CivilDesigns

Ch-8 Es. Exercises

Applying Profile Styles

As with any object style, profile styles allow you to display profiles differently based on specific requirements. There are three primary ways profile styles influence the appearance of profiles:

  1. Component Visibility: Profiles consist of up to eight different components. Adjusting their visibility can significantly change the profile’s appearance.
  2. Graphical Properties: You can modify layer, color, linetype, and other graphical settings for profile components.
  3. Marker Display: Profile styles enable the display of markers at key geometric points, with up to 11 different types of points available.

Exercise 8.1: Apply Profile Styles

This exercise demonstrates how different profile styles affect the profile’s appearance.

  1. Open the drawing named Profile Styles.dwg which you can download from Video Tutorial Description below.
  2. In the Jordan Court profile view, select the red existing-ground profile, then click Profile Properties on the ribbon.
  3. On the Information tab of the Profile Properties dialog box, change the style to _No Display, then click OK.
    • The profile will disappear from view.
  4. Press Esc to clear the selection. Then, select the black design profile for Jordan Court. Right-click and choose Properties.
  5. In the Properties window, change the Style property to Layout, then press Esc to clear the grips.
    • The profile now displays curves and lines in different colors, along with markers highlighting key geometric points see Figure 8.1. This is useful during profile layout but may not be suitable for final drawings.

6: Select the Jordan Court profile again. In the Properties window, change the style to Basic.
7: Change the style to Design Profile With Markers.

  • This style is an example of how a profile might appear in a final drawing.
  • It displays lines and curves on the standard road profile layer.
  • Includes markers commonly used for annotation.
  • Shows line extensions as dashed lines.

8: In Prospector, navigate to Alignments ➢ Centerline Alignments ➢ Jordan Court ➢ Profiles.

  • Right-click Jordan Court EGCL, then select Properties (Figure 8.2).
  1. In the Properties window, change the style to Existing Ground Profile, then click OK.
    • This restores the profile’s appearance to its original state before the exercise began.
  2. Save and close the drawing.

To view the final result of this exercise, open Profile Styles – Complete.dwg.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/kduzdq4cbz7o133/Profile+Styles+-+Complete.dwg/file

Watch Complete Video Tutorial here for this Exercise:

Applying Profile View Styles

Styles play a crucial role in profile views as they significantly impact the way data is presented. Profile view styles can control vertical exaggeration, grid line spacing, and labeling.

Exercise 8.2: Apply Profile View Styles

  1. Open the drawing named Profile View Style.dwg which you can download from Video Tutorial Description.
  2. Click one of the grid lines of the Jordan Court profile view, then right-click and select Properties.
  3. In the Properties window, change the style to Major & Minor Grids 10V, then press Esc to clear the selection.
    • Figure 8.3: Additional grid lines appear, improving readability and organization.
  1. Select the profile view grid, then change the style to Major Grids 5V.
    • This reduces the vertical exaggeration to 5, making the profile appear flatter.
  2. Change the style to Major Grids 1V.
  3. Change the profile view style to DOT.
    • This demonstrates how client or review agency standards can be incorporated into Civil 3D styles for consistency and compliance.
  4. Save and close the drawing.

To view the final results, open Profile View Style – Complete.dwg.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/vinqsxg09brymf6/Profile+View+Style+-+Complete.dwg/file

Watch Complete Video tutorial here for this Exercise:

It’s OK to Exaggerate Sometimes

Vertical exaggeration is a widely used technique in profile views to enhance elevation changes. Since most terrains are relatively flat, subtle variations can be difficult to analyze. By exaggerating elevations while keeping horizontal distances unchanged, peaks and valleys become more pronounced, making the terrain easier to visualize and interpret.

When using vertical exaggeration, drawings often include separate horizontal and vertical scales. For instance:

  • A horizontal scale of 1″ = 50′ and a vertical scale of 1″ = 5′ results in a vertical exaggeration factor of 10.
  • In metric units, a horizontal scale of 1:500 and a vertical scale of 1:50 also produces a vertical exaggeration of 10.

The figure below illustrates three profile views with vertical exaggeration factors of 10, 5, and 1, from left to right. The same existing ground profile, represented by a red line, is displayed in all three views.

Applying Profile View Bands

Profile view bands can be added to the top or bottom of a profile view to display additional textual or graphical information. These bands can be configured to show data at regular intervals or specific locations along the profile.

