The Hybrid Approach to 3D Modelling

Civil 3D is a great software package for creating Civil objects, obviously, but sometimes we tend to forget about the fact that it is built on top of AutoCad. What does this mean for us as users? Quite simply this means that we have access to a boatload of commands in addition to the Civil commands in Civil 3D. This fact can come in handy. One example is linework. All of the basic AutoCad creation and editing commands can be most useful in Civil 3D as most of you are fully aware of. What about the area of 3D modeling? I know, it’s called Civil “3D” because we can make 3D Civil objects, but have you ever considered what AutoCad 3D functionality can do for you? I recently worked on a project where this functionality came in quite handy and gave me the results I needed with less effort and file size then if I used just Civil 3D objects. I ended up combining Civil 3D objects and AutoCad objects to achieve my goal. This combination is what I like to call the Hybrid Modelling Approach. Let’s take a look at some of these examples.

In one project, I needed a big concrete structure that was to be constructed in a canal. There were no Civil objects close to this in the part catalog and by no means was I going to attempt to construct it using Part Builder. Not only am I not that proficient with Part Builder, but this is a complex radial gate structure that I am talking about so I’m sure it would have taken quite a bit of time to create. Since I had already created some Civil objects in the project such as TIN surfaces and pipe networks, I figured that I could use AutoCad 3D objects to get the job done. I was right! What I did was I used the 2D linework that I had of the structure and referring to the cross sections for the dimensions, I extruded the linework to the proper height to create an AutoCad solid. Once that was created, I used the UCS Gizmo to move the object to the proper elevation in the model. The finished object can be seen in Figure 1 below. As you can see, this object has multiple pieces such as stairs, guardrails, walls, etc.

Figure 1

In another project I worked on, I needed to create a pavement structure that not only had the different pavement levels, but I also had to have it split up into sections to eventually tie it to a construction schedule to show the construction phasing sequence. Wow! I though about using a corridor but decided that showing the individual pavement levels might get tricky as well as chopping it up for the construction sequencing. I then thought about TIN models, but quickly decided that it would take a ton of TINs and I know that can cause issues within the dwg file. I finally decided on using AutoCad solids to get it done. Once again, I utilized 2D linework and then extruded the objects to the heights that I needed them. When the bottom level was done, I simply copied it to the top of itself to create the next pavement level, modified it’s height, then changed it to the proper layer so that it would assume the proper color from the layer. I repeated this for the top pavement level. To get the different pavement levels split up for the construction phasing, I used the “slice” command and simply picked where I wanted the objects to be sliced. Figure 2 below shows the 3 pavement levels and shows a slice on the top level.

Figure 2

Once again, AutoCad 3D modelling combined with Civil 3D objects got me what I was looking for to complete the project and provide a kick-butt 3D presentation.

The last example I will discuss is when I had to get construction sleeving for pipe networks modeled for a project. Now, visibly, I possibly could have gotten away with using an oversized pipe and pointed it out as sleeving, but, the actual pipe needed to stick out just a bit from the ends. So, quite simply, what I did was draw a circle at one end of the pipe, give it a thickness, and then exrude it. The results are in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3

Using the combination of Civil 3D objects along with AutoCad 3D objects gave me the results I needed for these projects and made me a believer in the Hybrid Approach to 3D modelling.

XML Files: They Have a Variety of Uses!

The XML file. That text-based file that can contain the project data from not just LDT and Civil 3D, but from other software including non-Autodesk software as well. Users love the fact that an XML file can bring in this data without having to get a drawing file. This can be a key element in helping to avoid bringing in corruption from files such as dgn files because the XML files stores data, not linework. So right there is a use that you may not have thought of; a data import filter! I use XML files for that on occasion and they work great. XML files are straight forward and easy to use. Let’s talk about some of the other ways I have used XML files.

