You noticed? There is a big difference between model building drawings and publication drawings. Nothing could make this clearer than our on-going Better Deliverables video training series on iPOD (Intelligent Publish On Demand) in AutoCAD Civil 3D.
It doesn't stop there.
Simply put - we don't have just one kind of drawing in AutoCAD Civil 3D.
How many AutoCAD Civil 3D templates are there? Our Production Solutions for AutoCAD Civil 3D include more than a few. This is necessary.
Since someone recently asked about it, below is my Civil 3D Drawing Types list.
I hope the common acronyms employed below make sense.
What I name the Civil 3D drawing types isn't particularly important as we shall see.
You’ll see references to these terms in our free Civil 3D training videos on this website.
If you become a Member even more video training is available.
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Civil 3D Drawing Types
- Create and Construct – Civil 3D Feature collectors
- Model Building Drawings
- Model QAQC Drawings
- Feature Storage Drawings
- DREF publication – Data reference publication or collectors
- Share Feature Data in the Project
- XREF and IREF publication – External and Image reference publication and collection
- Share background Drawing Data in the Project
- Publish Collectors for DWFs
- Create Collectors
- Surface Models
- Grading Groups and Gradings
- Parcels
- Corridor Models
- Publish Collectors
- XREFs & DREFs – External reference and Data reference collectors
- Plan and Profile
- Pages of Sections
- Sheets
- What we produce to Plot in Sheet Sets
- Published Digital Deliverables
- What we publish and export to others
With purposed intent I use the term “collector” – a drawing that exists to collect other resources. Of course, most AutoCAD Civil 3D Features (the things in the Toolspace Prospector tab) are another form of collector all together. Are they?
There’s obviously a bunch of Civil 3D Drawing Types even if you think some of the above may be duplicates or unnecessary for your current project's complexity.
Yeah. Ok. I didn’t mention Details and details collectors nor Keynote and/or revision collectors, and ad nausea.
What’s the Point?
Autodesk says, “AutoCAD Civil 3D doesn’t require a project.”
A drawing in AutoCAD Civil 3D is always a project.
The Most Important Fact
The day will come when every drawing changes State.
Water freezes and becomes ice. The ice melts and can become a flood.
When you can identify those changes of drawing State, you’re well on the way to a good set of benchmarks that help systematize a functional workflow within a project in AutoCAD Civil 3D.
Sadly, many want to believe their old CAD definitions of drawing State still apply.
Our expectation can become a serious obstacle to our productivity.
Lord knows, it’s frustrating to stubble over next to nothing.
KISS. If the drawing changes Type, it changes State.
Does this test work the other way around? Yep.