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posted 10/24/06 by Anthony Governanti Peter Funk strikes again

For those of you that don't know who he is, Peter, among other things, is the newest Product Manager for Civil 3D. He has a programming background, and before the recent switch to his current title, was the API Product Manager for Civil 3D. Anyway, he's too smart for his own good sometimes, but it's great for us, because we can reap the rewards.

This tip is solely Peter's doing, and I can neither confirm nor deny any of the credit!

Displaying cut/fill labels with appropriate colors.


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Here is the end result of this tip. Note that the cut volume labels are red, and the fills are green, and they are each inserted on a grid.

Here is how to do it:
1. Create a volume surface that represents the two surfaces you are comparing

2. Create an expression for Surface Spot Elevation labels
- Name it "Negative Value"
- Use this expression; -1 * {Surface Elevation}


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This expression will take a value, and multiply it by negative one, changing a positive integer into a negative one, or for this case, taking a negative and turning it into a positive. The ole double negative trick!

3. Create a new Surface label style for Spot Elevation Called "Cut Fill"

- Rename the label Component to "fill"
- Change its color to Green
- Modify the Surface Elevation label component
- Edit the text component and change the Sign Modifier to "Hide Negative Value"


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4. Make a new component for the Cut value
- Copy the Fill text component
- Rename to Cut
- Change the color to Red
- Edit the Text Component, and replace with the Negative Value expression
- Change the Sign Modifier to "Hide Negative Value"


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Now add Surface labels to the Volume surface on a grid, using the Cut Fill style. All the spot elevation in a cut area (the negative values from the volume surface) will be labeled with the Red label, and all the spot elevations with a fill area (where the volume surface is positive) will label with the green text. Because we chose to hide the negative values, and we used an expression to turn a negative into a positive (the cut), it automatically display the appropriate spot elevation.


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Pretty cool huh? Thank You Peter!

I've added a drawing with the expression and label style to the community site here.

I removed the file here so that you can get it from the content sharing section of the community. If you aren't a member yet, please go here to sign up.

Till next time,
Cheers,
AG

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