PIP Civil 3D Pipe Network Tutorials

Pipe Network Tutorials
The tutorials covered here are intended to walk the user through the process of creating pipe networks in AutoCAD^® Civil 3D^®. In this example, a drawing was started from scratch, and only 2D linework exists in the drawing. This a common place to start as many drawings are simply 2D layouts provided in .dwg format by a third party, or come from programs that are unable to export Civil 3D drawings with all graphical objects and object data (alignment, profile and surface definition files) in place. This drawing is often referred to as the proposed base, or _PBASE drawing, “_PBASE.dwg.” The underscore is an older DOS based technique that simply keeps the drawing at the top of a directory structure.

Once the base is in place, the surface model as well as alignments, parcels, and other graphical elements are modeled, sometimes in the same drawing, sometimes independently. The process outlined here assumes you are starting from scratch, defining alignments, building a terrain model, and using data shortcuts to share information between drawings. The drawing housing the terrain model, the drawing housing alignments and profiles (in this case we can get away with three alignments in a single drawing, though much more and I might reconsider), and the drawing housing all pipe networks (again, this tutorial uses a small site, I might reconsider having a single drawing as design complexity increases – and it will increase) are all seperate drawings.

In some case x’refs are used to share design elements, in some case data shortcuts are used. In any case, the process you use to create pipe networks in Civil 3D will be realistically similar to the process described in the following tutorials. To reiterate, this isn’t a product demonstration, it’s a viable workflow.

• PIP102 Assembling the pipe network drawing to begin network modeling
• PIP101 Create Alignment Data Shortcuts
  This tutorial walks through the process of creating alignment and profile data shortcuts.
• PIP100 Civil 3D Pipe Networks: Process, Workflow & Best Practices. Covers AutoCAD^® Civil 3D^® 2009, but the workflow doesn’t change for Civil 3D 2010. 42 Pages.

Related Tutorials

• DTM104 Create Surface Data Shortcuts.
  Once 2D linework is in place, the first step in the process of creating a pipe network is creating and organizing x’refs and data shortcuts. This brief tutorial outlines the process of setting the “Working Folder” and creating a surface data shortcut.

Pipe Network Links

Civil 3D Tutorials
AutoCAD^® Civil 3D^® Tutorials

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