Create existing and proposed rail profiles in Civil 3D.
Transcript
00:00
In this video, we will cover how to create existing and proposed profiles,
00:09
and we'll cover a couple of different methods on how we can do this.
00:13
We'll also go over a very simple method where we can evaluate cant for existing tracks,
00:18
and we will create some profile bands as well.
00:22
So, in this example, we will look at creating an existing profile.
00:26
In this file, we have our alignment and our existing surface.
00:30
So, under the Home tab, we'll go to the profiles and select Create Surface Profile.
00:35
In this dialog box, we can choose our alignment, and we can also pick which surface we want to use.
00:40
In this case, we just have one.
00:41
Once we pick that, we can see the different parameters of the profile.
00:45
So, let's draw the profile view.
00:47
In most of these settings, we'll just use the out-of-the-box settings.
00:50
So, if we know we're going to have a lot of relief in the surface, we can actually break up the profile view.
00:56
Again, we'll see what the defaults here.
00:58
We can see we have different styles available, and the elevation labels can modify this later in the design profile.
01:06
So, in the profile view, we want to make the existing line more visible to select.
01:10
So, I can do that by selecting the line, right-clicking, and then bringing it to the front.
01:16
So now let's look at the dynamic nature of the profile.
01:20
So, let's look at the plan in the profile view concurrently.
01:24
So, if I make any changes to the alignment, you can see the existing profile will update automatically.
01:30
Any changes we need to make to the profile view, we can select the profile,
01:35
select profile properties, and we can change some of those parameters.
01:38
So now with the existing ground information, we can lay out our proposed profile.
01:42
So, under the Home tab, we'll pick Profile and then choose Profile Creation tool.
01:47
We can pick our profile view.
01:49
Then we can determine the name, criteria, and the display properties.
01:52
Once we select OK, we'll see the tool palette come up.
01:55
And this is similar to our alignment layout tool.
01:57
So, when laying out a new alignment, the easiest method to use is the PVI locations.
02:02
So, we'll layout this whole alignment.
02:05
And so, we could add fixed tangents or curves if we need it to the section, whether we wanted them fixed or even connected.
02:11
We have a couple of different methods that we can use for creating vertical curves, and then actually pick the parabolic curves.
02:18
That way, I can specify the length of the curve.
02:21
Then we can add vertical curves to our profile, picking the first and second elements, and then input the curve parameters.
02:28
With the grips, we can adjust the PVI locations and the curve and the sag parameters.
02:34
We could use the grips to maintain either the entrance or the exit grade.
02:40
We can also view profile entities and edit them in the table format.
02:45
And for more profile editing capabilities, I really recommend reviewing the Back to Basics for roadway videos.
02:53
With the proposed profile, now we want to update our elevation band information.
02:58
So, the elevations displayed, they’re both based on existing ground information, but we want to revise that to the proposed profile.
03:05
So, we'll select the profile view, right-click and select Profile Properties, and under the Bands tab,
03:11
we want to change the information in Profile 2.
03:14
And here, we'll select the proposed profile.
03:17
These elevations will update automatically and again, they're dynamically linked to the profile and the alignment.
03:22
So anytime something changes, they will update.
03:26
In a lot of cases, we may need to match the exact profile from one alignment to another.
03:32
And here, we want to match the Eastbound profile to the Westbound profile.
03:36
In this case, we can choose Create Superimposed Profile.
03:40
So, following the prompts, we'll pick our source profile.
03:44
Then, we'll select our destination profile window, and we can pick the beginning and the end stations.
03:53
For best practices, I recommend coming in slightly from the beginning and end stations of the destination alignment.
03:60
This just makes the output a little bit cleaner.
04:02
So, we can choose those stations, and we can choose the accuracy.
04:07
We'll stay with the default values.
04:09
So, once we pick OK, we'll go to the profile view and see the results.
04:13
We can see the geometry points that correspond in the horizontal and vertical curve deflection points from the source profile.
04:22
So, we could also change the view settings or use this as a guide for a proposed profile,
04:28
or we could use this as the proposed matching profile in our design process.
04:33
So, in the next example, let's create a best fit profile based on 3D feature lines.
04:39
We could do the same thing with COGO points or with survey points.
04:43
So, to do this, we will select, under profile, our best fit profile.
04:47
And then, similarly to the alignment best fit, we can choose our left and right rail, and we can increase the value for curve detection.
04:58
If we increase our value for curve detection, we'll tend to get better results, especially in rail,
05:02
since this is based on radius rather than curve length.
