IMAGINiT Civil Solutions Blog

What’s This LAS File?

If you’ve been using AutoCAD for a while, you’ve probably encountered files with a .las extension.  AutoCAD uses this extension for its layer state files, which contain saved layer state information exported from a drawing.  With the advent of the new point cloud capabilities within AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 and AutoCAD Map 3D 2010 (through the Subscription Advantage Pack) and the 2011 releases of these products, there’s a new .las file type you’ll see quite often.  This is a binary file type containing LIDAR data.  The format was developed by the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) in conjunction with a number of industry and government stakeholders.

The LAS file type is a public format allowing the exchange of LIDAR data between the organizations and companies who produce this data and those who consume it. As I mentioned, this is a binary file type created as a public format to provide an alternative to both proprietary storage and interchange formats and the common ASCII file formats used by a wide variety of organizations.  We all know the problems with proprietary formats: data exchange is often complex and prone to difficulties.  ASCII, although simple, can be slow to process due to the very large file sizes involved, even when you are dealing with a small scanned area.  Additionally, some of the LIDAR specific data may be lost, hindering analysis.  Just as landXML, allows us to transfer civil data such as surfaces and alignments simply and without conversion issues, the .LAS format contains LIDAR specific information while still being a relatively easy format to understand.  However, files created in the LAS format are not editable in the same way as landXML files, which are in an ASCII format.

So, remember, there’s now more than one .las file format in the AutoCAD world (actually there’s another that’s used in some well logging applications, but we won’t get into that here).

Until next time. . .

AutoCAD® Civil 3D 2011 Storm and Sanitary Analysis

Breaking News!  Autodesk has announced the release of their Storm and Sanitary Analysis 2011 Extension.  This release is available for download from the subscription site for all customers on subscription.

The Autodesk® Storm and Sanitary Analysis 2011 Extension is a comprehensive, hydrodynamic hydrology and hydraulic analysis application for planning and designing urban drainage systems, storm sewers including highway drainage systems, and sanitary sewers.

With this extension, engineers and planners using AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2011 and/or AutoCAD® Map 3D 2011 software can analyze both simple and complex networks including:

• Inlets and catch basins
• Detention ponds and outlet structures
• Interconnected ponds
• Flow dividers, standpipes, weirs, and orifices
• Pumps and lift stations
• Manholes and junctions
• Rivers, streams, and ditches
• Culverts and bridges

Some of the key features and benefits of the Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis 2011 Extension are:

• Bi-directional exchange of data with AutoCAD Map 3D and AutoCAD Civil 3D
• No limitation on the number of pipes or elements you can include in your model
• Widely-accepted SWMM analysis engine
• Broad range of hydrologic methods
• Stormwater BMPs
• Detention pond design
• Stormwater quality modeling
• Customizable report generation for regulatory review
• GIS interoperability
• Work in either US or Metric (SI) units

Content is available in English only.

Where’s My Media?

Mark Flayler, who authors our mechanical blog, has a post about Autodesk’s new (starting with the 2010 subscription products) method of obtaining their software.  Now, the default method of obtaining Autodesk software is through download, although you can still request physical media.  Check out his post at

http://blogs.rand.com/manufacturing/2010/03/autodesk-products-wheres-my-discs.html

for all the details.

 

Thanks, Mark!

FME Extends Civil 3D to the GIS World

Here’s a link to an interesting article about the newest version of FME from Safe Software.  FME now has the capability to make Civil 3D data available to GIS platforms, a big step for integrated planning environments.

Here’s the link:

http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/dailynews/2010/mar/11/news3.html

Making the Quick Properties Dialog Box Behave!

OK, after a year end absence, I'm back!  My last post on the Quick Properties dialog box generated an interesting comment on positioning the box.  While the dialog is really helpful, it can get in the way, sometimes, and can be annoyingly close to the cursor.  Fortunately, you can make the Quick Properties dialog behave.  Here's what you do.

When the dialog is visible, right click on the gray border and select Settings from the pop-up menu.

The Settings dialog gives you the option to either position the Quick Properties dialog dynamically relative to the cursor position, or in a fixed position on the screen.

Using the Cursor location mode, you can position the dialog in a quadrant relative to the cursor and set the distance from the cursor (0 to 400 pixels).  The Float location mode places the dialog in a static location on the screen.  You can reposition it by dragging it around.  You can also reposition the dialog if you have selected the Cursor location mode, but its initial position will be determined by the values you have set.

