Sheet Views
Overview
ASE Civil's Sheet Views system uses AutoCAD Floating Viewports to create a view of the finished profiles drawing that has been referenced into the improvement plan sheet.
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Sheet View Assembly
The slideshow below provides a high-level description of the process used when leveraging ASE Civil's Sheet View assemblies to display road profile designs and underground utilities.
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Editing & Management
ASE's "SV" ribbon tabs provide tools that make working with Sheet View assemblies easy:
Control Options
The adjustment options in the Sheet Views menu makes changes to the positions of the individual profile elements, as viewed from their associated Viewports. These adjustments do not affect the profile drawing itself, but only how it is viewed on the improvement plan sheet.
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Limits Adjustment
Move and/or resize the entire assembly to any location on the sheet.
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Stations
Display any available range of stationing using large-scale or incremental adjustment tools.
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Elevations
Incremental adjustments allow individual vertical movement of any given offset components, separate from the others, to accommodate better fit & legibility.
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Grids
Profile grid properties such as graduation or horizontal/vertical incremental repositioning to align with elevations when profile components have been adjusted.
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Partitions
The vertical column of space between each alignment's profile view maybe be adjusted to the left or right to increase the horizontal span of one alignment while decreasing the horizontal span of the adjacent alignment's profile.
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Utility Break-lines
When underground utilities, such as water, sewer or storm drains are shown within an ASE-generated road profile, Sheet View assemblies provide a means of visibly-breaking the manholes in profile. This allows the pipe (in profile) to be adjusted up or down to accommodate legibility. The vertical position & the angle of the break-line may also be adjusted to match the general grade of the profile and ensure all elements of the profile are visible.
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View Formatting
Each Sheet View type may show the content within the related profile reference in one of 3 ways:
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Paving ~ Shows only the existing and finished road profile output
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Pipes ~ Only underground utilities are shown (There is an option to show FG centerline with this format)
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Composite ~ All available road profiles & utility profiles are will appear in the view
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Layers
There is no automation for this. However, ASE Civil will not change the layer colors of Sheet View assembly elements once it has been placed on the sheet.
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Save
After a type of Sheet View has been customized on a sheet, the setup may be saved for reuse in other drawings attached to the same ASE Civil project.
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Delete
Deleting a Sheet View assembly removes all elements of the assembly from the improvement plan sheet.
Finished profile output for each alignment is created from work done inside the vertical design drawing. After being shared to the ASE project, finished profiles can be created & managed in a separate drawing file.
After editing is complete, ASE profiles should be overlaid before being referenced into an improvement plan sheet.
With one click, ASE Civil builds a complex arrangement of floating viewports. The collections are pre-configured to work with the selected type of Sheet View assembly. Use the ribbon commands to (logically) adjust any individual element of the assembly.
Finished profile output for each alignment is created from work done inside the vertical design drawing. After being shared to the ASE project, finished profiles can be created & managed in a separate drawing file.
Restrictions
Before a Sheet View can be created, the limitations listed in this section must be adhered to.
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Supports Paper Space Only
ASE Civil's Sheet Views system is designed to work exclusively in a paper Space environment, utilizing floating Viewports that display external models referenced into Model Space.
There are no workarounds that will enable the system to function within Model Space.
Warning
Attempting to do any of the following may result in problems:
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Forcing Viewports into Model Space by insertion/paste will likely corrupt your drawing.
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Opening any Sheet View assembly component directly will corrupt the component. (These are a portion of the drawing files stored in the install folder)
In fact, any attempt to modify the system's components in the ways described may even corrupt your AutoCAD user profile.
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1 Layout Tab (Maximum)
The improvement sheet must contain a single PaperSpace layout tab. This means only 1 page of the improvement plan set may exist in a single drawing. Keep in mind that multiple alignments may still be displayed on a single plan sheet, if desired.
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Note: We do understand that ASE Civil's plan assembly method conflicts with the way some engineers have traditionally compiled their projects. However you'll find that overall productivity will increase significantly by using ASE Civil's Sheet Views system to display your finished road profiles and utilities versus other approaches.
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Empty Space Reserved for Sheet View
The profile region of the plan sheet should not contain any viewports. However, there can be exceptions.
The "Profile Region" is the area dedicated to the display of the finished design profile information.
If viewports are already present in that space, they will likely cause interference with the information ASE Civil will place there when the Sheet View assembly is generated.
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Note: Plotted improvement plan sheets are independent from ASE Civil until they receive a Sheet View assembly. This separation allows these elements of the project be setup at any time during the project.
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Non-ASE Viewports Must Be Managed
The improvement plan may contain other Viewports not managed by ASE Civil when the Sheet View assembly is initially created.
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Adjustment Errors
Adding or removing Viewports after the Sheet View assembly is in place, will always trigger unpredictable behavior when attempting to make adjustments to ASE Civil's Sheet View assembly.