05:06
But again, this might be a value we want to play with.
05:09
We also have the option to keep the proposed profile above our 3D elements or in line with them.
05:16
We'll choose a best fit.
05:18
Once we select OK, we'll see the regression curve analysis.
05:21
Our values look to be in pretty good order, but again, we can go back and revise some of those parameters
05:28
if this didn't return the output that we needed.
05:31
Once we select OK, we'll see our alignment and again, if needed, we can revise any of the elements for this profile.
05:38
In a lot of cases, we actually want to see our existing cant in profile views.
05:42
So, when we have access to the left and right rail lines from a point cloud,
05:47
we can actually display those in our profile to determine our existing cant.
05:52
So, to do this, we will select the profile view and choose project objects to profile view, and we'll pick the left rail.
06:00
And our dialog box will come up here.
06:02
And here, we want to set a display so we can tell the difference between our left and our right rails in profile view.
06:09
So, in the style dialogue, we'll pick top rail line.
06:14
And if we pick the Edit Style button, we can actually revise the display for the left rail, so we can differentiate that from the right rail.
06:20
And here, we will choose our display color.
06:23
Let's pick red.
06:25
Then, we can actually copy the same display style to create a new style for the right rail.
06:30
And then we'll rename that, and we'll change the profile display color.
06:36
Let's pick blue.
06:39
So, we'll display the left rail with the top rail line and select, OK.
06:43
It does look lower than our profile, but let's check the right rail now.
06:47
So, the same steps.
06:49
We'll pick the element, pick the profile view, set the style to the right top rail.
06:54
And now, when we inspect the details, we can see that our best fit profile was created using the midpoint elevation between those rails.
07:04
And we can adjust our profile if we need to so that it matches the low rail, depending on our cant rotation.
07:10
But again, this gives us a very good idea of the existing conditions for our profile for both the left and right rails,
07:17
so that we can view our cant and for other essential features that we need to view in our profile.
07:26
So, let's create a profile from survey or COGO points.
07:30
We created a best fit alignment earlier from these points.
07:33
Now we want to do something similar for the profile.
07:36
So, we'll choose the best fit option and choose COGO points.
07:40
So, we can pick the points by groups, or we could manually select them.
07:45
And here, we'll just choose all points.
07:46
So, we'll adjust some of these settings.
07:48
And again, we could test these with different values, then we'll see the regression graph.
07:52
Based on the outcome, we may need to adjust some of these curves.
07:55
But again, we have the capability to do so.
07:60
But this is a simple feature to create our profile with these survey points.
08:05
The final thing we want to look at are the profile view bands.
08:08
Several band styles have been added recently, specifically for rail.
08:13
So, we'll select our profile view, right-click, and then choose Profile View Properties.
08:18
Under the Bands tab, we can see the different band types that are available.
08:23
So, first, let's add a horizontal geometry.
08:25
You can pick the display style and hit add, and that'll appear in our list.
08:30
So now let's pick the speed.
08:33
We'll select the add there, and we have the option to add cant data.
08:37
We can edit the view styles once we've displayed the bands.
08:41
Other options we have are to add alignments or points in proximity to our design alignment.
08:48
In the dialogue box, we can toggle on or off the displays, and we can adjust some of the parameters.
08:54
And so, we'll change the alignment proximity to make it a little less frequent.
08:59
We can also specify which alignment we want to report.
09:02
Here, we're going to pick the edge of the pavement line adjacent to our rail line.
09:07
So, for points, we'll choose all points.
09:10
Once we hit Apply, we will see the band show up under our profile, and we can inspect each band detail.
09:17
If we want to change the view parameters, we will do that through the Settings tab of our tool space window.
09:24
The details of those parameters are found under Profile View and Band styles.
09:29
And we can see that each band has its own style.
09:31
In this case, we could adjust the view parameters for the cant data.
09:36
So, we'll right-click on the styles and choose Edit, and each label has a style that we can customize.
09:43
In this case, let's pick the applied cant to modify.
09:46
Then, we'll select the compose label.
09:48
In the text field, we want to choose the three-dot button.
09:52
In this window, it will show us the content that will be displayed based on the geometry.
09:56
It will also display the name.
09:58
We want to adjust the number of decimal places, and we want to display our cant in inches.
10:04
We could do the same thing if it were metric, in millimeters.
10:07
So that label will get added between the value of the label text fields,
10:12
and if we want to change the line style display or turn some display features off, we can do that under the display tab.
