Tiger Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 I have more trouble getting the Alignment at the right place. I am only interested in the Pipes so what I wish I could have is an Alignment that automatically adjusts to the centerline of my pipe, if I move it around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) Sir, you did not read carefully what I wrote. I said (and repeat) that OP can forget to drape existing 3Dpolylines on a C3D surface... I'm a Map user, so I miss the meaning of "Pipes", anyway no software in the whole world would be able to fit 3Dpoly on a surface, trust me. The only way is to explode the 3Dpolys down to lines' level, then draping them by means of the magic Cadtools. Respectfully, it is you who did not read carefully what Tiger wrote... Not everyone uses Civil 3D, and that's okay. You may repeat yourself all you like, but that will not change built-in Civil 3D functionality... As it happens, there are myriad ways one _can_ 'drape existing 3Dpolylines on a C3D surface...' and/or 'fit a 3DPolyline on a Surface'. Simply 'Add to Surface as Breakline' via Right Click menu, by way of 'Create Feature Line from Objects' Command. This option will force the existing Surface to adhere to the elevation(s) contained within the original 3DPolyline. If that is insufficient, and one instead prefers to for the line work to adhere to the existing Surface elevations, then one can simply Project 2D Line or Polyline Onto Surface. Now you know, and knowing is.... Edited October 30, 2012 by BlackBox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 I have more trouble getting the Alignment at the right place. I am only interested in the Pipes so what I wish I could have is an Alignment that automatically adjusts to the centerline of my pipe, if I move it around. From the Ribbon... Home tab, Create Design Panel, Alignment, Create Alignment From Network Parts... Or simply the AeccCreateAlignFromNetwork Command. Another option, is to simply draw a Line or Polyline that extends beyond the Pipe Network an appropriate distance, and then use Home tab, Create Design Panel, Alignment, Create Alignment From Objects... Or simply the AeccCreateAlignmentEntities Command. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Found the From Networks-option, it doesn't follow when I move the pipe though - but that was a dream anyway And this is giving me a headache. Now I can't figure out how to get a normal T-joint in here. And it complicates things that I have a add-on loaded so I can create district heating pipes, and that doesn't seem all that stable either. But I can't see if they added heating-joints or if they just assumed that it would work with water-pipe-joints. (hint: it doesn't) Thanks for all your help Renderman - I just need a coffeebreak now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Thanks for all your help Renderman - I just need a coffeebreak now. You're very welcome, Tiger... I'm happy to help. I could use some coffee myself. FWIW - Since Civil 3D is incapable of properly handling pressure pipe networks, we either use Alignment Styles for pressure pipes in plan view, or AutoCAD MEP for those, and reference an exploded AMEP Section about the pipe line as an AutoCAD block, and simply change the Y Scale factor to match our Profile View. I little cumbersome, but better than attempting to do pressure pipe networks using gravity pipe networks in Civil 3D for our needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Our reseller for Autodesk-products have told us (anyone seen a blue moon around?) that 2013 version would handle pressure pipes better, and then they could refine their addon even more so that it would fit our needs. MEP doesn't really cut it as far as I understand, we are too dependent on the terrain-tools that C3D has. Right now, luckily, it's a small network and since I still find it fun (at least it was a few hours ago) to learn this shh-tuff - I'll carry on and see if I can fake together a model Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 No I completely understand, Tiger. I happen to work in a civil utility-based group now (used to work in Transportation), so now we require all of the process piping, mechanical and electrical capabilities in addition to needing the site modeling that Civil 3D provides (and AMEP lacks), such as Alignments, Surfaces, Gravity Pipe Networks, Profile Views, etc.. Neither product is good enough on it's own for our needs, hence our melding of the two into our workflow. Prior to starting to integrate AMEP, we noticed a significant gain in productivity even when simply using Alignments, Surfaces, Profile View, where our pressure pipes were alignment styles in Plan, and hand-drawn in profile. We were still able to produce a plan set in +/-half the time under Land Desktop, despite the gap in dynamic functionality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 It does sound like we would need something similar, but just a very small piece of AMEP into a much larger piece of C3D. It doesn't put my hopes up that you say this though. The plan drawings in our case is just as fast produced in AutoCAD Vanilla, what I am hopeing is that my collegues will see that the slight increase in time to set up the surface, alignments and so forth will be worth it when the profile is produced in a snap. If they still have to hand-draw the profile, all the gain we would have with C3D is gone. So I really hope that our reseller will pony up a good add-on that can help, otherwise we'll stay 2D for the forseeable future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBox Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 It does sound like we would need something similar, but just a very small piece of AMEP into a much larger piece of C3D. It doesn't put my hopes up that you say this though. The plan drawings in our case is just as fast produced in AutoCAD Vanilla, what I am hopeing is that my collegues will see that the slight increase in time to set up the surface, alignments and so forth will be worth it when the profile is produced in a snap. If they still have to hand-draw the profile, all the gain we would have with C3D is gone. So I really hope that our reseller will pony up a good add-on that can help, otherwise we'll stay 2D for the forseeable future. I'd love to see what's inside that plug-in your reseller is developing for you (read, dig through it with iLspy, presuming it is written in .NET). In any event, once you get multiple projects going, especially when there's more than one file, and surface, you may find my BatchFindSurface Visual LISP routine to be of use. It's one of many I am in the process of porting to the .NET API. In any event - Good luck, Tiger - If I can be of further help, please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted October 30, 2012 Author Share Posted October 30, 2012 Oh, never fear, this forum (and you!) is and will be my first port of call when I run into pitfalls and snags! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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