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Any civil3d experts here?

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(@jimcox)
Posts: 1951
Topic starter
 

I have Civil3d on my desktop.

I have a dwg file from our land information database - 2d polyline of some local land parcels

It opens in Civil3D and the coordinate numbers look reasonable.?ÿ

It goes as a background for Access

I want to play with the linework etc

But if I save it from Civil3D.

In Access it changes scale and shifts.

It looks like the coordinate system is borken. Perhaps something to do with units &| false origin.

Any thoughts or suggestions very gratefully received.

advTHANKXance

?ÿ

=Jim=

?ÿ

(I would use raw AutoCad if I could. Unfortunately that is not an option here)

.

 
Posted : 30/03/2023 10:39 am
(@said-lot)
Posts: 91
Estimable Member Registered
 

The the Civil 3d drop down at top left-->Drawing utilities-->Drawing settings for starters. This will show if a coordinate system has been assigned and what units are assigned.

 

 
Posted : 30/03/2023 11:15 am
(@frozennorth)
Posts: 713
Honorable Member Registered
 

The the Civil 3d drop down at top left-->Drawing utilities-->Drawing settings for starters. This will show if a coordinate system has been assigned and what units are assigned.

 

This.  The units may be specified in your coordinate system, then also as Drawing Units in this same dialog.

Also type command "units" to check drawing insertion units.

Honestly, I reached an impasse with Civil3D on this kind of thing the other day when connecting to a geodatabase and had to resort to ArcMap.

Civil3D does not always handle coordinate systems well. 

 

 
Posted : 30/03/2023 11:23 am
(@geoff-ashworth)
Posts: 173
 

quote]

 

Civil3D does not always handle coordinate systems well. 

 

No kidding! You also have to be aware whether the units are Feet or US Survey Feet. That has bitten us before.

 

 
Posted : 30/03/2023 4:16 pm
(@jimcox)
Posts: 1951
Topic starter
 

The the Civil 3d drop down at top left-->Drawing utilities-->Drawing settings for starters. This will show if a coordinate system has been assigned and what units are assigned.

 

 

Bingo - that was it.

The units were wrong and no coordinate system defined.

Saved data now appears where expected

Thanks for your help

 

 
Posted : 30/03/2023 5:17 pm
(@ncsudirtman)
Posts: 391
Reputable Member Registered
 

Yes this can def bite you in the butt. Also, set the projection info & units prior to saving any new drawings. Set it both in the projection tab & units tab under the big “A” icon - imported a set of points the other day & forgot to do so somehow so everything was exactly the same distance apart from an X-REF’d previous survey that was setup correctly 

 
Posted : 30/03/2023 6:22 pm
(@jimcox)
Posts: 1951
Topic starter
 

@ncsudirtman

Thanks for the tip.

My copy of civil3d is very 'raw' - no real setup, templates etc.

What gets me is that the original file 'works'

But the save screws it up

Guess it is not just Access that has it's quirks

 

 
Posted : 30/03/2023 9:25 pm
 jph
(@jph)
Posts: 2332
Famed Member Registered
 

You also have to be aware whether the units are Feet or US Survey Feet. That has bitten us before.

I'm might be going out on a limb, but going to assume that Jim isn't working in US feet in NZ

 
Posted : 31/03/2023 4:15 am
(@blitzkriegbob)
Posts: 406
Reputable Member Registered
 

You also have to be aware whether the units are Feet or US Survey Feet. That has bitten us before.

I'm might be going out on a limb, but going to assume that Jim isn't working in US feet in NZ

That's pretty unpatriotic of them! 

 

 
Posted : 31/03/2023 6:53 am
(@wa-id-surveyor)
Posts: 909
Prominent Member Registered
 

@ncsudirtman

Thanks for the tip.

My copy of civil3d is very 'raw' - no real setup, templates etc.

What gets me is that the original file 'works'

But the save screws it up

Guess it is not just Access that has it's quirks

 

Setup Civil3d .DWT templates with all the appropriate coordinate system and unit settings.  Then, when you start a new drawing, choose the appropriate template and you're good to go.

 

 
Posted : 31/03/2023 9:16 am
(@norman-oklahoma)
Posts: 7609
Illustrious Member Registered
 

My copy of civil3d is very 'raw' - no real setup, templates etc.

Setup Civil3d .DWT templates with all the appropriate coordinate system and unit settings.  Then, when you start a new drawing, choose the appropriate template and you're good to go.

Your C3d experience will dramatically improve once you have prepared a template to work from. But don't expect to get it all set up in one go. Do it in stages and improve on it.  I've been working on mine for 7 years.

 
Posted : 31/03/2023 11:47 am
(@rover83)
Posts: 2346
Noble Member Registered
 

My workflow has always been to export DXFs from Civil 3D using WBLOCK, so I can strip out any unimportant items (and layers) to reduce file bloat and crew confusion, and also so I can choose "Unitless" as the export unit to avoid any possible scaling/shift errors.

~15 years of C3D usage has taught me that DWG format is much more likely to burn you than DXF when importing to other software packages...

 
Posted : 01/04/2023 6:06 am
(@jimcox)
Posts: 1951
Topic starter
 

@norman-oklahoma 

Actually I dont expect to set up any templates at all.

I'm using it for data manipulation and examination - not production.

All I really need is 'plain Jane' AutoCAD

 
Posted : 01/04/2023 9:21 am
(@jimcox)
Posts: 1951
Topic starter
 

~15 years of C3D usage has taught me that DWG format is much more likely to burn you than DXF when importing to other software packages...

Yes, oh yes. So very true.

 

 
Posted : 01/04/2023 9:22 am
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