GDD.LSP Open Source 3D Site Grading and Drainage Plan Designer Like Civil 3D Feature Lines for AutoCAD

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This site is the source for the HawsEDC Free Software (see license below) tools, including this newly released in 2015 Site Grading and Drainage Plan Designer, a powerful 3D design tool like AutoCAD Civil 3D Feature Lines for site grading. I invite you to try out any of the tools here that interest you and to tell others if you find the tool valuable.

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The use of Free Software (see gnu.org) is governed by a strong copyright called "copylefting". You can't put it into a proprietary product. You may freely make money from it by service or sale. You may modify it. But you must always allow others to copy, modify, and distribute it, including your modifications.

DOWNLOAD

• Download Grading and Drainage Designer (Zip format) (version 1.0.0)

HOW TO INSTALL

Extract the zip file:

Uzip GDD and put all its files into a GDD folder that AutoCAD can write to. Generally, somewhere in your user (C:\Users\) folder is convenient. All the files should end up in the GDD folder without any subfolders.

Add GDD path to AutoCAD:

Under the Files tab of the Tools, Options menu in AutoCAD, click the + icon next to "Support File Search Path" and "Trusted Locations". Click the Add... button to add the GDD folder. You should be fine leaving it at the bottom of the list in most cases. Note to testers: if you don't want to add these paths, you can skip this step, open the gddtest.dwg drawing from the GDD folder and drag in the gdd.lsp file (or load it using your preferred method) after the next step.

Add GDD menu to AutoCAD:

Use the MENULOAD command in AutoCAD to load the GDD menu. Browse for the GDD.MNU file and Load it.

OVERVIEW

When you want to design the grading for a site without a calculator, you need a tool like AutoCAD Civil 3D Feature Lines or Grading and Drainage Designer so you can set the elevations of points based on other points, see the slopes between them, and make adjustments that are reflected in the appropriate slopes. Read more about Grading and Drainage Designer at the Wikia AutoCAD Wiki

GETTING STARTED

If you are trying out GDD for the first time, open the gddtest.dwg drawing to get a feel for what GDD does. Note that GDD creates the following objects in your drawing.

• Elevation point blocks at Z=elevation. These are smart attributed blocks that contain design information and also are meant for presentation. You can create your own style by editing them.
• Slope connector blocks at Z=0. These are smart attributed blocks that contain design information and also are meant for presentation. You can create your own style by editing them.
• 3D polyline objects. These are not for presentation, and you can make them non-plottable. They are created so you can create a surface with contours based on your design.

Note next that GDD has a pull-down menu. Start by choosing "Insert Single Point" (IPS keyboard command) or "Insert Double Point" (IPD keyboard command). Follow the prompts to insert an elevation point. Note that you while gddtest.dwg is centered around elevation 1250, you should enter only 2 digit elevations because that is the convention for this project as shown by the points already present. GDD analyzes the drawing design to determine that the typical elevation of the gddtest.dwg drawing is about 1250 and the display elevations all drop the 1200.

Choose "Single Point by Slope" (IPSS command) or "Double Pointby Slope" (IPDS keyboard command) from the menu to insert a point at a reference slope from an existing point. If you don't want to choose a location for the slope arrow, choose "Prompt for connector placement" from the menu to uncheck it.

Use the menu to Raise/Lower or move one or more points or Edit Elevations.

MENU GUIDE

If you can't see in your AutoCAD window the helpstrings that are provided to explain each GDD menu command, refer to the list below.

General Setup

Set up or change running program variables.

Set Avg Elev

Set Average Project Elevation.

Long Curve Segments

Set the curve error at 1.0

Short Curve Segments

Set the curve error at 0.001

Customize Curve Segments

Set the curve error per user input

Set 6" Curb

Set 6" Curb.

Set 4" Curb

Set 4" Curb.

Set Custom Curb

Set Custom Curb.

Insert &Single Point

IPS. Inserts a single point with user options.

Single Point By S&lope

Single Point By Slope. Inserts a single point by slope from another point.

Single Point By Elev Up/Down

Single Point by Distance. Inserts a single point by distance up from another point.

Insert Double Point IPD

IPD. Inserts a double point with user options.

Double Point By Slope

Double Point By Slope. Inserts a double point by slope from another point.

Double Point By Elev Up/Down

Double Point by Distance. Inserts a double point by distance up from another point.

Raise/Lower Point

Raise or Lower a Point by Specified Amount (- is down)

Relocate Point

Move a point horizontally to another location

Update Points and Connections

Update points to match display elevations and connections to match updated points.

Edit Elevationa by Slope

Edit the slope by selection

Insert Slope

Insert a Connection

Prompt for descriptions

Turn off or on the prompt for descriptions when inserting points.

Current automatic descriptions

Set the current descriptions to be used when inserting points.

Prompt for connection placement

Prompt for connection placement

Maximum manual prompts

Maximum # of connectors to prompt for manual placement in one operation.

Enable Z on Move Point

Toggle whether to move the Z coordinate of points when moving points

REVISION HISTORY

To submit revisions, send an email with your revised code.

LICENSE TERMS

This program is free software under the terms of the GNU (GNU--acronym for Gnu's Not Unix--sounds like canoe) General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 2 of the License.

You can redistribute this software for any fee or no fee and/or modify it in any way, but it and ANY MODIFICATIONS OR DERIVATIONS continue to be governed by the license, which protects the perpetual availability of the software for free distribution and modification.

If you improve this software, make a revision submittal to the copyright owner. See www.hawsedc.com.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License on the World Wide Web for more details.