In the previous post we talked about Line and Curve Labels which are a pretty fundamental annotative object and task in AutoCAD Civil 3D. We covered the basic edit and create functions and some other more tricky stuff. We learned that a Line & Curve Label is simple and flexible.
Where’s Your Focus?
Let’s face it - most of the time we tend to shoot for some form of PUBLISHED annotation. Old school CAD technology forced us to think that way. Get it RIGHT and leave it alone. To shepard hundreds to thousands of Text and Mtext objects around is painful and man-hour expensive in practice. In the old days we ONLY had layer management and CAD tools to do the work. Not anymore.
If we think and act “old school” like this, we might forsake or simply ignore the benefit of having disposable and dynamic Quality Control Label Styles and Labels. Ouch. Not Me.
Civil 3D is built to reduce the both civil design capability and the annotative man-hour burden.
Take Advantage
After a while using Civil 3D we all tend to fixate on a few commonly useful version of any Labels. I do. U do 2? Unless we make Label Styles for a specific Feature or have a set of power tools like InstantOn Basic with a rich Set of Feature Styles and Label Style all set up for you, we can miss the QA Style productivity boost that’s possible here.
The right information and the right time pays. We need to work smarter not harder to get paid.
Style Change Skill
It’s true. Sometimes we want that Offset Alignment’s line and curve labels to read/behave as much as possible like Parcel segment labels. An hour before we might really care about visualizing what the complex curve geometry details and specific Curve Sub entity Index number of that portion of our cul-de-sac’s right of way . The odds are sometime soon we may have to go back and see that again. No one ever changes their mind and designs never change, do they?
The skill and ability to see it NOW so we can make better decisions is what user productivity is all about. That, however, requires richer Style collection resources and the Civil 3D Style changing skill to employ them.
There’s no rocket science here just personal accountability. Style changing skill takes focused and purposed repetition to acquire. Do you practice under pressure to perform better when push comes to shove? To know a function exists does NOT mean we do it enough for it to matter.
Do your templates include enough Style options to even make this possible?
Annotative Scale
It’s dynamic and fundamental that Civil 3D Labels automatically adjust to changes in the current Annotative Scale. We all know folks who still say or think, “Really?” Our old habits die hard. Are you zooming and panning to read more or less annotation instead of attacking this time and space problem another new way?
A View On Strategy
Do you employ Named Views to restore Annotative Scale changes? Yeah they do that. These functions and requisite skill sets couple well with the Sheet Set Manager skill sets. Views are also clearly exposed in the Civil 3D ribbon and screen interface. The practical reality is that all projects contain critical areas. If we identify and track these areas, we benefit with better quality control and more real world productivity.
We Can and Do Help
In our new release we made an in-depth upgrade through ALL of the Line & Curve Labels Styles available in InstantOn Basic and The Jump Kit for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013. You should be able to More quickly identify what a Line & Curve label does; how you might use it; what Feature representation the label is there for; and (as usual) get More flexibility in the display of all the related symbols too. The Line and Curve Label naming conventions are now More standardized, consistent, and inclusive.
More Work in Less Time.
Do You Use LSD?
Label Style Defaults – what we call “LSD” - are one of the most powerful ways to make rapid and specific changes to the vast and ever-growing Label Style stack.
What do Label Style Defaults do? Go ahead search this blog.
Do your customized Label Styles obey the Rules of LSD so you can make fast adjustments to get what you and your users need NOW? Ours do. Search “Label Style Defaults” in this blog for More on LSD.
Good Parents Mean Better Children
Do you employ well designed Parent and Child Label structures in all of you Label Style collections?
Have your templates and Styles successfully upgraded from release to release without issues?
Are the bones of your complex Label Styles strong and robust? Ours do and are.
Do you supply users with the Power of Choice in a way that is easier and faster for THEM to understand? No problem…