AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2012 Essentials: Autodesk® Official Training Guide: Essential

Editing Profiles

As you learned in Chapter 5, it is common (and often recommended) to lay out a rough version of a design and then apply a series of refinements to achieve the final design. This is especially true with profiles, because the first pass is usually an attempt to match existing ground as closely as possible, without creating too many of your own bumps in the road. Why try to match existing ground? Quite simply, it's cheaper. The closer your new road matches the existing terrain, the less earth will need to be moved. The cost of earth-moving is measured by the volume of earth that is excavated, so less digging equals less cost.

After you create the initial profile that roughly matches existing ground, you must then refine the design ...