As a Technical Consultant focused primarily on Civil 3D, over the years I have implemented and worked with firms regarding Civil 3D. It’s common knowledge that in order to get the most out of Civil 3D, it is imperative that a good template with all of the company styles and settings be created and used. The issue with the templates is that it costs a company money to set it up;either using internal personnel or paying a consultant to set it up. Regardless of who set it up, a company does not want  to pay that money just to turn around and “hand deliver” their templates to another firm. This has been a concern for managers when they have to collaborate with another firm on a project using Civil 3D. If they send a drawing, it will have all the styles and settings. My recommendation has been this; use the “export to AutoCad” function to get the drawing out to the desired file version which will also explode the Civil objects. The drawing will look the same, but the Civil objects will be exploded. And best of all, all styles and settings are gone! “But they need Civil objects for this project!?” If that is the case, send them an XML file to go along with the dwg file! Then, they can use whatever styles they want to use.

Another use that I found to be effective for an XML file is using it to transfer data from a file that has become corrupted or unstable. I have worked on projects where a tin surface would start to do weird things and eventually become unstable. My solution was to block out the non-Civil items, export the Civil items to XML, and then bring all of it into a clean new drawing session. It is not 100% full-proof, but it works the majority of the time.

The last use I’ll discuss is very elementary, but, it is worth thinking about; archiving. An XML file can be created as an archive file for project data. One file containing all of the Civil project data! Obviously, it will not contain all of the drawing elements, but as a backup file for a project, you at least would not have to start all over again from nothing if a project got lost, corrupted, etc.

2011 Subscription Advantage Packs. They’re Here!

For the past few years, Autodesk has been coming out with Subscription Advantage packs; downloads for subscription customers that add routines to their current version of the software. Last year’s pack added things like Point Cloud creation and Roundabout design to Civil 3D 2010. The technology from the 2010 pack was added to Civil 3D 2011 and improved upon. For the 2011 Civil 3D Subscription Advantage Pack, new Civil routines were added in addition to something for the Map portion and AutoCAD portion of Civil 3D. I will list each of these Civil 3D enhancements and then briefly discuss what each can do.

First enhancement out of the box is……………..(drum roll please)…………….The Style and Settings Importer! This routine allows users to select a file (dwg, dwt, etc.) and import styles, settings, or both. A small dialog box appears to allow you to select just styles or styles and settings from the file. This is now the fastest way to get these things from other files. This can be extremely handy for use as a standards enforcer as this import will overwrite styles currently in the drawing file. If a drawing was started using a non-compliant template, this importer can quickly make the drawing compliant.Figure 1 below shows this dialog box.

Figure 1

Next up is the new point import dialog. Point import? We’ve been importing points for years! Why this? This is why! Have you ever gone to import a point file and accidentally chose the wrong point file format? You know you have! At least once, right? With the new import point routine, a new dialog box like the one shown in Figure 2 below will appear. The routine will analyze the point file and and “suggest” possible formats to use. It also gives a preview of the point data in the same dialog box. These two things eliminate the need to open the point file in a separate text editor. This new dialog box still has some of the old point options as seen in the figure.

Figure 2

Now batting…………for the Enhancements…………Number 3………………The new COGO Editor. With this new editor you can create a traverse from existing COGO data, from lines in the drawing, or by manually entering known data such as bearing and distance. A dialog box like the one seen in Figure 3 below makes this possible. Traverses can be saved and then modified later. In addition to all of the traverse creation capabilities, this new wizard also allows for the reporting of traverses. Figure 4 shows an example of a report output.

Figure 3

Figure 4

For the Map side of Civil 3D there is a new ARC GIS FDO connector available. This will allow for connection to all forms of ESRI databases.

Finally, for the AutoCAD side, the following enhancements have been added:

1. an AutoCAD WS  plug-in for AutoCAD-based products. This is a web-based and mobile program that allows users to post, view, edit, and share directly on DWG files in your web browser.

2. a DWG conversion tool that does batch converting of DWG file formats.

3. IGES Import and Export capability for 3D files.

That’s it for this year’s Subscription Advantage Pack. Be sure to log into your subscription site and download this set of tools.

Do I Really Need Points in My Drawing?

Points. Those objects that we import or create. Most of the time points are imported from text files provided by surveyors. We have all seen the PNEZD format before, and could probably import points in our sleep! However, this raises the question that I titled this post after; do I really need points in my drawing? Most of the time, we import points because we intend to create a surface with them. We import points because we want to create a surface and show the existing contours, or we want to calculate volumes between existing and proposed conditions. Bottom line is that we mostly want points for surface creation. If this is indeed the case, we do not need to have or see a single point imported into our drawing! Oooh! I know! Pick me!…………….We could import the surface from an XML file!…………..True, but that surface needs to be created somehow and somewhere and in all likelihood was created with points. Hmm. Is there another way to create a surface without bringing the points in? Most definitely!