Exercise 8.3: Apply Profile View Bands

  1. Open the drawing named Profile View Bands.dwg which you can download from Video tutorial description below.
  2. Click one of the grid lines of the Jordan Court profile view, then click Profile View Properties on the contextual ribbon tab.
  3. In the Profile View Properties dialog box, go to the Information tab and change Object Style to Major & Minor Grids 10V.
  4. Click the Bands tab and ensure Profile Data is selected as Band Type.
  5. Under Select Band Style, choose Elevations And Stations, then click Add.
  6. In the Geometry Points To Label In Band dialog box, go to the Profile Points tab.
    • Select Jordan Court EGCL as Profile 1 (see Figure 8.4), then click OK.
    • A new entry is added to the list of bands.

7: In the Profile View Properties dialog box, scroll right until you find the Profile 2 column.

  • Click the cell in this column and select Jordan Court FGCL.

8: Click OK to close the Profile View Properties dialog box and return to the drawing.

  • Zoom in to the bottom of the profile view.
  • A band now appears at the bottom, labeling stations and elevations at even increments (Figure 8.5).
  1. Click the profile view, then select Profile View Properties from the ribbon.
  2. In the Bands tab, select Horizontal Geometry as Band Type.
  3. Under Select Band Style, choose Geometry, then click Add.
  4. Click OK to close the dialog box and return to the drawing.
    • The new band graphically represents the alignment geometry:
      • Upward bumps indicate curves to the right.
      • Downward bumps indicate curves to the left.
      • The start and end of each bump align with the start and end of the corresponding curve.
      • Labels provide additional details about the horizontal geometry.
  5. Click the Jordan Court profile view, then click Profile View Properties from the ribbon.
  6. In the Bands tab, select the Horizontal Geometry band entry and click the red X icon to remove it.
  7. Click OK to return to the drawing.
  8. Save and close the drawing.

To view the final results, open Profile View Bands – Complete.dwg.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ehdfk6u9ghg0va0/Profile+View+Bands+-+Complete.dwg/file

Watch Complete Video Tutorial here for this Exercise:

Band Sets

After step 11, you could have clicked Save As Band Set to store the two bands as a new band set. This band set can be imported into another profile view at a later time.

This feature is particularly useful when you frequently use the same list of bands, as it allows you to avoid rebuilding the list each time.

Applying Profile Labels

Profile labels work similarly to alignment labels. They can be applied to an entire profile or a specific range, appearing where required. For example, if a vertical curve label is assigned to a profile with three vertical curves, three labels will be displayed.

This method has two advantages:

  1. Multiple instances of a geometric feature can be labeled with a single command, which is useful for long road sections with many vertical curves.
  2. Labels automatically adjust when new geometric features are added or removed. For example, if a vertical curve label is applied, it will update automatically when vertical curves are created or deleted.

Exercise 8.4: Apply Profile Labels

In this exercise, you will configure labels for the Jordan Court design profile to display tangent grades and curve data.

  1. Open the Profile Labels.dwg which you can download from Video Tutorial Description below.
  2. Select the Jordan Court FGCL profile and click Edit Profile Labels in the ribbon.
  3. In the Profile Labels – Jordan Court FGCL dialog box, choose Crest Curves as the type.
  4. Select Crest Only for Profile Crest Curve Label Style, then click Add.
  5. Click OK to return to the drawing. All crest curves in the profile are now labeled.
  6. Select the Jordan Court FGCL profile again and click Edit Profile Labels to add more profile labels.

The list of labels should appear as shown in Figure 8.6.

  1. Click OK to close the Profile Labels – Jordan Court FGCL dialog box and return to the drawing. Press Esc to clear the selection.
  2. Zoom in to the third curve label from the left.
  3. Click the label to show its grips. Then, select the diamond-shaped grip at the base of the dimension text and move it up to improve readability.
  4. Repeat step 9 for any other curve labels that need adjustments.
  5. Save and close the drawing.

To view the completed results, open Profile Labels – Complete.dwg.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/kzv9kkhofolnzb0/Profile+Labels+-+Complete.dwg/file

Watch Complete Video Tutorial here for this Exercise:

Creating and Applying Profile Label Sets

In the previous exercise, multiple profile labels were manually added to annotate the Jordan Court design profile. A profile label set simplifies this process by storing label configurations for reuse in other profiles. It retains settings like weeding, major stations, and minor stations, making it useful for consistent labeling across multiple profiles. A label set can also be saved in a company template for future use.

