profile views. Second, you have to generate the actual sheets and add them to the AutoCAD sheet set.
Creating Section View Groups
The process of creating the section view group is where you will determine how your section views will be laid out on the page, what labels will be used, and what styles will be used to represent the various components of the model. If you have any questions about section styles or section view styles, refer to Chapter 19, “Styles.”
In this first exercise, you’ll walk through setting up a basic section view group for the main road of our sample set:
1. Open MultipleSectionViews.dwg from the provided dataset. In this drawing, sample lines have been added along the Frontenac Drive alignment. These lines are sampling the existing and proposed surfaces.
2. From the Home tab’s Profile And Section Views panel, select Section Views Create Multiple Views to display the Create Multiple Section Views wizard, shown in Figure 16-21.
Figure 16-21: The General tab of the Create Multiple Section Views wizard
3. Click Next to access the Section Placement Options page. Review the Section Placement Options at the top of the screen. The Production template and button allow you to navigate to your own sheet template that suits your needs. Change Template For Cross Section Sheet to ARCH D Section 50 scale. Change Group Plot Style to Plot By Page and click Next.
4. The Offset range determines the spacing of the section views. Using the User Specified Offset option, change the Left Offset range to –20′. Change the Right Offset range to 20′. Click Next.
5. The options on the Elevation Range page help if you have extra tall sections, allowing you to set some limits manually. Click Next.
6. Change the Change Labels columns to reflect the options shown in Figure 16-22. Click Next.
Figure 16-22: Changing label styles for the Multiple Section View wizard
7. Select the Offsets Only band set from the drop-down list near the top of the screen. Click Create Section Views to exit the wizard and place your section views in the drawing.
8. Click a point to the east of the plan view to draw the section views and sheet outlines. Your drawing should look something like Figure 16-23.
Figure 16-23: The finished multiple section views operation
Now that you have a section view group, you can begin the process of actually creating section sheets for plotting.
Creating Section Sheets
Many long transportation projects such as highways, light-rail, or canals require the production of many section sheets. While Civil 3D could produce the views prior to 2012, the sheet creation process has improved greatly with this release. In this exercise, you’ll convert a Section View Group into a collection of sheets and place them in a new sheet set.
1. Open the CreatingSectionSheets.dwg file. This file is the result of the previous exercise and contains the section view group for the Frontenac Drive alignment.
2. From the Output tab’s Plan Production Panel, select Create Section sheets to display the Create Section Sheets dialog shown in Figure 16-24.
Figure 16-24: The Create Section Sheets dialog
3. Review the settings and options shown. Note that in a drawing with more section view groups you would be able to select each one and create sheets quickly and easily.
4. Click Create Sheets to dismiss the dialog and generate sheets. A Warning dialog will appear warning you that the drawing will be saved. Click OK and Civil 3D will generate new layouts and sheets in a sheet set. The Sheet Set Manager will appear and the Create Section Sheets dialog will reappear.
5. Click Cancel to dismiss the dialog and switch to the Section Sheet – (3) layout tab. Your layout should look something like Figure 16-25.
Figure 16-25: A completed section sheet
While there are still some tweaks to be made to any sheet, large portions of the mundane details are handled by the wizards and tools. There are some elements that you can modify to customize these details for your organization, and you’ll look at those in the next section.