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June tenth, 2019

Using Templates and Drawing Settings for Ceremonious 3D Implementation

Introduction

AutoCAD® Ceremonious 3D® is complex software with many different and connecting parts working together to provide solutions to ceremonious design projects. In this article nosotros are going to explore how to utilize template files to capture feature and object settings that yous can use to beginning your new drawing or reference into an existing drawing. For a successful implementation, the CAD manager or designer can create, update, and distribute template files to all users to ensure a standard and uniform approach to design work.

Templates

Any new cartoon in Civil 3D starts with a default drawing template or a custom template you can create. Cartoon template files are drawings that store styles, settings, layers, and layouts in a cartoon including title blocks.

Standard Template Process

When you create a new drawing based on a drawing template, the new drawing gets a re-create of the styles in the template, simply it is a old copy. The connection is not maintained; therefore, if y'all update the template it will not update your drawing file. For case, if you update the surface styles in your template and you wanted your drawings to get those same updates, you needed to manually copy or import those changed styles into your drawings.  You can exercise this by dragging and dropping or selecting the import tab on the Ribbon as shown in Figure 1.

Effigy i: Import styles

Templates are also listed under the Drawing Templates collection in the Prospector tree Master View as shown in Figure 2.  Notice the two Civil 3D templates supplied from Autodesk.

Figure 2:  Templates under the Primary View in Prospector

2 templates are provided when yous install Civil 3D.  The path for these templates can exist found inside the options dialog box under the Files > Templates folder.  Nosotros are going to open the _Autodesk Civil 3D (Royal) NCS.dwt and save this to C3D_Standard.dwt. The two AutoCAD Civil 3D cartoon templates are based on the United States National CAD Standard®.

• _AutoCAD Ceremonious 3D (Imperial) NCS
• _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Metric) NCS

These templates incorporate an extended set of styles and settings. When you outset a new cartoon with the New command on the Awarding carte du jour, you can choose which template you want to employ.

The QNEW command, which is bachelor on the Quick Access toolbar, automatically uses the template specified in the AutoCAD Options dialog box.

Figure 3: The main templates provided

Nosotros are now going to change the settings of our template file (Figure iv). Open the template file you created named C3D_Standard.dwt on the Habitation tab of the Ribbon > Palettes panel > Open Toolspace.

1. On the palette, motility to the Settings tab.
2. Brand sure yous are in the Agile Drawing Settings View and right-click C3D Standard as shown.
3. Select Edit Drawing Settings.

Notation: If you lot movement up and down on this palette there are hundreds of dissimilar settings that can be practical to all types of Civil 3D object data.

Figure iv: Drawing settings

C3D Drawing Settings

Settings in Civil 3D control many preset values, such every bit cartoon units, calibration, and coordinate system. Civil 3D has drawing, feature, and command settings. All three levels of settings in AutoCAD Civil 3D are saved with the cartoon, and they can be saved to a drawing template.

1. Drawing settings: Found values for the whole drawing.
2. Characteristic settings: Control behavior for a feature, such equally Surfaces or Parcels.
3. Command settings: Use to individual commands within a characteristic, such equally the AddParcelAreaLabel command within the Parcels characteristic.

You change each level of settings at a dissimilar location in the Settings tree, as shown in Figure five.

Figure v: Setting tree

Let's focus on the primary drawing Drawing-Level Settings and Feature Level Settings. To access drawing-level settings, correct-click the drawing name C3D_Standard in the settings tree and click Edit Drawing Settings equally shown in Effigy 6.

Effigy 6:  Edit Drawing settings

At the cartoon level, the Edit Settings dialog box contains general tabs for the drawing (or template) as shown in Figure 7.  Nosotros do not want to alter whatsoever of these settings except for the Object Layers. Ambient Settings can be altered, but will be overridden by the drawing and characteristic settings.

Figure 7: Drawing settings

To illustrate how this works, we will edit i of these settings in the Object Layers section.  Move to the Object Layers tab on the dialog box and scroll down to Tin Surface as shown in Figure eight. We are going to add a suffix to the default label using a wildcard to ensure that our surface is e'er on the C-Topo- layer with a suffix of the surface proper noun (i.east., C-Topo-EG).

Figure eight: Object layers

1. Move to the C-TOPO layer.
2. Change the value to Suffix.
3. Add a -* to the value field.  The hyphen volition be added to C-TOPO and the surface name volition be appended to the cease of the layer (i.e., C-TOPO-EG).

You take now created a standard for Can Surface layers in Civil 3D and tin implement this process. Explore other options at the drawing settings level to ensure your template is prepare to go.

Figure 9: Object Layer modifications

Feature-Level Settings

Use the object drove level in the Settings tree to control all settings that pertain to the object type. Access the object or feature-level settings by correct-clicking the object collection in the Settings tree and clicking Edit Feature Settings.  For this example, we are going to select the Betoken Drove.

