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Getting started

SheetAgent for Civil 3D builds a complete sheet set from your model: tiles in model space become layouts, each with its viewport, title block, match lines and key map already placed. Four workflows cover the ways sheets get made, and Project Control sits above them for work spanning several drawings. Start here if you have not built a set with it before.

What you need to run it

SheetAgent for Civil 3D runs inside Autodesk Civil 3D on Windows. Civil 3D is the host application, so there is no standalone version, no web version and no mobile app.

Supported releases are Civil 3D 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Everything runs on the workstation. Drawing files, drawing content and project data are never sent to Setline's servers.

Both imperial and metric units are supported, and the unit system is read from the drawing rather than set by you.

Terms used in these pages

These words are used throughout the documentation, and a few of them mean something specific here.

Tile: the closed polyline drawn in model space marking the exact area one sheet will show.
Layout: the paper space tab. One tile becomes one layout.
Viewport: the window on a layout that shows model space at a set scale.
Primary VP: the viewport generated automatically on each sheet, and the button that defines its maximum area on _TEMPLATE_TB.
Secondary VP: an additional viewport placed on a sheet beyond the primary one.
Support VP: a viewport carrying repeating content such as legends and keynotes.
_TEMPLATE_TB: the master template layout every sheet is copied from. Your canvas for blocks and viewport positions, and the one place to move them: change it here and the layouts follow.
Key map: the small overview viewport on each sheet showing where that sheet sits in the wider project.
Matchline: the line marking where one sheet's coverage ends and the neighbouring sheet begins, labelled with that sheet's number.

Getting started

SheetAgent for Civil 3D has four workflows, one per palette tab.

Single VP builds plan sheets from tiles. One viewport is generated automatically per sheet, and more can be added to that sheet with Secondary VP and support viewports.

Multi VP builds sheets carrying two to six viewports, including plan and profile. Support viewports, such as legends and keynotes, can be added to those sheets later.

PDF/Detail imports PDF pages and builds detail sheets from them.

Key Plans coordinates several drawings you already have. It produces a single index or cover layout across them, and coordinates key maps project-wide.

Project Control sits above all four. One control drawing authors the tiling for a whole multi-file project, and every discipline inherits the same sheets with its own numbering.

You pick a workflow on the Welcome tab. Once sheets are built the palette stays on that workflow, so two workflows cannot be mixed in one drawing by accident.

Setup order: which button first

Setup runs in a fixed order. Skipping a step is the usual reason a later button stays greyed out or appears to do nothing.

Step 1. Set TB. Bring in your title block: it can import a DWG automatically, or use a title block already present in the layout. This creates _TEMPLATE_TB.

Step 2. Page setup. Only needed if a new title block was imported. If you are working from a template the page setup is already done, though it is worth cross-checking. Set on the _TEMPLATE_TB layout, it propagates to every sheet on build and update.

Step 3. Primary VP on the Single VP tab, or Set Viewport Size on Multi VP and PDF/Detail. Press it and it takes you straight to _TEMPLATE_TB, where you define the viewport boundary.

Step 4. Import Sheet Names, optional. Bring your sheet numbers and titles in from a CSV.

Step 5. Create Preview. Lay the tiles out in model space.

Step 6. Build Sheets. Generate the paper-space sheets.

Create Preview stays greyed until both a title block and a viewport size are set, and Build Sheets stays greyed until preview tiles exist. If either looks disabled, Set TB or Primary VP was probably skipped.

The drawing setup buttons differ by workflow. Multi VP has no single Create Preview button; you use Plan/Plan, Plan and Profile, or Plan Duplicate instead. Pick the workflow before you start.

Preview vs Build

Create Preview and Build Sheets do different jobs, and the order between them matters.

Create Preview draws the tile polylines in model space. No layouts exist yet, so tiles can be moved, resized or deleted freely at this stage.

Build Sheets generates one paper space layout per tile, each with a scaled viewport, matchlines, a key map viewport, north arrow, scale bar, and populated title block attributes.

Build Sheets runs once. After the first build it greys out, and every change after that goes through Update Sheets.

Building also locks the other workflow tabs, so the palette stays on the workflow you built in. To start over, use Reset Project Data, or Reset Project on the Multi VP tab.

Build vs Update vs Rebuild

Four commands cover the life of a set.

Build Sheets generates the paper space layouts from previewed tiles. First time only.
Update Sheets applies what changed after tiles are moved, resized or added. It detects the difference and applies only that, instead of regenerating everything.
Rebuild Sheets regenerates from scratch, for a set that has gone badly out of sync.
Retile, in the Health panel, regenerates the tile layout itself when the underlying geometry has changed.

The rule that covers most days: build once, then Update Sheets.

