IMAGINiT Civil Solutions Blog

BIM Gets Civil at BIM Spectrum

Next week we have a virtual event called BIM Spectrum. Now, I know what you're thinking "BIM is for architects." and mostly, that's true. But our own Doug Cummings has set aside a half hour to talk about the tools available for conception and integration with civil engineering.

Building is more than just a noun, it's a verb - civil engineering is part of the building process, and therefore part of the BIM process. I hope you'll take some time to join us on February 16th and learn a bit more about BIM and what it can do for you. If nothing else, come in and network with others in the AEC industry.

New Terrain Shaping Tech Preview from Autodesk

Check out this new technology preview for Civil 3D 2012. The idea is that it will help you go from concept to completion in the same model. Autodesk is always looking for feedback on new ideas in their lab. If you haven't already be sure you're checking out the Autodesk Labs regularly. If this Terrain Shaping preview goes well, Autodesk anticipates adding one for Map 3D as well.

Oh, and this technology preview - it's free. Enjoy!

Take a Look Through the Portal

In case you haven’t heard, we have a new Portal where we have many pieces of valuable information on just about every Autodesk Product –discussion forums and the like.

Joe Hedrick, an Infrastructure Solutions Team Manager with IMAGINiT posted a great thread on wishes for Civil 3D. Take a look here.

 

Overview of Civil 3D

While many people understand the benefits of working in a model-based environment, others need a clear visual to get how Civil 3D can help their everyday work. Kevin Breslin has put together a brief video overview of Civil 3D as a good primer for those wanting an overview of intelligent modeling.

Watch the video now.

Update 1 released for Civil 3D 2012

So Autodesk has released update 1 for Civil 3D 2012.  While this isn't exactly breaking news, I find that when speaking with people who are having some problems with Civil 3D, they often aren't aware that there is even an update.  So I would like to take a minute to point out that an update is available and ready for download from Autodesk's website.  I would also like to take some time to point out a few of the fixes.  The information below is from Autodesk's readme fie and displays what problems have been fixed in this update.

Primary Issues Resolved by This Service Pack

The following issues have been resolved:

Alignments

• Performance while adding entities to an alignment has been improved.

API

• An inconsistent result from the Alignment.StationOffset() .NET API has been resolved.
• AlignmentEntity::SubEntityCount now shows the correct value.

Corridor Design

• An issue where corridor overrides cannot be deleted from some migrated drawings has been resolved.
• Corridor Section Editor performance has been improved.
• Corridor rebuilding performance has been improved.
• An issue where corridor feature lines do not connect if the center alignment and offset alignment have different station ranges has been resolved.
• When switching drawings containing corridors, the application no longer becomes unresponsive.
• When running quantities using a LandSuperElevationAOR with a subbase of 0.00', the application no longer becomes unresponsive.

Corridor Volumes

• While generating materials automatically by sample line group in the Quantity Takeoff Criteria dialog box, cancelling the process no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.

Data Shortcuts

• An issue were broken references for the alignment subtype could not be repaired has been resolved.
• The rail alignment icon in the Data Shortcut tree no longer changes to a centerline icon after creating a reference.
• The alignment subtypes and profile information are no longer lost after converting a Vault project into a Data Shortcut project.
• Startup time has been improved when opening projects located on a remote server.
• A permission conflict when creating Data Shortcuts has been resolved.
• An error is no longer generated when creating a profile reference.

General/Other

• Subassembly issues found by the AUDIT command are now repaired.
• Export to AutoCAD no longer changes alignment label or section view label appearance.
• Running Edit Text from the context menu no longer disables the text edit command after first use.
• Undocking the Inquiry Tool no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• Changing the value of the Object Property Data optionin the Publish Options dialog box no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• Changing the style of a point group in Toolspace no longer causes the application to become inactive.
• AutoCAD commands are no longer slow to initiate when xref's are attached.
• Clicking the Help button from the Tool Palette now opens content as expected.
• Icons in contextual ribbons now appear as expected.

