INFORMATION SHEET

Site Design – Grading and

Quantities
About Feature Lines
Feature lines are 3D objects which can be used as grading footprints, surface breaklines, and as
corridor baselines.
For example, a feature line may represent an object in the drawing from which you want to grade,
such as a swale or a ridge line. When you create a grading object, you can select the feature line
as the grading footprint.
You can draw feature lines, convert feature lines from existing objects, and extract feature lines
from alignments or corridors.

When you create new feature lines, or convert feature lines from existing objects, you can specify
whether the feature lines are created at absolute elevations, or whether they obtain their
elevations from a grading group or from a specified surface. Feature lines that are based on
surface elevations can be relative to that surface, so they are updated when the surfaces changes

About the Feature Lines Collection (Prospector Tab)

Use the Feature Lines collection in the Prospector tree to manage feature line styles and layers.
You can also view feature line information, such as length, elevation, and grade.

Feature lines can exist outside of a site or within a site.

Tip: You can grade from a feature line only if it is in a site. If a feature line site is set to <none>, it
cannot be used for a grading baseline.
Feature lines outside of a site are shown in a top-level Feature Lines collection in Prospector.
Feature lines inside a site are shown within the Site collection in Prospector..

A black dot glyph indicates a feature line in the collection.

Select the Feature Lines collection to display a list of all the feature lines in the Prospector list
view. Icons in the list view indicate the state of the feature line.
indicates a feature line with no dynamic links.

indicates a feature line with a dynamic alignment link.

indicates a feature line with a dynamic corridor link.

These feature line icons display a small green square in the lower corner if the feature line is in
use as a surface breakline . You can find the name of the surfaces by listing or viewing the
properties of individual feature lines.
You can edit a feature line style or layer value by clicking the cell in the list view to open a style or
layer dialog box. To edit multiple values, use Ctrl+left-click to select multiple rows. Then right-click
the column heading and click Edit to open a Select Style or Layer Selection dialog box

About Editing Feature Lines With the Grading Elevation Editor

Edit the vertex elevations of feature lines, survey figures, and parcel lines with the Grading
Elevation Editor.
Use the Grading Elevation Editor to edit feature line elevations in a tabular dialog box. You can
also assign an elevation from an existing surface.

Changes you make in the editor dynamically change the elevation in the drawing.
Within the editor, each vertex is displayed on its own row, and is marked with a triangle or circle.
When you click a row in the Grading Elevation Editor, a marker is displayed in the drawing,
displaying the vertex that you are on.

• Green triangles mark the points that represent the major horizontal geometry
points. For example, when you create a feature line, all vertices are shown as triangles. If
you insert points of intersection (PI), they are also shown as triangles.

• White triangles indicate split points, where two feature lines cross although neither
has a geometry point at that location. You cannot directly edit the elevation of these
points. For more information, see "Split points" below. Note: The gray point icons also
represent read-only objects, such as daylight lines and dynamically linked feature lines.
 • Circles mark the elevation change points. Insert a new elevation point by using the
Insert Elevation Point icon in the Grading Elevation Editor. Note: When a vertex is a
shared point with another intersecting feature line, a small + symbol is displayed with
the icon for that row.

Split points
When two features, such as feature lines, lot lines or survey figures cross and neither feature has a
geometry point at that location, a split point is created. You cannot edit this point directly, as it is
controlled by the grades of the two crossing segments which must have the same elevation at the
crossing point. If the two elevations are different, a grade break is inserted into one to match the
elevation of the other.
You can assign a priority to feature line styles so that when two feature lines with different styles
cross, the one with the higher priority will set the elevation. Feature lines without a style have the
lowest priority. Use the Options tab in the Feature Line Site Properties dialog box to set the
feature line style priority.

If two feature lines have the same style or no style, then the feature line that is modified last
becomes dominant, causing the other feature line to break at that point. To control the elevation
at that point, use the Insert PI command to create a vertex at the split point.

To Offset a Feature Line by Distance and Elevation

Creates a new feature line from an offset and difference in elevation from a selected feature line,
survey figure, polyline, or 3D polyline.

Specify the offset distance, the side, and elevational difference or absolute elevation.
About Grading
Use the grading tools and commands in Autodesk Civil 3D to design finished ground surfaces.

You create grading projections by applying grading criteria to a footprint. The grading objects are
grouped into named collections to create your final surface designs and compute volumes.
A grading object normally consists of the footprint, the daylight line, the projection lines, and the
face.
The footprint can be an open or closed figure. The footprint must be either a feature line, a lot
line, or the resulting daylight line of another grading.
The face is the area bounded by the lines that define the grading. It is marked with a center
marker.
The target for the grading can be a surface, a distance, an elevation, or a relative elevation.

Plan view of grading object

You can also use the feature lines commands to create and edit 3D feature lines. Feature lines can
be included directly into surfaces as breakline data, or you can use them as grading object
footprints.

Before you start grading, you must configure settings and establish criteria such as the following:
• Grading site: Gradings are created in a site topology. If you do not want a grading to
interact with other objects in a site, create a new site for your grading objects.

• Grading group: Grading objects in a grading group are consolidated to create one grading
group surface so you can compute volumes. Before you create gradings, decide how you
want to manage them with regard to surface creation and volume computations.

After you create a grading group, volume tools within Autodesk Civil 3D show you the
amount of cut and fill required for the grading design. You can raise or lower the grading
group incrementally to adjust volume requirements. You can also change the elevation of
points along a grading base line, change the grade of a base line, or modify the grading
criteria.
• Grading footprints: Grading objects are projected toward their target from a selected
footprint. Footprints can be feature lines that you create specifically for this purpose, or
you can export corridor feature lines or use parcel lot lines.

• Grading targets: Grading objects require a target. This can be a surface, a distance, or an
elevation.

Surface as target (section view)

Fixed elevation as target (section view)

 Distance as target (section view)

• Grading criteria: When you start grading, you specify grading criteria. This is how many of
the grading settings, such as grading target, are specified.
The list of grading objects defined in the drawing appears in Toolspace, within the Sites collection
on the Prospector tab.