• Civil 3D

Rail design in Civil 3D

Begin using Civil 3D rail workflows.


00:03

In this back to basics civil 3D video series,

00:06

we will go through the entire rail design workflow.

00:10

We'll use several different data sets to

00:13

highlight some of the different features and tools

00:15

are available to rail designers.

00:18

In this first video,

00:19

we'll take a look at some of the core functionality of civil

00:27

So starting with opening a file at

00:30

the start menu, we'll see a list of all the recent files that we've had access to

00:35

the cloud icon indicates anything that's stored

00:37

on Autodesk docks or on the construction cloud

00:41

and the monitor indicates anything that's stored locally.

00:44

We can also change the layout from list format to grid view to

00:48

get a preview of any of the files we've been in previously.

00:53

We can also go to the Autodesk projects tab

00:57

and see a list of all the different projects that we have access to on Autodesk Docs.

01:02

This drive operates very similarly to a local drive or to a local area network.

01:08

As far as accessibility to these files.

01:13

When opening new files, we have a couple different options.

01:16

We can either select the plus button next to the start tab in the menu

01:20

or we can select the civil 3d drop down menu and select new.

01:25

This way it gives us an opportunity to

01:28

choose our drawing template to start our drawing with

01:31

choices that we have are imperial or metric as

01:35

well as some other plot styles that are available.

01:37

In

01:37

this case, we'll choose a metric template.

01:41

Initially, some of the menus on the top ribbon can look a little overwhelming.

01:45

We'll talk about each one of these as it pertains to the rail design workflow

01:51

on the home tab.

01:51

This is where we can toggle on and off our workspace

01:54

palette that shows all of our different civil 3d design elements.

01:58

These are elements that contain intelligence that we can

02:01

create reports on and that are tracked within our drawing

02:05

can also turn on and off property details that will list

02:09

the details about any element that we select in our drawing.

02:13

Project explorer offers the opportunity to create reports

02:17

and details about civil 3d elements as well.

02:20

Some of the other civil 3d elements that we will be focused on will be points.

02:25

This is where we can create COGO points based on station alignments,

02:29

surface information or survey files.

02:32

We'll also take a closer look at how to create surfaces

02:36

from a variety of different methods.

02:37

Some of the other areas we'll take a look at are alignments.

02:41

More particularly,

02:42

we'll take a look at rail alignments that are available on the rail tab.

02:46

We'll also look at profiles

02:48

and rail corridors and some of the tips and

02:50

tricks that we can use when creating those.

02:53

We'll also take a look at some of the different rail assemblies

02:55

that are available to us as well as some pipe network information.

02:60

The profile view and section view options give us the ability to view any sort of

03:05

design data in regards to profile views and

03:08

cross sections for corridors that we've created.

03:11

Other tools are available to help us with layer control and drawing details

03:16

under the insert tab.

03:18

The information that we're we might be interested in are

03:21

linking to infra works models and extracting information from ARC

03:25

DS using the

03:26

Autodesk connector for ARC

03:28

GS.

03:29

We can also use this area to attach point clouds for surface creation.

03:34

The annotate tab allows us to create and set up annotation for drawings.

03:39

The modify tab allows us to make customizations to things like feature lines

03:45

under the analyze tab.

03:46

We can calculate volumes and materials generated from our corridor

03:51

and the view tab allows us to set up our view configuration

03:55

especially when we want to look at multiple views within our model.

04:00

The information that we're interested in under

04:02

the manage tab would be managing data shortcuts

04:05

as well as creating and updating property set information

04:09

or running dynamo for civil 3D.

04:11

The output tab allows us to send information to other platforms within the AEC

04:16

collection

04:17

as well as publishing information to ARC G

04:20

survey tab allows us to set up and operate field survey data.

04:26

And the rail tab is where we'll spend the majority of

04:28

our time and we'll look at each one of these functions individually

04:32

and the collaborate tab allows us to connect

04:34

two docs and other A EC collection platforms.

04:40

The other tabs are for use for third party add ins

04:44

for health information

04:46

and for additional tools and features that might

04:48

help when it comes to active rail workflows.

04:52

Again, our tool space palette shows all our civil 3d design data.

04:58

And here we can also manage the data shortcut folders where we can store and share

05:04

civil 3D information

05:05

that is created in our drawing

05:07

that needs to be shared with other project team members

05:11

such as surfaces alignments and pipe networks.

05:14

On the bottom portion of our civil 3D screen,

05:17

we can see the model space and paper space where we

05:20

can manage sheets that are set up based on our model.

05:24

Most of the time we'll stay within model space,

05:26

other settings and toggles along the bottom of our civil 3d window

05:31

include Ortho

05:33

and snap modes or object snap settings

05:37

as well as our annotation scale.

05:40

And there's a host of other elements

05:42

that are useful when it comes

05:44

to our design and analysis.

05:47

A

05:47

few other items of note when we right click within our civil

05:51

we can go to options

05:53

and set up our drawing and make customizations to our file paths, our C

05:58

ad functionality

05:59

as well as some of our settings.

06:02

And we can change some of the view settings of our drawing

06:05

space such as the background color crosser size or X reference displays.

06:12

One final note, a

06:13

big difference between civil 3D and other C AD

06:16

platforms is that civil 3D is command line oriented.

06:21

Most tools are available by selecting an icon or by typing

06:25

in a command that will display in the command line.

06:29

Oftentimes when you're uncertain of a certain command,

06:33

if you start typing in information,

06:35

you'll have a list of functions and executables that you can choose from

06:40

several different types of external reference files can

06:43

also be added to your design drawing,

06:45

including other civil 3D files,

06:48

dgns,

06:49

images and point clouds that help to provide you

06:53

more information in your C AD working area.

