Corridors Tutorials

Corridors Tutorials

These tutorials will get you started working with the corridor modeling tools, which are used to design
and generate complex roadway corridor models.

If you have not installed AutoCAD Civil 3D to the default location, you may receive messages in the
Event Viewer indicating that subassembly macro paths are not found. To avoid these messages, it is
recommended that you follow the exercises in the order presented.
NoteAll drawings used in these tutorials are available in the tutorial drawings folder. If you want to
save your work from these tutorials, save the drawings to the My Civil Tutorial Data folder so that
you do not overwrite the original drawings.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Understanding Corridor
Modeling.

Topics in this section

 Tutorial: Creating a Basic Corridor Model

This tutorial demonstrates how to use AutoCAD Civil 3D objects to build a basic corridor model.
 Tutorial: Creating a Corridor with a Transition Lane
This tutorial demonstrates how to create a corridor with a transition lane. The tutorial uses
some of the subassemblies that are shipped with AutoCAD Civil 3D to create an assembly.
Then, you create a roadway where the travel lane widths and slopes are controlled by offset
alignments, profiles, polylines, and feature lines.
 Tutorial: Creating a Divided Highway Corridor
This tutorial demonstrates how to create a divided highway corridor. The tutorial uses some of
the subassemblies that are shipped with AutoCAD Civil 3D to create a more complex and
realistic highway model.
 Tutorial: Viewing and Editing Corridor Sections
This tutorial demonstrates how to edit a corridor in section.
 Tutorial: Viewing and Rendering a Corridor
This tutorial demonstrates how to add surfaces to a corridor, create boundaries on the surfaces,
and then visualize the corridor using the AutoCAD rendering tools.

Tutorial: Creating a Basic Corridor Model

This tutorial demonstrates how to use AutoCAD Civil 3D objects to build a basic corridor model.
Note This tutorial uses the corridor assembly that you built in the Creating an Assembly exercise.

A corridor model builds on and uses various AutoCAD Civil 3D objects and data, including
subassemblies, assemblies, alignments, surfaces, and profiles.

Corridor objects are created along one or more baseline alignments by placing a 2D section
(assembly) at incremental locations and creating matching slopes that reach a surface model at each
incremental location.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Creating Corridors.
 Watch video: Create a Basic Corridor

Specify the dependent objects

1. Open Corridor-1a.dwg, which is located in the tutorial drawings folder.

2. Click Home tab Create Design panel Corridor drop-down Create Corridor .

3. When the ‘Select baseline alignment’ prompt is displayed, select the First Street alignment.

4. When the ‘Select a profile’ prompt is displayed, select the blue, Finished Grade Centerline - First
Street profile.

(Profile view grid lines removed for clarity)

5. When the ‘Select an assembly’ prompt is displayed, select the Primary Road Full Section
assembly baseline.
Specify the corridor parameters

1. In the Create Corridor dialog box, for Corridor Name, enter First Street.

2. In the RG-Primary Road Full Section - (1) row, in the End Station cell, enter 0+440.00.

3. In the Frequency cell, click .

4. In the Frequency To Apply Assemblies dialog box, under Apply Assembly, for Along Curves,
enter 3.000. Click OK.

5. In the Create Corridor dialog box, click Set All Targets.

In the Target Mapping dialog box, you can map logical names in subassemblies to actual
objects in the drawing. For example, the BasicSideSlopeCutDitch subassembly requires that a
surface be specified for calculating the daylight points.

6. In the table, in the Object Name column, click <Click Here To Set All>.

7. In the Pick A Surface dialog box, select surface EG.

This sets the daylight points for both the BasicSideSlopeCutDitch subassemblies to the same
surface.

8. Click OK three times.

The corridor model is built and looks like this:
To continue to the next tutorial, go to Creating a Corridor with a Transition Lane.

Tutorial: Creating a Corridor with a Transition Lane

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a corridor with a transition lane. The tutorial uses some of
the subassemblies that are shipped with AutoCAD Civil 3D to create an assembly. Then, you create a
roadway where the travel lane widths and slopes are controlled by offset alignments, profiles,
polylines, and feature lines.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Assemblies and
Subassemblies.

Topics in this section

 Exercise 1: Creating an Assembly with a Transition Lane

In this exercise, you will create a corridor assembly with transitions.
 Exercise 2: Creating a Corridor with a Transition Lane
In this exercise, you will create a corridor using the assembly created in the last exercise. You
will target the width and elevation of the right lane edge to a right alignment and profile, and
the left lane edge to a polyline and a feature line.

Exercise 1: Creating an Assembly with a Transition Lane

In this exercise, you will create a corridor assembly with transitions.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Creating Assemblies.

