Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
One of the best features of the ribbon is its ability to respond to what you select
in the drawing area. For example, if you click a Civil 3D alignment, the ribbon
changes and serves up alignment-related commands on a special tab. The same is
true for surfaces, parcels, and so on. These special tabs are referred to as
contextual
ribbon tabs
. They are a huge help when you're first learning Civil 3D and a huge
time-saver even after you've become a master.
Exercise 1.2: use the Ribbon
to launch Commands
In this exercise, you will familiarize yourself with the ribbon's tabs and panels.
If you have continued from the previous exercise, you can skip to step 2.
Otherwise, if you haven't already done so, go to the topic's web page at
www.sybex
.com/go/civil3d2015essentials
a
nd download the files for Chapter 1. Unzip the
files to the correct location on your hard drive according to the instructions in
the introduction. Then, follow these steps:
1.
Launch Civil 3D 2015, and open the file named
User Interface.dwg
.
2.
Click the Home tab of the ribbon to bring it to the forefront (it may be
there already).
◀
The Home tab is
designed to contain
your most heavily used
commands. Because
you don't yet know
what most of the com-
mands mean, the selec-
tion of commands could
seem a bit random.
3.
Click the downward-pointing white triangle at the bottom of the Create
Design panel and note how it expands down, as shown in Figure 1.5.
4.
Click the Insert tab of the ribbon. Here, you see words like
insert
,
import
, and
attach
, which are all ways of bringing information into
the drawing.
5.
Click the other tabs of the ribbon, and see whether you can relate some
of the words you see in the commands to the title of each ribbon tab.
6.
Place your cursor in the left viewport, and roll the mouse wheel
forward to zoom in to the drawing. Keep zooming in until you can
clearly see the road centerlines labeled with stationing numbers
(these are Civil 3D alignments). Click one of the road centerlines,
and note that the ribbon displays a contextual tab to make align-
ment commands accessible (see Figure 1.6).
7.
Keep this drawing open for the next exercise.
Because nothing changes in this drawing file as a result of the exercise steps,
no User Interface - Complete file is necessary.