Video transcript

00:03

In this back to basics civil 3D video series,

00:06

we will go through the entire rail design workflow.

00:10

We'll use several different data sets to

00:13

highlight some of the different features and tools

00:15

are available to rail designers.

00:18

In this first video,

00:19

we'll take a look at some of the core functionality of civil

00:27

So starting with opening a file at

00:30

the start menu, we'll see a list of all the recent files that we've had access to

00:35

the cloud icon indicates anything that's stored

00:37

on Autodesk docks or on the construction cloud

00:41

and the monitor indicates anything that's stored locally.

00:44

We can also change the layout from list format to grid view to

00:48

get a preview of any of the files we've been in previously.

00:53

We can also go to the Autodesk projects tab

00:57

and see a list of all the different projects that we have access to on Autodesk Docs.

01:02

This drive operates very similarly to a local drive or to a local area network.

01:08

As far as accessibility to these files.

01:13

When opening new files, we have a couple different options.

01:16

We can either select the plus button next to the start tab in the menu

01:20

or we can select the civil 3d drop down menu and select new.

01:25

This way it gives us an opportunity to

01:28

choose our drawing template to start our drawing with

01:31

choices that we have are imperial or metric as

01:35

well as some other plot styles that are available.

01:37

In

01:37

this case, we'll choose a metric template.

01:41

Initially, some of the menus on the top ribbon can look a little overwhelming.

01:45

We'll talk about each one of these as it pertains to the rail design workflow

01:51

on the home tab.

01:51

This is where we can toggle on and off our workspace

01:54

palette that shows all of our different civil 3d design elements.

01:58

These are elements that contain intelligence that we can

02:01

create reports on and that are tracked within our drawing

02:05

can also turn on and off property details that will list

02:09

the details about any element that we select in our drawing.

02:13

Project explorer offers the opportunity to create reports

02:17

and details about civil 3d elements as well.

02:20

Some of the other civil 3d elements that we will be focused on will be points.

02:25

This is where we can create COGO points based on station alignments,

02:29

surface information or survey files.

02:32

We'll also take a closer look at how to create surfaces

02:36

from a variety of different methods.

02:37

Some of the other areas we'll take a look at are alignments.

02:41

More particularly,

02:42

we'll take a look at rail alignments that are available on the rail tab.

02:46

We'll also look at profiles

02:48

and rail corridors and some of the tips and

02:50

tricks that we can use when creating those.

02:53

We'll also take a look at some of the different rail assemblies

02:55

that are available to us as well as some pipe network information.

02:60

The profile view and section view options give us the ability to view any sort of

03:05

design data in regards to profile views and

03:08

cross sections for corridors that we've created.

03:11

Other tools are available to help us with layer control and drawing details

03:16

under the insert tab.

03:18

The information that we're we might be interested in are

03:21

linking to infra works models and extracting information from ARC

03:25

DS using the

03:26

Autodesk connector for ARC

03:28

GS.

03:29

We can also use this area to attach point clouds for surface creation.

03:34

The annotate tab allows us to create and set up annotation for drawings.

03:39

The modify tab allows us to make customizations to things like feature lines

03:45

under the analyze tab.

03:46

We can calculate volumes and materials generated from our corridor

03:51

and the view tab allows us to set up our view configuration

03:55

especially when we want to look at multiple views within our model.

04:00

The information that we're interested in under

04:02

the manage tab would be managing data shortcuts

04:05

as well as creating and updating property set information

04:09

or running dynamo for civil 3D.

04:11

The output tab allows us to send information to other platforms within the AEC

04:16

collection

04:17

as well as publishing information to ARC G

04:20

survey tab allows us to set up and operate field survey data.

04:26

And the rail tab is where we'll spend the majority of

04:28

our time and we'll look at each one of these functions individually

04:32

and the collaborate tab allows us to connect

04:34

two docs and other A EC collection platforms.

04:40

The other tabs are for use for third party add ins

04:44

for health information

04:46

and for additional tools and features that might

04:48

help when it comes to active rail workflows.

04:52

Again, our tool space palette shows all our civil 3d design data.

04:58

And here we can also manage the data shortcut folders where we can store and share

05:04

civil 3D information

05:05

that is created in our drawing

05:07

that needs to be shared with other project team members

05:11

such as surfaces alignments and pipe networks.

05:14

On the bottom portion of our civil 3D screen,

05:17

we can see the model space and paper space where we

05:20

can manage sheets that are set up based on our model.

05:24

Most of the time we'll stay within model space,

05:26

other settings and toggles along the bottom of our civil 3d window

05:31

include Ortho

05:33

and snap modes or object snap settings

05:37

as well as our annotation scale.

05:40

And there's a host of other elements

05:42

that are useful when it comes

05:44

to our design and analysis.

05:47

A

05:47

few other items of note when we right click within our civil

05:51

we can go to options

05:53

and set up our drawing and make customizations to our file paths, our C

05:58

ad functionality

05:59

as well as some of our settings.

06:02

And we can change some of the view settings of our drawing

06:05

space such as the background color crosser size or X reference displays.

06:12

One final note, a

06:13

big difference between civil 3D and other C AD

06:16

platforms is that civil 3D is command line oriented.

06:21

Most tools are available by selecting an icon or by typing

06:25

in a command that will display in the command line.

06:29

Oftentimes when you're uncertain of a certain command,

06:33

if you start typing in information,

06:35

you'll have a list of functions and executables that you can choose from

06:40

several different types of external reference files can

06:43

also be added to your design drawing,

06:45

including other civil 3D files,

06:48

dgns,

06:49

images and point clouds that help to provide you

06:53

more information in your C AD working area.

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