Adding to an Alignment

[mike.monical]

I am not sure if this is one of the wacky challenges with C3D or a glitch in my drawing.

I have an alignment I was editing to get a specific geometric configuration. After much trail and error in which the last two PIs were removed I ended up with a shortened aligment missing the last two segments, a tangential arc and short line segment. I appear to be able to add the arc and the line segment to the alignment but it does not appear to update the alignment data.

Now I have an alignment which when selected, highlights the entire alignment including the last two elements which do not appear to be in the alignment definition. I can select them and they are identified as the alignment but they do not label or station. Is there some way to have the alignment reread and update it's definition?

Is this a known issue? Unique?

I can just redefine the alignment which seems to be the requirement but I am curious as to what is going on.

Any ideas?

Mike

[mjfarrell]

All in your order of operations...

You may need to delete those objects...
then move the end point of the last remaining segment past that end station, and add your new geomtry in the space beteen.
by breaking the alignment aaprt and then adding in the data.

OR

trace over the geometry with a Polyline; and then convert that into a(n) aligment and be done with it.

[mike.monical]

It was a glitch in the drawing. Apparently Alignments can have non connected elements. Isoloating and then exploding the alignment (& resulting block) and trying to rebuild a pline, I found the offending segments were not connected by an very tiny amount. Backing up and then zooming to the non-connection point, I was able to see they were not connected and then connect them with grips. The alignment then included them as was intended from the start and all was well.

[mjfarrell]

yes they 'can' have non contigous parts, however in most cases they should not.
unless the project is 'skipping' an area in between that will not be constructed or reconstructed.

Sounds like a case where using your Shift+Rt Click to activate an object snap would have saved you some grief.
Or using a Transparent command to draw from an exact profile station and elevation (level) would have been equally effective ('PSE)

[SLee051]

It was a glitch in the drawing. Apparently Alignments can have non connected elements. Isoloating and then exploding the alignment (& resulting block) and trying to rebuild a pline, I found the offending segments were not connected by an very tiny amount. Backing up and then zooming to the non-connection point, I was able to see they were not connected and then connect them with grips. The alignment then included them as was intended from the start and all was well.


C3d 2012 SP2

(plotting alignment per record)
I am suffering the same error of a gap being inserted after updating some curve information using the "Alignment Grid View" tool on the Alignment Tools editor. Live update was functioning, but a few segments down the alignment broke physically. It apparently didn't "live update" in entirety.? Leaving me with a gap in the alignment in which stationing labeling will not annotate. It seems to be a similar error, but I am building a CL Road alignment with many spiral curves included. When I explode and try to follow the same steps that worked for you it yields multiple segments in place of the spiral, therefore I can't get back to a non-segmented figure of simple curves and polylines. The alignment grips don't allow for me to join the line segments together and it seems there is not other way of snapping/moving.

It seems that how the data was entered is not continuously updated throughout the alignment.

As I write this entry I have possibly discovered my error per the link below. My order of operation and what apparently appears to be an Bug in C3D. Paying attention to the definitions of a curve in the "help" file the Floating Curve with Spiral command has a data entry error. The error is it will not allow me to choose the direction of curve (left or right). It seems to default by continuing the previous line work direction.

This lead me to use the Fixed Spiral command in error because it allows me to pick a direction of curve during entry. Using the Fixed Spiral or any "Fixed" command in the alignment editor will not allow automatic update past any "Fixed" data entered along an aligment. Even physically updating by grips. The grips are not available in most areas along the alignment and you must redraw the section or the alignment as a whole. According to the "Cadalyst column" below starting with a fixed tangent and keeping Floating as a rule commands as a whole will allow the entire alignment to adjust as needed.


Floating entity- An alignment entity that is tangent to one other entity (before or after) for the definition of its geometry.

Free entity- An entity that is tangent to two other entities (before and after) for the definition of its geometry.

Fixed entity- An alignment entity with a fixed position, not necessarily tangent to another entity for the definition of its geometry.



http://www.cadalyst.com/cad/autocad/cad-clinic-civil-3d-ampndash-editing-alignments-with-civil-3d-9044

Does anyone have a solution or workaround for the direction bug in Floating Curve with Spiral command? I'm guessing I will have to comp a bunch of spiral curve tangents given 14 miles of project. :smileymad: then fit spiral-curve-spiral.