CapCad Manual

The CapCad EcosystemHow CapCad sees a road project: the alignment at the centre, entities carrying their own data, the norm as configuration, and one engine running on five CADs. The CapCad ProjectWhat a project is in CapCad, where its settings live, how a drawing points at the project folder, and what every other command reads from it. The AlignmentWhat the alignment is in CapCad, how stations are computed, what each segment stores, and why almost every command asks for an alignment first. StylesWhat a CapCad style decides about the project's presentation, where styles live, how a project picks one, and what changes in the drawing when you swap it. Layers and the Layer CatalogueThe grammar of CapCad layer names, how the catalogue resolves the name, colour and linetype of each role, and why commands never type a layer. Country ProfilesWhat CapCad's country profile swaps — norms, layer names, sign library, ribbon and language — and what stays the same when you change country.

IntroductionHow the CapCad ribbon is organised, where to install CapCad, and how to turn the keyboard shortcuts on and off. Command shortcutsThe CapCad keyboard aliases you type on the CAD command line, which file yours come from, and how they change with the country profile and the CAD you run. Entry points and modesThe CapCad commands that draw nothing — restoring the ribbon, the diagnostic switch, loading a third-party add-on, and opening an existing form already on the right tab. Project ManagerThe command that gives a drawing its project folder, its style, its coordinate system, every library folder and the defaults written into project.config.

Alignment ToolsAdd chainage with the intervals and format your project asks for, turn the roadside into a unifilar diagram, and arrange alignment and profile side by side on screen. Alignment propertiesEdit the values that change along the road — design speed, carriageway width, traffic volume, road id — station by station, plot them in the drawing, and query the speed at any point. Draw and edit the alignmentDraw the project alignment and its auxiliary alignments, identify the segment under a point, and trim or break the road markings along a stretch of the road. Navigating the alignmentFrame the alignment, put alignment and profile side by side in two viewports, interlocate points between them, and drive the stretch frame by frame with Street View. Labels and annotationsInsert the annotation label with its leader and self-filled attributes (station, coordinates, side), write the marking's legend onto the geometry itself, correct labels after the alignment has changed, and edit the label styles in a layered store. Quick project and selection informationQuick Info summarises the open project — folder, alignment, extents, coordinate system, style and country profile; Selection Area measures a selection as areas and lengths split by type; and one command opens the project-management help page. Vertical profile and terrain surfaceBuild the grade line from field or online elevation data, store it on the alignment, draw it with grid, grades and VPIs, query the slope between two points, and build the terrain TIN with sections and contours. Alignment ManagerDefine the project alignment from CAD curves, manage its segments and stations, then draw chainage, annotations, lanes and right of way from it. Reread Civil 3D alignmentWhere the command that rereads a Civil 3D alignment lives in CapCad. Station NavigatorJump the view to any station of the active alignment, typed in metres, km or 20 m stations, and read station, profile and lat/lon at a picked point.

