Corridors are the backbone of road and infrastructure design in Civil 3D. Section views provide a detailed view of how your design interacts with existing ground and proposed features.
One of the common but time-consuming tasks is adjusting widths and slopes in the corridor section views to better match subassemblies with the existing surface.
In this post, we’ll walk you through how to edit these parameters using the basic Getting Started subassembly – Right Lane, which is often used for simple roadway modeling.
We’ll cover two approaches:
- the standard method using Autodesk Civil 3D tools, and
- a more efficient method using Kobi Toolkit for Civil 3D.
We’ll also compare the time required for both methods, demonstrating how Kobi Toolkit can save you up to 50% of your time, or even more.
1. Editing Corridor Parameters in Civil 3D
First, let’s have a look at how you can edit corridor parameters in Civil 3D.
Step-by-step:
1. Select the corridor in your drawing.
2. From the Corridor contextual ribbon, click Section Editor.
3. A new ribbon tab with section editing tools will appear. In the Station Selection panel, select the desired station to display its Section View.
4. Click Parameter Editor to display the editable parameters for each subassembly.
5. Select the Right Lane subassembly – it will get highlighted in the section view.
6. In the Default Slope field, enter the value that matches the slope of the EG surface as closely as possible.
Tip: You can quickly measure the terrain slope by adding a Grade Label in the section.
7. To adjust the width, place an Offset Elevation Label at the break point of the EG Surface, then input the value into the width field. All the changes are automatically saved.
8. Update the corridor by selecting Update Corridor or by closing the Section Editor.
| Although the process is quite fast and straightforward, it has a few limitations: – You need to repeat the process manually for each section view. – Grade Labels are not visible the Section Editor, so an extra viewport may be required. – It involves a lot of manual input and measurement. |
2. Editing Parameters with Kobi Toolkit for Civil 3D
Kobi Toolkit for Civil 3D provides an advanced Corridor Section Editor that speeds up the entire process with a user-friendly interface and smart tools. Here is how it works.
Step-by-step:
1. Use Section Navigator to zoom to the correct Section View in Layout.
2. Launch Corridor Section Editor from the Kobi Toolkit ribbon.
3. Select the desired station and subassembly (e.g., Right Lane).
4. Right-click the value field for “Default Slope” and choose Slope.
5. Pick two points in the drawing to define the new slope – it’s calculated automatically. Optionally, check the Preview box to see the updated geometry.
6. Similarly, right-click the Width field, choose Distance, and pick two points to define the new width.
7. Enable the Rebuild Corridor checkbox and click Apply.
8. Navigate to the next Section View and continue editing.
| Advantages of this method: – No manual label reading or typing required. – Fewer clicks and less switching between viewports. – Corridor can rebuild instantly. – A more intuitive and visual editing process. |
Learn more about Corridor Section Editor which is part Kobi Toolkit for Civil 3D.
Time Comparison
Now let’s look at a real-world example where 45 Section Views require editing. In each view, we:
- Adjust the Right Lane slope
- Adjust the Right Lane width
Time per section view:
Total time for 45 sections:
Even on a small project, using Kobi Toolkit cuts your editing time in half. On larger projects, the time savings are even more substantial.
Conclusion
If you often find yourself manually editing widths and slopes in Section Views, you know how time-consuming and repetitive this task can be.
With Kobi Toolkit for Civil 3D, you can:
- Work significantly faster
- Reduce manual input errors
- Streamline your corridor editing process
At the end of the day, it’s all about spending less time clicking – and more time designing.
Corridor Section Editor is just one of over 40 tools included in the Kobi Toolkit for Civil 3D. Try it yourself and see how much time you can save on your next project.