Grading

• The Grading to Surface command no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.

Hydrology and Hydraulics

• Hydraflow Express has been updated to calculate culvert coefficients as expected.
• The Storm Sewers import command now rounds 2" and 8" diameter pipes properly.
• Part styles are no longer mismatched when importing with Part Swapping turned off and Part Family turned on when using the Storm Sewers import command.

Object Enabler

• An unexpected error that occurs when creating a block that contains a grading object has been resolved.
• Referenced pipes are now appearing as expected in section view.

Performance

• Selecting the Map Task Pane button on the View tab of the ribbon in the Planning and Analysis workspace no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.

Pipes

• An error when creating a best fit profile with pipes in profile view has been resolved.
• Null structures with the same location as junction structures are now deleted as expected.
• Using the Repair All References command no longer causes an unexpected error.

Profile View

• Performance while opening a drawing with a surface profile has been improved.

Project Management

• A message that blocks a user from checking in a drawing file when working in a full replication environment has been removed.
• Shared profiles are now displayed as expected in Prospector for Offset, Curb Return, and Miscellaneous alignments.
• When importing a project from a data shortcut folder, profile objects in new drawings can now be seen in Prospector after import.
• After checking a drawing into Vault, referenced objects are now listed on the Where Used tab as expected.
• Check-in performance has been improved.
• The data file no longer loses dependency information upon import into a new Vault project.
• Unnecessary folders are no longer being checked in along with the project during the import process.

Quantity Takeoff

• Clearing highlight from QTO Manager no longer causes an unexpected error.
• Corridor reports now work as expected.
• The Transportation Extension Slope Stake report has been updated to the latest version and now runs as designed.

Surface

• There is no longer a discrepancy between the reported bounded volume and the TIN volume surface when the same polyline applied as a boundary.
• Surfaces now tessellate around curves in parcels as expected.
• Surface volume computation performance has been improved.
• Deleting a point from a surface no longer causes the application to close unexpectedly.
• An unexpected error no longer occurs when opening a file with Level of Detail turned on.

Survey

• A latitude and longitude field book file no longer creates reversed northing and easting coordinates.
• The Point File Formats dialog box in the Import Survey Data wizard now saves changes.
• The application now generates the proper point descriptions from the TSS point codes and the "TSS/Comment" field in the survey database.
• Survey linework coding now properly parses descriptions that contain leading or doubled up comment escape delimiters.

Superelevation

• The transition length table in the Superelevation wizard is no longer reset to the first one in the list.

User Interface

• The paste icon now appears on the Home tab in the 2D Drafting & Annotation workspace.

 

 

This updates can be found at:

32 Bit:

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/c3d2012_win32_sp1.exe

64 Bit:

http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/c3d2012_x64_sp1.exe 

Import CAiCE Projects

By Brian Allen

While browsing an old hard drive the other day I found some projects I worked on in the past using CAiCE and it got me thinking "Can we import CAiCE data directly into Civil 3D?" Well, yes we can! To import such data the CAiCE Translator Extension will need to be installed.

Once installed, the extension will be located in your Toolspace >> Toolbox as shown below.

 

Its quite simple to use. For example, I chose to 'Import CAice Project (*.PT4)' and the import wizard will allow you to pick and choose what data you wish to import.

Points and Survey Chains - Options

 

DTM - Options

 

Geometry Chain - Options

 

Profiles - Options

 

After defining all the options, click 'Import' and Presto! Your data is now ready to use in Civil 3D!

Video Blog: Michelle Rasmussen from Autodesk University 2011

By Michelle Rasmussen

I am here at Autodesk University where the big buzz is certification. Anyone that is here can take certification exams for free. That is right, I said free.

