Drawing a cross section 1

[ChadPoehland]

I have AutoCAD 2005 and I need to design cross sections of rockery walls. My question is: Does the regular old AutoCAD 2005 have that capibility, and if so how? If not, what program do I need in order to do so?

We get sent grading plans on a regular basis and an engineer here wants me to start doing cross sections thru the rockery walls in order to see the slopes, elevations, and so forth. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[francesca]

No, regular AutoCAD doesn't have that capability. I think you need LDD for that, but I could be mistaken as I've never used AutoCAD extensions.

If there aren't too many, you could draw the x-sections by hand.

 

[ChadPoehland]

Well, there are tons of them, so to do them manually is out of the question. So, even if I did have LDD, would I be able to just draw a line thru the wall and AutoCAD would draw the cross section for me? Or does the original grading plan need to be set up in a way for that to be possible? (Im assuming z elevations need to be assigned)

 

[francesca]

I have never used LDD, so I can't comment on its capabilities. However, in the other packages I've used, with the x-section tool included, you can convert contour lines to a DTM (as long as they have elevations set for them) and then yes, you draw a line and it draws the cross-section. It's preferable to have the original DTM that the contour lines were drawn off, but if you don't have that you can get by with one generated off the contours.

 

[cvg]

LDD can do what you ask. be careful with vertical (or nearly vertical) walls or any steep slopes, contour maps probably will not be sufficient to accurately create cross sections. you also need breaklines for tops and toes of all walls and slopes.

 

[BelspringKen]

LDD will do the sections. You have to be careful - LDD does not like crossing breaklines or breaklines of different elevation crossing. You may have to make the breaklines for the top and toe of the wall slightly off of being vertical so the software will cut the sections.

 

[LHA]

Years ago, in a pinch, I forced regular ACAD to do profiles, using 3d plines and 3d rotate, but it was a hassle, and I forget how I did it (just tried, couldn't LDD has me spoiled).

But I know I did it. Read Help for 3d rotate command.

Engineering is the practice of the art of science - Steve

 

[BigH]

I'm sorry to be so cavalier, but have you ever thought about getting a nice roll of graph paper, the old engineer's scale, a few set squares, a pencil? Not to difficult to do - you get a good appreciation of what goes into drawing cross sections - you can always digitize the final one. Probably would take less than 15 mintues to do a section - lot less than turning on the computer, etc.
p.s., I am not fuddy-duddy to not realize that computers are great - saved my butt on determining quantities of a road curve straighening - but I had sketched in the alignment and estimated toes by hand - then gave it to the surveyor to pretty it up.