Jeff Morris | Sr. Applications Expert
The Grading Elevation Editor is a vista within the Autodesk Civil 3D Panorama, used to edit the elevations and grades for feature lines, lot lines, or survey figure segments. It has many great features with its primary function being able to modify elevations or slopes of multiple, consecutive geometry/elevation points.
Within the Elevation Editor one can change the Grades Ahead, Grades Back and Elevations, but not the Stations and Lengths. But one can leave the vista open and graphically change the stations and lengths through grip editing the feature line (or lot line or survey figure). As the geometry changes, the values update in the Elevation Editor Vista.
Within the Elevation Editor however, it is difficult to associate the row one is working in with the physical line in the drawing.
The tip is to leave the Elevation Editor Vista open and set focus back in the drawing. When this is done, the feature line will still highlighted, all the vertices and elevation points (if any) will be marked with visible grips. By deselecting the line (by hitting Escape key), the grips will clear and the triangular and circular symbols will remain, signifying vertices (PI) and Elevation Points respectively.
Now, when one goes to a row in the Elevation Editor, only that symbol will graphically appear in the drawing, the others will clear. If one selects multiple rows (which need to be consecutive), the corresponding symbols will graphically appear.
Conclusion
The Grading Elevation Editor is a great tool to modify and manipulate elevations and grades for feature line, lot line, or survey figure segments. One has a tabular view of how modifications to one segment will affect the adjoining segments. While ordinarily, it may be difficult to visualize in the drawing which segment is being manipulated, by using the tip demonstrated above, users can utilize the tool to a greater extent and with less difficulty.