Service Pack 3 for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2015 was released by Autodesk in early June. Sorry. I’ve been kinda like the White Rabbit with the advent of Release 6.
The new SP3 for Civil 3D 2015 fixes some really annoying Export to AutoCAD (or should we say Dumb down to ACAD?) errors. There were some basic surface manipulation problems that occurred in 2015 when you tried to rotate a Surface Feature. If you employ Vault, the SP3 is an “it’s about time” service pack.
Download Civil 3D SP3 here
Read the 2015 SP3 read me
To Export is To Publish On Demand
There were/are ways around the 2015 Export issues. Frankly, if you really want to produce CAD and GIS editable digital results, a good export to ACAD and/or DGN etc. requires a planned and systematic by Feature approach anyway.
“What does that mean?”
Ok. Sometimes we get lazy and slap all kinds of survey and design stuff into one drawing.
This is baaaaad practice in Civil 3D.
Don’t be a sheep. They tend to bleat a lot.
Separate your Features
“What’s a Feature?”
The things you see in the Toolspace | Prospector tab.
Your publishing problems get much more problematic if you don’t plan and subdivide in C3D.
You have to employ Data Shortcuts and Survey in Civil 3D with a decent level of skill.
Put it this way: more skill equals more work with less effort.
A Survey DB is a form of managed data shortcuts for any point and/or linear object data.
See the videos.
“What does separate the Features mean?”
A case in point. At the most basic level you don’t even have Points and Surfaces in the same drawing. This isn’t the waste of time it may initially appear to be. Ok. If you dump to ONLY to PDF all the time, maybe.
“What? How can I get point data into my Civil 3D surface without points?”
You do use managed, QA-approved, external Point Files. You don’t need the sinkin’ figure points do you? That’s what that data source is there for in the Surface Definition. Oh.
I think you should probably employ surface DREFs (data reference) based on published XML based surfaces for existing stuff anyway. Partial deletes and layer freezing can be nasty and downright embaaaarrassing. Don’t bleat.
To Export and publish well you don’t even put point Symbols and point Labels in the same drawing. Huh?
I talked about dumbing down Civil 3D often enough before points before.
Simply put - the Labels and the Points are not the same thing, but, hey, they both talk to the same SurveyDb. Don’t they? Maybe we need a Labels and Notes mental adjustment service pack for AutoCAD Civil 3D?
What?
You don’t use Survey Dbs to manage your labels, notes, abbreviations, and revision tracking?
If you make this sort of stuff drawing specific (old school), projects get to be a…”
I call this “Civil 3D Spagetti Effect.” That’s kinder than a morbid reference to “Silence of the Lambs”, I think.
What?
You think Civil 3D Style is about the way things look and not about the way the software tools work for you and your real world productivity?
Baaaaa
Our Production Solution Civil 3D template and Civil 3D style collections include these kinds of power tools for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2015 and AutoCAD Civil 3D 2016. We support a lot of other releases of Civl 3D too.
We build it in so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel just to use your expensive Autodesk software.
Imagine that?
See. There’s really is nothing to bleat about.