Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Getting to Know the Civil 3D user interface

 To begin learning about the Civil 3D environment, let’s take our airplane analogy

down a notch and think about this as learning to drive an automobile. When

your parents first sat you down at the wheel and talked about the car’s controls,

they probably didn’t mention the air conditioning or the radio. Those, of course,

are important parts of the driving experience, but I’m betting they started with

the most important parts, such as the steering wheel, the gas pedal, and, most

important of all, the brake pedal. We’re going to approach your first experience

with “driving” Civil 3D in much the same manner.

There are many, many parts to the Civil 3D user interface. For the purpose of this

book, I’ll cover just the ones that will be most important in enabling you to navigate

the software effectively. Figure 1.1 shows the major components of the user interface.


Application Menu: The place where you can find everyday file-handling
commands that enable you to do things like open, save, and print your drawings.
Ribbon: The place where most Civil 3D commands are launched.
Toolspace: The Civil 3D “command centre” where all the data and settings are
laid out in an organized fashion.
Drawing Area: The place where the drawing is created.
Command line: The “chat window” where you and Civil 3D talk to one another
Panorama A multipurpose window where you can view and/or edit drawing
information and properties
Inquiry tool: A tool with many smaller tools within it that enable you to get
information about your design.
Transparent Commands: Toolbar A toolbar with special commands that allow
drafting and geometric construction to be done in the way that civil engineers and
surveyors do it.


Working with the Application Menu:

The application menu (see Figure 1.2) expands out from the
square AutoCAD Civil 3D icon located at the top left of your
screen. Here, you’ll find commands for creating, opening, 
saving, and printing your drawing files.


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