Template Files

Templates are one of the most important parts of Civil 3D. I used to work for a company, back in the LDD days, that didn’t have any templates. Every project was like starting from scratch. They didn’t even use the LDD project manager, they would just hit cancel and navigate to the project folder manually. I worked there for two years before I managed to figure out how to use LDD effectively. By then, Civil 3D came out, and I was ahead of the learning curve.

With Civil 3D, styles are everything, and if you don’t have them pre-made, you might as well be burning half your project’s budget. Sometimes I have to make new styles to fit a certain situation, but more often than not, the ones I already have are more than adequate.

I have only one template file that I use for all my base files and sheet files. In this template, I have several Layer States pre-defined.

When I create a base file, I have two primary options. It is either a Survey file, or a Design file. I used the Layer States to pre-define the display of the layers. In Survey, all linetypes with text (W, SS, etc) are shown with "Ex" in them. The Lineweights and Plot Styles are also adjusted. In the Design state, layers are adjusted to final plot values, and most are turned off. I have the All-On Design for use when actually designing the project.

When I create a sheet file, I use either of the Sheet states. Recently, we've been phasing out the 24x36 and pushing the 22x34, as it allows an exact scaling to 11x17, which we make many submittals on. The template also has our standard borders pre-xrefed onto several layout tabs, and each tab is setup with a vicinity map viewport, a main viewport, a legend and all necessary text for the border, already preset with sheet set fields. 

I also have a separate template file for my Vicinity Map files. This file is completely different than the other template. It has five layers, and a dynamic block. The block is an outline of the area I want in my vicinity map, with a leader and text pointing to my project. When I place the block, I query in the roads with the Map 3D features built under Civil 3D, and use the block as the limits of what I want. I then draw in the property lines and hatch the property (based on the survey I have) and I have a fast vicinity map in under five minutes.

I also have a another template, solely for cover sheets. Nothing special in this one, just some RText to reference the surveyor/developer info and once the sheet set is complete, I come back and add the sheet list and vicinity map.