Create an assembly baseline

1. Open Corridor-2a.dwg, which is available in the tutorial drawings folder.

2. Click Home tab Create Design panel Assembly drop-down Create Assembly .

3. In the Create Assembly dialog box, for Name, enter Transition. Click OK.

4. When the ‘Specify assembly baseline location’ prompt is displayed on the command line, click a
point in the drawing to place the assembly.
The viewport zooms to the assembly baseline, which looks like this:

Add a lane subassembly

 1. If the Tool Palette containing the subassemblies is not visible, click Home tab Palettes panel
Tool Palettes .

2. In the tool palette, right-click the Tool Palettes control bar. Click Civil Imperial Subassemblies.

3. Click the Basic tab.

4. Click BasicLaneTransition.

5. In the Properties palette, under ADVANCED, specify the following parameters:

 Side: Right

 Default Width: 14.0000

 Depth: 1.0000

 Transition: Change Offset And Elevation

6. In the drawing, click the marker point on the assembly baseline.

A lane is drawn, extending 14 feet to the right, with a slope of -2% and a depth of 1 foot.

Add a curb and gutter subassembly

1. In the tool palette, click BasicCurbAndGutter.

2. In the Properties palette, under ADVANCED, specify the following parameters:

 Side: Right

 Gutter Width: 1.2500

3. In the drawing, click the marker point at the top-right edge of the lane to draw the curb and
gutter.

Add a sidewalk subassembly

1. In the tool palette, click BasicSidewalk.

2. In the Properties palette, under ADVANCED, specify the following parameters:

 Side: Right

 Buffer Width 1: 2.0000

 Buffer Width 2: 3.0000

3. In the drawing, click the marker point at the top back-side of the curb to add the sidewalk and
its buffer zones.

Add a ditch subassembly

 1. In the tool palette, click BasicSideSlopeCutDitch.

2. In the Properties palette, under ADVANCED, specify the following parameters:

 Side: Right

 Cut Slope: 3.000:1

3. In the drawing, click the marker point at the outside edge of the outer sidewalk buffer zone to
add the cut-and-fill slope.

Add a transition lane subassembly

1. In the tool palette, click BasicLaneTransition.

2. In the Properties palette, under ADVANCED, specify the following parameters:

 Side: Left

 Default Width: 12.0000

 Depth: 1.0000

 Transition: Hold Grade, Change Offset

3. In the drawing, click the marker point on the assembly baseline. A lane is drawn, extending 12
feet to the left, with a slope of -2% and a depth of 1 foot.

Mirror the subassemblies outside the right lane

1. Press Esc to exit subassembly placement mode.

2. In the drawing, on the right-hand side of the assembly, select the curb, sidewalk, and daylight
subassemblies. Right click. Click Mirror.

3. Click the marker point at the top-left edge of the transition lane to draw a mirror of the curb,
sidewalk, and daylight subassemblies.
The subassemblies are displayed on the left side of the assembly marker.
The Mirror command creates a mirror image of the selected subassemblies. All the subassembly
parameters, except for the Side parameter, are retained.
NoteThe parameters of the mirrored subassemblies are not dynamically linked. If you change a
parameter value for a subassembly on one side of the assembly baseline, the change will not be
applied to the opposite side.

The finished assembly looks like this:

To continue this tutorial, go to Exercise 2: Creating a Corridor with a Transition Lane.

Exercise 2: Creating a Corridor with a Transition Lane

In this exercise, you will create a corridor using the assembly created in the last exercise. You will
target the width and elevation of the right lane edge to a right alignment and profile, and the left lane
edge to a polyline and a feature line.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Creating Corridors.

This exercise continues from Exercise 1: Creating an Assembly with a Transition Lane.

Specify the dependent objects

Note This exercise uses Corridor-2a.dwg from the previous exercise, or you can open Corridor-2b.dwg
from the tutorial drawings folder.

1. Click Home tab Create Design panel Corridor drop-down Create Corridor .

2. When the ’Select baseline alignment’ prompt is displayed, press Enter.

3. In the Select An Alignment dialog box, select Centerline (1). Click OK.

4. When the ‘Select a profile’ prompt is displayed, press Enter.

5. In the Select A Profile dialog box, select Layout (1). Click OK.

6. When the ‘Select an assembly’ prompt is displayed, press Enter.

7. In the Select An Assembly dialog box, select Transition. Click OK.

The Transition assembly includes the BasicLaneTransition subassembly, which uses the
Transition parameter to specify that both the offset and elevation can change on the right side
of the corridor. The offset can change on the left side of the corridor but the grade is held at -
2%.

8. In Create Corridor dialog box, for Corridor Name, enter Corridor - Transition Lanes.

Specify the daylight surface targets

1. Click Set All Targets.

2. In the Target Mapping dialog box, in the Object Name column, click <Click Here To Set All>.

3. In the Pick A Surface dialog box, select EG. Click OK.

This sets the daylight points for both the BasicSideSlopeCutDitch subassemblies to the same
surface.

