📐 time saving and useful civil 3d commands - 2022
Often, using AutoCAD can be a tedious process if you are coming from another software. Coming from a GUI forward software like ArcMap will have you making 5 clicks to draw a curve. This not only takes time, but I know it greatly reduces my flow.
If you've done programming, you know it sucks to get in a good flow, then have to tab out to make a manual adjustment via the mouse or menu.
I've spent a few years drafting in Civil 3d and here are some of my favorite commands that I use every day to stay in flow:
align: this command combines 3 commands into one: scale, rotate and move. This command saves lots of time especially when you are dealing with geometry that needs to be aligned quickly to a common line.
regen: is your data not showing up? Is your drawing missing a layer? Is something just not right? Regen. This regenerates the drawing and typically fixes most data display issues. This is much faster than closing out of your drawing or simply waiting for it to respond
chs: moves selected objects from paper to model space and vice versa. This can save you a lot of time with symbols, text and labels.
burst : to explode an object but keep the blocks properties. Nice to keep your drawing organized but better for annotation
audit - cleans up a lot of errors in modelspaces if you have problems saving or copy/pasting
layiso and layuniso - Similar to the freeze command, however, this isolates the layer you have selected. A great way to get all of a layer in your view to copy or to make sure your linework is organized property. layuniso just brings the layers you didn't isolate back into view instead of unthawing everything.
tcase - I think I worked for a year before I found this command. Adjust the case of your text. Title case, all caps, all lower case
QSAVE - cmd/crtl + S - the quick save, this really should be at the top.
Bonus:
"-" before command - stops the menu from opening and keeps the command to the command line
Now if I could only find a way to zoom to curve tags from a curve table....someone please help me.
Do you have a favorite command I failed to mention? Send me a message on instagram (@maptical) to add it to my list!
