Civil 3d Points

John Putnam, post: 370513, member: 1188 wrote: How are can I separate the symbols from the points.

You might want to invest in SincPac which has a function for that.

home > points > create blocks from COGO points

I think that's what your looking for.

or you can just select all your points, explode them, then explode them again, select all the point blocks and explode those.

This will leave two lines to represent the point and the label information will still be there from the first explode. So you want to display whatever information you want (elevation etc) before you do this.

I think the elevation is retained by the line so you could always select all lines and change the elevation to 0 if you want.

you could just export the drawing to an older format IE. 2007. that will convert all your points to blocks. However I would love to try SincPac.

My surveys have an "OFF" point group - these are control points etc, things that are not on the published map.
before sending my dwg out to others I "Delete points" from that point group so they only get the displayed data.
I also audit, and purge all as well before sending

File>Export>Export to Autocad

I have found that the 2004 version works best. Sometimes the points and other civil objects disappear in the new drawing. Always double check the file to make sure you got it all converted.

John - we are in the same boat. We used to always be up on the latest software releases (after they worked the bugs out of course) but LDD is perfect for most everything we do. Our only issue is with the engineers that we supply our data to are all for the most part using Civil 3D.
Every winter when we slow down a bit we say "this is the year we are going to transition to Civil 3D" but it never happens! I just hate the fact that we are falling so far behind and will need to catch up. Every time we try to jump into it it seems so excessively cumbersome to do the simplest things.

That being said I do not hear much grumbling from our clients although I'm sure it would make their lives easier if we were on the same platform.

I do understand that many that have made the switch say it was worth the time invested, just amazes me the amount of time you need to invest to get to that point.
Glad to know we are not the only ones still doing this.

John Putnam, post: 370513, member: 1188 wrote: Okay,

I'm getting close to the point where I'm going to fully give up the security blanket that is LDD2009 and go full into Civil 3d 2015. I figure I've been paying for it so why not after seven years. Actually, I've been using if for some stuff for quite a while.

Anyway, reading a recent post on supplying CAD files brought something to my attention. Almost all of my work is for outside engineers and I always supply them with the CAD file. What I do not always give them is the points. It occurs to me that the symbols in C3d are actually the points and not a separate entity. How are can I separate the symbols from the points.

Thanks in advance

It doesn't sound to me like you need to do anything to your Point Objects. Just freeze all the Layers containing information you don't want to release, then use WBLOCK and select the thawed entities to create a new file to provide the engineers. It will only contain the selected objects.

Going from LDD2004 and also looking at the costs of AutoCAD now, I think you are making a big step. In the wrong direction.
I was a GIANT fan of LDD up until 2007. When LDD got absorbed into Civil 3D, the simple economics became rather involved. Money talks, BS walks.
I could not afford to pay for engineering features that I would never use. Full price for 20% of the package that I would use,
You know where I am headed, but I seriously would take a look at Carlson Survey with Embedded AutoCAD. Lower costs, better support, easier to use and you will be able to give the engineers everything they need. I do that every day.

Jim in AZ, post: 370557, member: 249 wrote: It doesn't sound to me like you need to do anything to your Point Objects. Just freeze all the Layers containing information you don't want to release, then use WBLOCK and select the thawed entities to create a new file to provide the engineers. It will only contain the selected objects.

I seem to remember wblock will keep cogo points as cogo points in the new dwg. Not very handy if you don't want to send the points.

So to be able to show the points but not actually include them you would have to explode them to blocks as I said above.??

Rusty, post: 370566, member: 9889 wrote: I seem to remember wblock will keep cogo points as cogo points in the new dwg. Not very handy if you don't want to send the points.

So to be able to show the points but not actually include them you would have to explode them to blocks as I said above.??

If they are on a Layer that is frozen they will not be contained in the new file...

I don't understand how you would expect to "show"them but not include them... That makes no sense to me.

Jim in AZ, post: 370569, member: 249 wrote: If they are on a Layer that is frozen they will not be contained in the new file...

I don't understand how you would expect to "show"them but not include them... That makes no sense to me.

I use Topo's all the time for estimating purposes. More often than not they are supplied with the points as blocks rather actual cogo points. Therefore the point location and elevation are shown but the points are not included in the drawing.

The blocks have to be reverse engineered to be of use to me.

Does that make sense?

If you send a drawing that has an entity at the horizontal location where you located a point and a piece of text with the elevation and description, you have sent all of the point information anyway.

I'm not so certain why there is the concern of sending anyone the points in the first place. I have the original file for all of my surveys. I have the points files from the data collector as well. If someone else gets those points, they can't change my files that I have in my control at my office. And if they change them, that's their folly.

Why not just send them the points? You are sending them the 'topo' and points are part of the topo. You need to have a proper electronic transfer agreement eliminating any fallback to you due to improper electronic data being used in an unintended manner. The paper copy is the record and the electronic data is the support for said record. I couldn't imagine using a topo without points. We've been sending Civil3d files to clients of all sorts for many years without any issues at all(except the occassional version issue).

Do not try to save back to older versions as your data can get really screwed up! Saving back is much more dangerous than leaving your precious points in the file, IMHO and experience. We do not save our data back anymore, we tried for a few years and had too many issues. We specify our delivery product and version and deliver it. Any changes the client tries to make to our data is on them...hence the need for the proper electronic transfer agreement.

I agree, just send them the points, I always do. They can screw it up if the points are there or not.

As far as why he want the info, but not the points. He may be showing spot elevations, symbols such as fire hydrants, manholes etc, that are all part of the point data.

I typically just remove control points that are not shown on the final survey. No harm in a fire hydrant being a civil point versus a block. Had issues with microstation bringing in civil 3d files in the past, and after trial and error found export to autocad 2004 format to work best.