Specify the fixed lane horizontal target

1. In the Transition Alignment row for BasicLaneTransition - (Right), click the Object Name field.

2. In the Set Width Or Offset Target dialog box, specify the following parameters:

 Select Object Type To Target: Alignments

 Select Alignments: Right (1)

3. Click Add. Click OK.

Specify the transition lane horizontal target

 1. In the Transition Alignment row for BasicLaneTransition - (Left), click the Object Name field.

2. In the Set Width Or Offset Target dialog box, in the Select Object Type To Target list, select
Feature Lines, Survey Figures And Polylines.

3. Click Select From Drawing.

4. In the drawing, on the left side of the alignment, select the blue polyline and magenta feature
line. Press Enter.

The entities are added to the table at the bottom of the Set Width Or Offset Target dialog box.

5. Click OK.
Notice that because the subassembly names contain the assembly side, it is easy to determine
which assembly must target which offset object. This naming convention is even more useful in
road designs that contain many alignments and subassemblies. For information on updating the
subassembly naming template, see the Modifying the Subassembly Name Template exercise.

Specify the transition lane elevation targets

1. In the Transition Profile row for BasicLaneTransition - (Right), click the Object Name field.

2. In the Set Slope Or Elevation Target dialog box, specify the following parameters:

 Select Object Type To Target: Profiles

 Select An Alignment: Right (1)

 Select Profiles: Layout (1)

3. Click Add. Click OK.

The right-side edge-of-pavement elevation is set to the Layout (1) profile. The left-side edge-
of-pavement elevation does not need to be set since its elevation is determined by the grade
setting.

4. Click OK twice.
The corridor model is built, and looks like this:
 Note Notice that at station 7+50, the lane uses the polyline as a target, and not the feature
line. When more than one target object is found at a station, the object that is closest to the
corridor baseline is used as the target.
Click here to see a detail of the overlapping objects

To continue to the next

tutorial, go to Creating a Divided Highway Corridor.

Tutorial: Creating a Divided Highway Corridor

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a divided highway corridor. The tutorial uses some of the
subassemblies that are shipped with AutoCAD Civil 3D to create a more complex and realistic highway
model.

This highway has a depressed median with a flat bottom ditch and inside paved shoulders, two travel
lanes on each side of the median, and paved outside shoulders. The total median width between inside
edges-of-traveled-ways is 44 feet. The highway may have at-grade intersections, so the
superelevation rotation point is set to be located at the design profile grade above the centerline of
the median ditch. This creates a single consistent cross slope across the entire roadway in
superelevated areas.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Creating Corridors.
Topics in this section

 Exercise 1: Creating a Divided Highway Assembly

In this exercise, you will create a fairly complex assembly with a depressed median and
separated lanes.
 Exercise 2: Creating a Divided Highway Corridor
In this exercise, you will create a divided highway corridor.

Exercise 1: Creating a Divided Highway Assembly

In this exercise, you will create a fairly complex assembly with a depressed median and separated
lanes.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Creating Assemblies.

Create an assembly baseline

1. Open Corridor-3a.dwg, which is available in the tutorial drawings folder.

2. Click Home tab Create Design panel Assembly drop-down Create Assembly .

3. In the Create Assembly dialog box, for Name, enter Divided Highway. Click OK.

4. When the ‘Specify assembly baseline location’ prompt is displayed on the command line, click a
point in the drawing to build the assembly.

The viewport zooms to the assembly baseline, which looks like this:

Add a median subassembly

1. If the Tool Palette containing the subassemblies is not visible, click Home tab Palettes panel
Tool Palettes .

2. In the tool palette, right-click the Tool Palettes control bar. Click Civil Imperial Subassemblies.

3. Click the Medians tab.

4. Right-click MedianDepressedShoulderExt. Click Help. Review the diagram to better

understand the subassembly.

5. Click MedianDepressedShoulderExt.

6. In the Properties palette, under ADVANCED, specify the following parameters:

 Centerline Pivot: Pivot about centerline

  Left Median Width: 22.0000

 Right Median Width: 22.0000

7. In the drawing, click the marker point on the assembly baseline. A depressed median and inside
shoulders are drawn.

Add a lane subassembly

1. In the drawing, pan to the left edge of the MedianDepressedShoulderExt subassembly. Zoom in
so that each marker point can be seen distinctly.

2. In the tool palette, click the Lanes tab.

3. Click LaneOutsideSuper.
This subassembly inserts a travel lane that follows the outside lane superelevation slope for the
superelevation properties of the alignment.
NoteFor more information about superelevation, see the Applying Superelevation to an
Alignment tutorial.

4. In the Properties palette, under ADVANCED, specify the following parameters:

 Side: Left

 Width: 24.0000

5. In the drawing, click the marker that is at the top left edge of the median to insert the lane:

Add a shoulder subassembly

1. In the drawing, pan to the left side of the LaneOutsideSuper subassembly.

2. In the tool palette, click the Shoulders tab.

3. Click ShoulderExtendSubbase.

4. In the Properties palette, under ADVANCED, specify the following parameters:

 Side: Left

 Use Superelevation Slope: Outside Shoulder Slope

 Subbase - Use Superelevation: Outside Shoulder Slope

 This sets these slopes to the outside shoulder superelevation slope. For more information, see
the subassembly help.