Pavement Legends (arrows, symbols and words)Spreads arrows, symbols and words along a reference line across the carriageway, with divisions, height taken from the block, dimensions and the project action on the layer. Longitudinal Markings (circles and rumble strips)Draws longitudinal devices along the alignment: a staggered field of circles or a run of rumble bars, with radius, length, width and offset. Road Library (set a block up before inserting it)Browse the CapCad block library and set the offset, shift, rotation and scale before inserting the item, measuring everything from the project alignment. Linear Sets and the CompositorDraw a whole type section along the alignment from a linear-set definition, run the same definition from the command line, and compose new definitions field by field in the Compositor. Carriageway Helpers (lanes, cycle lanes, kerbs, draw order)The five helpers that work on the road around the marking: offsets and lanes from a base line, the cycle-lane and railway panel, drawing the kerbs stored on the alignment, and sending the carriageway to the back of the draw order. Boundary Hatch Area, Yellow Box and Checker PatternFills a closed area with single-line hatching, the cross-hatch of a yellow box or a grid of rectangles, with a live preview, a hole, studs and country presets. Contrast Backing (black paint)Draws the contrast band behind road marking that is already in the drawing: widened lines, rectangles under blocks, the cadence rebuilt and the draw order resolved. Speed-Reduction Lines, Rumble Strips and HumpsTransverse speed-reduction lines placed from the deceleration calculation, rumble strips, and the four families of transverse device built over a two-point line. Dropped Kerb and Tactile PavingDraw a footway dropped kerb from the kerb line, with the grade computed from the kerb height and the gradient, an angular or square side transition, and the tactile paving of the crossing. ZigZag and Yellow Transverse BarsThe two TSRGD approach markings: the no-stopping zigzag along the kerb line and the set of transverse bars whose spacing shortens towards the hazard. Match Spacing, Render Strip and the Horizontal HubFit a cadenced line's length to a whole number of marks, turn a cadence into drawn geometry, and gather the horizontal commands into one window. Marking Strip by CodeDescribe a marking by its norm code — colour, cadence, width, device and material — and draw the stretch on the right layer, from the alignment, a selection or two points. Airports — Runway and Pre-ThresholdDraw the complete surface marking of a runway from its centreline — threshold, designation, centre line, touchdown zone and aiming point — with a live preview. Airports — Taxiway, Apron and ToolsDraw taxiway markings, compose taxiway guidance signs and aircraft parking labels, and reach the rest of the airport module from one window. Area Marking: 1 FlowDraw a one-sided zebrado along one reference line: angled stubs at a fixed spacing, studs, a trim reference and a live preview that redraws on every change. Area Marking: 2 FlowsFill the gore between two converging or diverging lines with chevron or diagonal strips, studs and channelising lines to the norm, with live preview. Area Marking: 3 FlowsDraw the zebrado of a three-leg junction island: white chevrons where flows run together, yellow hatching where they oppose, with studs, trims and live preview. Area Marking: LinearDraw a linear zebrado along a centreline: V-shaped chevrons of constant width between two offset edges, four patterns, studs, delineators and a live preview. CrossingsDraw a pedestrian or cycle crossing across a road width line: zebra stripes, black contrast, stop lines, give-way teeth, lane lines, legends, live preview. Crossings (simplified)Draw a UK zebra crossing to TSRGD from two points across the road: white stripes, optional black contrast, give-way lines and stud lines, with live preview. Marking StripDraw road markings from parametric definitions: pick one from the library, apply it on a base line and get layers, widths and dash cadences automatically. Parking BaysLay out rows of parking bays from a base line: width, depth, angle, back and front styles, numbering, quantification blocks, pictograms, text and zebra fill. Distance MarkerInsert distance-marker blocks along a road at a fixed interval, with the Divider Assistant opened pre-configured for markers: block output, 10-unit spacing, 270° rotation.

Insert VerticalInsert traffic signs from the project libraries, with four actions, five insertion methods, support, scale, curb side and direction of travel. Sign actions (insert, keep, remove, relocate)Change the action of signs and supports already in the drawing: insert, keep, remove or relocate. Each action has its layer, its graphic representation, and feeds the quantity reports. Swap and replace signsChange the code of a sign already in the drawing while keeping its point, rotation and action, or record the replacement: the new sign goes in as new and the old one stays as removed. Fix Traffic SignsRecompute the station, coordinates, latitude-longitude, code, area and layers of signs already in the drawing, after the alignment, the coordinate system or the criteria changed. Manage vertical signingInventory every sign in the drawing with area, dimensions, chainage and action, with filters and click-to-select, and work out the support lengths from a built-in embedment table. Sign AssembliesStack a second sign over one already inserted, on the same post, with a connecting line and a configurable gap, and build sign sets along the alignment. Select signs and supportsNarrow a selection down to the signs only, the supports only, or a sign together with its support, and rescale signs that were inserted at the wrong drawing scale. Kilometre posts and alignment markersInsert kilometre posts along the alignment, speed-limit signs where the design speed changes, and alignment markers in batches on the project's curves. CapSign — sign designerLay out guide signs from their content, not from lines: real alphabet metrics, line spacing and plate size computed for you, AI recognition from a photograph, and the finished sign sent straight to the drawing. Migrate the traffic-sign styleHow to bring a drawing's traffic-sign configuration over to the current style.

Road Restraint — guardrail and barrierDraws a guardrail or a concrete barrier along the alignment by km, by length or by two points, with offset, rounding to whole beams and terminal blocks. Restraint Requirement AnalysisWalks the alignment over the terrain, measures the clear zone station by station and points out where the side slope calls for a barrier, with a batch table and cross sections. Embankment HatchTurns a curve you pick into the conventional embankment hatch: the base line plus perpendicular ticks alternating short and long, on the slope layer, falling to the side you point at.

