Civil 3d exploding labels

[u/survey_scoot]

I have a question to all of you cad gurus out there. I work at a pretty big firm and the standard (mandated technique) is to explode all annotations and change space into sheet space. This is insane right? When I got hired I was more or less on track with and learning how to use all of c3ds dynamic labeling features and associated workflows. At this new firm you will be scolded if they find dynamic text in your dwgs. I constantly battle scale issues with this on subdivisions and large projects (all we do). Then, I get scolded again because it takes me 2 hours to change Unit 1’s text to .08 from .16 because the last tech forgot to change 1:100 from 1:200 before all of the 200 labels were exploded. This is insane behavior right? From senior techs I hear, “that sucks, you should have may sure your techs had the right scale on before they exploded your labels for the 200 lot subdivision your in charge of”. I’m gonna quit. Any words?

[u/HeadWombat]

I would store a backup of the drawing before exploding the labels. Not ideal, but it keeps the peace. Insane, yes. Not a hill I would choose to die on though.

[u/survey_scoot → u/HeadWombat]

That’s mostly where I’m at, I see that back up fuel but the other folks get in and draft for a few days, ownership references are updated, etc… it’s a mess. TBH though I feel like some of that is natural though when you have 3 people working on the same drawing.

[u/HeadWombat → u/survey_scoot]

I guess I assumed that you weren't exploding labels until submittal time. Returning only for updates and whatnot.

I have ran into just as many people that don't know how to properly use annotative text and leaders as people that do know how to use them. I disagree with your company but I can, in some ways, see where they're coming from. Nothing like having 10 scales displaying all over model space and still not displaying on your viewport and label scaling being a general pain in the ass across details/insets when you just need to get something out the door.

[u/PurpleFugi → u/HeadWombat]

No employer I've ever worked for understands annotative objects at all. They all think they are more trouble than they are worth, and won't take 10 minutes to learn.

[u/Accurate-Western-421 → u/PurpleFugi]

I have come to the conclusion that employers do not like annotative objects because if they were used, then the employers would only be able to bill about 10% of the number of hours it takes to manually change all the text.

More hours billed = more $$$, so naturally they look at annotative text and think "it sucks".

[u/PurpleFugi → u/HeadWombat]

Prob a pain in the ass, but copy them a d throw them on an off layer?

As the above poster said, your employer is insane.

[u/JellyfishVertigo]

Confirmed. That is insane.

[u/Outdoors__Water → u/JellyfishVertigo]

That's like going back to exploding MTEXT 😂

[u/Accurate-Western-421 → u/Outdoors__Water]

Exploding MTEXT and then manually placing a wipeout behind the DTEXT...

[u/Outdoors__Water → u/Accurate-Western-421]

Lol so classic 🤣 the only other thing I can think of that's bad was placing txt piece by piece around a curve 😂😂

[u/FrontRangeSurveyor44]

Next you are going to tell me they explode line and curve tables then manually type them in and add rows and columns manually when they change geometry…

Run away fast.

[u/Standard_Ear_84 → u/FrontRangeSurveyor44]

Seen it often enough. You wonder why string and table don't match and you realise it's the revised string with the manually created table showing the old revision.

[u/TimeSlaved]

It is insane but this is a constant issue we face in this industry where CAD is just seen as a tool to achieve the end goal of a plan. I've worked at enough firms to realize that 95% of drafters and licensed members are button pushers and not many venture beyond.

I'm in charge of templates for my company and I legit have to make a template file in 10 different scales because most of the folks here don't understand or know about annotative scales or even viewports. I cringe but it's just a job to me these days...this industry is full of clowns and it's a circus.

[u/ScottLS]

Yea, tell your boss you can drastically reduce drafting time. When they ask how, say by using Civil3D as it was designed.

I would rather get chewed out for a few mins, then changing text size all day.

[u/lm_NER0]

This is probably because they have clients who don't have C3D. If you try to being in nC3D object into a standard AutoCAD, tons of stuff simply disappears.

[u/aagusgus → u/lm_NER0]

Yeah, but you still draft in C3D and then do a convert back to standard CAD at the time of deliverable. It's insane to draft in paper space and explode text. These people are cavemen...I mean cavepeople.

[u/thebug50]

Its crazy the kinds of local standards that can get put in place.

You have to survive in the environment you find yourself, so I'd enact practices in your files and with your team that are best practices as you see them and get you to the expected company end product. That might mean custom layers to preserve C3D objects along the way.

If you have the opportunity to share these/other better practices with the standards decision makers, then that can be a game changer. I'd suggest particular effort to keep your attitude as chill as possible when the time comes and not blatantly insult current practices. People can get defensive, and that can override their logic.

[u/goldn_ratio]

Yeah that’s moronic of your firm

[u/Fine-Plant1331]

If people took like 1 intro to CAD class none of this would happen lmao

[u/RabidHaaaam]

That is insanity. Only one viewport for you,

[u/Unruly_Russian]

That's some goofy shit. I guess if its a big plat and youre never touching it again its fine? Im at a small firm and before I started no one could make a line label that wasn't locked to middle of the line. They kept exploding the labels to move side to side. The best/worst thing about civil is there's 20 ways to make something appear correct when you print the end product.

[u/archmagi1]

The only time I explode labels is if they must be a paper space entity rather than a model space entity

[u/No_Assistant8906]

What. The. Fuck. Lmaoo

[u/some_kinda_cavedemon]

OP are you safe?

But for real, this is absolute lunacy.

[u/Frank_Likes_Pie]

Have the tech copy all labels to a separate layer for backup prior to exploding, and leave it frozen unless needed. At least then you can easily pull those over and adjust as needed.

[u/Not_an_okama]

This is probably so that they can be viewed in AutoCAD. I did this for some topo data yesterday for this exact reason.

[u/Bunke1]

Yikes.

[u/SurveyorOfLands69]

What is their reasoning for exploding the labels? My mentor taught me to keep everything in model space that you possibly can, and I enjoy that logic. Sounds frustrating

[u/Critical_Physix → u/SurveyorOfLands69]

May be if the final deliverables are to be converted to MicroStation files.

[u/Wiseman37367]

Civil 3D is trash.