5. In the drawing, click the marker point at the top outside edge-of-lane on finish grade to add the
paved shoulder.

Add a daylight subassembly

1. In the drawing, pan to the left side of the ShoulderExtendSubbase.

2. In the tool palette, click the Daylight tab.

3. Right-click DaylightStandard. Click Help. Review the diagram and Behavior section to
better understand the cut and fill daylighting behaviors.

4. In the tool palette, click DaylightStandard.

5. In the drawing, click the marker point at the outside edge of the ShoulderExtendSubbase
subassembly to add the daylight slopes for cut and fill.

Mirror the subassemblies to the right side of the baseline

1. Press Esc to exit subassembly placement mode.

2. In the drawing, zoom out until you see the entire assembly. On the left-hand side of the
assembly, select the daylight, shoulder, and lane subassemblies. Right click. Click Mirror.

3. Click the marker point at the top-right edge of the median subassembly to draw a mirror of the
daylight, shoulder, and lane subassemblies.
The Mirror command creates a mirror image of the selected subassemblies. All the subassembly
parameters, except for the Side parameter, are retained.
Note The parameters of the mirrored subassemblies are not dynamically linked. If you change
a parameter value for a subassembly on one side of the assembly baseline, the change will not
be applied to the opposite side.

The finished assembly looks like this:

To continue this tutorial, go to Exercise 2: Creating a Divided Highway Corridor.

Exercise 2: Creating a Divided Highway Corridor

In this exercise, you will create a divided highway corridor.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Creating Corridors.

This exercise continues from Exercise 1: Creating a Divided Highway Assembly.

Specify the dependent objects

Note This exercise uses Corridor-3a.dwg from the previous exercise, or you can open Corridor-3b.dwg
from the tutorial drawings folder.
 1. Click Home tab Create Design panel Corridor drop-down Create Corridor .

2. When the ‘Select baseline alignment’ prompt is displayed, press Enter.

3. In the Select An Alignment dialog box, select Centerline (1). Click OK.

4. When the ‘Select a profile’ prompt is displayed, press Enter.

5. In the Select A Profile dialog box, select Layout (1). Click OK.

6. When the ‘Select an assembly’ prompt is displayed, press Enter.

7. In the Select An Assembly dialog box, select Divided Highway. Click OK.

Specify the daylight surface targets

1. In the Create Corridor dialog box, for Corridor Name, enter Divided Highway.

2. Click Set All Targets.

3. In the Target Mapping dialog box, click <Click Here To Set All>.

4. In the Pick A Surface dialog box, select EG.

5. Click OK three times.

6. Zoom to the extents of the corridor model.

The corridor model is built, and looks like this:

To continue to the next tutorial, go to Viewing and Editing Corridor Sections.

Tutorial: Viewing and Editing Corridor Sections

This tutorial demonstrates how to edit a corridor in section.

You use the tools that are demonstrated in this exercise to edit the corridor model. To plot corridor
sections, you must create section views. See the Sections Tutorials for more information.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Viewing and Editing
Corridor Sections.

Topics in this section

  Exercise 1: Viewing Corridor Sections
In this exercise, you will view how a corridor assembly is applied at various stations along a
baseline alignment.
 Exercise 2: Editing Corridor Sections
In this exercise, you will edit the parameters at several corridor sections.

Exercise 1: Viewing Corridor Sections

In this exercise, you will view how a corridor assembly is applied at various stations along a baseline
alignment.

The view/edit corridor section tools are useful for inspecting how the corridor assemblies interact with
other objects in the corridor model.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Viewing Corridor Sections.

View a corridor in section

1. Open Corridor-4a.dwg, which is available in the tutorial drawings folder.

The drawing contains an assembly, profile view, and corridor model. Each object is displayed in
a separate viewport. The viewport that contains the assembly is active.

2. Click Modify tab Design panel Corridor.

3. Click Corridor tab Modify Corridor Sections panel Section Editor .

4. On the Section Editor tab, on the Station Selection panel, in the Select A Station list, select
0+00.00.
A cross-section of the corridor at the starting station is displayed. The elevations and offsets are
displayed on the grid axes. The cross section view contains the assembly, as well as the other
adjacent objects.
At the current station, the offset alignments are represented by vertical green lines, and the
existing ground surface is represented by the horizontal red line. The vertical red line in the
center of the grid represents the assembly baseline. Profile intersections with the baseline are

indicated by markers.

