Profile/Profile View Styles and Labels

This Skill Builder looks at profile and profile view display and stylization and
shows you how to create and edit various profile and profile view styles and
labels.
Several exercises are included to illustrate how to modify common profile and
profile view styles and labels.
A sample schematic of a profile view is also included. It provides details on
common styles and labels in a profile view and explains where to access the
styles and labels to control their display.

Background
Profiles are used to show surface elevations along a horizontal alignment. You
typically use profiles to visualize the terrain along a route of interest, such as
a proposed road, or simply to show how the elevation changes across a
particular region. You typically use profile views to display several profiles
along a proposed route for a road, pipe, fence, or a similar structure, as graphed
lines on a grid. The profile views are used to compare elevations of several
surfaces or alignments along the route.
For more information on profiles and profile views, see the Profiles topics in
the Autodesk Civil 3D User’s Guide.

1 | Profile/Profile View Display

You control profile and profile view display primarily from the Profile and
Profile View collections in the Toolspace Settings tab:

You control the components that are displayed in the profile view, for example
the profiles and the bands, from the Profile View properties:

Background | 2
Installing the Skill Builder Files
For best results, copy the drawing (Profile-labels_styles.dwg) into the folder
C:\Program Files\Autodesk Civil 3D 2007\SkillBuilders, creating the SkillBuilders
folder if it does not exist. Other Skill Builders for Autodesk Civil 3D should
also go into this folder.

Exercises
In the following exercises, you will modify several aspects of the profile/profile
view display and labeling. Each exercise is designed to illustrate a different
type of display or labeling aspect.

Modifying the Profile Style

Profile styles control profile appearance in 2D and 3D views.
The profile style is an object style associated to the profile at design time and
you would typically use different profile styles for different kinds of profiles,
for example, existing ground and finished ground.
In this exercise you will modify the finished ground profile visibility and
display.

To modify the profile visibility

1 Open the drawing Profile-labels_styles.dwg.

2 In the drawing area, click the finished profile to select it, right-click and
click Edit Profile Style:

3 | Profile/Profile View Display

 NOTE You can also edit the profile style from the Toolspace Settings tab by
expanding Profile > Profile Styles, right-clicking on the Finished Ground profile
style, and clicking Edit.

3 In the Profile Style - Finished Ground dialog box, click the Display tab.

4 In the Component Display table, click the Line Extensions component

to select it.

5 Click in the Visible column for the Line Extensions to hide them.
Click OK.
The Finished Ground profile line extensions are no longer visible in the
profile view. Notice that if you select the profile, the grips at the ends of
the line extensions are still available so you can grip edit the profile.

6 To change the color of the line segments of the profile, open the Profile
Style - Finished Ground dialog box again and click the Display tab.

7 In the Component Display table, click the Color column for Line and in
the Select Color dialog box, click the yellow swatch. Click OK. In the
Profile Style - Finished Ground dialog box, click Apply.
Notice that the line segments of the profile are now yellow.

Modifying the Profile Style | 4

 8 To change the displayed line weight of the profile to 0.3 mm, open the
Profile Style - Finished Ground dialog box if you closed it and click the
Display tab.

9 In the Component Display table, click the Lineweight column for the
Line components and in the Lineweight dialog box, click 0.30mm.

10 Repeat step 9 for the Symmetrical Parabola component.

11 Click OK to close the Profile Style - Finished Ground dialog box.

12 If the lineweight of the profile does not change, you need to turn on the
lineweight display in the drawing by clicking the LWT button at the
bottom of the Civil 3D window:

Modifying the Profile View Style

You use profile view styles to control the format of the graph on which the
profiles are displayed as well as the annotation placed above and below the
profile graph or grid.
In this exercise, you will modify a couple of display aspects of the profile view:

■ Add text to the title and change its color.

■ Change the vertical grid spacing and color.

To modify the profile view title

1 On the Toolspace Settings tab, expand the Profile View collection, expand
the Profile View Styles collection, right-click the Major Grids style, and
click Edit:

5 | Profile/Profile View Display

 NOTE You can also edit the profile view style from the drawing by
right-clicking on the profile view and clicking Edit Profile View Style.

2 In the Profile View Style dialog box, click the Graph tab.

3 In the Graph View Title section of the dialog box, click the next to
the Title Content field.

4 In the Text Component Editor, with the Properties tab selected, place
your cursor in text editor area after the last line of text:

5 Press Enter and type “PARENT ALIGNMENT:”

6 In the Properties drop-down, select Parent Alignment:

Modifying the Profile View Style | 6

 7 Click to insert the property into the text editor area at the cursor
location:

8 To change the title text color, click the Format tab.

9 With the cursor in the text editor area, press Ctrl-A to select all the text.

10 Click the Color drop-down list and click ByLayer (green).

11 Click OK and click Apply in the Profile View Style dialog box.
The profile view title is modified:

To change the profile view vertical grid spacing and color

1 In the Profile View Style - Major Grids dialog box, click the Horizontal
Axes tab.

2 In the Axis Title Text section of the dialog box, click the Select Axis
drop-down and select Bottom:

7 | Profile/Profile View Display

 TIP The bottom axis controls the horizontal grid spacing.

In the Major Tick Details section of the dialog box, enter 200 into the
Interval field.

3 Click Apply. Notice that the vertical grid lines now display every 200 feet
and the grid ticks and labels along the horizontal axis are displayed
accordingly.

