Translating ortho images

Here is a quick and easy solution to a problem I encounter every time I need to insert an orthographic file that is based on a differing coordinate system.

Here is a link to the article from Master Graphics.  Thank You Master Graphics!!!

In the event that this page is removed the key commands are.

If you are in the same coordinate system and units this should work.

1.  MAPIINSERT
Note: the Map Image Insert command will NOT transform the coordinates or units of an image if they
differ from the drawing coordinate system or units. Be aware of the difference between US feet and
International feet.

If you have differing units or coordinate systems, you will need to follow a few steps.

1. Start a new drawing with the same units and system as the image file you are trying to utilize.
2. Use MAPIINSERT to insert the raster image into the new drawing you just created with matching values.  save and  close this drawing.
3. Go back to your project drawing and verify that the drawing units that you are working in are established in Civil 3D
4. Type  MAPWSPACE  on the home tab clich attach source drawing, you will need to establish a drive alias (a path to the location of your image file) the alias name can be anything you call it but you will need to browse the file location of the image file. Add the path and then Close the command 
5. Now you need to add that information to your drawing.  type adequery  Click location and set boundary to ALL then click OK, next set the query mode to DRAW and click Execute Query.
6. This should bring you file in ZE and you should see it.  The last step is to DETACH the drawing from the map explored tab ( WMAPSPACE )

 

I will also include some sweet data sources for Wisconsin.

Wisconsin View follow the link to Imagery Downloads.  You will need to sign up and or sign in with your email address.  From my experience all the files are in wtm or wisconsin transverse mercator.

 Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder allows you to search aerial photographs of Wisconsin from 1937-41.  Here there is no real correlation with the images, you are on your own.

OD

I found this helpful when trying to annotate some blocks with OD

Here is the link  

1- 'mapanntemplate'  (don't enter the quotes - you'll get a dialog box, when you hit ok, it'll open the block editor)
2- 'mapanntext' (then I hit 'enter' for new text.  You'll get a dialog box asking for infomation for you to supply for the label.  Under the 'value' box, you can specify a field from your object data to be supplied.  When it asks for the insertion, i always use 0,0; which inserts the text right where i need it inside the polylines.).  At that point, i close the block editor, saving my changes on the way.
3 - 'mapanninsert' (check the template you created, select your polylines, and voila!  Labels!

if the labels need to be tweaked, use the 'mapanntemplate' again, to edit the template contents, such as size, layer, etc.; then run the 'mapannupdate' command to have those changes reflected.

Sweet resource

http://teachamerica.com/

What Stinking feet is it anyways??

http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/faq.shtml
What are the "official" conversions that are used by NGS to convert 1) meters to inches, and 2) meters to feet?

[This explaination courtesy of Ed McKay]

First, remember this rule: There is only one meter, BUT, there are
two types of feet.
 
The two types of feet are:

 1. The U.S. Survey Foot
 It is defined as: 1 meter = 39.37 inches.
 If you divide 39.37 by 12 (12 inches per foot), you get the
 conversion factor: 1 meter = 3.280833333... U.S. Survey Feet.

 2. The International Foot
 It is defined as: 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters.
 If you convert this to meters and feet, you get the conversion
 factor: 1 International Foot = 0.3048 meters.

These two conversion factors produce results that differ by 2 parts per
million; hence for most practical work it does not make any difference
to the average surveyor which one is used since they usually do not
encounter distances this large. For example, converting a distance of
304,800 meters (about 1,000,000 feet) to feet using the two conversion
factors, these are the results:

 304,800 meters = 999,998.000 U.S. Survey Feet
 304,800 meters = 1,000,000.000 International Feet

A difference of 2 feet in 1 million feet.

Sending Civil 3D drawing to non civil 3D user

Low-Tech Collaboration
Copied from AUGI Link

There are all sorts of new, fancy ways to share your Civil files and documentation internally and with clients. Let’s not forget, however, the many ways available to us over the years. The first of these methods I’d like to explore is through working with the PROXYGRAPHICS system variable.

Although not a complete solution, understanding how the PROXYGRAPHICS setting works will be your first round of defense for sharing intelligent AutoCAD® Civil 3D® files with your coworkers, subcontractors, or clients not utilizing Civil 3D for their own efforts. Proxy graphics store the last viewed image of Civil 3D objects, which lets users view your drawing without modifying the original objects. Also, they only hold the graphical representation of the current, active viewport when the drawing file is saved.

Setting up the PROXYGRAPHICS system variable is easy enough. Simply type it in at the command line and set it to “1.” The default is “0” and we’ll explore the differences in this section as a point of comparison. With PROXYGRAPHICS set properly, SAVE your drawing.


Figure 1: A drawing file created with Civil 3D, saved with PROXYGRAPHICS set to “0” and opened in AutoCAD®. Note the Civil 3D entities are broken. (Compare with Figure 2.)

Figure 2: A drawing file created with Civil 3D and saved with PROXYGRAPHICS set to “1” and opened in AutoCAD.

It isn’t that simple, though, as there is an immediately apparent downfall of using PROXYGRAPHICS to control the visibility for your Civil 3D entities. The more complex a drawing file, the larger it becomes with PROXYGRAPHICS set to “1” compared with the default. Such a problem this may become, Autodesk even suggests in the Help documentation to save a copy of the original before attempting to apply the PROXYGRAPHICS system variable to your drawings.

Figure 3: The PROXYGRAPHICS system variable has a drastic effect on file size.

The better option when going for a low-tech option for sharing your files? See if you can convince your counterpart or client to download and install the Civil 3D object enablers for their AutoCAD installation (http://usa.autodesk.com/support). It will save everyone time and headaches in the long run. However, proxy graphics are your only option for sharing on AutoCAD WS.

US Survey Foot vs International Foot - DWG - DGN

As a way to make the Survey Foot DGN’s reference correctly into a DWG file I have the following work around.

The difference between a Survey Foot and International Foot is:

1 Survey Foot = 1200/3937 meters = 0.3048006096 meters
1 International Foot = 0.3048 meters exactly

Therefore the difference between them is:
0.3048006096/0.3048 = 1.000002 sf/ft

Or 0.999998 ft/sf

So when you reference a dgn into autocad set the scale of the reference to 0.999998 and it should match.

Ben

misc viewport commands

while aligning viewports in paper space layouts some helpful commands are:

" VPSCALE " a command to list the scale of your viewport

" view " you can save a new model view; also notice the roll angle is the rotation.

This works for me while trying to align a location sketch to the same rotation angle as the master layout.

I will save the main viewport as the sheet number and then in the location sketch I will select the the saved viewport and set it current. ***make sure your viewport is unlocked***

Also the " UCSFOLLOW " command is set to be on (1) and the view will automatically change when you change the UCS. When " UCSFOLLOW " is (0), then when you change the UCS your view of the model won't rotate, only your crosshairs will change to the new UCS orientation.

Viewport to Model space

If for whatever reason you need to export or extract your paper space viewport to model space there is a lsp program I found "VP2MS".

here is a link to the user site that I used to answer my problem.

Enjoy

Insert the layout name in a title block

If you are looking at inserting the layout name into a title block you have found the answer.

To start out edit your block
in the location where you would like the layout name insert a dt object
next highlight the text object and right click
select insert field
select System variable > CTAB (*if you would like a specific case this is where you would select it
save block and you are all set.