Tutorial: Editing the Civil 3D Model

Editing the Civil 3D Model

This tutorial demonstrates the use of the editing tools in Project Explorer to apply some design changes to pipes and corridors.

you'll use the new Multiple Part Swap feature to edit a pipe network, then use the Assembly editing tools to widen the roadway on a corridor. Optionally, you'll then update the reports that were previously generated.

Getting Started

In Autodesk Civil 3D, open the standard Civil 3D sample drawing: Intro-1.dwg. You will have saved this drawing at the end of the first part of this tutorial.

This drawing is part of the standard Civil 3D installation, and can generally be found in the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2022\C3D\Help\Civil Tutorials\

If you wish to learn about the report updating capabilities of the Object Sets, we recommend working through the Working with Object Sets tutorial before commencing this tutorial. In this case, you should use the end result from that tutorial as your starting point for the following tasks.

First of all, open the Project Explorer window if it is not already open.

  1. From the Civil 3D ribbon, select the Add-Ins tab and open the Project Explorer window.
  2. Select the Pipe Networks tab in the Project Explorer window. You will see a single pipe network listed, called Storm Sewer Network. You will work with this pipe network throughout this tutorial.

Setting the Reference Surface for multiple pipes and structures

Some later steps in this tutorial depend on having a reference surface set for all structures and pipes in this pipe network. Project Explorer allows the reference surface to be set for multiple parts of a pipe network in a single operation.

  1. Ensure that the Structures tab is activated at sub-object level and select all structures in the Structures List.
  2. From the right-click menu, select Set Reference Surface(s) and select First Street - (1) from the drop-down list.
  3. Select the Pipes tab and select all pipes in the Pipes List.
  4. From the right-click menu, select Set Reference Surface(s) and select First Street - (1) from the drop-down list to set the reference surface for all selected pipes.

Note that a shaded area now appears in the pipe network profile view. This shaded area indicates the minimum and maximum pipe cover depth range. This range is derived from the currently assigned pipe rule set, and will be used later in this tutorial to help determine whether the required cover depth is violated by changes that will be made to the slope of the pipes.

Editing pipe runs

  1. From the pipe network profile view toolbar, set the start and end structure for the pipe run to:
    • Start Structure : Structure - (2)
    • End Structure : Structure - (8)
    • Comparison Surface : EG
  2. Increase the vertical exaggeration of the profile view to 1:5.
  3. Select Pipes from the part category tab as indicated below.

The profile view displays a pipe run representing the shortest path through the pipe network between the selected start and end structure.

Swapping Multiple Parts in a Pipe Network

Project Explorer allows multiple pipe network parts to be swapped in a single operation. You'll use this tool now to make some changes to the pipe diameters on the pipe run.

  1. Select the following pipes in the Pipes list in the Project Explorer window.
    • Pipe - (5)
    • Pipe - (6)
    • Pipe - (7)
  2. Right-click the selected pipes and select Swap Part(s) from the right-click menu.

  3. From the Swap Part Size dialog, select the 750mm RPC concrete pipe and click OK.

  4. Right-click Pipe - (4) from the Pipes list in the Project Explorer window, and select Swap Part(s) from the right-click menu.
  5. From the Swap Part Size dialog, select the 600mm RPC concrete pipe and click OK.

    The pipe run should now resemble the one shown in the following image.

Adjusting the pipe slope along a pipe run

Project Explorer allows the slope of an entire pipe run to be adjusted in a single operation. Let's try this now:

  1. Check that the pipe network profile view settings are still set to:
    • Start Structure : Structure - (2)
    • End Structure : Structure - (8)
    • Comparison Surface : First Street - (1)
  2. Change the vertical exaggeration of the pipe network profile view to 1 : 10 to make it easier to see the pipe slope changes that you will apply.
  3. Press the Edit Pipe Run button in the main toolbar of the Pipe Networks tab.
  4. The Edit Pipe Run Slope and Elevations dialog opens.
  5. Your aim is to adjust the start elevation of the pipe run but hold the elevation of the pipe at the end of the pipe run. Also, you need to apply a constant slope of 1.5% across all pipes whilst maintaining the crown elevation of each pipe at every intermediate structure.

