Chapter 1 Surveying Part 650

Engineering Field Handbook

Florida Supplement

SECTION C3: CIVIL 3D DESIGN

PROCEDURES

The use of AutoCAD Civil 3D can provide the user

greater efficiency when downloading, processing,
designing and plotting data. The procedures as
described below can be used when creating a Surface
from Survey points, creation of an Alignment,
Profile, Sample Lines, and Cross Sections. The
procedures also describe the use of Surface Editing
tools, Grading tools, Design Corridors, Design
profiles, Surface Volume Tools and exporting and
importing design files.
This procedure assumes the user has a basic
understanding of Civil 3D tools. If a more detailed C. Highlight the header “Point Groups”.
explanation is required, refer to the online Reference
Guides (RGuides) located at D. Right-click and select “Update”.
www.nrcsknowledge.com
Before using these procedures, user should make
sure the following programs and files are up to date
on computer. Compatibility issues may arise if any
program is not up to date:
 NRCS Civil 3D files – several features have
been localized from National Headquarters Civil
3D template including all of the Florida Survey
codes, Coordinate systems, and Styles
 Windows Mobile Device Center Program – used
to link external devices such as Data Collector
(TSC3) data collectors and various Total
Stations.
 Geoid Model files (GGF) installed using
AutoCAD and Trimble Link menu from
Civil3D. (An IT specialist may have to do this)

I. CREATING A SURFACE USING POINT E. Point Groups are now populated. Creating a
GROUPS surface requires the addition of point groups.
A point group is a filtering process
A. Select the “Prospector” tab in the AutoCAD uses to filter survey codes such as
Toolspace. NG, and or BM. The NRCS template is set-
B. If the “Toolspace” on the interface is not up to filter the Survey Codes ONLY.
show, open by typing “SHOWTS”

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D. Give the surface a name by clicking inside

the values box where it says “Ognd”.
Rename it and then click “OK”.

II. CREATING A SURFACE

E. Next open the surface header. Select the
A. With the survey imported and point groups expansion icon (small plus sign) next to
updated. Go to the “Prospector” tab. “Surfaces”. The new created surface will
appear under the “Surfaces” header as the
B. If the “Toolspace” on the interface is not name that it was given.
shown, open by selecting it from the menu
(“General”> “Toolspace”) or by typing in
“SHOWTS”
C. Right click “Surfaces” and select “Create
Surface…” from the list. A USDA/NRCS
template may have a surface ready for use.

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F. Open the named surface by clicking the J. Once a point group is added, the surface will
corresponding expansion icon. begin to take shape as contours and triangles
are added.
G. Open the “Definition” by clicking the
corresponding expansion icon.

H. Right-click “Point Groups” and select

“Add”.

K. Add the point groups to be included into the

surface until surface is complete.

L. If no surface is visible after adding all

desired point groups.

M. Right click on the name of your surface and

select “Surface Properties…”

I. In the “Point Group” list select the point

groups that will be contoured. Hit “Apply”
and “OK”. Some point groups such as EX
Tree, or EX Bldg. will not be contoured so
do not add them to the surface. Add the
point groups that are necessary based on the
survey.

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N. In the surface properties dialog box, under B. Right click “Figures” and select “Create
“Definition” expand the “Build” field with Figure Interactively…”
the corresponding expansion icon.

C. Enter the name of the Figure (Road, Dit,

Stream, etc…)

O. If “Use maximum triangle length” is set to

“Yes”, either change it to
“No” or adjust the “Maximum triangle
length” to the desired length. Once
adjustments are completed hit
“Apply”>”OK”. This option is useful for
excluding points from the surface.

III. MANUALLY ADDING A FIGURE TO D. Select the point objects in which the figure
THE SURVEY DATABASE
belongs to.
A. Open up a Survey Database by right clicking E. Once the figure point objects have been
and selecting open for edit selected, hit right-click and “Enter”.

F. The “Figure Properties” dialog box will

open.

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J. Click “Apply” and “OK”.

K. Go back to the “Figures” and find the figure
that was just created. Highlight and right
click > select “Insert into drawing”.