4 In the Profile View Style dialog box, click the Display tab.

5 In the Components Display table, click in the Color column for Grid
Vertical Major:

6 In the Select Color dialog box, click ByLayer. Click OK.

7 In the Profile View Style dialog box, click OK.

The major vertical grid lines are displayed using the color of the layer
(C-ROAD-PROF-LABL).

Modifying the Profile View Style | 8

 Modifying a Profile Band
You use profile view band styes to control the format of the bands that are
displayed above and below the profile grid. Bands contain information such
as the profile curve geometry, horizontal (alignment) geometry, or elevation
differences between profiles in the profile view.
In this exercise, you will modify the Profile Data band at the bottom of the
profile view and edit its labels.

To modify a profile view band

1 On the Toolspace Prospector tab, expand the Sites collection, expand the
Site collection, expand the Alignments collection, expand the Ridge Road
alignment, and expand the Profile Views collection.

2 Right-click the PV - (1) profile and click Properties:

NOTE You can also edit the profile view properties from the drawing by
right-clicking on the profile view and clicking Profile View Properties.

3 In the Profile View Properties dialog box, click the Bands tab.

4 To modify the Profile Data band, which is the band at the bottom of the
profile view, ensure that the Location drop-down is set to Bottom of
Profile View.
The bands at the bottom of the profile view are displayed in the List of
Bands.

9 | Profile/Profile View Display

 5 In the List of Bands, scroll to the right so that you can see the columns
Profile1 and Profile2. These columns specify the profiles to be referenced
in the band.

6 In the Profile1 column for the Profile Data band, click the field and click
Layout(1) from the drop-down:

7 Click Apply.
Notice that the first number at each station in the band changed. This
value is the elevation of the layout profile:

To modify band labels

1 If you closed the Profile View Properties dialog box for PV - (1), open it.
For details, refer to the first step in the previous exercise.

2 In the Profile View Properties dialog box, click the Bands tab.

3 Ensure that the Location drop-down is set to Bottom of Profile View so

that the bands at the bottom of the profile view are displayed in the List
of Bands.

4 In the List of Bands, click in the Style column for the Profile Data
band.

5 In the Pick Band Style dialog box, click to edit the Profile Data style.

Modifying a Profile Band | 10

 6 In the Profile Data Band Style dialog box, click the Band Details tab.

7 In the Labels and Ticks section, click Major Station and then click the
Compose Label button.

8 In the Label Style Composer, click the Component Name drop-down list
and click EG Elevation.

9 In the Property table, expand the Text Property group (if required) and
click the Value column for the Text Height and change the value from
0.1000 to 0.2. Click OK.

10 Click OK to close the Profile Data Band Style and click OK to close the
Pick Band Style dialog box. Finally, click OK to close the Profile View
Properties dialog box.
Notice that the second number at each station in the band is set to the
new size.

Profile View Schematic

The profile view diagram on the following page presents a overview of different
types of styles and labels used within the profile view. If you mouse over a
component name, you will get a tooltip with information on where the display
of that label or style is controlled and accessed in Civil 3D.
For printing purposes, following the schematic, a table is provided that lists
the components called out in the schematic and repeats the tooltip
information.

11 | Profile/Profile View Display

 Move your cursor over a callout for more information.
Graph Title

Top Band - Horizontal Geometry

Horizontal Axis - Top

Grade Break Label

Vertical Axis - Right

Vertical Axis - Left

Horizontal Geometry Point Label

Profile - Proposed

Grade Label

Vertical Ticks - Right

Grid at Horizontal Geometry Point

Vertical Axis Title

Profile - Existing

Grid Horizontal - Major

Grid Vertical - Major

Horizontal Axis - Bottom

Bottom Band 1

Bottom Band 2
Profile/Profile View Component How to Access

Bottom Band - 1 Prospector tab: Profile View Properties >

Bands > Band Type: Horizontal Geometry

Bottom Band - 2 Prospector tab: Profile View Properties >

Bands > Band Type: Profile Data

Grade Break Label Settings tab: Profile > Label Styles > Grade
Breaks

Grade Label Settings tab: Profile > Label Styles > Line

Graph Title Settings tab: Profile View Style > Graph tab
> Graph View Title

Grid at Horizontal Geometry Point Settings tab: Profile View Style > Display >
Grid at Horizontal Geometry Point

Grid Horizontal - Major Settings tab: Profile View Style > Display >
Grid Horizontal Major

Grid Vertical - Major Settings tab: Profile View Style > Display >
Grid Vertical Major

Horizontal Axis - Bottom Settings tab: Profile View Style > Horizontal
Axes > Select Axis: Bottom

Horizontal Axis -Top Settings tab: Profile View Style > Horizontal
Axes > Select Axis: Top

Horizontal Geometry Point Label Settings tab: Profile > Label Styles > Hori-
zontal Geometry Point > Dragged State

Profile - Existing Settings tab: Profile > Profile Style

Profile - Proposed Settings tab: Profile > Profile Style

Profile View Schematic | 13

 Profile/Profile View Component How to Access

Top Band - Horizontal Geometry Prospector tab: Profile View Properties >
Bands > Band Type: Horizontal Geometry

Vertical Axis - Left Settings tab: Profile View Style > Vertical
Axes > Select Axis: Left

Vertical Axis - Right Settings tab: Profile View Style > Vertical
Axes > Select Axis: Right

Vertical Axis - Title Settings tab: Profile View Style > Vertical
Axes > Axis Title Text

Vertical Ticks - Right Settings tab: Profile View Style > Vertical
Axes > Minor Tick Details

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14 | Profile/Profile View Display