Copying layer states across sheets

Layer visibility set inside one viewport can be copied to all the others, so you set it once rather than sheet by sheet. This works the same way in every workflow.

Step 1. Set the layer freeze and thaw inside one viewport exactly as you want it.

Step 2. Press Apply Layers Viewport and select that viewport. Its layer state copies to the others.

There is a separate button per viewport type, on purpose, so you are never guessing which viewports a press is about to change. Apply Layers Viewport covers the plan viewports. Apply Layers Keymaps covers key map viewports, one key map at a time. Apply Layers Profile covers profile viewports, and becomes available once Plan and Profile sheets are built.

During Update Sheets you are asked whether to preserve viewport layer states. Answer yes and the update leaves your freezes alone.

What is a tile?

A tile is a closed polyline drawn in model space, marking the exact area one sheet will show. It sets both the area and the scale of that sheet.

Three things are easy to confuse:

A tile is the model space rectangle created by Create Preview.
A layout is the paper space tab. Build Sheets turns each tile into one layout.
A viewport is the window on that layout showing the tile area at scale. A Multi VP layout holds two, three, four or six viewports.

Tiles are edited in model space, by moving, resizing, or adding one. Update Sheets then syncs the layouts and viewports to match the tiles. It works in that direction only, never the reverse.

What is _TEMPLATE_TB?

_TEMPLATE_TB is the master template layout created when you press Set TB. Every sheet is copied from it.

Think of it as your own canvas. It is where you place your blocks and set your viewport locations, and it acts as the coordinator for the whole set: what sits on the template is what every built sheet inherits.

It holds the title block as a linked XREF, which is what each generated sheet references.

Primary VP runs on this layout. The maximum viewport area is defined there once, and every sheet inherits it.

When something needs to move, you move it here rather than sheet by sheet. Shift the north arrow, shrink the VP max, reposition a support viewport or the scale bar, then run Update Sheets and the layouts follow.

The title block layer stays locked deliberately, to protect the XREF.

Do not delete the _TEMPLATE_TB layout by hand. Reset Project Data removes it cleanly and detaches the XREF.

What is the keymap?

A key map is the small overview viewport placed on every built sheet. It shows the whole plan with the current sheet's tile highlighted by hatch, so a reviewer can see at a glance where that sheet sits in the project.

Setting one up takes three steps on the template:

Set Key Map Area: draw the rectangle where the key map should appear on each sheet.
Key Map Hatch: choose the pattern that highlights the current tile.
Key Map Label: add the KEY MAP title and scale labels beneath the key map viewport.

Update Sheets rebuilds the key maps automatically after tiles change.

For a second key map, run Set Key Map Area again and choose Add rather than Replace. Each key map keeps its own hatch control.

Refresh Keymaps appears only when a key map's source is a Key Plan. Use it after the Key Plan file has changed outside SheetAgent for Civil 3D.

Buttons greyed out

A greyed button is almost always one of two things: VP Trim is active, or the workflow is waiting on an earlier step.

If nearly every button is greyed across every tab, VP Trim is usually on. Open Health, in the Project Management section, to confirm. To release it, go to the Multi VP tab, Add-ons section, and press VP Untrim Matchline; the trim button carries that label while trim is on. Untrim restores every viewport to its exact pre-trim size and position, then runs an update.

Never erase the clip polygons by hand. AutoCAD deletes the viewport along with its clip.

If trim is not active, the button is waiting on workflow state:

Build Sheets greys out after the first build. Use Update Sheets instead.
Create Preview needs Set TB and Primary VP done first.
Sync SSM enables only once the drawing is linked to a sheet set (.dst).

Sheet Set Manager and Sync SSM stay enabled even under trim lock.

If none of that explains it, open Health, run Full Health, then use Report Bug and say which button is greyed and on which tab.

Palette won't open

Bring it back from the ribbon rather than by typing a command. On the ribbon, click Setline. SheetAgent for Civil 3D appears underneath it. Click that and the palette reopens.

Check that a drawing is open first. The palette hides itself on the Start screen when no drawing is open.

If the ribbon does not bring it back, Auto Hide is the usual reason.

If the palette is completely stuck or off-screen, type CUI at the command line, select your workspace, expand Palettes, choose the specific palette such as Properties, and set Auto Hide to Off.

What the Assistant is

The guided assistant opens from the Assistant link in the palette footer. It answers questions about SheetAgent for Civil 3D buttons and workflows, and it can read the current drawing state to give steps that match the workflow you are in.

It does not edit your drawing or run commands for you. It tells you which button to click, and you stay in control.

It is specific to SheetAgent for Civil 3D. For AutoCAD or Civil 3D questions outside it, the most it can do is point you to the right step.

For anything it cannot resolve, use Report Bug on the palette or email support@setline.ai.

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