G. If the line is either a Breakline or Lot Line L. The figure will now be inserted into the
click “yes” drawing.
IV. APPLYING FIGURES AS BREAKLINES

A. Go to the “Survey” tab of “Toolspace”.

B. Under “Survey Databases”, double –click
on the survey you wish to create breaklines
H. Select a layer, from to expand it.
C. Right-click on “Figures” and select “Create
Breaklines”

I. Select “Bylayer” for a style.

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6. Give the breakline a “Description”

7. Under “Type” select “Standard”
8. Click “OK”.

D. The “Create Breaklines” dialog box will H. AutoCAD will create breaklines from the
open. specified figures in that surface.
V. MANUALLY ADDING BREAKLINES TO
A SURFACE
A. Invoke the polyline command (PL) and then
invoke the point object command (‘po).
B. Click on points using the codes as the guide
“EMB1 to EMB1” for example
C. Once all of the lines that represent a surface
feature, such as an embankment line or a
centerline of a ditch, have been drawn break
lines can be created.
Note: The point object command must be invoked
within another command. When invoked, select
points in the drawing for the command to work.
When two points are chosen a polyline will be drawn
between the points.
E. Select the Surface from which to create the
breaklines.
D. Go to the “Prospector” tab.
F. Toggle on or off the lines you wish to create
breaklines from. Click “OK” 1. Go to “Surfaces”.
G. The “Add Breaklines” dialog box will 2. Open the desired surface’s tree by
appear. selecting the expansion icon next to the
surface name.

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3. Open the “Definition” by selecting the

corresponding expansion icon.
4. Right-click on “Breaklines”. Select
“Add” from the list.

G. Once the breakline is added, the surface will

E. The “Add Breaklines” dialog box will automatically update. Continue adding
open. breaklines until surface is defined.
5. Give the breakline a name (ex. Project H. Save the file once the surfaces have been
Name) defined.
6. Set “Type” to “Proximity”.
VI. SWAPPING EDGES OF A SURFACE
7. Click “OK”.
A. Click on the surface

B. The surface ribbon will populate at the top

of the drawing

C. Click on the Edit Surface icon in the Modify

section of the ribbon

D. Select Swap Edge from the dropdown menu

F. Select all Polylines designated as a
breakline.

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G. Click on the edge. The edge will change

direction and location

E. The cursor will turn into a rectangle and

prompt you to select an edge to swap

F. Find an edge that is to be swapped

H. Press escape to exit the modifier and allow

the surface to repopulate
Note: if a notification appears saying that the
selected edge cannot be swapped choose a different
edge to swap. If enough edges are swapped then the
original edge that was targeted to be swapped can
be swapped.

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VII. CREATING AN ALIGNMENT FROM A

POLYLINE

A. To create an alignment with a polyline,

select “Polyline” and draw a polyline on a
surface. Or, enter the command “pline” to
draw the polyline.

E. Once the polyline is selected a prompt will

ask to accept the alignment direction or
reverse it. Press enter to accept the direction
or click Reverse.

B. Once drawn, a polyline can be used for an

alignment.
C. Go to the “Alignments” menu, left click
F. Once the direction of the alignment is
“Create Alignment by Polyline”.
specified, a dialog box to create the
alignment will open.

D. Select the polyline to be converted to an

alignment.

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distance per tangent and apply a curve at

every intersection of the tangents).
8. Toggle on “Erase existing entities” to
erase the existing polyline from the
drawing if it is not already toggled on.
B. Click “OK”, the polyline will convert to an
alignment.

1. For “Site” select “None”

2. Give the alignment a name (ex. Ditch 1)
VIII. Create an Alignment from Layout TOOLS
3. Give a small description if desired.
A. Go to the “Alignment” menu, scroll to
4. Specify the starting station of your “Create Alignment by Layout”, and left
alignment (0+00.00 or 10+00.00). click to select.
5. Specify the alignment style, these styles
are in the template and one may be
chosen as a style (Final for plotting,
Layout and Design, No label display,
Standard, and None).
6. AutoCAD will automatically create a
layer based on the name of the
alignment. Or one can be chosen by the
icon beside the “Alignment layer”.
7. Toggle off “Add curves between
tangents” (If this is toggled on, the B. The “Create Alignment – Layout” dialog
alignment style will specify the radius box will appear.