CapStyle EditorThe CapStyle editor: pick a style from the cloud, edit the ten tabs, apply the style to the drawing and migrate the layers of a drawing made to another standard. Layer ToolsDrawing Standards lists and creates the catalogue's layers under the active style; Layer Tools deletes the contents of layers that are off or frozen, copies an entity's layer name and converts layers in bulk; and one command unlocks everything. LinetypesBrowse CapCad's .lin files, load linetypes into the drawing, create a new dashed pattern from a cadence, and identify the linetype of an entity you pick.

CriteriaWhat a criterion is in CapCad, how a band table turns design speed into a layer, where the sets live and which commands already consume them.

Coordinates and the coordinate systemIdentify and convert one point between UTM, decimal latitude-longitude and DMS, read the station on the alignment, and record the drawing's coordinate system on the project, the alignment or the dwg. Batch and entity coordinate conversionConvert whole lists of coordinates between UTM and latitude-longitude, export the result to the CAD, and reproject entities already drawn from one system to another. Brazil geographic data libraryA country-specific data library: downloads and draws state and municipality boundaries, streets, hydrography and place names from Brazil's national mapping services, and the federal highway network, already converted into the drawing's UTM zone. KMZ, geo formats and map linksTurn CAD entities into KML, GPX, GeoJSON and CapJSON, build the KMZ of the vertical signage, and open or bring into the drawing Google Maps, Street View and satellite imagery. Street View inside the CADOpens Google Street View in a palette docked in the CAD, takes every point clicked in the drawing to the panorama, returns the panorama's position and heading as an arrow in the drawing, and geolocates the drawing so AutoCAD's aerial imagery can be switched on. Importing external geographic data (GIS library, ArcGIS, OpenStreetMap, GPS)Brings into the drawing the geographic bases that live outside it — CapCad's preset library, any ArcGIS REST server, OpenStreetMap, and KML and GPX files — already converted into the project's coordinate system. Coordinate grid, points grid and the British gridDraws the coordinate grid over a boundary or a viewport, creates a grid of levelled points inside a closed boundary, converts points into Civil 3D COGO points, and reads the Ordnance Survey grid reference.

ReportsProduces the project's quantities by reading the drawing's own entities: horizontal marking, vertical signing, guardrails, gantries and alignment geometry, as Excel, text, a CAD table or a drawn table. Locator and spreadsheet syncMakes the quantities spreadsheet talk to the drawing: clicking a cell locates the entity in the CAD, and what was corrected in the spreadsheet goes back into the blocks. Sheet Set — sheet articulationLays the project's sheets out along the alignment in model space, numbers them, draws the matchlines and produces the sheets in paper space with a viewport, a title block and its attributes filled in. Publish to PDFPublishes the drawing's sheets as PDF or PNG, one file per sheet or a single PDF, naming each file after the title block's key attribute, with a check list before the run. Entity ReportLists the drawing's entities with the properties you choose — layer, XData, attributes, area, length — then groups, sums and exports them to Excel or CSV. Entity panelsTwo dockable palettes that inventory the drawing: a grid with one row per entity, and a panel with the distribution chart by category. Quantities DashboardA dockable palette with the project's quantities in real time — horizontal, vertical, guardrails and road studs — in area, length or count, scoped by km.

3D Assistant — 3D ExporterTurns the project's 2D signage and restraint into three-dimensional geometry, resting on a terrain surface or on a fixed elevation, in a single pass. BIM panel — quick views, Property Sets/IFC and bufferThe short commands on the BIM panel: swing the camera to 3D and back to plan without losing the framing, edit Property Sets, and merge polylines into one outline.

Curve Utilities — warning signs on horizontal curvesClassify the alignment's curves as sharp or signable against editable criteria, group them, and insert the curve-warning signs and the delineators of each group automatically. Overtaking sight distance and critical gradesMeasure sight distance along the alignment and along the grade line, draw the no-overtaking stretches in both directions, and flag the critical ramps with their warning signs. CapTrack — swept pathSimulate a design vehicle driving along a path in the drawing and draw the swept envelope and the track of every axle, with an interactive preview attached to the cursor. Consolidated — no-overtaking zonesMerge the no-overtaking stretches of the sight-distance analyses into one set per direction along the alignment, store them on the alignment, and turn them into the centre-line marking.