Figure ten: Signal Feature settings

At the object level, this dialog box likewise contains object-specific settings, such as default point styles. In this section nosotros can command how our point label styles are in our cartoon as default. If we want all the points to be brought in as a detail way or maker, we can edit these values as our default within our template file. Figure 11 shows the Bespeak Label Style and the dialog box to modify the value within the object feature settings.

Figure xi: Edit Feature settings

Command-Level Settings

Utilise the Commands collection level in the Settings tree to override both the object-level settings and cartoon ambient settings on a command-by-command basis. You can also specify control-specific settings. Admission the command-level settings by expanding the Commands drove for an object type in the Settings tree, correct-clicking the control, and clicking Edit Control Settings. Figure 12 shows u.s.a. editing the command level settings for a surface.

Figure 12: Control-level setting

Layer Standards in Templates

Maintaining a standard for the use of layers in your drawing is easier if you have a drawing template with predefined layers, and styles that reference those layers when objects are created.

For consistency, salvage your template as an AutoCAD® standards file (.dws format). And then, in the template, enter the STANDARDS command and in the Configure Standards dialog box, link the standards file to the template. If you want to enforce the standards, yous can click the Settings button and activate notifications of standards violations or override such violations. For additional information on the CAD Standards Director see CSI: CAD Standards Implementation at Autodesk Academy 2017. https://autode.sk/2T0ozBa

The layers created in the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018 templates follow the National CAD Standard (NCS) rules. For more data nigh the National CAD Standard layering settings, come across http://world wide web.nationalcadstandard.org.

Now that you have many of your standards in place for your template, nosotros need to ensure that the template is used on new drawings.  From the application menu, select New and your open dialog box will exist displayed every bit shown (Figure 13). Select the C3D_Standard.dwt and all your settings will be inside the new cartoon.

Effigy 13: New template

Note: To control the location of template files and QNEW, review the options nether the FILES bill of fare > template settings.

Reference Templates

New to Ceremonious 3D 2022 is a process called reference templates. The command can exist institute on the Manage tab of the Ribbon > Styles palette > Reference, as shown in Effigy 14

Figure 14: Import styles

When you attach a reference template to a drawing, the AutoCAD Civil 3D styles that are in that reference template are copied into the drawing, and the connection betwixt the drawing and the reference templates is maintained. Drawings can be updated on an ongoing basis either automatically or manually with changes to the styles in the templates.  We are going to add a reference to our current cartoon file (Figure fifteen).

Figure 15: Attach Reference Template

As we work on our projection, changes to the reference templates are pushed to the cartoon then it is kept up to appointment:

• New or changed styles in reference templates are copied to the drawing.
• Styles that are deleted from reference templates are removed from the drawing if the styles are not in employ. If a way is in use, a local copy of the mode is fabricated in the drawing.

Select the update button for the template to exist added to the drawing. In the Toolspace Settings tree, styles that accept been referenced into the drawing are marked with a newspaper clip icon as shown in Figure 16.  Observe how the surface styles are at present beingness controlled by the reference template and not the drawing settings.

Effigy xvi: The Paper Clip

As yous continue to update and/or add new styles to the project standards template, those changes are pushed to the drawings that reference that template.

The post-obit AutoCAD Civil 3D components can be imported and referenced past a reference template.

• AutoCAD Layers
• AutoCAD blocks, text styles, and linetypes
• Settings
• Drawing Settings
• Abbreviations
• Ambient Settings
• Object Layers
• Feature Settings
• Characterization Style Defaults
• Styles
• Characterization Styles
• Object Styles
• Table Styles
• Pipe and Construction Rules
• Pressure Network Parts lists
• Quantity Takeoff Criteria

If you lot endeavour to edit a surface mode (i.e., rename a layer colour) y'all will get the post-obit error indicating that your style is being controlled by a referenced template or a company standard. You do have options to override the setting as shown in Effigy 17, but this is a good reminder to all of us while we work on drawings and maintain our company standards.

Figure 17: The warning

Determination

In a perfect world, your drawing templates and settings will accept the perfect set up of styles for your projects. This typically takes time to grow and tin be considered a living template. Consider designing styles to reverberate the information requirements at different times in the project.  The templates are there as a guide to provide you lot with the basic information needed to begin your blueprint project efficiently. Yous tin can create styles and templates for many different disciplines and still follow your company standard. Go on the implementation process going and create your template to aid guide your users and your visitor to a better, more standard approach to design work.

Sam Lucido is a CAD Services Director with Haley & Aldrich, Inc. He has more than 25 years of experience involving design, user support, and customization. Sam is an Autodesk certified professional and an Expert Elite Member. He uses his vast knowledge nearly AutoCAD and Civil 3D to assist provide support to engineering and design teams past holding hands on workshops and online training. Sam is a acme-rated Autodesk University and Midwest University Speaker as well equally existence an AUGI Board Member. You can accomplish Sam at CADProTips.com or by email
at lucido1373@gmail.com.

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