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6. Specify an “Alignment Label Style”.

These styles are within the AutoCAD
1. Give the alignment a name. Template (Major(Parallel) Minor
2. Give the alignment a small description if Geometry 100 and 50,
desired. Major(perpendicular) Minor Geometry
100 and 50, standard, and None)
3. Specify the starting point of your
alignment 0+00.00 or 10+00.00. This B. Click “OK”.
example doesn’t have any. C. The “Alignment Layout Tools” tool bar
4. For “Site” select “None”. will appear. Here you can draw the
alignment based on the structure of the
5. Specify an “Alignment Style”. These alignment. Each tool has a purpose based on
styles are in the template and one may the type of alignment that needs to be drawn.
be chosen as a style (Final for plotting, See Figure G-7.
Layout and Design, No label display,
Standard, and None). Figure G-7: Alignment Layout Tools

D. Use the first icon if you wish to draw line to

line for the alignment. Press “Enter” to end
the command.
For a more detailed explanation of the
alignment tools please refer to the
NRCSknowledge website or the reference
manual.

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IX. CREATING PROFILES FROM AN

ALIGNMENT
A. Profiles from an alignment can be created in
several ways. The most basic is using a
surface and an alignment.
B. Go to “Profiles”, scroll to “Create Profile
from Surface”.

H. The “Create Profile View” dialog box will

appear.

C. The “Create Profile from Surface” dialog

box will appear.

I. Select the desired alignment.

J. Give the profile a name.
K. Give the profile a description if desired.
L. Set the “Profile view style” to “A 20Hx10V
(VP Scale 20)” (this represents the vertical
exaggeration. 2:1 for every 1 foot horizontal,
there’s 2 feet vertical).
D. If there are multiple alignments, use the
dropdown menu for a selection of the M. Toggle off data bands. (Data bands may
alignments. Choose an alignment the station have their own dialog box following those
range and the data will come up. explained below in newer versions of
AutoCAD)
E. If you have more than one surface (TIN, or
DTM) select it on the right hand window. N. Click “Next”.
F. Select the “Add” button on the right hand O. The next dialog box allows a specific station
side of the screen to add to the Profile List. range in which can be set instead of the
whole alignment. AutoCAD defaults to the
G. Click “Draw in Profile View”.
beginning and to the end of the alignment.
Click “Next” to accept the whole alignment.

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B. In the Create Assembly dialog box give the

assembly a name and click “OK”
P. The next dialog box allows specify the
elevation range. AutoCAD defaults to the
maximum and minimum elevation that the
surface allows. Click “Next”.
Q. The next dialog box is for more display
options if there’s a need to edit the profile
display options. Select “Create Profile
View”.
R. Move away from the surface to place the
profile. Once the profile is placed, a
viewport (VP) can be created and set to a
distance of 1” = 20’ as per the style that was
used.

C. Pick a spot in the drawing where the

X. CREATING AN ASSEMBLY FOR A assembly will be placed
CORRIDOR
1. A line with a blue circle will appear
In this example a V-ditch with side slopes of 3:1 will
be created
A. Click on the Corridors menu and select
create Assembly

D. Open the Tool Palette if it is not already

opened
E. Click on the Generic tab

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1. Click on LinkSlopeToSurface 1. Switch to the Parameters tab and change

the slope to 33%
2. Select the blue circle in the assembly
2. Click Apply and OK
3. Press enter

H. Click on the Assembly

F. Click on the subassembly

I. On the Assembly ribbon select the mirror

icon

1. Click on the assembly and press enter,

G. On the Assembly ribbon select the then click on the vertical green assembly
Subassembly properties icon line

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D. Select the profile to be labeled

E. Pick the end points of the Polyline target
endpoints
1. The endpoints will need to be selected
twice: once for the station and the other
for the elevation
XI. CREATING A DESIGN PROFILE
A Design Profile is projecting a desired bottom
or top of something in relation to the existing
ground. It is for construction purposes and from
it a corridor can be created.
A survey, surface created, horizontal alignment,
and a profile created to represent the existing
surface along the horizontal alignment are
needed.
A. Go to the created profile for the alignment
F. The label for the Station and Elevation will
come up. if an AutoCAD message
indicating a subscription CUIX file that was
unable to open appears click “OK”
B. Invoke the polyline command and draw a G. Go to the Profile Menu
polyline to represent a new design profile 1. Select Create Profile by Layout