5. Use the tools on the Section Editor tab to view the corridor sections at each corridor station.
Click Go To Previous Station and Go To Next Station, or select stations from the Select A
Station list.
Notice that as each station is displayed on the grid, its location in the plan and profile viewports
is identified by a perpendicular line.
Experiment with the zoom modes

1. Zoom in to the lane on the right-hand side of the assembly. Click Go To Next Station.
Notice that the view zooms back out to the grid extents. There are three zoom modes in the
view/edit corridor section tools. These modes control the behavior of the grid when you
navigate to another station:

 Zoom To Extents—View zooms out to the extents of the assembly, plus the view scale
factor. This is the default zoom mode.

 Zoom To An Offset And Elevation—View remains zoomed in on the current offset and
elevation. As you navigate to other sections, the current offset and elevation remains at the
center of the viewport.

 Zoom To A Subassembly—View remains zoomed in on a selected subassembly. As you

navigate to other sections, the selected subassembly remains at the center of the viewport.

2. In the Select A Station list, select 3+00.00.

3. On the View Tools panel, click Zoom To Subassembly.

4. In the Pick Subassembly dialog box, select Daylight (Right). Click OK.
The view zooms in to the Daylight (Right) subassembly at station 3+00.00. Notice the shape,
elevation, and offset of the subassembly.

5. In the Select A Station list, select 9+00.00.

The view zooms in to the Daylight (Right) subassembly at station 9+00.00. Notice that the
shape, elevation, and offset of the subassembly is quite different from station 3+00.00. The
subassembly remains at the center of the grid and at the same zoom factor as you navigate to
other stations.

6. On the View Tools panel, click Zoom To An Offset And Elevation.

7. Click Go To Next Station several times.

Notice that the offset and elevation values that are displayed on the grid axes do not change.
The shape of the Daylight (Right) subassembly changes to reflect how it ties in to the existing
ground surface.

8. On the View Tools panel, click Zoom To Extents.

9. Click Go To Next Station.

The view zooms back out to the extents of the assembly.

To continue this tutorial, go to Exercise 2: Editing Corridor Sections.

Exercise 2: Editing Corridor Sections

In this exercise, you will edit the parameters at several corridor sections.

You will edit a section in two ways. First, you will modify a subassembly parameter at a single station,
which will override the subassembly settings for that station only. Second, you will modify a
subassembly parameter, and then apply the modification to a range of stations.
For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Editing Corridor Sections.

This exercise continues from Exercise 1: Viewing Corridor Sections.

Modify subassembly properties for a single station

Note This exercise uses Corridor-4a.dwg from the previous exercise.

1. On the Station Selection panel, in the Select A Station list, select 7+75.00.

2. On the View Tools panel, click Zoom To A Subassembly.

3. In the Pick Subassembly dialog box, select Lane (Right). Click OK.

4. On the Corridor Edit Tools panel, toolbar, click Parameter Editor.

5. In the Corridor Parameters dialog box, in the Assembly - (1) tree, under Group - (1), expand
Lane (Right).
Notice that identical values are displayed in the Design Value and Value columns. The Design
Value column displays the value that was specified when the subassembly was added to the
assembly. The Value column displays the actual value of the subassembly at the current
station. In the following steps, you will override the Design Value at the current station, and
then examine the results.

6. Change the Width Value to 36.0000’.

Notice that the Override check box is automatically selected, which indicates that the Design
Value has been overridden at this station.

7. Click Go To Next Station several times.

Notice that for the other stations, the Width Value is 12.000’. The lane subassembly that is
displayed in the section view updates in width to reflect the width at the current station.

8. On the Station Selection panel, in the Select A Station list, select 7+75.00.

9. In the Corridor Parameters dialog box, in the Assembly - (1) tree, under Group - (1), under
Lane (Right), in the Width row, clear the Override check box.
The Value column displays the same value as the Design Value column.

Modify subassembly properties for a range of stations

1. On the View Tools panel, click Zoom To Extents.

2. On the Station Selection panel, in the Select A Station list, select 4+50.00.
Notice that the road is in a shallow cut on one side and deep cut on the other. The criteria set
for the daylight subassembly caused it to use a 6:1 slope on the left side, and a 4:1 slope on
the right side. Also notice the superelevation transition of the road. At station 4+50.00, the
lanes are relatively flat.
Note For more information about superelevation, see the Applying Superelevation to an
Alignment tutorial.
 3. On the Station Selection panel, in the Select A Station list, select 7+75.00.
Notice the superelevation transition at this station. Using the Centerline Pivot option on the
depressed median subassembly causes the lanes and shoulders to superelevate about a point
above the centerline ditch. A straight edge laid against the lane surfaces would pass through
the profile grade point.

4. In the Corridor Parameters dialog box, in the Assembly - (1) tree, under Group - (1), expand
Median.
Notice that the Centerline Pivot Design Value is set to Pivot About Centerline.

5. In the Centerline Pivot? row, click the Value cell. Select Pivot About Inside Edge-Of-
Traveled-Way.

6. On the Corridor Edit Tools panel, click Apply To A Station Range.

7. In the Apply To A Range Of Stations dialog box, notice that Start Station is 7+75.00, which is
the current station. For End Station, enter 11+00.00. Click OK.

