Civil 3D Reference Replacement and Tools

Many, if not most, of our Civil 3D Projects will involve multiple Reference Replacement processes and workflows. Many of us in Civil 3D Land employ the classic AutoCAD-based External References (XREF) basemap strategy in our plan set publications. We publish a stack of separate drawings to better separate and effectively manage the content of the various deliverables in our Plan Sets.

There are two common scenarios here. Survey must update the existing parcel map annotation for the proposed project’s Parcel maps. Survey can overwrite a previously shared XREF drawing, and/or provide a separate and differently named drawing for project’s Design users to update and replace manually.

Classic XREF Basemaps

There are valid reasons to employ either and/or both of these XREF Replacement workflows. Hopefully, these choices are planned and are ritual responses to known project Benchmarks and identified project States.
See the Manage Civil 3D Dependencies post and the entire in-depth series on these topics.

A case in point: Do we want or need to update references in previously submitted published deliverable drawings? Probably not.

DWF IREF Basemaps

In larger and more complex Civil 3D Projects with complex deliverables, it can help significantly to employ published DWFs to produce the XREF basemap instead of employing the direct dwg references. There are plot performance, deliverable consistency, and quality control reasons to better manage our deliverables via DWF basemaps.
Our Jump Kit product default Sandbox projects include DWF basemap examples.
See this DWF publication video.

Our Civil 3D Reference Replacement Rituals

We know that nothing is quite as simple as it sounds in the World of References that is Civil 3D.
Civil 3D is a diva – The Civil 3D diva can deliver great performances, but only if we direct and manage the show.

We Manage Project DREF Replacements

Civil 3D has long included intentionally similar processes and mechanics that apply for shared Civil 3D project Data References (DREF).

There are two common scenarios here. Survey updates the existing project Surface. Survey can overwrite the previously shared Surface in the current shared DREF drawing, and/or provide a separate, and perhaps, differently named DREF and/or drawing for project’s Design users to update and replace manually.

The Civil 3D Data Shortcut workflows employ a different set of Civil 3D tools. The Data Shortcut  process and structure does differ from classic AutoCAD-based XREF file and location-based process and structure.

These issues deserve a video. Why?  The Civil 3D data behind in our projects can and does change for a host of reasons.

 

The Data Shortcuts Manager

The Civil 3D Managed Data Reference Replacement post and video demonstrate how the newer Civil 3D Data Shortcut Manager Tool (DSM) allows us to effectively and easily replace DREF sources and also how we can replace internal Civil 3D objects with shared DREF references.

The DSM Tool is drawing centric.
We can affect changes in one open drawing in one Civil 3D Project’s Data Shortcut collection at a time. The DSM Tool does allow the savvy Civil 3D user to get a quick and/or detailed overview of all DREFs in the current Project’s Data Shortcut collection.

Practice time inside the Data Shortcut Manager (DSM) is important to the development of our DSM skills. It helps significantly to routinely learn to check inside the DSM when we OPEN drawings.

The Data Shortcuts Editor

The Civil 3D Data Shortcuts Editor (DSE) is an external utility tool that does have a project wide scope.
The DSE:

• Civil 3D release specific
• Opens from a known Working Folder Shortcuts location
• Can help us visualize the DREF (the Whats) to the physical file location (the Wheres)
• Ignores Data Reference named folders in the Toolspace
• Reads and displays the default DREF types and subtypes from the existing DREF link XML files directly
• Sort by any of the displayed XML values is supported
• Does not support edits of the Project’s ShortcutsFolders.XML file
• Writes to the Project’s ShortcutsFolders.XML file if the DREF changes are saved
• Find and Replace by entire or partial string change edits are allowed to Object (Feature) Names, Paths, and Drawing Names
• Match by drawing Handle ID or Object (Feature) Name changes are allowed

We see many Project examples from customers. The DSE is always the first tool we employ to examine a project’s DREF structure. God knows. We never open a Civil 3D project drawing first. Just sayin’.

Reference Changes Happen

Odds are that our Civil 3D Project has a reasonable active lifespan.
Our design process and workflow will usually include several Reference changes and/or replacements.
Some of the many types of Civil 3D References may be nested inside other References.
For example a:

• Pipe Network DREFs will often refer to one or more Alignment DREFs
• ViewFrame Groups include references to Plan Production tool Layout template resources
• Reference Templates collections can include multiple file references

These diverse Civil 3D Reference issues can make finding resolution problems are genuine pain. Worse – some broken References can make some Civil 3D resolution issues effectively almost invisible to users. Oh bother.

It would be mighty nice to have a tool to allow us to see all the many types of References connected and/or missing in a Civil 3D project drawing.

Some of these Reference may be vital dependencies. Some of the References may no longer be relevant. However, Civil 3D does and will continue to remember them.

Enter…

The Civil 3D Reference Explorer

The first question we must ask - Where the heck is this Reference Explorer Tool (RET) in Civil 3D?
The RET is not currently included in the core Civil 3D interface. What? Seriously?

Currently, the Reference Explorer tool remains part of the Autodesk Desktop Connector (ADC) which is employed to connect us to Autodesk Docs et al. The Autodesk Desktop Connector is a separate standalone install. We recommend that folks Install it.

We do not need to employ an Autodesk Cloud to enjoy the benefits of the Reference Explorer tool.

Autodesk Docs, the Autodesk Construction Cloud, and all the other Autodesk Cloud collaboration tools are all more sensitive to broken or missing References. Therefore, sorting out potential lost and/or missing Reference issues in a Civil 3D project drawing becomes all the more vital in those document management-based environments.

The Reference Explorer tool is also good news for those of us who work locally or in a network environment. The RET does help us locate and sort out most forms of References that may be employed in Civil 3D. Yes. There are a lot of them.

 

The Reference Explorer in Civil 3D

The Reference Explorer supplies us with multiple useful display forms to help us visualize and understand the References and dependencies in a Civil 3D drawing file.
All our Jump Kit product’s Sandbox projects are tested and checked with the Reference Explorer.

The Data Shortcut Manager, the Data Shortcuts Editor, and the Reference Explorer tools can all help us improve overall Civil 3D project and drawing performance, project and drawing stability, and reduce our downstream upgrade, update, and project maintenance issues.

Make Civil 3D Work Better
Get the Framework for Civil 3D

 

Data Relationships in Civil 3D

Updates, additions, and fixes to the posts in this series are on-going.