After you have developed the relevant base, engineering, and linework drawings, you are ready to create a production sheet or a plan set drawing, such as a plan and profile, utility sheet, or landscaping sheet.
To generate these top-level sheets, xref your base, engineering, and linework plans together into a plan set drawing that can be used for generating layouts with title blocks and final drafting. If you use Autodesk Vault, before you xref these drawings, ensure that their latest versions are in your working folder.
To get the latest version of Autodesk Vault project data
- On the Toolspace Prospector tab, right-click the project name
Get Latest Version.
This operation pulls the most recent versions of all project drawings and design objects into your working folder. After you have these latest versions, you are ready to create level 3 production sheets.
Create the Plan Set Drawing
Let’s assume you are working on a plan and profile sheet. First, create a new drawing, name it, and save it to your working folder. Then, externally reference the appropriate Level 2 drawings, such as base linework, base utility, and base topology. When you create a Level 3 drawing, the Level 2 object data and label styles are display-only. However, you can use Layer Manager to selectively hide and display layers within the Level 2 data.
If you use Vault, be sure to use the option Include All File Dependencies when you check in the plan set drawing. This ensures that all associated file dependencies are copied to their working folders when other team members check out the plan set drawing.
You typically use a plan set drawing with Sheet Set Manager (SSM) in Autodesk Civil 3D. To create individual sheets in SSM, you create AutoCAD views within your plan set drawings. For more information about SSM, refer to the online help in Autodesk Civil 3D.
Additional Drafting and Annotation
You can data reference individual design objects into a plan set drawing and apply any required annotation or drafting. This process leverages the work done in Level 1 and Level 2 drawings. In addition, drafters and technicians can finalize the annotation for the Level 3 sheets as part of a full set of construction documents.
Addressing Interference
When drawings from Level 1 and Level 2 are externally referenced into Level 3, you may find that there are annotation overlaps, duplication, or other interferences. You can use Layer Manager to turn off interfering text, or you can create a data reference of the design object in the Level 3 drawing and control its annotation there. Using this approach, the Level 3 drawings can be synchronized to reflect changes that take place in lower levels. While creating references in Level 3 requires some duplicate work, it is negligible compared to the benefit of synchronizing the Level 3 sheets with the original design.
Working with Images
You may need to incorporate an image in a production sheet. For example, a rough grading plan sheet can include aerial photographs. You can attach an image using the External References Manager.
Bypassing Level 2
You may be able to complete some projects without using all three levels of the workflow. In particular, you may not need the intermediate drawings in Level 2. Instead, you may be able to create Level 3 sheets by data referencing individual objects from drawings created in Level 1. You benefit in bypassing Level 2 drawings because you can create labels directly in the Level 3 drawings, and avoid the possibility of generating interference. However, bypassing Level 2 has a downside because you cannot combine objects from Level 1 with design objects such as corridors or utility networks in separate drawings.