8. On the Corridor Edit Tools panel, click Update Corridor to update the corridor model.

9. View the corridor section at station 7+75.00.

Notice that the profile grade is held at the inside edges-of-traveled-ways and the lanes and
shoulders pivot about this point.

10. Click Go To Next Station to view the grade at subsequent stations.

Notice that the change you made is visible through station 11+00.00. At station 11+25.00, the
Centerline Pivot? Value returns to Pivot About Centerline.

To continue to the next tutorial, go to Viewing and Rendering a Corridor.

Tutorial: Viewing and Rendering a Corridor

This tutorial demonstrates how to add surfaces to a corridor, create boundaries on the surfaces, and
then visualize the corridor using the AutoCAD rendering tools.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Managing and Editing
Corridors.

Topics in this section

 Exercise 1: Creating Corridor Surfaces

In this exercise, you will create Top, Datum, Pave, and Median surfaces from the corridor.
 Exercise 2: Creating Corridor Surface Boundaries
In this exercise, you will use two different methods to define surface boundaries for your
corridor design.
 Exercise 3: Visualizing a Corridor
In this exercise, you will visualize the corridor using the rendering and hatching features in
AutoCAD Civil 3D.

Exercise 1: Creating Corridor Surfaces

In this exercise, you will create Top, Datum, Pave, and Median surfaces from the corridor.

The Top surface tracks the finish grade of the roadway from the left daylight point to the right daylight
point on both paved and unpaved portions. This surface is used for finish grade modeling.

The Datum surface tracks the finish grade on unpaved portions, and also the subbase on paved
portions, going from the left daylight point to the right daylight point. This surface represents the
grading elevations before pavement materials are applied. This surface is used for calculating cut and
fill quantities.

The Pave surface defines the finished pavement on both travel lanes in the divided highway.

The Median surface defines the area between the travel lanes.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Creating and Editing
Corridor Surfaces.

Create a top corridor surface

1. Open Corridor-5a.dwg, which is available in the tutorial drawings folder.

2. In the drawing, select the corridor.

3. Click Corridor tab Modify Corridor panel Corridor Surfaces .

4. In the Corridor Surfaces dialog box, click Create A Corridor Surface to create an entry in the
surfaces table.
 5. Change the surface name to Corridor - (1) Top.

6. Click the Surface Style cell for the Corridor - (1) Top surface.

7. In the Pick Corridor Surface Style dialog box, select Border & Contours. Click OK.

8. Click the Render Material cell for the Corridor - (1) Top surface.

9. In the Pick Render Material dialog box, select Sitework.Paving - Surfacing. Asphalt. Click
OK.

10. Select the Corridor - (1) Top surface by clicking the icon next to its name.

11. Change the Overhang Correction setting to Top Links.

This setting specifies that the surface will be built using the links along the top of the assembly.
This setting is especially critical when an assembly has overlapping subassembly links that, if
connected, would result in errors in surface triangulation.

12. For Specify Code, select Top. Click Add Surface Item.
This action adds the corridor links with the Top code to this surface.

Create a datum corridor surface

1. Repeat the previous procedure to create a Datum surface, using these parameters:

 Name: Corridor - (1) Datum

 Surface Style: Hide Surface

 Render Material: Sitework.Planting.Soil

 Overhang Correction: Bottom Links

 Link Code: Datum

Create a pave corridor surface

1. Create a Pave surface, using these parameters:

 Name: Corridor - (1) Pave

 Surface Style: Border & Contours

 Render Material: Sitework.Paving - Surfacing Asphalt

 Overhang Correction: Top Links

 Link Code: Pave

Create a median corridor surface

1. Create a Median surface, using these parameters:

 Name: Corridor - (1) Median

 Surface Style: Border & Contours

 Render Material: Sitework.Planting.Gravel.Mixed

 Overhang Correction: Top Links

 Link Code: Gravel

Generate the surfaces and examine the results

1. Click OK to create the surfaces and close the Corridor Surfaces dialog box.

2. In Toolspace, on the Prospector tab, expand the Surfaces collection.

Notice that the corridor surfaces you created have been added to the Surfaces collection. You
can work with a corridor surface the same way you do with any surface in the Surfaces
collection, including changing its style, adding labels to it, and using it for surface analysis. The
following features and behaviors are unique to corridor surfaces:

 When you select a corridor surface, only the surface is selected. The corridor it is based on is
not selected.

 When you change the surface style of a corridor surface using its surface properties, the style
is also changed in the Corridor Properties dialog box on the Surfaces tab.

 When a corridor is rebuilt, corridor surfaces are updated to reflect any changes in the
corridor, and then any edits are applied to the corridor model.

 The corridor from which the surface was taken is listed in the surface properties definition.

To continue this tutorial, go to Exercise 2: Creating Corridor Surface Boundaries.

Exercise 2: Creating Corridor Surface Boundaries

In this exercise, you will use two different methods to define surface boundaries for your corridor
design.