If you would like to take the AutoCAD Civil 3D exam but are not sure you are ready for it, check out my two part virtual class called Incredible AutoCAD Civil 3D Users: Prove your Credibility with Civil 3D Certificaiton. You will find it at: http://au.autodesk.com/?nd=au2011_certification_preparation_classes

Volumes Dashboard Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012

Autodesk released a new tool for calculating and analyzing volumes in Civil 3D 2012 for subscription users. This new tool allows the user to quickly visualize and report surface volumes for an entire project or specific areas of the project in a single interface. This is somewhat similar to the Volumes Tools found on the Analyze Tab on the Ribbon with a few enhancements.

Some enhancements are:

• Quickly add boundaries to volume reporting
• Calculate volumes for an entire project
• Calculate Sub-Areas
• Analyze Net Graphs
• Create Reports
• Insert Volume Calculations into the drawing

After installing the extension the tool will be found in the Toolbox > Subscription Extension Manager > Volumes Dashboard.

For more information go to http://docs.autodesk.com/CIV3D/2012/ENU/contexthelp/VOLUMES_DASHBOARD.htm

Quick Corridor Boundaries

Depending on the subassemblies we use in Civil 3D, we may find it quite difficult when it comes to creating quick corridor surface Boundaries. For example, if we have varying subassemblies with varying codes for tie/daylighting slopes the “Boundaries > Add Automatically” function isn’t as useful as it sounds. We rarely get the results we want.

Try This Trick!

Trick Civil 3D into creating our boundary automatically. Some may already know this trick but for those that create single baseline corridors you most likely have never seen this. If a corridor has more than one baseline then when creating a corridor boundary, a new option for “Create Boundary from Corridor Extents” suddenly appears! I personally believe this should be included in a single baseline corridor. It is extremely useful.

Our Initial Corridor (Single Baseline)

The image above shows that there is only one baseline in our corridor. The image below shows the options we have for creatnig boundaries based off of the corridor design and the subassemblies used within it.

 

Temporary Additional Baseline

We can trick Civil 3D to automatically add the "extents" of our corridor surface as a boundary. The catch is that we must add at least one additional baseline to the corridor. The image below shows the addition of a baseline. The alignment and profile is not important because after the "extent" boundary is applied, we're going to remove the the temporary baseline anyway.

Notice the image below. After we applied the additional baseline, an option for "Corridor extents as outer boundary..." suddenly appears! To apply this as a boundary just select it. Then be sure to go back to the Parameters tab and remove the temporary baseline.

 

Select OK and the boundary will be applied as expected to your Corridor Surface.

Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler

What is Infrastructure Modeler?

Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler is a new software solution released recently to help the civil engineering community produce presentation quality conceptual designs.  As  the civil engineering community moves forward with technology, I see this solution replacing the public hearings’ aerial images pasted on a foam board.  Companies can now use the projectors or computer monitors they already have in the office to show these designs in color and in 3D!  This modeler has some familiar features that you may have used in Civil 3D and also includes the ribbon interface we have all come to know and love.   If you have ever poked around on the Autodesk Labs web site, you may have seen this there under the name of Project Galileo.

What type of data does it use?

Infrastructure Modeler used a wide variety of data.  Starting with the AutoCAD DWG, we can import and stylize our dwg data by selecting a type for each material brought in.  LandXML data can also be imported to display Civil 3D alignments, surfaces, pipe networks etc.  Once a design has been imported it can be themed to show a rendered roadway with buildings, light poles and even fire hydrants.  This isn’t to say that some of these things can’t be accomplished in Civil 3D but they just aren’t this easy!  GIS data in the form of SDF or SHP files can be imported as well as other data types.  The data can be as simple as the aforementioned dwg or as complex as several types of Oracle databases. 

When is it available?

You can purchase this powerful tool right now!!  It is not currently part of one of the new suites but here is to hoping that will happen in the future.  You can download a trial version from Autodesk.com and then purchase it from your local reseller. 

Enough Teasing, what’s it look like?

 

 

Links to Demo