Points to Profile
For as vast and dynamic of a program as Civil 3D is, one would hope that developers have included a tool allowing users to manually enter and plot field survey points in a profile or cross-section view. Unfortunately, there is no such tool available in the default installation. But take heart – if you have followed the national NRCS Civil 3D customization steps, you should now have a tool tab titled [NRCS]. This tab includes additional tools designed to streamline some very common NRCS design procedures. Among these is a tool called [Points to Profile].
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Tools on the “NRCS” tab
This tool allows users to create a profile and profile view based on multiple points without requiring the normal steps of creating a surface from a full topo-survey. The following steps describe the steps required to use and execute this tool:
1. Manually Add Points to Model Space
- Click [Points] > {Points Creation Tools}
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[Points] > {Point Creation Tools}
- From the Create Points menu, click the first icon and select {Manual}:
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Manually Create Points
- Back in Model, click a point to represent the location of your first survey point. Be sure to refer to the Command Line for instructions.
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Follow all Command Line prompts
- Enter a point description (e.g. BNK) > {Enter}
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Enter a point description
- Enter a point elevation (e.g. 100.2) > {Enter}
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Enter the point elevation
- Repeat these steps to add remaining survey points. Utilize the “O-Snap”, “O-Snap Tracking” and “Ortho” functions to add the points at specific distances and locations in relation to one another.
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Define survey points in spatial relation to one another. Note: annotation added for demonstration purposes.
- When finished adding points, press {Enter} to end the command.
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Continue to add points until finished. Press {Enter} to end the command.
2. Use the “Points to Profile” tool
- With points manually created or imported via a .txt file, open the Points to Profile tool: click [NRCS] > {Points to Profile}
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“Points to Profile” tool
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“Points to Profile” overview
- In the Points to Profile window, first navigate to the Options panel. Users can select points either by: (1) Points Groups, (2) selecting Multiple Points at once, or (3) selecting a single point at a time. For this example, click {Select Points One at a Time}.
- Under the Point Type panel, select {Civil 3D Cogo Points}.
- In the Alignment and Profile Options panel, enter user-defined values. The basic input is explained below:
- Alignment Name (e.g. Section01): the label applied to the alignment data in the Prospector
- Alignment Layer (e.g. EX-ALIGNMENT): the layer to be associated with the alignment
- Start Station (e.g. 0): the beginning station for the alignment
- Create Profile: choose whether of not to create profile data for the selected points
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Example input
- Near the bottom left of the tool window, click {Pick} to return to Model and pick all data points that are to be added to a profile. Note: the points must be selected in order (e.g. left-to-right or north-to-south). Once selected, click {Enter}.
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Select points one-at-a-time
- The Point to Profile tool will return to the forefront and should list the selected points in the window. Note: the points and alignment will plot in the order shown. If satisfied with all input, click {Create}.
- If successful, an indicator message will appear. Click {OK}.
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Success!
- Back in Model, you should now see an alignment connecting the selected data points.
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Newly added alignment
- The alignment file and profile data will also be listed in Toolspace under the Prospector tab.
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Prospector tab
3. Create a Profile View
- Users will now have to create a Profile View using the normal Civil 3D procedures. Click [Profile View] > {Create Profile View}
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Profile View tool
- Enter the required input (e.g. select an alignment, enter a view title, select a scale) and click {Create Profile View}.
- In Model, select the origin (bottom-left corner) to place the profile view.
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Sample Profile View
-JD
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