Working with large LiDAR surfaces, DEMs, GeoTIFFs, etc. in Civil 3D benefitted from the command LEVELOFDETAIL and its corresponding disabler, LEVELOFDETAILOFF. This allows users to minimize surface data, like contours, that are shown at the various zoom levels.
Now, as of version 2025, the command has been split into four levels:
SurfaceLODLow
SurfaceLODHigh
AllSurfaceLODLow
AllSurfaceLODHigh
The usefulness may be lost on some, but for those who have multiple surfaces in the same drawing can now selectively choose to which surface(s) an LOD setting applies. Below is a general behavior for each command:
SurfaceLODLow/SurfaceLODHigh
You are prompted to select a surface to which the setting will be applied. You may also choose from a list in a dialog box by pressing ENTER. Depending on the command specific to a single surface (SurfaceLODLow or SurfaceLODHigh) the resulting surface view will show the corresponding amount of surface data (high-to-low shown in this example).
Note: If there is only one surface in the drawing, you are not prompted to select a surface, as the command applies to the only one present.
AllSurfaceLODLow/AllSurfaceLODHigh
This was the behavior of the retired commands LEVELOFDETAIL and LEVELOFDETAILOFF, as it applied to all surfaces in the drawing, whether they benefitted from it or not.
There you have it! Another useful setting/command made more functional for our large dataset usage.
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