Polyline and segment toolsExtract, delete, break, lengthen and measure stretches of polylines and arcs, add, remove and cycle vertices, and draw the average curve between two paths. Layouts and viewportsSet the sheet scale and format, turn viewports on, off, locked and unlocked, reorder and delete layouts, and carry the view from one drawing to another. Draw and modifyTrim by area, turn a polyline's width into a boundary with hatch or a region, bounding boxes, circles to polylines, copy in place and rotations. Layout NavigatorA side palette that lists, groups, renames, duplicates, reorders and deletes the drawing's layouts, with bulk prefix renaming — built for drawings with dozens of sheets. Text and calculatorsEdit and number texts, mtexts and attributes in bulk, evaluate expressions measured off the drawing, run the road-design sums and open the Windows temporary folder. Entities, groups and diagnosticsSelect by CAD identifier, create and manage CapGroups, clear XData, read an entity's identifier and send the diagnostics package to support. Area and Length SumsSum the painted area and the length of a selection by entity type, and write the total into a text of the drawing, for quick quantity checks. Colour UtilitiesPaint every closed region of a map a different colour, by solid hatch or by layer, and convert ByLayer entities into their own RGB colour. Property SetsSets of properties defined by the style and stored on the drawing's entities — install, attach, edit, list and migrate, inside Civil 3D and outside it. XData ManagerAttach property/value pairs to the drawing's entities, select everything carrying a given piece of data, filter by layer, hide, and check what is stored — on any CAD. Batch insert (spreadsheet to drawing)Paste a spreadsheet and insert one block per row — by coordinates, by station along the alignment, or as a traffic sign — mapping each column to a role: block, X, Y, angle, scale and attributes. Batch Script and dwg utilitiesAssemble a routine of commands, add ready-made parameters (purge, zoom extents, bind xrefs, audit, save) and run it in the open drawing; and copy all the dwg's content into a new file. Command-line commands (the hyphen versions)The dialog-free versions of CapCad's commands — the exact order of each one's prompts, what they accept as an answer, and how to call them from a script or a macro. Curve UtilitiesThe seven-tab window that works a whole selection of curves at once — area trim, convert, check overlaps, explode, join, offset, tessellate, number vertices and the union of boundaries. Purge, units and windowA deep multi-pass purge with an audit in the middle, the once-per-file normalisation of the drawing's units, the rectangle of the current view, and the button that stretches the CAD window across every monitor. Files and foldersList a folder's files by extension in a window you can copy or save from, and the two commands that open the Windows file or folder picker and hand the result back in a CAD variable. Single Curve Assistant and angle queryThe window that walks the vertices of a polyline and fillets, chamfers, makes tangent and removes arcs one at a time, live in the drawing, plus the command that reports the tangent angle at any point of a curve. Blocks, attributes and relative placementExport, clone, replace, clean and check block definitions; edit the attributes of one block or of every reference like it; apply a whole spreadsheet back to the drawing's entities by id; and butt one selection against another by its bounding box. OffsetsThe plain command-line offset, the Offset Assistant with a live preview, single or double lines, layer and width, and the Variable Offset, which opens linearly from one distance to another along the curve. CapVectorize — image to CADVectorises a raster image into filled regions inside a block: Otsu thresholding for a monochrome drawing or separation by colour, with contour simplification and scale in metres. CapChat, the AI assistantAsk a question about the open drawing; CapCad has an AI write an AutoLISP for it, runs that program and shows the answer. With a selection scope, a write mode with confirmation, and skills that teach the AI how to read a CapCad project. RailwayWhat the Railway button actually opens — the Civil 3D Utilities window. There is no railway command of its own in this version. Divider AssistantWalk a path and place points, blocks or a repeated geometry at regular stops, or cut the path into pieces. Fixed spacing, equal divisions or a list of distances, with offset, rotation and live preview. Divider Rectangle AssistantDraw rows of rectangles that follow a path: checkerboard or zipper cells on two marking layers, with width, height, lateral offset and a live preview. Removing redundant vertices from a polylineHow to reduce a polyline's vertex count with the Remove redundant straight vertices option, in Polyline Utils.

Civil 3D UtilitiesBrings alignments, profiles and surfaces from Civil 3D into CapCad, identifies profile data and draws grades and notable points on the alignment, freezes by object type, purges styles and installs the style's property sets.

Account, licence and installationSign in to your CapCad account, activate and release the licence on this PC, see the installed version and the program folder, update, repair and reset the installation. Preferences and working environmentInterface language, status bar, the CapCad command shortcuts, the suggested CAD settings and the quick screen-background switch. Help, learning and communityThe command library inside the CAD, the online manual, the video channel, the website, support and sending feedback to the CapCad team.

Troubleshooting guideThe problems CapCad users report most often and how to resolve each one, from the firewall to a full CAD reset.