Civil 3D : Survey : Mass move SurveyPoints

I had a case of a survey that had some points at wrong elevation. The GPS pole height was forgotten to zero elevation.
So i had to change the SurveyPoints elevation. Minus 2m to the elevation of some points.

I unlocked all the SurveyPoints.
Then i selected the desired ones through a SurveyQuery.
Finally i moved them using native autoCAD command Move.
Points were moved. And changed their properties to CoGoPoints! SurveyPoints maintained their original coordinates!

If doing this one by one using either the SurveyPoint editor or by simply dragging, Survey property is kept and coordinates change. Mass move through native autoCAD commands has no effect.

So i had to make the mass changes, export all the points, delete previous import event, CoGoPoints, Survey Points&Figures and finally reimport.

Yet another Civil 3D issue. It is obvious that there might have been lots of manual corrections to the SurveyFigures due to mistakes when surveying. All of them should be done again.

Why such a dummy way of thinking autoDESK ?

Same day found a workaround.
Make a dummy SurveyNetwork
Right click on it, select SurveyCommandWindow
Type MOD ELS BY PtStart PtEnd deltaElev
eg mod els by 35 142 -2
Modifies elevations of point 35 to 142 by -2
At ToolSpace Survey right click SurveyPoints and select Update.
AutomaticUpdate SurveyPoints does not work!!! Has to be manual after this modification.
Next to this a ProcessLinework has to be done also for the figures to update.

AutoCAD/DWG TrueView export DWG, experience, tips, tricks and workarounds

In case of mass export a set of files there are many ways to do it.

1.File/Export
2.File/e-transmit
3.SheetSet manager/e-transmit/archive
4.DWG TrueView

Mass export : 2,3,4
Start on view that DWG was saved last : 1,2,4 (3 always fails. Always starts at Model Space)
Keep XRef insertion point at correct position when insertion is at PaperSpace : 1,4 (2,3 may fail!!!)
Auto find and export all non XRef files DWG is depended from (eg ctb,shx etc) : 1,2,3
Quaranteed export to selected version : NONE
Quaranteed export with AEC objects exploded : NONE

Tip : Before exporting through case 1 to 3 preview Export Report. If it is to fail exporting to selected version it will be mentioned.

Unfortunately, i found no workaround to always create safely an export to the selected version/AEC exploded. I can not understand why autodesk does not fix this problem. It exists through all previous releases.

AutoCAD & Civil 3D : My custom tips, tricks, workarounds and knowledge

Problem : Civil 3D alignment labels do not change next to scale change
Workaround : Select the non responding objects. Set them in another layer. They will adapt scale at once. Set them back to the previous layer.

Problem : autoCAD LT 2011, where is the SheetSet manager
Answer : Sheet set manager was included in the next version. No SSM for this version.

Problem : Plotting to DWF does not use the selected ctb file.
Cases :
1.Works fine when publish through SheetSetManager for Single Sheet printing but fails when trying Multiple Sheet.
2.Does not work at all when in autoCAD LT 2011
Solution for all cases :
Copy the desired ctb file to the default Plot styles folder.
Tools->Options->Plot and Publish->Plot Style Table Settings->Add or Edit Plot Style Tables...
Opens the default Plot Styles folder

Autocad tips and knowledge. Also Cadalyst-Lynn Allen videos

Autodesk knowledge base
Turn off background of a field assigned to an attribute
Export and import custom dwg properties to other dwgs
Add custom shortcut to a command
Start CAD session with a user selected profile - Shortcut solution
Start CAD session with a user selected profile - Registry solution
Startup switches for AutoCAD
Command line switch reference
To Preview the Effects of a Plot Style Table in a Layout
Some layouts cannot be imported into a sheet set (SSFOUND)
Edit object type list - Does not show when invoked
Entering line breaks in table cells
Preventing text in blocks from being mirrored with block or MTEXT 
To Control the Display of the UCS Menu
Commands for working with file tabs
Show/Hide VPorts controls (Top left of ModelSpace Screen)
Texts do not follow the Text Style
Saving raster image in DWG file to eliminate need for external image file
Command ghost preview

MTEXT Ribbon Gets Big

Dimension "Style override" is created automatically (aecDWGsetup-Scale-Uncheck)
Surface contours are not displayed in Autodesk Civil 3D
AutoCAD 3D Section plane display issue (CACHEMAXTOTALSIZE)

Cadalyst-Lynn Allen videos
OP Draft EnableDim&Pattern selection
RemoveFromWorkingSet for Blocks & Xrefs
PEDIT Multiple - To join multiple non touching lines
Click on an object and then on top of viewCube to zoom to
LTGAPSELECTION to osnap on gapped linetypes
Quick commands : 1.Icon to quick menu 2.CUI-Shortcut order 3.CUI-create shortcut
Switch among pspace views : CTRL+R, create pspace views : MVIEW

Civil 3D limited automated annotation. Alignment name can not be mentioned for an axis in a Section View.

I tried to find a fully automated way to annotate alignment axies in section views. Bummer !

I did an internet search. Same problem for other users.

Profile Grade Line Marker Point is capable of using blocks containing whatever info. But all this must be made by hand, one by one !!!

So i used VB.net to create a custom app to solve this problem.

Reads the Civil database and gets all the axies (with or without profile).
Exposes them to the user to select which of them to work with using CheckedListBox.
Creates blocks with the Alignment names.
Assigns them to new MarkerPoint Styles.
Select PGL to create using those new MarkerPointStyles.

I could also create plain autocad points and text for each PGL but these objects do not belong to the section view and that is a disadvantage.

App soon to be completed and available for downloading for Civil 3D 2017.

Autocad custom apps : DBtext rotation angle

Well, always the same problem when it is time to code for angles.
Where is the zero, what direction, what units...

This is for the Autodesk.Autocad.Database.DBtext (single line text)
Here is the code for this case

        Dim AngleIs As Double
        AngleIs = CDbl(Me.tbAngle.Text) 'angle got in Gradians from a text box
        AngleIs -= 100 'Gradians i said
        AngleIs = -AngleIs
        AngleIs = AngleIs * math.PI/200 'Gradians i said

Units : radians
Direction : CounterClockWise
Zero : Positive X axis

Autocad custom apps : Block entities assignment cases

A block can add Entities using two methods.

block.AppendEntity(entity)
Entities created and added immediately in the block, not the BlockTable

block.AssumeOwnerShipOf(CollectionOfObjectIDs)
Entities are already created and exist in the BlockTable. If not copied then after commiting transaction they dissapear from the Model/Paper Space blocks and they "live" only in the block !

I had a hard time trying to configure how to do the second case. Adding existing entities to a block. All examples i found were for the first case.