Use corridor surface boundaries to prevent triangulation outside of the daylight lines of a corridor
surface. You may also use boundaries to either prevent an area of a surface from being displayed or to
render an area of the corridor surface using a render material.

Corridor surfaces support the following types of boundaries:

 Outside Boundary — Used to define the outer boundary of the corridor surface.

 Hide Boundary — Used as a mask to create void areas or punch holes in the corridor surface.
For example, a corridor might use a link code Paved either side of the corridor with another
surface (a median), separating them. When you create a corridor surface using Paved as the
data, AutoCAD Civil 3D tries to connect the gap in between two link codes. To create voids, you
define boundaries to represent the surface appropriately.

 Render Only — Used to represent different parts of corridor surface with different materials
(when rendering), for example, asphalt and grass.
Note A Corridor Extents As Outer Boundary command is available for corridors that have multiple
baselines, such as a corridor at an intersection.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Adding and Editing Corridor
Boundaries.

This exercise continues from Exercise 1: Creating Corridor Surfaces.

Create outside boundaries automatically

1. Open Corridor-5b.dwg, which is available in the tutorial drawings folder.

 2. In the drawing, select the corridor.

Tip If you have difficulty selecting the corridor in the drawing, go to Toolspace on the
Prospector tab. Expand the Corridors collection. Right-click the corridor name and click Select.

3. Click Corridor tab Modify Corridor panel Corridor Surfaces .

4. In the Corridor Surfaces dialog box, click the Boundaries tab.

Four corridor surfaces are displayed in the boundary table.

5. Select the Corridor - (1) Top surface. Right-click. Click Add Automatically Daylight.
This creates a boundary from the daylight lines that are generated from the daylight point
codes in the subassembly.
Note A Corridor Extents As Outer Boundary command is available for corridors that have
multiple baselines, such as a corridor at an intersection.

6. Select the Corridor - (1) Datum surface. Right-click. Click Add Automatically Daylight.

7. For both boundaries, make sure the Use Type is set to Outside Boundary.
The daylight line in the corridor model is created at the points where the design surface
matches the existing ground on each side. By selecting Outside Boundary, the surface will be
clipped outside the boundary formed by the left and right daylight lines.

8. Click OK.
The new boundaries are added to the Corridor - (1) Top and Corridor- (1) Datum surfaces. The
corridor model is regenerated and the surfaces are rebuilt.
These surface boundaries are defined by a pair of feature lines. When there are more than two
of a given type of feature lines, then you must use the interactive method to use them to define
a boundary.
For example, you were able to automatically create a surface boundary for the daylight region
because there is a single pair of Daylight feature lines that define the daylight edges of the
corridor assembly.
By contrast, the assembly has two lanes, each of which are defined by its own pair of EPS
feature lines. In this case, you must define the boundary interactively.

Create a pave outside boundary interactively

This boundary will define the outside edges of both lanes by using the lanes’ outer EPS feature lines.
This will be an outside boundary to define the outside edges of the Corridor - (1) Pave surface.

1. Click View tab Views panel Named Views list Corridor_Begin.

The drawing is redrawn to a zoomed-in view of the starting area of Corridor (1).

2. In the drawing, select the corridor.

3. Click Corridor tab Modify Corridor panel Corridor Surfaces .

4. In the Corridor Surfaces dialog box, on the Boundaries tab, select the Corridor - (1) Pave
surface. Right-click. Click Add Interactively.

5. In the drawing, select the feature line along the left-inside edge of the paved shoulder within
circle 3.

6. Since there are multiple feature lines at this location, the Select A Feature Line dialog box is
displayed. Select EPS. Click OK.

7. Pan to the other end of the corridor. Notice that a red line appears along the first feature line
you selected.

8. Select the feature line in circle 10.

 9. In the Select A Feature Line dialog box, select EPS. Click OK.

10. Pan to the beginning of the corridor, and select the feature line along right-inside edge of paved
shoulder within circle 4.

11. On the command line, enter C to close the boundary.

12. In the Corridor Surfaces dialog box, expand the Corridor (1) – Pave surface collection item to
see the boundary item. Change the corridor boundary name to Pave Outside and set its Use
Type to Outside Boundary.

Create a hide boundary interactively

This boundary will define the inside edges of both lanes by using the lanes’ inner EPS feature lines.
This will be a hide boundary and will act as a mask over the median area of the Corridor - (1) Pave
surface.

1. In the Corridor Surfaces dialog box, on the Boundaries tab, select the Corridor - (1) Pave
surface. Right-click. Click Add Interactively

2. Repeat the previous procedure to define the inside boundary of the paved region:

 Click in circle 1 and select EPS to define the left-outside edge of the paved shoulder.

 Click in circle 8 and select EPS to define the left-outside edge of the paved shoulder.

 Click in circle 2.

 On the command line, enter C to close the boundary.