Exercise 8.5: Apply Profile Label Sets

  1. Open the Profile Label Set.dwg which you can download from Video Tutorial Description below.
  2. Select the Jordan Court FGCL profile and click Edit Profile Labels on the ribbon.
  3. In the Profile Labels – Jordan Court FGCL dialog box, click Save Label Set to open the Profile Label Set – New Profile Label Set dialog box.
  4. Click the Information tab, enter Curves-Grades-Breaks as the name, and click OK twice to return to the drawing.
  5. Press Esc to clear the selection. Zoom in to the Logan Court profile view, select the Logan Court FGCL profile, and click Edit Profile Labels on the ribbon.
  6. In the Profile Labels – Logan Court FGCL dialog box, click Import Label Set.
  7. Select Curves-Grades-Breaks in the Select Label Set dialog box, then click OK. Click OK to exit the Profile Labels dialog box and return to the drawing.

Two grade-break labels and a grade label have been added to the Logan Court FGCL profile (see Figure 8.7).

  1. Save and close the drawing.
    You can view the results of successfully completing this exercise by opening
    Profile Label Set – Complete.dwg.
    https://www.mediafire.com/file/uo291nmdl4tamiz/Profile+Label+Set+-+Complete.dwg/file

Watch Complete Video Here for this Exercise:

Creating Profile View Labels

Profile labels are useful for dynamically annotating geometric properties of a profile, but sometimes you need annotations that are independent of a profile. Profile view labels provide this flexibility by linking directly to the profile view, including the grid, grid labeling, and bands that form the background.

These labels allow you to mark locations unrelated to any profile, such as underground obstructions. Since such objects don’t belong to a specific profile, using a profile view label is the correct approach.

Types of Profile View Labels in Civil 3D

Civil 3D provides three types of profile view labels:

  1. Station Elevation Labels
  2. Depth Labels
  3. Projection Labels (covered later in this chapter)

You will work with the first two types in the next exercise.

Exercise 8.6: Apply Profile view labels

In this exercise, you will apply profile view labels to mark the location where Jordan Court connects to Emerson Road and identify the ditch area.

  1. Open the drawing Profile View Labels.dwg located in the Chapter 08 class data folder.
    The drawing is zoomed in on the left end of the Jordan Court FGCL profile. At this location, there is a PVI where the new road meets the edge of the existing road. Additionally, a V-shape in the existing ground profile indicates a roadside drainage ditch (see Figure 8.8).
  1. Click one of the grid lines for the Jordan Court profile view.
    On the ribbon, click Add View Labels ➢ Station Elevation.
  2. While holding down the Shift key, right-click and select Endpoint from the context menu.
  3. Click the center of the black-filled circle at the second PVI marker.
  4. Repeat the previous two steps to specify the same point for the elevation.
    • A new label appears, but it’s overlapping the grade label to the left.
  5. Press Esc twice to clear the selection of the profile view and end the command. Then click the newly created label and drag the square grip up and to the right. Click a point to indicate the new location of the label.
  6. With the label still selected, click Edit Label Text on the ribbon.
    • This opens the Text Component Editor.
  7. In the text view window on the right, click just to the left of STA to place your cursor at that location. Press Enter to move that line of text down and provide a blank line to type on.
  8. Click the blank line at the top, type TIE TO EDGE, and press Enter.
  9. Type OF EXIST ROAD.
  • The Text Component Editor dialog box should now display the updated text Figure 8.9.
  1. Click OK to return to the drawing.
    • The label now clearly marks the station and elevation where the new road should tie to the existing road.
  2. Press Esc to clear the current label selection. Click one of the grid lines of the profile view, then click Add View Labels ➢ Depth.
  3. Pick a point at the invert of the V-shaped ditch, then pick a point just above it to approximate the top of the ditch.
  4. Press Esc twice to end the command and clear the selection of the profile view.
  5. Click the newly created depth label, then click one of the grips at the tip of either arrow. Move the grip to a new location and observe the change in the displayed depth value.
  • Both the station-elevation label and the depth label can be seen in Figure 8.10.
  1. Save and close the drawing.
    You can view the results of successfully completing this exercise by opening
    Profile View Labels – Complete.dwg.
    https://www.mediafire.com/file/b3dmxdwsxoszog7/Profile+View+Labels+-+Complete.dwg/file

Watch Complete video here for this Exercise:

Remember Exaggeration?

