Some Civil 3D profile elements have a built-in “Label dimension anchor” grip point (appears as blue diamond) that allows us to slide labels without going into a dragged state. The option is most known in profile curve labels:
This post walks through how to applying this functionality to Structure Labels in profiles creating Top and Bottom labels that can be dragged.
THE PROBLEM:
Civil 3D only allows for a single default Style and Location to be set at a time. Let's take a look at where to set values, from the Toolspace panel > Settings tab > Pipe Network collection > right-click and select > Edit Feature Settings…
From this upper-level Edit Feature Settings – Pipe Network dialog box in the Default Styles section, Plan and Profile default labels can be set. The focus is the Structure Profile Label Styles that are set to PROF Storm [TOP] that will annotate: Name, Station, and Rim data
Scrolling down to Default Profile Label Placement > Dimension Anchor for Structures > is where the setting for the dynamic sliding is set, Above is selected
The second field for Default Profile Label Placement > Structure Label Placement > the option/location for the label set here does NOT allow the sliding of labels. The option for At Top of Structure is selected. A grip edit there will force a “Dragged State”:
The settings above are only one part of the configuration, next is to leverage the appropriate setting within the defined styles that will display structure data:
- PROF Storm [TOP] – Name, Station, Rim
- PROF Storm [BTM] - Invert In & Invert Out
As shown above, both labels (TOP and BTM) are using the SAME location for Anchor Point > Structure Dimension (that allows sliding). Used as is, the default location for BOTH labels is Above or Top of Structure
THE SOLUTION:
At the upper parent level for Pipe Network settings, only ONE Location and Label can be set, we will dig a little deeper and leverage individual Command settings:
- Add Network Part Prof Label (Single part): uses PROF Storm [BTM] and set to Below/Bottom
- Add Network Part Prof Labels (Entire network): uses PROF Storm [TOP] and set to Above/Top
It all comes together using the Add Labels dialog box, as the defaults for the desired Top and Bottom Labels and settings are defaulted when the Label type is selected between Entire Network Profile or Single Part Profile:
Once created, both upper and lower Structure labels can be dragged to desired locations and avoid any overlaps:
A more advanced post and quite a bit of configuration is needed along with the appropriate workflow, but it shows how Civil 3D settings can be leveraged to maximize annotations to create deliverables.
Special thanks to Kevin Breslin he gave me the idea to solve a client's need and motivated this write-up.
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