Mastering AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2010

WORKING WITH DAYLIGHT SUBASSEMBLIES 389

7. To complete the left side of the assembly, repeat steps 4 through 6, and change the Side

parameter to the Left option.

8. The completed assembly should look like Figure 10.29.

Figure 10.29

The completed Channel

assembly

Adding a surface link to a Channel assembly provides a surface target for the assembly. When

you’re designing a channel, it’s important to tie into existing ground. In its original form, the

Channel subassembly doesn’t include a target parameter that would allow you to choose an exist-

ing ground; therefore, you’d need to do quite a bit of hand grading between the top of the bank

and existing ground. Now that you’ve added the LinkSlopetoSurface, you can specify your exist-

ing ground as the surface target, and the subassembly will grade between top of the bank and the

surface for you. You can achieve additional flexibility for connecting to existing ground with the

more complicated Daylight subassemblies, as discussed in the next section.

Working with Daylight Subassemblies

Most typical sections have many absolute requirements, such as a cross slope for a lane or the

height of a curb. But from that last engineered point on the left and right of a typical section, some

design decisions have flexibility.

In the example of the typical road section from the first part of this chapter, the engineer needs

to design the grade from the last buffer strip until the section ties into existing ground. The location

where the design meets existing ground is known as daylighting.

Daylight subassemblies provide tools to assist the engineer in meeting the design intent

between existing ground and the typical section. Some Daylight subassemblies are shown in

Figure 10.30.

Enhancing an Assembly with a Daylight Subassembly

Using the typical road section from the first exercise in this chapter, your subdivision layout allows

for grading 25



from the end of the sidewalk buffer strip. This grading has a 4:1 maximum for both

cut-and-fill situations. In the following exercise, you’ll use the DaylightMaxWidth subassembly,

which contains parameters for specifying the grading width and the maximum cut-and-fill slopes:

1. Open the Daylight Start.dwg file (which you can download from www.sybex.com/go/

masteringcivil3d2010), or continue working in any drawing from this chapter that con-

tains a typical road section.

2. Zoom in on the typical road-section assembly.

3. Locate the Imperial-Daylight tab on the tool palette. Position the palette on your screen so

that you can clearly see the assembly baseline.

4. Click the DaylightMaxWidth button on the tool palette. The AutoCAD Properties palette

appears. Position the palette on your screen so that you can still clearly see both the

assembly baseline and the tool palette.

390 CHAPTER 10 TEMPLATES PLUS: ASSEMBLIES AND SUBASSEMBLIES

Figure 10.30

Some Daylight

subassemblies in the

Corridor Modeling

Catalog

5. Locate the Advanced section of the Design tab on the AutoCAD Properties palette. This

section lists the parameters for the DaylightMaxWidth subassembly. Change the follow-

ing parameters to create the daylight as required:

◆ Side: Right

◆ Cut Slope: 4:1 (or 25%)

◆ Fill Slope: 4:1 (or 25%)

◆ Max Width: 25

6. The command line states Select marker point within assembly or [RETURN for

Detached]:. Select the circular point marker on the farthest right link. The subassembly

appears as in Figure 10.31.

Figure 10.31

Placement of the

DaylightMaxWidth

subassembly

7. Press Esc to exit the assembly-creation command.

8. Pick the DaylightMaxWidth subassembly, and then choose Subassembly Properties from

the Modify Subassembly panel.

9. Switch to the Parameters tab in the Subassembly Properties dialog.

10. Click the Subassembly Help button in the lower-right corner. The Subassembly Reference

opens in a new window. Familiarize yourself with the options for the DaylightMaxWidth

subassembly, especially noting the optional parameters for a lined material, a mandatory

WORKING WITH DAYLIGHT SUBASSEMBLIES 391

daylight surface target, and an optional alignment target that can be used for the maxi-

mum width.

11. Minimize the Subassembly Reference window.

12. To complete the left side of the assembly, repeat steps 3 through 6, changing the Side

parameter for each subassembly to the Left option. The completed assembly should look

like Figure 10.32.

Figure 10.32

An assembly with the

daylight subassembly

properly attached

When to Ignore Parameters

The first time you attempt to use many Daylight subassemblies, you may become overwhelmed by

the sheer number of parameters, as shown h ere.