Mastering AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2010

134 CHAPTER 4 X MARKS THE SPOT: POINTS

2. Choose P oints from File from the Import panel of the Insert tab. The Import Points dialog

appears.

3. Be sure the Format is PNEZD (comma-delimited), and then click the white + sign and select

Survey.txt (which you can download from www.sybex.com/masteringcivil3d2010).

4. Select Open and then click OK to exit the dialogs and review the results.

5. At the Command: prompt, type LAYISO and press

5

. Select one of the points labeled Top of

Bank and press

5

and notice that the layer is isolated. (Note: You may have to REGEN if you

are still seeing other points not on the Top of Bank layer.)

6. Open the Description Key Sets branch on the Settings tab of the Toolspace.

7. Right-click on Civil 3D and select Edit Keys. The DescKey Editor will open in Panorama.

8. Review the layers found on the Display tab for the TOPB* and BOTB* Style.

9. Review the layer selected on the General tab in the Label Style Composer for both the TOPB*

and BOTB* Point Label Style.

10. Review the Layer settings for both the BOTB* and TOPB* codes as selected in the DescKey

Editor.

The Bottom Line

Import points from a text file using description-key matching. Most engineering offices

receive text files containing point data at some point during a project. Description keys pro-

vide a way to automatically assign the appropriate styles, layers, and labels to newly imported

points.

Master It Create a new drawing from _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Imperial) NCS.dwt.Revise

the Civil 3D description key set to use the parameters listed in Table 4.4.

Table 4.4: Civil 3D Description Key Set Parameters

Code Point Style Point Label Style Format Layer

GS Standard Elevation Only Ground Shot V-NODE

GUY Guy Pole Elevation and Description Guy Pole V-NODE

HYD Hydrant (existing) Elevation and Description Existing Hydrant V-NODE-WATR

TOP Standard Point#-Elevation-Description Top of Curb V-NODE

TREE Tree Elevation and Description Existing Tree V-NODE-TREE

Import the MasteringPointsPNEZDspace.txt file from the data location, and confirm that

the description keys made the appropriate matches by looking at a handful of points of each

type. Do the trees look like trees? Do the hydrants look like hydrants?

THE BOTTOM LINE 135

Create a point group. Building a surface using a point group is a common task. Among other

criteria, you may want to filter out any points with zero or negative elevations from your Topo

point group.

Master It Create a new point group called Topo that includes all points except those with

elevations of zero or less.

Export points to LandXML and ASCII format. It’s often necessary to export a LandXML

or an ASCII file of points for stakeout or data-sharing purposes. Unless you want to export

every point from your drawing, it’s best to create a point group that isolates the desired point

collection.

Master It Create a new point group that includes all the points with a raw description of

TOP. Export this point group via LandXML and to a PNEZD Comma Delimited text file.

Create a point t able. Point tables provide an opportunity to list and study point properties.

In addition to basic point tables that list number, elevation, description, and similar options,

you can customize point-table formats to include user-defined property fields.

Master It Create a point table for the Topo point group using the PNEZD format table

style.