Pressure Pipe Content Creation Tips

Civil 3D introduced pressure pipes a few years ago, but you largely have to create your own content libraries. The how-to of that content creation is pretty accessible across the web, but I wanted to share a couple small tips I’ve uncovered.

In Civil 3D 2015 the Autodesk guide to creating content has a new location, as does the Content Catalog Editor. The guide can be found here:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2015\C3D\Sample\Civil 3D API\Part Publishing Wizard\PartPublishingWizardUsersGuide.docx

The Content Catalog Editor can be found here:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2015\C3D\Autodesk.Aec.Content.CatalogEditor.exe

(The 2015 version of the program doesn’t appear to launch, but you should be able to use an older version such as the one below.)

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014\Autodesk.Aec.Content.CatalogEditor.exe

Another tip was discovered on a recent support case. When creating custom pipes, don’t use non-standard characters in the description. Characters such as “ % * seem to break the pipe when you actually try to use it in Civil 3D. So, if you can’t create pressure pipes, they disappear after you lay them out, or you get a huge pipe graphic when trying to draw, check the above in your catalog.