 Change the name of the boundary to Pave Inside.

 Change the Use Type to Hide Boundary.

Create a median outside boundary interactively

This boundary will define the outside edges of the median area using the lanes’ inner EPS feature
lines. This will be an outside boundary to define the outside edges of the Corridor - (1) Median
surface.

1. In the Corridor Surfaces dialog box, on the Boundaries tab, select the Corridor - (1) Median
surface. Right-click and click Add Interactively

2. Define the outside boundary of the median:

 Click in circle 1 and select EPS to define the left-outside edge of the paved shoulder.

 Click in circle 8 and select EPS to define the left-outside edge of the paved shoulder.

 Click in circle 2.

 On the command line, enter C to close the boundary.

 Change the name of the boundary to Median.

 Change the Use Type to Outside Boundary.

3. Click OK to create the boundaries and close the Corridor Properties dialog box.

To continue this tutorial, go to Exercise 3: Visualizing a Corridor.

Exercise 3: Visualizing a Corridor

In this exercise, you will visualize the corridor using the rendering and hatching features in AutoCAD
Civil 3D.

Rendering a corridor requires that you assign an AutoCAD render material to each of the appropriate
subassembly links. Rendering produces a realistic image of the corridor that is useful for on-screen
presentations.

Applying hatching to a corridor requires that you apply a material area fill style to each of the
appropriate subassembly links. Hatching produces a less realistic image of the surface than rendering,
but hatching prints easily through AutoCAD.

For more information, see the AutoCAD Civil 3D Help topic Rendering Corridor Models.

This exercise continues from Exercise 2: Creating Corridor Surface Boundaries.

Apply 3D render materials to a corridor

1. Open Corridor-5c.dwg, which is available in the tutorial drawings folder.

2. In the drawing, select the corridor.

Tip If you have difficulty selecting the corridor in the drawing, go to the Toolspace Prospector
tab. Expand the Corridors collection. Right-click the corridor name and click Select.

First, you will apply render materials to the corridor link codes.

3. Click Corridor tab Modify Corridor panel drop-down Edit Code Set Styles.

4. On the Edit Code Sets dialog box, under Code Set Style, make sure that All Codes is selected.
In the Render Material column, examine the materials that are set for the links that are
included in the subassemblies for the current corridor. These materials will be displayed on each
link when you render the corridor model:

 Daylight_Cut: Sitework.Planting.Grass.Short

 Daylight_Fill: Sitework.Planting.Grass.Short

 Ditch: Sitework.Planting.Grass.Thick

 Gravel: Sitework.Planting.Gravel.Mixed

 Median: Sitework.Planting.Grass.Short

 Pave: Sitework.Paving - Surfacing.Asphalt

 Slope_Link: Sitework.Planting.Grass.Short

5. Click OK.

Hide and render corridor surfaces

1. Click View tab Views panel Named Views list Corridor_3D View.
The drawing is redrawn to a three-dimensional view of the corridor.

2. In Toolspace, on the Prospector tab, expand the Surfaces collection.

 3. Right-click the Corridor - (1) Median surface. Click Surface Properties.

4. In the Surface Properties dialog box, on the Information tab, change the Surface Style to Hide
Surface. Click OK.
The Hide Surface style has all of its components turned off, which allows the surface’s render
material to be effectively ignored. The rendering method used in this exercise applies render
materials that are assigned to the subassembly link codes, and not the surface itself.

5. Follow steps 2 and 3 to apply the Hide Surface style to the Corridor - (1) Pave and Corridor
- (1) Top surfaces.

NoteThe Corridor - (1) Datum surface already uses the Hide Surface style.

6. On the command line, enter RENDER to render the corridor in 3D using the render materials
that are applied to the subassembly links.

Next, you will view 2D hatch patterns on the corridor by applying shape styles to the
appropriate subassembly links.

Apply 2D hatching to the corridor model

1. Click View tab Views panel Named Views list Corridor_All.

The drawing is redrawn to plan view.

2. In the drawing, select the corridor.

3. Click Corridor tab Modify Corridor panel drop-down Edit Code Set Styles.

4. On the Edit Code Sets dialog box, under Code Set Style, select All Codes With Hatching.
In the Material Area Fill Style column, notice that a fill has been applied to each of the
subassembly links that you examined in the previous procedure. However, notice that
Slope_Link does not have a Material Area Fill Style associated with it. In the next few steps, you
will apply a style by modifying the code set style.

5. Click Edit Current Selection.

Note You can also open the Code Set Style dialog box from Toolspace on the Settings tab.
Expand General Multipurpose Styles Code Set Styles. Right-click the appropriate code set
style and click Edit.

6. In the Code Set Style dialog box, on the Codes tab, under Link, in the Slope_Link row, set the
Material Area Fill Style to Strip Hatch.

7. Click OK twice.
The material area fill styles are applied to the 2D corridor model. Zoom in on the beginning of
the corridor to examine the hatch patterns.