editing template to suit ourselves.

[dbutler.144607]

we are trying to edit a dwt for the importation of survey data, (we do our own survey and produce our own drawings) but we are having trouble with the symbols being used as we want to create our own library and coding system. has anybody done this and if so how???? we are going nuts trying to figure this out

[sinc]

They're simply blocks in your drawing. After creating a Block for each symbol, create a Point Style that references the block. You need one Point Style for each symbol.

This might help:

http://www.ejsurveying.com/Articles/C3DPointStyles.aspx

In particular, check out the part about how to set the Height in the Point Style. A proper setting of the Height allows you to insert one of your symbols as a normal block (either Annotative, or scaled to the drawing scale), and the block will be the same size as when it's used in a Cogo Point marker.

A couple of caveats:

• Polylines with Widths do not scale correctly in C3D Point Styles, and cannot be used. This means you also cannot use Donuts in C3D Point Styles, since they are really just polylines with widths. Instead, use solid hatches.
• Draw Order is not honored inside of C3D Point Styles. This means you cannot use "Draw Order -> Move to Front" or "Draw Order -> Move to Back" to change the display order of items inside your symbol's Block Definition. Instead, items inside the symbol always display in the order they are created.

That last point is important if you try to use something like a wipeout in a C3D Point Style. When creating the Block Definition, you must create the wipeout BEFORE you create any linework you want to see on top of the wipeout. Sometimes, the easiest way to do it is to draw your symbol linework first. Then draw the wipeout. Then make a copy of all the linework, and delete the original linework. This will allow your block to display properly inside of a C3D Point Style, since the copy of the linework was created after the wipeout.

[civil3Dguide]

It may be cheaper and much faster to have your AutoCAD reseller assist you in this project.
It would definitely be less frustrating!

[brian.hailey933139]

Hey Sinc,

I was able to replicate the issue with the draw order, but what issue are you seeing with the polylines? I created a block with a donut in it, put it in a point style, and it seems to be working correctly. Something I'm missing?

[sinc]

You're right... It looks like that bug got fixed... Sort of...

The problem now appears to be that the extents of the block are determined by the polyline itself, and the width is ignored. This causes the Point Label to appear closer to the Point Marker when the style is used. It also comes into play when identifying the "Height" for the Point Style.

For example, say you have a circle with a solid hatch, and the circle diameter is 0.10". For this block, we input 0.10" as the Height in our Point Style.

However, replace that with a Donut with inside diameter of 0" and outside diameter of 0.10". Now you must set 0.05" as the Height in the Point Style, or the symbol will scale at double the expected size.

Similarly, the Label attachment point is half the distance from the node when a Donut is used in the Point Symbol, as compared to a circle with a hatch.

[brian.hailey933139]

Got it. Thanks for the info.

[nelson]

One thing that kept getting me was that the block scale in the point display is looking the the extent in the Y direction. So if you had a SoilBoring block with a SB text tag in the 3 o'clock position you need to get the distance from the upper most part of the text to the lowest point. Hope the make sense.