Using the AutoCAD Civil 3D Object Enabler for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017 Object Data

The AutoCAD Civil 3D Object Enabler allows you to access AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017 civil object data in other applications.

For example, if half of your AutoCAD seats are AutoCAD 2017, and the other half are AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017, the people using AutoCAD 2017 can install the AutoCAD Civil 3D Object Enabler. After installing the AutoCAD Civil 3D Object Enabler, they can open drawings that were created in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017 and view, plot, manipulate, and copy the custom objects.

Without this enabler installed, you can share drawings using proxy graphics. Proxy graphics provide an alternative means to display objects using simple graphical representations. Objects represented as proxy graphics lack the full “intelligence” of true objects. Proxy graphics also increase drawing size. AutoCAD uses this mechanism for DWG file compatibility if the custom application is not loaded.

Set the PROXYGRAPHICS drawing setting to 1 to save the graphics with the drawing, otherwise a “bounding box” is displayed where the object is located when opened with the AutoCAD Civil 3D Object Enabler.

Installing the AutoCAD Civil 3D Object Enabler on any AutoCAD 2017 product enables:

• Support of the AutoCAD List and Erase commands on civil objects.
• Snap points on civil objects (so you can use Object Snaps and object tracking).
• Grip editing of labels, including the ability to move and rotate an unanchored label independently from its insertion point marker.
• Support for display of certain types of civil objects in the AutoCAD Object Properties Palette.

Visual Fidelity

The appearance of civil objects is controlled by styles, which can have different settings for viewing the objects in both 2D and 3D views. The AutoCAD Civil 3D Object Enabler respects these settings, so a surface configured to show only contours in 3D, for example, will show only contours when viewed in 3D in an enabled AutoCAD session.

Layer Fidelity

Civil object styles can be configured so that the object appearance can be controlled by manipulating layers. If the object style settings, such as color and lineweight, are set to BYLAYER, you can perform the following in an enabled AutoCAD session:

• Change the object layer and object subcomponent layer settings to update the object display
• Turn the layers on/off or freeze/thaw the layers to change object visibility

If the layer settings in the object style are set to BYBLOCK, changing the object layer in an enabled AutoCAD session will change the display of the object and its subcomponents accordingly.