What to do if C3D crashes after performing a grading??

I am mulling over whether to publish this topic on Grading. I have been blogging about grading and I felt that it is only apt for me to give some tips on grading before I close this chapter. The best thing about the grading feature is its simplicity. It is straightforward and usually works very well with simple feature lines. However, this is not always the case in civil engineering. Have you ever notice that if you create a feature line from surface with intermediate grade points, it'll usually becomes unstable? I figured that it depends on the number of vertexes (intermediate grade points) that is created from the process. The more grade points/vertex your feature line contains, the likelihood for it to crash is higher. What to do if it crashes?
This method is by no means discounting the benefits of grading. I still need the slope scheme that comes with it afterall. Let's look at the illustration below:
What am I supposed to do? I proceeded by using stepped offset instead as shown:

I got the result which is sufficient for me to generate my proposed surface but how about the slope scheme? I for one copy the feature line/3D polyline and paste it into a new drawing. Next, I simplify it by reducing the numbers of vertex but make sure you don't compromise on the accuracy. Then, try to the grading again. Remember, the main purpose of doing this is to get the slope schemes as you already have your projected line from the stepped offset function.

You then need to explode the slope because as alluded to earlier, the program crashed due to grading instability, thus you'll need to dissociate the grading component from the drawing. Note worthy of mention is that it is always a good practice to purge and perform audit check on the drawing to fix any errors within the drawing you are working on. I know this is a temporary measure and I've seen the sneak preview of C3D 2008 which has enhance the grading features considerably. Do click on the link to watch the webcast : https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/autodesklearning/view?id=Civil_RO-49&pw=Audience&cn

Meanwhile, I hope this post will benefit those whom are still using the older version. Cheers!

p/s: Click on the image for larger view

Grading in C3D 2008

I really like the grading feature in C3D... my wish list for 2008 is that I truly hope that the stability will greatly be improved. As most of you will agree, the feature is really amazing, only that it usually works for simpler feature line/3D polyline. Anyway, it's still a great feature considering the design and drafting capabilities it does. You can always manipulate it by using the stepped offset function in the Grading menu. The only set back is that it's without the slope scheme. :-(
Well, recently, I've the avenue to view some of the videos that showed some interesting enhancement to the latest C3D version. One of it is the C3D Grading feature. Some of the developments are:

• Broad set of tools for creating and modifying 3D geometry (feature lines, 3D plines, 2D plines, and lot lines)
• Calculation of feature line statistics such as linear total
• Usability enhancements to streamline creation of grading features

It does sounds a bit technical right? I for one am not so concerned about these jargons...only keeping my fingers crossed that AutoDesk Team has come up with a yet better solution. I shall be posting an alternative solution for grading should it crashes. I am anticipating to get my hands on the new version and then I can really make a comparison...

Creating profile from file

I came across the create from File under the Profile menu quite often but like most of you out there, I just couldn't be bothered until recently. I have a chance to work on a drawing which already have preliminary profile levels on the horizontal alignment. More often than not, I will create the profile by layout and insert the PVI's using the conventional method. Little did I know that you can actually create your profile from an ASCII file or a txt file. The advantage of this is that it is faster to import the profile from an ASCII file when you have a fix levels that cannot be altered, i.e, existing road, channel, etc
If you have an ASCII file, just make sure that the format of the file is space delimited as follow:

The first column is the station/chainage while the second column is the elevation of of the particular station/chainage. Just make sure that you stick to this format, otherwise you will not be able to import it. It really does come handy especially if I need to duplicate the profile...You can also create it from an elevation editor. Right click on the editor and click on copy all.
Next, paste it in Excel, delete the 1st row and the last 2 columns as shown below:

Make sure you replace the '+' and 'm' sign from the remaining columns. Select the area with numbers and copy it to a notepad:Then, with a bit of editing as follow:Save the txt file and you can start to create you profile from file..

Civil 3D 2008

I know... I know... I myself am pretty excited about the new release. I figured that some of you might be thinking aloud, Civil 3D 2008? Are you kidding me? It's not even 2008 yet and I am still trying to learn C3D 2007... Well, Autodesk has promised to launch a new version each year and sometimes we're left to wonder what else to expect from the new release... The good news is that C3D can be considered still in its infant stage, therefore you can expect a lot of enhancements... The bad news though is that you will have to keep up and learn faster.
I am expected to get a feel of it anytime soon and I really can't wait to get my hands dirty with this new release. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the grading feature will be more stable and better performance from the 2008 version. Just wait and see.