The roughly 1-foot (0.3-meter) depth shown by the label might seem small based on the dramatic plunge of the V in the profile.

Remember that this profile view is exaggerated in the vertical aspect by a factor of 10. If you measure this same depth using the DISTANCE command, the actual depth would be about 10 feet (3 meters).

Profile view labels automatically factor in the vertical exaggeration of your profile view.

Projecting Objects to Profile Views

At times, it may be necessary or helpful to show more in a profile view than just the existing and finished profiles of your design. Features such as underground pipes, overhead cables, trees, fences, and other obstacles may need to be considered or integrated into your design. Civil 3D’s object projection enables you to quickly represent a variety of objects in your profile view and provide the accompanying annotation.

Projecting Linear Objects

When projecting an object to a profile view, the result depends on the type of object chosen. For linear objects such as 3D polylines, feature lines, and survey figures, the projected version remains linear but may appear distorted unless it’s parallel to the alignment.

Imagine a light being shone from behind the object in the direction of the alignment. The projection of this object in a profile view would resemble a shadow, where parts parallel to the alignment appear full length, while parts that are not parallel appear shortened.

For linear objects drawn in 3D, you can choose to use the object elevations as they are. For 2D objects, the elevations can be derived from a surface or profile.

Projecting Blocks and Points

Objects that indicate location—such as AutoCAD points, Civil 3D points, and blocks—are handled differently from linear objects. They are represented with markers or as a projected version of how they appear in plan view. However, this can lead to distortion due to vertical exaggeration applied to the profile view.

You can assign elevations to these projections in the same way as for linear objects, with the added option to specify an elevation manually. This allows for graphical or numerical elevation specification, independent of a surface, profile, or the object’s actual elevation.

Exercise 8.7: Project Objects to Profile View

In this exercise, you’ll use object projection to show a water line and some test borings on the Jordan Court profile view.

  1. Open the drawing named Object Projection.dwg which you can download from Video Tutorial Description below.
  2. Click one of the grid lines of the Jordan Court profile view, and then click Project Objects to Profile View on the ribbon.
  3. Zoom in to the eastern property line, and click the blue 3D polyline representing the water pipe running parallel to the eastern property line. Press Enter.
  4. In the Project Objects to Profile View dialog box, verify that Style is set to Basic and Elevation Option is set to Use Object.
  5. Click OK. Pan and zoom to the profile view, and press Esc to clear the selection of the profile view.
    • The projected version of the water line appears in the profile view (see Figure 8.11). Note the strange bends in the line around station 12+00 (0+360). These are caused by the alignment turning away from the water pipe at this location, resulting in distorted projection angles.

6: Select the profile view grid for Jordan Court, and click Project Objects to Profile View on the ribbon.

7: Click three of the points labeled BORE that appear along the Jordan Court alignment. Press Enter.

8: In the Project Objects to Profile View dialog box, verify that Test Bore is selected as the Style, and Use Object is selected as the Elevation Option for all three points.

9: Click OK, and view the projected points in the profile view.

  • As shown, the points are inserted with a marker and a label that indicates the station and ground-surface elevation of the test boring (see Figure 8.12).
  1. Press Esc to clear the previous selection. Zoom in near the midpoint of Logan Court, and note the red test-boring symbol shown there.
  2. Click the profile view for Logan Court, and then click Project Objects to Profile View on the ribbon.
  3. Click the red test-boring symbol, and press Enter. Verify that Style is set to Basic, and change Elevation Options to Surface ➢ EG.
  4. Click OK, and examine the new projection added to the profile view.
  • It looks similar to the projected Civil 3D points, even though the source object in this case is a block with no elevation assigned to it.
  1. Save and close the drawing.

Watch Complete Video Here for this Exercise:

Now You Know

Now that you have completed this chapter, you are equipped to:

  • Configure and label profiles to display the information in the way you need.
  • Apply profile styles and profile view styles to adjust the appearance of graphical information.
  • Add bands to show additional information about the design in profile view.
  • Add labels to convey detailed information about your profile design.
  • Project objects to your profile views, placing them in context to assess their proximity to other objects in the design model.

You are now ready to begin configuring, annotating, and enhancing profiles in a production environment.

==>Chapter-9 Exercises