First, create the surface like you would normally do; right click on surfaces, choose create surface, give it a name, etc. Then, in the Prospector, expand the definition under the surface. Right click on “point files” and choose “add”, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

This will bring you to the very familiar looking dialog box as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Just like when importing points, browse out, select the file, and BOOM! Just like that, your surface has been created, and not a single point has been imported into your drawing! One key thing to remember about this technique, however, is that the point file will act somewhat like an xref. So, once you have created your surface, it is a good idea NOT to be moving the point file around. Creating a surface in this manner may keep you from ever needing to bring points into your drawing again. Unless, of course, you are the one that needs to edit those points because you are a surveyor! That’s another discussion for another day.

Can Civil 3D & Revit Really Work Together Painlessly?

Lately a lot of  Civil 3D and Revit users have been inquiring about how to make the two softwares work together on the same projects without going through painstaking measures. With the 2011 versions of the two products, interoperability is not just possible, but it is easy to make happen as well. Civil people will actually like what can be accomplished inside of Revit to ensure that the files interact nicely. Bottom line is that if Revit users take the time to do the initial setup that is available to them, the lives of Civil and Architectural people working together on projects can be so much nicer than in the past. The phrase from an old television commercial comes to mind; “Calgon, take me away!” Ok, maybe it’s not as drastic as that, but it used to be such a pain to coordinate the two disciplines! Civil people! Gather ’round as we discuss issues we can all relate to with past projects. I remember things like, “We have to scale the Architectural stuff up to get it to come in correctly.” “Zero,zero brings the Architectural drawings in way off in East Osh Gosh somewhere!” “The building footprint from the Architectural drawing is rotated to something they call Plan North. It is not rotated for the real world.” Guess what Civil people?! It does not have to be this way if the Architectural people you are working with are using Revit! In this blog, I will point out capabilities that Revit has just for your knowledge, rather than going into technical details since most Civil people don’t use Revit anyways.

First of all, as Civil people are well aware of, Civil base drawings are usually tied to coordinates based on a survey. We tend to go nuts when these drawings are moved, rotated, etc. Guess what!? This does not have to occur when Revit users bring the Civil dwg files into Revit. They have commands not only to import the dwg file but they can also “acquire coordinates” from a dwg file as well. What does this mean? Whatever coordinate system the dwg file is set up in can be the controlling coordinates for the Revit project! No more move this, rotate this, etc. Also, Civil people can call out a known survey point or monument in their drawing with a coordinate on it. Once it is imported into Revit and coordinates are acquired, the Revit user can inquiry the coordinates of the known point and they will match!

In Revit, there are two points that the users have control over; 1. survey point 2. project point. Here are the differences; 1. the survey point is the control point from the Civil drawing file. This is something that the Architectural people have to allow Civil to maintain the control over for this to work seamlessly.  That “relinquishing of power” can be the most difficult part. 2. the project point is a point that is somewhere on the building for the Revit user to use for building coordination with the other disciplines such as MEP and Structural. This could be a specific corner that is used to line up drawings on. Once all of the drawing coordination has been set up, the Revit user can export out to a file format known as an adsk file. This file can be imported directly into Civil 3D to show the building footprint in plan view, and the 3D building in a 3D view. Here’s the good stuff for Civil people regarding this adsk file; if the Revit user exports AFTER coordinates are acquired, then you will be able to import into Civil 3D using zero,zero and it will pop in where it is supposed to! Also, if they already have a known “Z” for the site, they can plug that into the export as well. And finally, if utility connections have been established (usually just a bit later in the project) that info can be exported as well.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Civil 3D surfaces come into Revit just fine. In the figure below, I imported a dwg file into Revit and merely turned off some layers to view the contours that are seen. I did not have to explode anything, or extract polylines as many people have thought are the only possible ways to bring contours into Revit. Those contours are still part of an intact Civil 3D surface.

I Can Count Lines & Blocks With Civil 3D! Can You?