A polyline will just mark out the stationing and 2. Select the Profile
elevations on a profile to be later designed.
3. The alignment will be selected
C. From the “Profiles” menu select- “Add
automatically if it is just a single
Profile View Labels” and then “Station
Elevation”

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alignment. (If multiple alignments XII. CREATING A CORRIDOR USING AN

choose the one to create a profile from). ALIGNMNET, DESIGN PROFILE, AND
ASSEMBLY
H. The Create Profile- Draw New menu will
appear A. On the Home ribbon click on the corridor
icon

B. The Create corridor window will appear

1. Give the corridor a name
2. Set the corridor style to corridor
3. Choose the Alignment
4. Choose the Design profile (Do not
choose OGND)
5. Choose the Assembly
1. Give the new profile a name 6. Choose the Target Surface
2. Select Profile Style “Fini” 7. Click OK
3. Select Profile Label Set “Finished”
4. Click “OK”
I. The “Profile Layout Tools” toolbar will
appear
1. Select the first button:
Draw Tangents

J. Select the endpoints of the Polyline until the

end of the Profile
1. The design profile will appear in blue

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C. The Baseline and Region Parameters D. Click on the “Create new Surface” icon in
window for the chosen alignment will the upper left hand corner
appear
1. Click Apply and then OK

E. The new surface will appear

XIII. CREATING A DETACHED SURFACE

FROM THE CORRIDOR
A. Left-click on the corridor to bring up the
corridor ribbon

F. Under the Specify code heading make sure

the dropdown menu reads Top. Click on the
B. Click on the Corridor Properties icon in the plus icon next to the dropdown menu
Modify Corridor panel

G. Click on the dropdown menu and select

Datum. Click on the plus icon next to the
dropdown menu
C. Click on the Surfaces tab in the Corridor
Properties dialog box to bring up the surface
information

H. Click on the dropdown menu and select

“Daylight_Fill”. Click on the (+) plus icon
next to the dropdown menu

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I. Click on the dropdown menu and select

Daylight_Cut. Click on the plus icon next to
the dropdown menu

J. The codes should be inserted under the B. Next, select an alignment using the selection
Surface name. Click Apply and OK box, this alignment should be the alignment
to cut cross sections from.

XIV. CREATING SAMPLE LINES

Once an alignment and profile(s) are created,
cross sections can be created along the C. The “Create Sample Line Group” dialog
alignment. The first step is producing sample box will appear.
lines by AutoCAD. A sample line is a preview
of where the cross sections will appear along the
alignment. Sample lines display the right and left
swath (cross section width) and lines will appear
along the alignment at intervals set by the user.
Any adjustments to the width of the cross
sections or the intervals can be completed before
cutting the cross sections.
A. Go to the “Sections” menu, select “Create
Sample Lines”. This will produce the
graphic preview of where the cross sections
will be cut and produced.

D. Enter a name for the sample lines.

E. Give a short description if desired.
F. For the “Sample line style” select “Line”.
G. For the “Sample line label style” select
“Station at One End of Sample Line”.

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This will produce a station location next to M. Select “Sample Line Creation Method”
the sample line. tool icon to pick the type of sample lines to
produce, such as one sample line versus
H. Verify the alignment name in “Alignment”.
multiple sample lines along the alignment.
I. Click “OK”.

J. Use the “Sample Line Tools” toolbar to set

up the sample lines. N. To create multiple cross sections along the
alignment select “By range of stations”.
O. The “Create Sample Lines - By Station
Range” dialog box will appear.

K. If only one cross section is needed, move the

cursor along the alignment and select a
desired area. See Figure I-5.
1. “Enter the Left swath width <30.000’>”
look for this at the command line.
2. “Enter the Right swath width
<30.000’>”.

L. Once this is entered, a sample line will be

displayed along the alignment. To create a
cross section from this, proceed with Create
Cross Sections in AutoCAD Civil 3D.
P. The first header “General” lists the
alignment where the sample lines will be
produced.
Q. The header “Station Range” can be set for
the whole alignment or can be set to a
section of the alignment by selecting
“False” on either ends of the alignment or
both ends of the alignment. In this case the
whole alignment will be used.

