Need more guidance on the Civil 3D interface and functionality? Check out this collection of additional resources:
How do I access Autodesk Collaboration for Civil 3D?.
About drawings and drawing templates
Workspaces
About the Autodesk Civil 3D ribbon and Tool space
Autodesk Civil 3D Tool space part 1
Autodesk Civil 3D Tool space part 2
Or head back to
Part one for: Understanding the Civil 3D user interface
or Part two for: Using basic functionality
About drawings and drawing templates
Learn to use drawing templates to eliminate duplication of effort and maintain consistency across drawings.
1. You start a new Autodesk Civil 3D drawing using a template file. These can be found by clicking on the New dropdown and selecting Browse on the startup page, which takes you to the template folder location. Select the relevant template and click Open.
2. An Autodesk Civil 3D drawing template can contain standard AutoCAD information, such as AutoCAD settings and layers, as well as AutoCAD objects, such as lines and text.
3. In addition, it can include any Autodesk Civil 3D drawing information that is listed in either the Settings tree (including Autodesk Civil 3D settings, styles, label styles, tables, description keys, and point import/export formats) or the Prospector tree (including any Autodesk Civil 3D object, such as point groups).
4. Autodesk Civil 3D drawing templates are included in the product. The Autodesk Civil 3D drawing templates are based on the U.S. National CAD Standard (NCS)®. For more information about the National CAD Standard layering settings, see http://www.nationalcadstandard.org.The following templates are included:
_AutoCAD Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS
_AutoCAD Civil 3D (Metric) NCS
5. These templates contain an extended set of styles and settings. Note: If you base a new drawing on a non-Autodesk Civil 3D drawing template, such as acad.dwt, then basic styles named ‘Standard’ are created by default in the new drawing.
6. When you start a new drawing using the New command on the Application menu, you can choose which template you want to use.
7. The QNEW command, which is available on the Quick Access Toolbar, automatically uses the template specified in the AutoCAD Options dialog box. For more information, see AutoCAD Help.
8. Drawing templates for Plan Production tools are included in the Plan Production directory. These are sheets configured for generating road plan, profile, and cross-section drawing production. Other country kits/templates can be found and downloaded here.
More information regarding drawing styles and template best practices can be viewed here.
Workspaces
1. Workspaces are sets of user interface components, such as ribbon tabs and panels, toolbars, palettes, and menu bars, that are grouped and organized so that you can work in a custom, task-oriented drawing environment.
2. When you select a workspace, only the user interface components specified in that workspace are displayed. You can still access other commands by entering their command names at the command line.
3. Autodesk Civil 3D comes with 4 workspaces, the default workspace being Civil 3D. You can use this workspace as-is or modify it according to your requirements. Workspaces can be viewed or toggled between on the top ribbon as depicted below:
4. The 4 Workspaces in Autodesk Civil 3D are described below, each having their own ribbon of tools:
Civil 3D: This workspace displays user interface components related to civil engineering design and survey features available in Autodesk Civil 3D. (Civil Modeling & Design)
Drafting & Annotation: This workspace displays user interface components related to AutoCAD drafting and annotation features available in Autodesk Civil 3D. (2D & 3D AutoCAD Drafting)
3D Modeling: This workspace displays user interface components related to AutoCAD 3D modeling features available in Autodesk Civil 3D. (3D AutoCAD Modeling)
Planning and Analysis: This workspace displays user interface components related to AutoCAD Map 3D features available in Autodesk Civil 3D. (GIS & Mapping)
5. Autodesk Civil 3D is built on top of Autodesk AutoCAD. Therefore, all functions, commands and keyboard shortcuts used/applied in AutoCAD can be utilized/applied in Autodesk Civil 3D. AutoCAD keyboard shortcuts and commands can be viewed here.
Ready for more? Head back to the AEC Collection Quick Start Guide for Civil Engineers
