Transportation

Blog Consolidation

I'm excited to be joining Jerry and Jeff Bartels on the Civil Immersion Blog (http://civilimmersion.typepad.com/).  Since the three of us post similar material on similar topics, we think having the "one stop shop" for all things related to civil infrastructure will make things easier for our followers.  Please join the three of us there.  This site will remain until we are able to move the existing content over to the Civil Immersion Blog (or until we are told to close it LOL).  Thanks and I hope to see you all at my new place!

-Alan

Civil 3D/AutoCAD Drafting Basics for Microstation Users: Tracking

I wanted to make some very basic recordings for people out there like me who have a long history using another CAD platform (Microstation in my case) and need to get their AutoCAD and/or Civil 3D basics in order.

The video below is the fourth installment and is all about tracking (polar tracking and snap tracking).  I hope this is beneficial!

 

-Alan

Civil 3D/AutoCAD Drafting Basics for Microstation Users: Precise Snapping

I wanted to make some very basic recordings for people out there like me who have a long history using another CAD platform (Microstation in my case) and need to get their AutoCAD and/or Civil 3D basics in order.

The video below is the third installment and shows techniques combining what we discussed in the precision input and snapping sessions.  I do make reference to Microstation commands where it makes sense to compare/contrast.  I hope this is beneficial!

 

-Alan

Civil 3D/AutoCAD Drafting Basics for Civil 3D: Snaps

I wanted to make some very basic recordings for people out there like me who have a long history using another CAD platform (Microstation in my case) and need to get their AutoCAD and/or Civil 3D basics in order.

The video below is the second installment and is all about snapping within AutoCAD and Civil 3D.  I do make reference to Microstation commands where it makes sense to compare/contrast.  I hope this is beneficial!

 

-Alan

Civil 3D/AutoCAD Drafting Basics for Microstation Users: Precision Input

I wanted to make some very basic recordings for people out there like me who have a long history using another CAD platform (Microstation in my case) and need to get their AutoCAD and/or Civil 3D basics in order.

This video below is all about precision input within AutoCAD and Civil 3D.  I do make reference to Microstation commands where it makes sense to compare/contrast.  I hope this is beneficial!

 

-Alan

Civil 3D Superelevation View Editing

I recently had some questions regarding the use of the Superelevation View in Civil 3D to customize and/or edit superelevation.  To that end, I decided to create a video playlist that walks through many of the editing techniques available in the super diagram view.  This video series starts with the creation of superelevation and goes all the way through the testing of your edits within a corridor.  I hope these are beneficial!

 

-Alan

Civil 3D Custom Subassembly for Overlay and Widening

Recently during a customer visit, we were discussing options for overlay and widening within Civil 3D.  A question arose regarding how to customize the “OverlaywidenMatchSlope1” by adding a leveling wedge between the lane and proposed shoulder.  Below is a video playlist that walks through the creation of a subassembly to achieve this using the Subassembly Composer tool.  It also shows the application and testing of this subassembly using a Civil 3D corridor.  I hope these are beneficial!

 

-Alan

AutoCAD/Civil 3D Tips and Tricks: Fall FLUG Conference 2015

For the 2015 Fall Florida Local Users Group Conference (FLUG), I put together a presentation covering a variety of tips and tricks related to AutoCAD and Civil 3D 2016.  There have been several tips and tricks sessions presented at FLUG over the last few years, so my goal was to provide some new things not covered in previous classes.  The link below starts the playlist of all 11 videos.  I hope these are beneficial!

 

-Alan

Creating custom pavement markings for use in InfraWorks

One of the more challenging items to add to an InfraWorks model is custom pavement markings. Many times these elements are created using coverages, although sometimes coverages can present challenges of their own with respect to draw order, and their desire to “influence” the surface elevations beneath.

If you are interested, I have created an alternate technique for creating custom pavement markings using an FBX file in conjunction with Civil 3D’s solid surface extraction.  While this technique isn’t perfect, in some cases it may be preferable to using a coverage.

Proof of concept images and step by step video below…

 
Extruding striping geometry through Civil 3D solid surface extraction creates a perfect 3D model of proposed pavement markings.

Pavement marking model imported into InfraWorks.

-Jeff

 

Using low density trees to manage InfraWorks forests

The trees provided with InfraWorks are very detailed, all the way down to the veins on each leaf. If your model requires a large amount of tree cover however, these highly detailed trees may negatively affect performance. In this session we'll explore a technique for creating low density trees that provide a good balance between visual appearance and model efficiency.

Below is an example of a “stock” InfraWorks tree next to a custom low density tree.

 

By using a low density tree, you can exponentially reduce the amount of polygons managed by InfraWorks, which can significantly increase performance in models having a large amount of tree cover.

If you are interested, I have created a quick recording walking through the process…

 

Having trouble with the video?  Here's a direct link - http://autode.sk/21pe9qa

The custom tree used in this recording can be downloaded here... http://a360.co/1OqRBju

-Jeff