Civil 3D 2010 and 2011 have some great functionality for reporting quantities through the use of the QTO Manager. While the mechanisms for reporting earthwork and corridor quantities have been around for a few releases, the QTO Manager made it’s debut in the 2010 version of Civil 3D. For those that have not taken the plunge into the QTO Manager, it is a means to assign pay items to objects within Civil 3D and then produce a quantity takeoff report for all objects with pay items assigned. For Civil 3D objects such as pipe network and corridor sub assemblies, pay items can be assigned automatically when the objects are created in the drawing. This is something that is set up in the settings of the template. This all sounds great but what does it have to do with the title of this post? What about lines and blocks? Those are AutoCad elements, not Civil 3D objects! I will briefly go through the process for using the QTO Manager with AutoCad objects.

First, open the QTO Manager and start off by opening  a Pay Item catalog. Civil 3D installs with a “Getting Started.csv” file. If you would like to bring in your own Pay Item data you can do so providing that you format the csv file in the manner of the getting started.csv file. After you open the Pay Item list you will see the categories as shown in the figure below.  This list a a very abbreviated list for this demonstration.

Figure 1

After bringing in the Pay Item list, all we have to do is assign pay items and then produce the report. The first thing I will assign Pay Items to are AutoCad blocks. The drawing I have has fire hydrant blocks. I will select one, then right click and choose “select similar” to select all of the hydrant blocks. Then in QTO Manager, I will right click on the Fire Hydrant pay item and click “Assign Pay Item” Now when I hover my cursor over one of the blocks, you will see that a Pay Item has been assigned to it as seen in figure 2 below.

Figure 2

That takes care of AutoCad blocks. Next, I will assign Pay Items to AutoCad linework, or in this case, polylines. In my drawing are polylines that represent curb and gutter. Once again, I will select one of the polylines, right click and choose “select similar” to get all of the curb and gutter selected. Then in the QTO Manager, I will right click on “Curb, Concrete 6 inch depth” and choose “Assign Pay Item” and………Bingo! The Pay Items are assigned.

Now that the Pay Items have been assigned it’s time to report the Pay Item quantities. On the QTO tab of the ribbon, click the “takeoff” button. In the dialog box choose the following: click “summary”, choose “drawing” for report extents, and uncheck “report selected pay items only” , then click “compute”. In the nexr dialog box, in the lower left hand corner click the arrow down to choose the output type for the report. For this example I will use “Summary (HTML).xsl. The results are in Figure 3 below. Notice the ouput quantities. This QTO Manager rocks!

Figure 3

A Simple But Useful Label Trick

Have you ever created an alignment or a profile in Civil 3D and then clicked on an alignment station label, for example, and noticed that all of the station labels were selected? What if you wanted to change the style of just one label? What if you wanted to edit the text of that label and possibly add content to it? Furthermore, what if you simply wanted to put that station label on the other side of the alignment for clarity? I know, you could create a style that when the label is in it’s dragged state you could suppress the display of the leader to kind of fake it out to get it to look like what you want. But there is a better and more simple way to do all of this; the ctrl key! Yes, believe it or not the ctrl key holds the key to unlocking this ability.
All you have to do is to hold down the ctrl key and then click on the label you would like to modify. Once selected, right click on the label and notice the options as seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1

After selecting to flip the label,  for example, the station label will flip to the other side of the alignment as seen in Figure 2 and the other labels in the set will not be affected! Very cool! After edits have been made, if you decide that you want the label to go back to its original properties, you can ctrl select it, right click and select “reset label”.

Figure 2

There are some other things you can do if you select “label properties” after you ctrl select a label and then right click on it. Figure 3 shows these options.

Figure 3

You can change the style of that one label, you can toggle off the display of that one label, or you can flip the label from here. There is one small catch with the visibility toggle to remember though. If you toggle of the display of a label there is no way to ctrl select it to be able to turn it on again if needed. So what can you do? You can select any of the labels in the group, then right click and select “reset all group labels”. Here’s some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the label will now reappear. The bad news is that all ctrl select edits to labels will be reset to their original states.
So there it is! A simple yet powerful trick to try with individual labels that are part of a group.

Navisworks. Where Are The Civil Objects?