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1. “From alignment Start” select “True” W. If zoomed in on the ends of the sample line the
station label will be displayed.
2. “To alignment End” select “True”
R. In the headers “Left Swath Width” and
“Right Swath Width”. Keep the “Snap to
Alignment” to “False” to have more
options to select a width. Each width is set to
30’ from the alignment. But can be set to a
desired width per side of the alignment.
S. In the header “Sampling Increments”
select “True” in “Use Sampling
Increments”. Set “Increments Along
Tangents, Curves, and Spirals” to desired
increments. This will place a sample line
along the alignment. Since the alignment has
XV. CREATING CROSS SECTIONS FROM
no curves or spirals, this will have no effect.
SAMPLES LINES
T. In the header “Additional Sample
A. With sample lines created, cross sections can
Controls”
be produced (if there was no editing during
1. “At Range Start” select “True” the placement of the sample lines). Go to the
“Sections” menu, select “Create Multiple
2. “At Range End” select “True”
Sections Views”.
3. “At Horizontal Geometry Points”
select “False”. This will omit placing a
cross section at every turn in the
alignment.
4. “At Super elevation Critical Stations”
select “False”
U. Click “OK”.
V. The sample lines will be produced along the
alignment selected.

B. The “Create Multiple Section Views”

dialog box will appear.

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C. Enter a name in the “Section View Name” M. The next dialog box allows specify the
field (ex. Section 1). elevation range. AutoCAD defaults to the
maximum and minimum elevation that the
D. Enter a small description if desired.
surface allows. Click “Next”.
E. Select a “Section View Style” – Within the
template there are several styles to choose
from (ex. “A 20Hx10V (VP Scale 20)”).
F. Select “Alignment” (if there are multiple
alignments). It will default to the current
alignment if only one is present.
G. Select the “Sample line group name”
(There may be more than one sample line
group within the alignment.)
H. Click Next N. The next dialog box shows the sections that
I. Select a template for which the section view will be drawn in the profile views. The
will be placed on sheets (20 Scale, 40 Scale surface should be seen. Click “Next”.
for example). The templates can be found
on the hard drive under the NRCS Section
Sheets 2014 drawing file in the AutoCAD
Templates folder.
J. Select a “Group Plot Style” this orients the
placement of the cross sections. (10 Per Row
= 10 cross sections per row).
K. Select Next
O. Toggle off “Add Data Bands” on the next
dialog box. (Data bands may have their own
dialog box following those explained below
in newer versions of AutoCAD)

L. The next dialog box allows the user to

specify the offset range. AutoCAD defaults
to an automatic range. Click “Next’.
1. Click “OK” or “Create Section Views”
and place the cross sections away from
the surface and profile.

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2. The section view of “A 20Hx10V (VP

Scale 20)” means a vertical
exaggeration of 2:1 and a viewport scale
of 1” = 20’.
3. Save the file
XVI. PRODUCING MATERIALS
A. Left click on one of the section views to
populate the section view options under the
home ribbon

F. Under the Object Name heading select the

<Click here to set all> value next to
Original Ground
1. Choose “Ognd” from the dropdown
menu
B. Select the Compute Materials icon in the
Launch Pad portion of the ribbon

C. The Select a Sample Line Group pop-up

window will appear
G. Under the Object Name heading select the
<Click here to set all> value next to the
corridor surface name (in this case it is
Example Example, see step 5b for why this
is the case)

D. Click “OK”
E. The Compute Materials pop-up window will
appear

Note: make sure that under the Quantity Takeoff

Criteria heading in the upper left-hand corner Earth
Cut and Fill is selected
H. Click OK

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D. The Change Volume Tables pop-up window

will appear

XVII. CREATING A VOLUME TABLE FROM

SAMPLES LINES
A. Left-click and then right-click on a section to
bring up its options
B. Select Section View Group Properties

E. Under the Type heading make sure Material

is selected and under the Select table style
heading make sure Standard is selected
1. Click “Add>>”
(i) The Select Materials pop-up window
will appear. Make sure both “Earth
Cut” and “Earth Fill” are check
C. Under the Section Views of the Section View marked
Group Properties pop-up window select the 2. Click “OK”
icon under the Change Volume Tables
heading