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Workaround
This can be easily resolved by deleting then recreating the Sheet View assembly. The workaround must be applied anytime non-ASE Viewports are added or removed from the drawing after Sheet Views have been placed.
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Paper Space Printing Limits Must Exist
The project title block, or some reasonable facsimile having similar dimensions, must be inserted, attached or otherwise created or placed within the dedicated Paper Space Layout tab of the plotted improvement sheet.
Before creating a Sheet View assembly, ASE Civil needs to validate the drawing extents of Paper Space. A title block or Polyline rectangle or 2 diametrically-opposed nodes or any variety of AutoCAD objects, other than a title block, maybe be used to define the printing limits of the Layout tab.
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No Objects Outside Printing Limits
The plan sheet must not contain "junk" or extra objects outside the Paper Space plotting extents.
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Any extraneous objects outside the edge of the title block must be either deleted or frozen before creating or managing an ASE Civil Sheet View assembly. The presence of these objects will affect ASE's ability to properly place the Sheet View assembly within the target area.
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Note: After a Sheet View assembly is created, it may be moved to any location in Paper Space using ASE Civil's command options. The target placement area must measure to within 30% of the size of the original assembly.
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Layout Size Dimensions
The plotting limits of the PaperSpace Layout tab should measure approximately 36" x 24".
These are not hard limits. The dimension may vary up to about +/- 25%.h
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2 Supported Scales
ASE Civil Sheet Views may only be used for 20-scale or 40-scale applications.
3-road Sheet View configuration is only available for 40-scale plan sheets.
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Configurations
ASE Civil's Sheet Views provide 6 profile configurations at 20 & 40 scale. One of those 6 will only support 40-scale improvement plans.
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Menus
The Sheet View menus contain all the commands necessary for creating & managing Sheet Views on improvement plans.
Plan Ahead
Know in-advance what type of Sheet View configuration is required. Once it has been identified (usually in accord with the plan-view, which may already be setup) it's important to use the menu that supports the configuration that applies to a given improvement sheet.
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Naming Conventions
Abbreviations, Ribbon Tab Names
"SV" : Sheet View, usually prefixes contextually-relevant UIX elements
"L1" : Local road, 1 per sheet
"L2" : Local road, 2 per sheet, each occupies 1/2 the profile grid area
"L3" : Local road, 3 per sheet, each occupies 1/3 the profile grid area
"LS" : Local road, 1 per sheet, vertically-split, independent elevation ranges & vertical adjustment controls
"D1" : Divided road, 1 per sheet, usually roads with medians.
"DS" : Divided road, 1 per sheet, vertically-split-views, independent elevation ranges & controls
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View Selection
Identify the Right View
When choosing an assembly, the plan sheet considerations are:
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Road Classification
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Number of independent roads to show on the sheet
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Vertical Relief
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Road Classifications
ASE Civil currently references 2 roadway types:
Local Roads (No Medians)
Sheet View assembly names containing a capital "L" are for local roads only:
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[svL1]
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[svLS]
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[svL2]
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[svL3]
ASE Civil's Sheet Views will display separate stacked profiles for the L1, CL, and R1 components.
Divided Roads (With Medians)
Sheet View assembly names containing a capital "D" are for divided roads only:
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[svD1]
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[svDS]
ASE Civil's Sheet Views will display separate stacked profiles for the L2, L1, R1, and R2 components.
The centerline profile is not displayed exclusively in divided road-type configurations.
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Number of Roads on the Sheet
Sheet View menu names indicate the number of roadways that will be displayed in the new Sheet View configuration:
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[svL1] = 1 road
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[svL2] = 2 roads
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[svL3] = 3 roads
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Vertical Relief
ASE Civil Sheet View assemblies include vertically-split versions of 2 primary configurations to support steep roadway conditions:
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[svLS] : Creates a "Local - 1" configuration with a laterally-adjustable vertical split line.
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[svDS] : Creates a "Divided- 1" configuration with a laterally-adjustable vertical split line.
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Creating a View
The sequence for creating a new Sheet View assembly is identical for each configuration, with minor differences. A designer can open an improvement sheet and use the Sheet View menu to:
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Attach the profile drawing(s)
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Create the Sheet View assembly
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Adjust the visible station & elevation ranges
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Format the Sheet View assembly & fine-tuning the appearance
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Procedure
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Open improvement plan sheet
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Ensure Sheet View Restrictions have been satisfied​
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Check or set the ASE Project Data Folder
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Select the appropriate ASE Sheet View tab for the desired layout on your improvement sheet
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Using ASE Sheet View UiX, attach profile drawing(s)
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Using ASE Sheet View UiX, create the desired Sheet View assembly
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Result
The new Sheet View assembly is created in its saved format and style. The various profile components will be visible with vertical separation for final presentation.
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Adjust the View
Adjust the appearance of the Sheet View as well as the positions of the profile stations and elevations as-needed.
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Notes
[1] _