00:00
In this video, we will cover how to create existing and proposed profiles,
00:09
and we'll cover a couple of different methods on how we can do this.
00:13
We'll also go over a very simple method where we can evaluate cant for existing tracks,
00:18
and we will create some profile bands as well.
00:22
So, in this example, we will look at creating an existing profile.
00:26
In this file, we have our alignment and our existing surface.
00:30
So, under the Home tab, we'll go to the profiles and select Create Surface Profile.
00:35
In this dialog box, we can choose our alignment, and we can also pick which surface we want to use.
00:40
In this case, we just have one.
00:41
Once we pick that, we can see the different parameters of the profile.
00:45
So, let's draw the profile view.
00:47
In most of these settings, we'll just use the out-of-the-box settings.
00:50
So, if we know we're going to have a lot of relief in the surface, we can actually break up the profile view.
00:56
Again, we'll see what the defaults here.
00:58
We can see we have different styles available, and the elevation labels can modify this later in the design profile.
01:06
So, in the profile view, we want to make the existing line more visible to select.
01:10
So, I can do that by selecting the line, right-clicking, and then bringing it to the front.
01:16
So now let's look at the dynamic nature of the profile.
01:20
So, let's look at the plan in the profile view concurrently.
01:24
So, if I make any changes to the alignment, you can see the existing profile will update automatically.
01:30
Any changes we need to make to the profile view, we can select the profile,
01:35
select profile properties, and we can change some of those parameters.
01:38
So now with the existing ground information, we can lay out our proposed profile.
01:42
So, under the Home tab, we'll pick Profile and then choose Profile Creation tool.
01:47
We can pick our profile view.
01:49
Then we can determine the name, criteria, and the display properties.
01:52
Once we select OK, we'll see the tool palette come up.
01:55
And this is similar to our alignment layout tool.
01:57
So, when laying out a new alignment, the easiest method to use is the PVI locations.
02:02
So, we'll layout this whole alignment.
02:05
And so, we could add fixed tangents or curves if we need it to the section, whether we wanted them fixed or even connected.
02:11
We have a couple of different methods that we can use for creating vertical curves, and then actually pick the parabolic curves.
02:18
That way, I can specify the length of the curve.
02:21
Then we can add vertical curves to our profile, picking the first and second elements, and then input the curve parameters.
02:28
With the grips, we can adjust the PVI locations and the curve and the sag parameters.
02:34
We could use the grips to maintain either the entrance or the exit grade.
02:40
We can also view profile entities and edit them in the table format.
02:45
And for more profile editing capabilities, I really recommend reviewing the Back to Basics for roadway videos.
02:53
With the proposed profile, now we want to update our elevation band information.
02:58
So, the elevations displayed, they’re both based on existing ground information, but we want to revise that to the proposed profile.
03:05
So, we'll select the profile view, right-click and select Profile Properties, and under the Bands tab,
03:11
we want to change the information in Profile 2.
03:14
And here, we'll select the proposed profile.
03:17
These elevations will update automatically and again, they're dynamically linked to the profile and the alignment.
03:22
So anytime something changes, they will update.
03:26
In a lot of cases, we may need to match the exact profile from one alignment to another.
03:32
And here, we want to match the Eastbound profile to the Westbound profile.
03:36
In this case, we can choose Create Superimposed Profile.
03:40
So, following the prompts, we'll pick our source profile.
03:44
Then, we'll select our destination profile window, and we can pick the beginning and the end stations.
03:53
For best practices, I recommend coming in slightly from the beginning and end stations of the destination alignment.
03:60
This just makes the output a little bit cleaner.
04:02
So, we can choose those stations, and we can choose the accuracy.
04:07
We'll stay with the default values.
04:09
So, once we pick OK, we'll go to the profile view and see the results.
04:13
We can see the geometry points that correspond in the horizontal and vertical curve deflection points from the source profile.
04:22
So, we could also change the view settings or use this as a guide for a proposed profile,
04:28
or we could use this as the proposed matching profile in our design process.
04:33
So, in the next example, let's create a best fit profile based on 3D feature lines.
04:39
We could do the same thing with COGO points or with survey points.
04:43
So, to do this, we will select, under profile, our best fit profile.
04:47
And then, similarly to the alignment best fit, we can choose our left and right rail, and we can increase the value for curve detection.
04:58
If we increase our value for curve detection, we'll tend to get better results, especially in rail,
05:02
since this is based on radius rather than curve length.
