Understanding the Toolspace

In this exercise, you will learn how to use the AutoCAD Civil 3D Toolspace,
which provides an object-oriented view of your engineering data.
For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic The Toolspace
Window.
To explore the Civil 3D Toolspace
1 In the AutoCAD Civil 3D window, click File menu Open. Navigate
to the tutorial drawings folder (page 615). Open the drawing called
Intro-1.dwg.
2 In Toolspace, click the Prospector tab. Toolspace can be docked, but it
can also float.
NOTE If the Toolspace is not visible, enter ShowTS on the command line.
3 Click next to the name of the drawing. This shows you the top-level
objects in the drawing. If you want to see lower-level objects and further
expand the object tree, click any of the signs.
Each object is known as a collection, and represents a group of objects.
The Prospector tab gives you a neatly organized view of all objects in a
drawing.
4 Click next to the Sites collection. The drawing contains only one site,
Site 1.
5 Expand the Site 1 collection. Notice that the Site 1 collection includes
four object collections: Alignments, Feature Lines, Grading Groups, and
Parcels. A site provides a logical grouping of objects that form part of the
6 | Chapter 2 Getting Started Tutorials
same design project, or are otherwise related. An object can belong to
only one site.
Notice that there is an Alignments collection above the top-level Sites
collection. This collection allows alignments to exist outside of a site.
When an alignment is contained in a site, it subdivides any parcels it
crosses over and creates new parcels if it forms closed areas from itself or
other alignments in the site. When an alignment is in the top-level
Alignments collection, it does not interact with itself or any other objects.
6 Expand the Parcels collection to see the names of individual parcels in
Site 1. Notice that the drawing includes different styles of parcels, such
as Single-Family and Standard.
7 Click a parcel name. The parcel is displayed in a preview region of the
Prospector tab.
NOTE If the preview does not work, you can activate it. First, ensure that the
item preview button at the top of the Prospector tab is pressed in. Then,
right-click the Parcels collection and click Show Preview.
8 Right-click one of the Single-Family parcels. Click Properties. The
properties of the parcel are displayed in a dialog box. Note the detailed
survey data shown on the Analysis tab. Review these properties as you
wish, but do not change anything.
9 Click the Information tab. Change the Object Style from Single-Family
to Open Space. Click OK. Notice that the appearance of the parcel changes
in the drawing, and in the item view preview. The name of the parcel
changes in the Parcels collection on the Prospector tab. Use pan and
zoom controls if necessary. For more information, see Panning and
Zooming (page 12).
If a range of useful styles is available in a drawing template, it is easy to
control object appearance by simply selecting an appropriate style.
Further exploration: In Toolspace, on the Prospector tab, in the expanded
objects tree, right-click various objects at different levels. Note the different
menus that appear. On the menus for individual objects, such as surfaces,
alignments, and point groups, click Properties as you did for parcels. Do
not change any data as you explore.
10 Along the edge of the Prospector tab, click the Settings tab. The Settings
tab contains a tree structure of object styles and settings for the drawing.
It is similar in structure to the Prospector tab, with collections at several
levels.
Exercise 1: Understanding the Toolspace | 7
11 Expand the Settings tree by clicking next to the drawing name, Parcel,
and Parcel Styles. This collection displays the set of available styles,
including the Standard style. Every object has a Standard style, which
provides good display and behavior when you do not want to select a
more specific style.
12 Right-click the Standard parcel style and click Edit. A four-tabbed dialog
box is displayed, showing you the attributes of this style. Explore the
contents of the tabs to see the various attributes that can be changed
when you create a style.
13 Click Cancel to close the Parcel Styles dialog box.
Further exploration: Expand the Settings tree and look at several style
objects and commands. Right-click various objects to see the available
menu selections, but do not change anything.