Create a preliminary surface using freely available data. Almost every land development project involves a surface at some point. During the planning stages, freely available data can give you a good feel for the lay of the land, allowing design exploration before money is spent on fieldwork or aerial topography. Imprecise at best, this free data should never be used as a replacement for final design topography, but it’s a great starting point.
Master It Create a new drawing from the Civil 3D Extended template and bring in a Google Earth surface for your home or office location. Be sure to set a proper coordinate system to get this surface in the right place.
Solution
1. On the main menu, choose File New.
2. Select the _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS.dwt or _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Metric) NCS.dwt file, and click Open.
3. Change to the Settings tab and right-click the drawing name to open the Drawing Settings dialog. Select an appropriate coordinate system.
4. In Google Earth, locate your home or office using the search engine.
5. In Civil 3D, change to the Insert panel.
6. On the Import panel, select Google Earth Google Earth Surface.
Modify and update a TIN surface. TIN surface creation is mathematically precise, but sometimes the assumptions behind the equations leave something to be desired. By using the editing tools built into Civil 3D, you can create a more realistic surface model.
Master It Modify your Google Earth surface to show only an area immediately around your home or office. Create an irregular-shaped boundary and apply it to the Google Earth surface.
Solution
1. Draw a polyline that includes the desired area.
2. Expand the Google Earth Surface branch in Prospector.
3. Expand the Definition branch.
4. Right-click Boundaries and select the Add option.
5. Select the newly created polyline and click Add to complete the boundary addition.
Prepare a slope analysis. Surface analysis tools allow users to view more than contours and triangles in Civil 3D. Engineers working with nontechnical team members can create strong meaningful analysis displays to convey important site information using the built-in analysis methods in Civil 3D.
Master It Create an Elevation Banding analysis of your home or office surface and insert a legend to help clarify the image.
Solution
1. Right-click the surface and bring up the Surface Properties dialog.
2. Change the Surface Style field to Elevation Banding (2D).
3. Change to the Elevation tab and run an Elevation analysis.
4. Click OK to close the Surface Properties dialog.
5. Select the surface to display the Tin Surface tab on the Ribbon.
6. On the Labels & Tables panel, click Add Legend Table. Enter E and then D at the command line and pick a placement point on the screen to create a legend.
Label surface contours and spot elevations. Showing a stack of contours is useless without context. Using the automated labeling tools in Civil 3D, you can create dynamic labels that update and reflect changes to your surface as your design evolves.
Master It Label the contours on your Google Earth surface at 1′ and 5′ (Design).
Solution
1. Change the Surface Style to Contours 1′ and 5′ (Design).
2. Select the surface to display the Tin Surface tab.
3. On the Labels & Tables panel, select Add Labels Contour – Multiple.
4. Pick a point on one side of the site, and draw a contour label line across the entire site. Repeat this step as needed to label the site appropriately.
Import a point cloud into a drawing and create a surface model. As point cloud data becomes more common and replaces other large-scale data-collection methods, the ability to use this data in Civil 3D is key. Intensity helps postprocessing software determine the ground cover type. While Civil 3D can’t do postprocessing, you can see the intensity as part of the point cloud style.
Master It Import an LAS format point cloud Denver.las into the Civil 3D template of your choice. As you create the point cloud file, set the style to Scaled Color Intensity - Blue. Use a portion of the file to create a Civil 3D surface model.
Solution
1. Start a new file by using the default Civil 3D template of your choice. Save the file before proceeding as Denver USA.dwg.
2. Select the Point Clouds collection on the Prospector tab of Toolspace and right-click.
3. Select Create Point Cloud from the menu. The Create Point Cloud wizard is displayed. Name the point cloud Denver. Set Style to Scaled Color Intensity - Blue. Click Next.
4. Click the plus sign to browse for the LAS file. Select Denver.las. Click Finish. This file contains 4.7 million data points, so be patient while the file imports (this may be a good time to grab some coffee).
5. Select the point cloud to view the context Ribbon. Click Add Points To Surface.
6. Name the surface whatever you would like. Set the style to Scaled Color Intensity - Blue. Click Next.
7. Set the Region Option to Window. Click Define Region in Drawing. Create a window around the western half of the point cloud.