  6. Change the pipe run Control Parameters to Hold Pipe Run End Elevation.
  7. Change the method for Hold Pipe Elevation to the Crown option.
  8. Change the Pipe Run Slope to 1.5%.
  9. Click OK to close the dialog and return to the Project Explorer window. The pipe run is updated to give the following result.

Note that three pipes in the list have violations. Hover your mouse over each violation to discover which design rules have been violated.

At this point, you might wish to address these violations by carrying out further editing to the pipe network. The violations will be updated after each design change, regardless of whether these edits are carried out in Project Explorer or using the Civil 3D user interface.

As further editing is outside the scope of this tutorial, you have now completed the pipe network related portion of this tutorial. Next, you'll apply a design change to a corridor by modifying the width of the main roadway.

First, ensure that any changes you apply to this assembly are immediately reflected in the associated corridor.

  1. Select the Corridors tab in the Project Explorer window.
  2. In the corridor list select First Street and scroll across the list until you see the Automatic Rebuild parameter. Double click the existing No value in this field and set it to YES.

  3. Select the Assemblies tab in the Project Explorer window.
  4. In the assemblies list select Primary Road Full Section.
  5. In the subassemblies list for this assembly, select LaneSuperelevationAOR - (19).

  6. The parameters for this subassembly are displayed and the assembly Section View indicates the geometry of the selected subassembly.
  7. Double-click the width parameter and change the value from 3.500 to 6.000.

  8. In the subassemblies list for this assembly, select LaneSuperelevationAOR - (19) (1), and make a similar change to the width parameter, increasing the value to 6.000.
  9. Note that the changes you have applied here are immediately reflected in both the Section View and in the AutoCAD viewport.
  10. Select the Corridors tab in the main Project Explorer window.
  11. In the corridor section view toolbar, select Point Code(s) from the Find drop down list and select ETW from the list of available codes. This will highlight the location of the updated ETW point codes in the section view.
    Tip: Highlight the location of multiple point codes by entering a comma delimited list into this field. It is also possible to input partial point codes such as ET*
  12. In the corridor feature lines list, scroll down to find and select ETW from the list. Verify that the baseline offset is now set to 6.000.

You have now completed the necessary design changes to your Civil 3D model. Now, update your previously generated reports to include the updated design.

Updating the reports

After any design change in Civil 3D, previously generated reports or other exported files produced by the Object Sets feature in Project Explorer can be updated in just a few simple steps.

The remainder of this tutorial is only applicable if you previously worked through the Working with Object Sets tutorial and used the end result from that tutorial as your starting point for the preceding tasks.

  1. Select the Object Sets tab in the main Project Explorer window.
  2. Click the Run All Actions button. This will update both reports with the latest design changes that you applied to the pipe network and corridor.
  3. Review the updated reports now to see the result of those changes.

Project Explorer keeps a persistent record of every report it has generated from a given AutoCAD drawing. These records can be reviewed from the Output History window. This dialog box can be accessed in two ways:

  • By clicking the View History button in the main toolbar of the Object Sets tab in the Project Explorer window.
  • By accepting the option to "review the results in the Output History window" immediately after the Run All Actions or Run Selected Action buttons are clicked.

From this dialog box it's possible to see the path and name of the output file of every generated report, along with the file creation date and the name of the user who generated the report.

Double-click any listed entry to directly open the associated report file. Alternatively, right-click any listed entry to open the output path of the file in Windows Explorer or to remove the entry from the Output History list.

Version Control in Project Explorer

Note that a unique Report Version and Report Revision number is assigned to every report generated from Project Explorer. By default these values are incremented in the following scenarios:

  • The Report Version is incremented every time a new session of AutoCAD is started.
  • The Report Revision is incremented every time a report is updated.

This behavior may be modified from the Project Explorer Preferences dialog which can be opened by clicking the Preferences button in the main Project Explorer window.

Parent topic: Project Explorer Tutorials Introduction