05:06
But again, this might be a value we want to play with.
05:09
We also have the option to keep the proposed profile above our 3D elements or in line with them.
05:16
We'll choose a best fit.
05:18
Once we select OK, we'll see the regression curve analysis.
05:21
Our values look to be in pretty good order, but again, we can go back and revise some of those parameters
05:28
if this didn't return the output that we needed.
05:31
Once we select OK, we'll see our alignment and again, if needed, we can revise any of the elements for this profile.
05:38
In a lot of cases, we actually want to see our existing cant in profile views.
05:42
So, when we have access to the left and right rail lines from a point cloud,
05:47
we can actually display those in our profile to determine our existing cant.
05:52
So, to do this, we will select the profile view and choose project objects to profile view, and we'll pick the left rail.
06:00
And our dialog box will come up here.
06:02
And here, we want to set a display so we can tell the difference between our left and our right rails in profile view.
06:09
So, in the style dialogue, we'll pick top rail line.
06:14
And if we pick the Edit Style button, we can actually revise the display for the left rail, so we can differentiate that from the right rail.
06:20
And here, we will choose our display color.
06:23
Let's pick red.
06:25
Then, we can actually copy the same display style to create a new style for the right rail.
06:30
And then we'll rename that, and we'll change the profile display color.
06:36
Let's pick blue.
06:39
So, we'll display the left rail with the top rail line and select, OK.
06:43
It does look lower than our profile, but let's check the right rail now.
06:47
So, the same steps.
06:49
We'll pick the element, pick the profile view, set the style to the right top rail.
06:54
And now, when we inspect the details, we can see that our best fit profile was created using the midpoint elevation between those rails.
07:04
And we can adjust our profile if we need to so that it matches the low rail, depending on our cant rotation.
07:10
But again, this gives us a very good idea of the existing conditions for our profile for both the left and right rails,
07:17
so that we can view our cant and for other essential features that we need to view in our profile.
07:26
So, let's create a profile from survey or COGO points.
07:30
We created a best fit alignment earlier from these points.
07:33
Now we want to do something similar for the profile.
07:36
So, we'll choose the best fit option and choose COGO points.
07:40
So, we can pick the points by groups, or we could manually select them.
07:45
And here, we'll just choose all points.
07:46
So, we'll adjust some of these settings.
07:48
And again, we could test these with different values, then we'll see the regression graph.
07:52
Based on the outcome, we may need to adjust some of these curves.
07:55
But again, we have the capability to do so.
07:60
But this is a simple feature to create our profile with these survey points.
08:05
The final thing we want to look at are the profile view bands.
08:08
Several band styles have been added recently, specifically for rail.
08:13
So, we'll select our profile view, right-click, and then choose Profile View Properties.
08:18
Under the Bands tab, we can see the different band types that are available.
08:23
So, first, let's add a horizontal geometry.
08:25
You can pick the display style and hit add, and that'll appear in our list.
08:30
So now let's pick the speed.
08:33
We'll select the add there, and we have the option to add cant data.
08:37
We can edit the view styles once we've displayed the bands.
08:41
Other options we have are to add alignments or points in proximity to our design alignment.
08:48
In the dialogue box, we can toggle on or off the displays, and we can adjust some of the parameters.
08:54
And so, we'll change the alignment proximity to make it a little less frequent.
08:59
We can also specify which alignment we want to report.
09:02
Here, we're going to pick the edge of the pavement line adjacent to our rail line.
09:07
So, for points, we'll choose all points.
09:10
Once we hit Apply, we will see the band show up under our profile, and we can inspect each band detail.
09:17
If we want to change the view parameters, we will do that through the Settings tab of our tool space window.
09:24
The details of those parameters are found under Profile View and Band styles.
09:29
And we can see that each band has its own style.
09:31
In this case, we could adjust the view parameters for the cant data.
09:36
So, we'll right-click on the styles and choose Edit, and each label has a style that we can customize.
09:43
In this case, let's pick the applied cant to modify.
09:46
Then, we'll select the compose label.
09:48
In the text field, we want to choose the three-dot button.
09:52
In this window, it will show us the content that will be displayed based on the geometry.
09:56
It will also display the name.
09:58
We want to adjust the number of decimal places, and we want to display our cant in inches.
10:04
We could do the same thing if it were metric, in millimeters.
10:07
So that label will get added between the value of the label text fields,
10:12
and if we want to change the line style display or turn some display features off, we can do that under the display tab.