F. Click “Apply” and then “OK”

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XVIII. CREATING A FEATURE LINE FOR

GRADING
A feature line is necessary to design an earthwork
G. On the output ribbon select Create Section object. For our example, we will be drawing a small
Sheets under the Plan Production portion of embankment. There are multiple methods for
the ribbon creating a feature line. This procedure will detail
instructions to create feature line from scratch. It’s
important that the surface was properly created for
use with the Florida AutoCAD Civil Design
Procedures.
A. Invoke the polyline command and draw a
polyline
H. On the Create Section Sheets pop-up window
select the Alignment. Sample line group
name, and section view group you wish to
create the section views for
I. Under the Layout name heading give the
section sheets a name
J. Click “Create Sheets”

B. Click on “feature line” from the Home

ribbon and select “Create Feature Line from
Objects”

Note: Once you click create sheets Civil3d will ask to

save your work. Click “OK” to proceed and the
section sheets will be created and placed in the
drawing

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3. Make sure the style is set to General

Feature Lines
4. Make sure the Erase existing entities is
checked on
5. Click “OK”
Note: to assign elevations to the feature line either
check mark on the “Assign elevations” box in the
create feature lines dialog box or click on the
Elevation Editor icon on the Feature Line ribbon.

C. Select the polyline and press enter XIX. FEATURE LINE FROM LAYOUT TOOLS
D. The Create Feature Lines dialog box will A. To create a feature line click on “Feature
appear Line” from the Home ribbon and then select
“Create Feature Line”

B. The “Create Features Line” dialog box

will open.
C. Select a site. Every feature line needs a site
on which to be built on and referenced to.
D. Check the name box and create a name for
the feature line.
E. Select a style for the feature line. The button
to the right of the style drop-down box
provides opportunity to edit the style.
F. Select a layer for the feature line and click
“OK”.

1. Choose the site of the feature line

2. Check the Name box and give the
feature line a name

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E. The feature line has now been completed. It

would be beneficial to explore the
“Features Line” toolbar in order to explore
the functionality of it. Editing elevations,
filleting, quick profiles, and splines are just a
few of the abilities of the toolbar. Feature
lines can also be created from polylines. The
C. Specify the location of the feature line’s
next step in determining the earthwork
initial point. Then input the elevation of the
volumes of a project is to create a grading
point.
from the feature line to the surface.
D. Select the next points of the feature line and
select the elevations for each point. Feature XX. CREATING A GRADING OBJECT FROM
lines can be easily modified using buttons on A FEATURE LINE
the “Feature Line” toolbar. An elevation is Grading consists of defining a baseline with some
not necessary for each point. A line segment elevation and criteria for defining the projection. The
can be a specific grade/slope or the point can criteria used consist of a target: surface, elevation,
be placed on the surface. relative elevation, distance, slope, or grade. The
following procedure will create a 3:1 slope for the
embankment feature line previously drawn.

A. To create a grading click on “Grading on

the home menu and select “Grading
creation tools”. The Grading Creation
Tools window will pop up.

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B. In order to create a grading, a grading group

must first be created. On the “Grading
Creation Tools” toolbar, select the “Set the
Grading Group” button located on the far
left of the toolbar. This will open the “Site”
dialog box.

C. Once in the “Site” dialog box, choose the

site for which the grading group will be a
part of or click on the “Select from the
Drawing” icon to choose a site within in the
drawing. Click “OK” once a site is chosen

D. The Create Grading Group dialog box will

appear
1. Make sure to check automatic surface
creation and select the surface style.
2. Check the volume base surface box and
select the base surface of the grading.
Usually this will be the main natural
ground surface.
3. Select “OK”.

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E. The “Create Surface” dialog box will open button that reveals the drop-down. Select the
and check that the conditions of the surface “Create grading” button.
are satisfactory and click “OK”.

