1. 

   clanka
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   We are working on a subdivion project in C3D 2009 where we setup the job (in our opinion) how Autodesk recommends, separating out C3D objects into separate drawings for each of the following:

   1. Subdivision Layout (3MB)
   2. Street Alignments & Profiles (3MB)
   3. Corridor Modeling (4.5MB)
   4. Storm Sewer Alignments & Profiles (1.5MB)
   5. Sanitary Sewer Alignments & Profiles (1.5MB)

   We then utilized Data Shortcuts to reference any necessary information into our Plan Sheets. That being said, opening up one of the Plan & Profile sheets, which XREF in a majority of the information and DREF in alignment information only, takes approximately 7 minutes to open.

   We thought it might be a network issue, so we copied a job directory over to a workstation, repathed all XREF and Data Shortcuts and the Plan & Profile sheet still took 5 minutes to open.

   Our machines are:

   Dell Precision 380
   Pentium D 3.2GHz
   3.0 GB RAM
   NVidia GEForce 9600GT

   My question is, is this typical for this type of setup? Because it is killing our productiviy when we have to wait 7 minutes each time we need to get into a P&P sheet. Any help would be much appreciated.

2. 

   Matthew Anderson, PE CFM
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   those times are a bit slow. I don't think I have had any drawing take that long to open.

   Are you using Xref clipping at all? What kind of information do you have attached to the Plan Profile sheet?

3. 

   clanka
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   We use XREF clipping on one of the drawings (Existing baseplan). Clipped just because it contains much more information than is needed for this subdivision (part of a 1500-ac master planned development). Information attached to P&P sheet:

   XREFs:
   Existing BP (clipped)
   Layout BP (4 total - Phases 1-4)
   Alignment & Profile BP
   Utility BP (4 total - Phases 1-4)
   Sanitary BP (1 total)

   Data Shortcuts:
   Alignments (1-2 typical)

4. 

   Matthew Anderson, PE CFM
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   where are your Civil 3d labels? In this PP sheet? or on the Alignment and Profile sheet?

   How clean are your base plans? Ie, do you have design annotation in them?

   As for the machine, a Pentium D machine is rather old. (don't worry, I am running at the office similiarlly aged machines) For large file sizes, you need to run both fasthard drives on server, locally and a suitablly sizable network connection.

   For the regening of those labels, a newer machine would just outclass the Pentium D... I wish I had the budget to replace mine at this point too!

5. 

   clanka
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   Matthey,
   First off, thanks for your input on this. Forgot to mention that last time. As for your questions...

   Alignment labels & structure lables are in the P&P sheets. There are also some in the XREFs that are not displayed in the sheets (for design purposes). Profile labels are all in XREFs.

   Baseplans do have design annotation, e.g. alignment labels, parcel labels, & some structure labels.

   While the network does slow it down, it doesn't appear to be the only problem (drawings still taking 5 minutes to open when project copied to machine). Local hard drive is 7200rpm.

   One thing I have noticed is that every time an XREF loads, any surface that is referenced into the XREF loads as well, even though it is not referenced into the P&P drawing. That doesn't seem to make any sense to me as to why it would load if it isn't DREF'd into the drawing I am working in.

6. 

   mspatz
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   You probably have your EG and FG surface data referenced into multiple base files. Do you have them set to a "No Display" style so they are not duplicated and slowing down the entire project. One surface can become 5 very fast if you don't pay attention.

   Also, do you have your points in a "No Display" point group? Or a "Symbols Only" point group. Points can also getcha the same way.

   Last but not least, Pipe Networks. Watch how many base files those are data referenced into as well. Typically folks need to data reference pipes to show the crossings in different files or on x-sections but you need to set the plan view component of the style to not show or you have that duplication.

   All this can add up and greatly slow down your plan sheets. Also, a good rule of thumb is to avoid putting C3D text in base files all togehter.

7. 

   clanka
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   The surfaces are referenced into multiple files, but all are set on a "No display" style. That being said, when I open a P&P sheet I can see that it loads the surface from the XREF. Nothing shows up (contours, tin lines, etc.) and the surface can't be used for anything until I DREF it in. Also, because the surfaces are DREF'd into multiple Baseplans, they load with each XREF. I guess I don't understand why the XREF command is loads the surface, even though it can't be used for anything.

   As for points, we only have points in one BP, which is XREF'd into only a couple P&P sheets. I can be sure that this isn't the issue.

   Pipe Networks - We aren't completely comfortable with Pipe Networks as of yet and for that reason we really don't use them. That being said, we created a "Dummy" pipe network which is only used to provide callouts for Sanitary structures on the P&P sheets. This network is referenced into the Sanitary P&P sheets but not the Street P&P's. Because both sets of P&P sheets take approximately the same time to open (street plan may actually take longer), I am fairly sure this also isn't the problem.

   C3D text - we have alignment labels and profile labels in the baseplan. Alignment labels are frozen in the P&P sheets as the alignment is DREF'd in and labels are added. All profile work is done in the baseplan - no labels are done in the sheets. This is for ease of design when working with profiles, as opposed to having to open a different sheet for each profile view.

8. 

   Matthew Anderson, PE CFM
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   The surface is needed for the surface profile, which you indicate is in an XREF. I might suggest testing this out, but copy a PP sheet and freeze all the xref dependant layers that your surface objects would reside on. In fact, any layer you have off in your viewport, freeze it in model space.

9. 

   clanka
   Member
   Posted 1 year ago #
   

   We isolated the issue down to the fact that we had six XREF's that all had reference to the existing surface. We reconfigured our setup to where we now only have one XREF that loads the surface and it has reduced our "Open time" to 1:30... not ideal but a great improvement over the 7+ minutes it was taking before. Thanks for all your help.

   CPL

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