Hi all,
We are happy to inform you all that we are making this tool available to all Subscription Customers and Partners, without extra cost.
It will be available on Subscription Center from 08.00am EDT (13.00 CET) on Thursday the 7:th (According to plan. Change to that might occur, but hopefully not)
Some of you might have downloaded it from Autodesk LABS where it has been for some time. Maybe even used it?
So what is it? It is a standalone program where you can design you own Subassemblies to match your local needs. Custom parameters all the way. You don't have to be a seriously hardcore programmer doing .NET programming. This is a pretty straightforward tool to use, and it doesn't take more than a few hours to get started.
With this tool you can build subassemblies with almost any form, shape or link you want. Connected to various targets set in the Corridor etc. It could be a specific kind of road lane, custom ditches, curbstones, medians, noise barriers etc. It is also possible to design various "non-road" objects that might be used to create custom 3D-shapes for visual presentations.
I know the below info might be a bit “much”, and there are a lot of screen grabs, but I wanted to give you all a deep look in to this already today…
You can add custom codes, decision points and much more. After you have created your own subassembly you save it as a .pkt-file This file can then be imported in to the ToolPalette in Civil 3D straigth away. I have personally created a handful of samples to fit needs in my region and I will adjust them slightly before I send them out.
This is what it looks like (below). Adjustable views presenting a Tool Box to the left, a Flowchart/Layout view, Properties window, an interactive graphical preview and an Input/Output parameters window.

Tool Box below. Just simply drag/drop the tool you want to use into the Flow chart.

If you select an object in the Flowchart or Preview it is automatically highlighted in the other views.

The preview window can show codes (on/off)

You can embed user definable codes to be used/changed from within Civil 3D

There can be more detailed explanations used in the UI, including a description.

To avoid “cluttered” Flowchart it is possible to “group” things to stay organised. Otherwise it is easy to have something that might get “out of hand”.

A more organised view below.

There are several ways to use decision points, or even more advanced things like the “Switches”. Below is a small sample where an “auxillary point (AP2) is placed at a certain place in the section. Then the decision checks whether it is above or below ground.

Switches allow users to get a different result depending on the current result. Meaning you could draw a specific ditch or curb stone depending on what width the lane has etc.
(It doesn’t matter which grip marker you connect to on the symbols)

If you are using “Targeting” for your subassemblies you can move the target in the preview window by simply click and drag it. The section/subassembly is then updated instantly.

The preview window can be set to show “Layout mode” or “Roadway mode”. Layout mode below.

Roadway mode below.

WIKI
There is a separate WIKI-page which has very valuable information. Please read it and look up what parameters you might use. Very helpful.

Samples:





Screenshots “stolen” from my colleague Peter Funk:



// Ove C