I. Select the feature that is intended to be

graded then select the side that grading will
occur. Since the example is an embankment,
the side to be graded is outside of the feature
line rectangle. Simple click outside (or
inside) of the feature line to pick the side of
grading.
J. Specify whether the grading will apply to the
entire length by typing “Yes” or “No” then
press “Enter”. (This example was applied to
the entire length.)
K. Decide whether a grade (in percent) or a
slope (proportion of run:rise) will be
F. Next step would be to confirm the target specified then press “Enter”. The example
surface by selecting the “Set the Target will use slope.
Surface” button. It’s the second button from L. Specify the slope or grade by entering the
the left on the “Grading Creation Tools” desired slope (4:1, 3:1, 2:1) in the command
toolbar. Confirm the target surface in the line when prompted. 4:1 slope will be used
dialog box and click “OK”. for the example. (A: Cut Slope; B: Fill
Slope)
M. If the “Panorama” palette appears, click the
green check mark in the upper right hand
G. Within the “Grading Creation Tools” corner.
toolbar, a dropdown box is located. The box
contains the grading criteria. Select the N. The grading for the side slopes is now
appropriate criteria. For this example, complete.
“Slope or Grade to Surface (Cut and
Fill)” will be selected since the grading will
go from the feature line to the base surface.

Note: If grading criteria selection is limited

in the drop-down box, select the button
adjacent to the drop-down (on the left)
called “Select a Criteria Set”. Select
“USDA” as the criteria set.
H. To create the actual grading select the
“Create Grading” button located two
buttons to the right of the drop-down box.
Select the arrow immediately adjacent to the

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XXI. VOLUMES FROM CORRIDORS AND

GRADINGS
Now that the model has been successfully drawn, the
Note: In order for the cut and fill surfaces can be compared in order to determine the
calculations to be accurate, one must correct cut/fill volumes. The example will require
“create an infill”. both cut and fill.

N. To “create an infill”, select the arrow A. The first step is to click on the grading
directly adjacent to the “Create Grading” surface that was created. This will populate
button to reveal the drop down box. Select a Tin surface ribbon for the grading group
“Create Infill”. B. Select Volumes Dashboard on this ribbon.
This will open the “Panorama” palette.

C. Now that the “Panorama” palette is open,

select the “Create the new volume entry”
O. Select the area within the feature line in button on the upper left hand corner of the
order to infill the volume between the base palette.
surface and the embankment surface. Press
“Enter”.
P. Now that the feature line, grading, and infill
steps have been done, the model of the
desired embankment has been complete.
Rotating the drawing into an isometric view
displays the embankment in three
dimensions.
D. A “Create Surface” pop up window will
appear. In the volume surfaces options,
select a base surface and a comparison
surface. Usually the base surface is the
natural ground and the comparison surface is
the surface of the feature created.

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B. Open the Surfaces to show the surfaces in

the drawing

E. The cut/fill is displayed on the screen as

shown in the figure below.

XXII. EXPORTING AND IMPORTING DESIGN

FILES TO AND FROM LANDXML FILE. C. Right-click on the surface and select “Export
Exporting surfaces and alignments can be useful LandXML…”
when a drawing file is really large. Separate
drawings can be created to cut down on the size
of the drawing file which will allow AutoCAD
to run faster.

A. Go to the Prospector tab of the Toolspace

D. The Export to LandXML pop-up window

will appear

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E. The surface that is to be exported should be

check marked, if not check the surface to XXIII. EXPORTING AN ALIGNMENT
indicate that it will be exported A. Go to the Prospector tab of the Toolspace

F. Click “OK”

B. Open Alignments and Centerline

Alignments toggles to show the alignments
in the drawing

G. Go to the file in which the surface will be

saved, give the file a name, and click “Save”

C. Right-click on an alignment and select

“Export to LandXML…”

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G. Go to the file in which the alignment will be

saved, give the file a name, and click “Save”

D. The Export to LandXML pop-up window

will appear

E. The alignment that is to be exported should

be check marked, if not check the alignment XXIV. IMPORTING LANDXML FILE TO
to indicate that it will be exported DRAWING

A. Open the Insert Ribbon by clicking on the

Insert tab

B. Click on the LandXML icon in the Import

section
F. Click “OK”

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F. Click “OK”. The LandXML file will now

be imported into the drawing

C. Search for the LandXML file that is to be

imported into the drawing

D. Click Open
E. The Import LandXML dialog box will
appear

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