The effective use of Civil 3D Corridors models can make or break our civil engineering projects in Autodesk Civil 3D. Our skills mastery of the Civil 3D Corridor Arts is crucial and mission critical.
Civil 3D Single Baseline Corridors with only one Alignment and Profile pair (a Baseline) and a single Assembly (applied in a Region) are the exception and not the general rule in our common civil engineering design projects. Ok. Sometimes the good do get lucky.
Civil 3D Multiple Baseline Corridors with multiple Baselines and multiple Regions are the norm. This is true whether our Corridor resolves a roadway, rail, levee, or intersection design. This is true if we employ Corridors to resolve common site grading designs, parking lots, pads, or ponds. Even bridge retrofit and roadway pavement rehab projects often require Multiple Baseline Corridor skills.
Autodesk Civil 3D 2023 and Civil 3D 2022.1+ favor…
Civil 3D Corridor Design Best Practices
Core principles, best practices, and workflows should help Civil 3D users accomplish the similar and related Corridor design work that is applicable to our many types civil engineering projects.
We must learn to employ classic Power of Names and Separation of Powers methods to create, edit, and manage all the interrelated data complexities of a Civil 3D Multiple Baseline Corridor.
To review and summarize the…
Top 10 Civil 3D Corridor Best Practices:
- Project Data Reference (DREF) management of the design control is essential
- Master the Data Shortcut Manager Tool
- Plan and Manage the creation of the Baselines and the Regions
- Know Thy Subassemblies and their codes
- Employ Sets of Assemblies to manage the cross-section design control and Property details
- Master the Region Create and Edit Tools
- Master the Corridor Targeting Tools
- Corridor Surfaces are and are not generic Civil 3D Surfaces
- Manage Corridor Frequency Models and the Corridor output
- Master the Corridor Annotative skills and tools
This Top Ten list provides us with a lot of Civil 3D mechanics and workflow detail and nuance to address.
Most of these key civil engineering design and Civil 3D user skill issues take place simultaneously.
That sounds a bit overwhelming but the key Civil 3D project management, Civil 3D project structures, and Civil 3D workflow mechanics are not all that complex.
In recent months we’ve covered these topics in depth and in detail with a Civil 3D Turn Lanes and Medians project as the centerpiece example.
See the Manage Sets of Assemblies post to get started. Most posts in the series include videos.
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A Framework for Civil 3D customer asked me to distill down this Top Ten.
What is the Angel’s or Devil’s share of the Corridor cask in Civil 3D?
Here’s an ordered series of videos that makes a reasonable attempt…
Civil 3D Project Data Reference (DREF) Management
The video demos the why and how to benefit from Project DREF Management best practice.
The separation our design control into Styleless Data Reference container drawing(s) within the structure of our Civil 3D project is essential for a host of reasons.
If we must explore and deliver suitable grading sub surfaces in our Civil 3D project, the Generic Pavement Structure (GPS) may be the best thing discovered since sliced bread or pizza and beer. All of those things have been around for a long while.
See the Civil 3D Corridor Management and Project DREFs post.
How do we quickly switch the Assemblies around?
Sets of Assemblies Replacement in Civil 3D
Managed Sets of Assemblies helps us respond better to the design phase and iterative design challenges that are all too common in Multiple Baseline Corridor projects.
See the Manage Sets of Assemblies in Civil 3D post.
Civil 3D Baseline and Region Plans
If our typical approach to Corridors does not stand up to the Trial of Change, we can easily miss the reduction in project man-hours and miss better Corridor design solutions. A Baseline and Region Plan that worked well in an older Civil 3D release may no longer be the best approach.
See the Civil 3D Corridor Creation Plans post.
Corridor Frequency Models
At the moment in Civil 3D there is not One Ring to Rule our Corridor deliverable output problem. Civil 3D is much better at it these days. We can manage the Corridor deliverable output challenge better when we understand how and why to employ Multiple Frequency Models in Civil 3D.
See the Civil 3D Corridor Frequency Data Models post.
The order of videos here is based on the level of significance of Civil 3D user mastery of the required skill sets. Other videos and posts available on the site cover and demonstrate the plethora of Civil user skills required. Hope that helps.
The Framework for Civil 3D Templates, Civil 3D Style Libraries, and Civil 3D resources allow Civil 3D users to visualize and manage these Corridor workflow nuances and best practices more effectively.
The Civil 3D Toolset to Make Civil 3D Work Better
Get the Framework for Civil 3D Release 8