I know that this is a Civil 3D blog but I had to post this blog regarding Navisworks. In this case Civil 3D is involved though, so I guess that qualifies. So here is the deal. I recently did a Civil BIM model to show the infrastructure on a roadway project and all of the utilities and ground surfaces were created in Civil 3D. I brought the drawing into Navisworks and did not see any of the Civil objects. Right away I thought that it had to be a Civil Object Enabler issue which is the case, but there is one “small” catch; if you are using Navisworks 2010 64-bit version, there is not a 64-bit Civil Object Enabler available! What do you do in that case? Punt? No!

I decided to try something. As you can probably figure out, I am using a 64-bit machine so I am installing 64-bit apps on it. I decided to try to install 32-bit Navisworks along side the 64-bit version and apply the Civil Object Enabler to the 32-bit install. It worked! Once I installed the Civil Object Enabler to the 32-bit install I was able to see the Civil objects in Navisworks with no problem. The results are in the picture below. You can see the pipe network objects and the surface being displayed with a transparency. We can only hope that there will be a 64-bit version of the Civil Object Enabler at least for the 2011 version if one is not going to be made for the 2010 version.

Adding Part Sizes Using Part Builder

One of the most basic but useful tasks we can do with the Part Builder is to modify the part sizes of existing parts. Have you ever gone to create a pipe network and known you needed a specific part size but just did not see it in any of your parts lists? We can bring in more part sizes into our parts list by adding the part sizes but what if we add all of the part sizes and still don’t see the size that we need? This is where going into Part Builder will help us.
For this example we will modify or add to the part sizes of a pipe in the Part Builder. After opening the Part Builder and changing the catalog to the pipes catalog  in the “getting started-catalog screen” interface, expand the part chapter, in this case “circular pipes”. Then, click on the “concrete pipe” part family. Either right click and select “modify part sizes”, or select the “modify part sizes” button at the bottom of the dialog box as seen in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1

 After selecting the modify part sizes command, you will be brought into the source dwg file for the part. Depending on the version of Civil 3D you are using, you may be prompted with a message like the one in Figure 2 stating that the drawing was last saved by an earlier version of the software and saving will update some AECC objects to the current version and cause them to be incompatible with earlier versions. Click the “close” button.

Figure 2

Next, in the “content builder” dialog box, expand “size parameters”, right click “BdyD1″ and click “edit” as shown in Figure 3 below. This will open the “edit part sizes” dialog box. Once inside the edit part sizes dialog box, select any of the PID values to make the “new’ button accessible. For this example I want to add a new part size of 144″. The way this works in this dialog box is whichever existing size I pick on, it will make a copy of that size at the very end of the line of size entries. So, the easiest thing for me to do is to pick the last size in the list, in this case 160″, and then click the new button. You will notice that there is now a copy of the 160″ size part, so what I will do next is to modify the first 160″ entry to be the new 144″ entry that I want. Figure 4 below shows this.

Figure 3

Figure 4

 After editing the PID value to have the 144″ that I want, it may also be necessary to edit the WTh (wall thickness) value as I did in this example. Notice how after entering the PID value that the PrtSN (part size name) value automatically populates? If you were to go to the top of the edit part sizes dialog box and click the black down arrow next to ‘values” and select “calculations” you will see that it is a formula to automatically populate the PrtSN value.

That’s it! No need to feel like you have to be a Part Builder expert just to add sizes!

My Favorite New Feature In Civil 3D 2011

Civil 3D 2011 comes with many new features and functionality, but if I had to nail just one down and call it my favorite, it would have to be the data shortcuts enhancements. What are these enhancements? There are basically two. The first one, is the ability to specify a Data Shortcut project folder and then specify a folder which contains drawings to be associated with the selected project. For each drawing file, the project selected is associated with the drawing. This will eliminate the issue that many have complained about in previous versions of Civil 3D; the chance to create data shortcuts form the wrong project into a drawing. Great! This will work sort of like LDT used to as far as helping the issue of wrong project, wrong drawing.

The second data shortcut enhancement is the Associate Project To Multiple Drawings command. This new feature gives you the ability to associate a default Data Shortcut project to multiple drawings residing in a specific folder on. This new command can also be used to remove the project association from multiple drawings at the same time. Great new functionality that I am sure a lot of users will appreciate.