Click OK and you're done!

Windows 7

I get a lot of questions about Windows 7 and Autodesk products.  Here's a brief rundown.

Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system is the next evolution of what started out as Windows 6, later called Vista.  Windows 7 is certainly a jump from XP and it has some powerful new features and functionality that should benefit Autodesk applications, including full support for 64-bit computing, Windows search and (GASP!) improved performance. Multi-touch support now is also a core capability within Windows 7.

I haven't installed Windows 7 on my system yet, but I've been running Vista 64 for about a year.  Although Vista 64 is a vast improvement over Vista 32, I think it still lacks the performance you would expect from a 64 bit OS.  As well, an initial lack of device drivers caused a lot of problems for older peripherals.  I want to look a bit further into the "improved performance" claims before I upgrade.  Although, when it comes down to it, I've found that all of the Autodesk applications I use, including the 32 bit ones like Civil 3D run without much problem.  I'm finding Vista 64 to be enough of an improvement over XP, that I can't complain too loudly.

So, does Autodesk certify anything to run under Windows 7?  Yes, it does.  Here's the list so far:

• AutoCAD 2010
• AutoCAD LT 2010
• Autodesk Inventor 2010
• Autodesk Inventor LT 2010
• AutoCAD Architecture 2010
• AutoCAD Electrical 2010
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2010
• AutoCAD MEP 2010
• Autodesk Algor Simulation 2010

When I talk with people who are running other Autodesk applications including Civil 3D 2010 and Map 3D  2010, I hear they are not experiencing any major problems, but these applications haven't made the list yet since Autodesk wants to be thorough before certifying them.

I think Windows 7 looks promising from an OS point of view and I don't anticipate a major problem as far as the existing Autodes applications go.  I'm sure we'll see new features in these products to take advantage of the new capabilities in Windows 7, but probably not before the 2011 release.

An AU Update

OK, most of you know that Autodesk University (AU) happens December 1 - 3 at Mandaly Bay in Las Vegas.  IMAGINiT has several presenters this year.  From the Civil and Geospatial side we have Malcolm Fernandes and Warren Medernach.  Warren also is our Geospatial Blogger.  Here's his presentation topic.

From AutoCAD® Map 3D to Autodesk MapGuide® in Three Simple Steps: Connect, Stylize, Publish

GS114-1: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - 1:00pm

 

Class Description
If you are interested in distributing geospatial data to the masses, then you don't want to miss this class. Learn how easy it can be to publish data directly to Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise from AutoCAD Map 3D. You will see how to connect to a variety of data sources through FDO Technology, stylize and theme your data to create a cartographic masterpiece, and finally, how to publish the data to MapGuide Enterprise. In addition, through the use of MapGuide Studio, you will also learn how quickly and easily a web application can be built around your published map data.

Sounds good!

I'll have Malcolm's presentation information for you soon.

There's a Cloud in My Drawing!

Well, I'm back in the office for a couple of days after a week on the road.  I've had some time to take a look at the point cloud object in the Civil 3D and Map 3D Subscription Advantage Pack.

An increasing amount of ground data is being represented by lidar surveys.  We've all been in the situation where we have to generate a TIN based on a large (> 2 million) points and we've all run into the problems associated with trying to do that.  Things have improved with the surface simplification commands and the data clip boundary, but we've been hoping for a solution that will let us build a surface from large data sets without a lot of data manipulation.  So, do we have a new tool with the point cloud object?  Well, not quite.

What the point cloud object allows us to do is take a substantial number of points (I think up to about 2 billion) and represent them accurately as an object within Civil 3D and Map 3D.  This has obvious advantages for adding 3D representations of surfaces, vegetation, buildings and other structures from scanned surveys.  The points are held in a data base and can be updated and modified as new surveys become available.  The point cloud can be stylized based on criteria such as elevation or point classification, and the database can be used in multiple drawings and applications throughout the design, construction and maintenance process.  Think BIM.

What the point cloud object doesn't do in the Civil 3D installation is allow us to create a surface of any kind.  It would be nice to make a TIN from the cloud, but we can't.  Maybe in the next release.  To see a surface created from the point cloud, we need to use Map 3D.  That functionality doesn't exist within Map in the Civil 3D product.  Here's a point cloud in Civil 3D.

This cloud has been stylized with an elevation range.  Here's the same cloud shown as a surface in Map 3D.

You can also add a contour layer.

Now, all of this won't get you a TIN surface, but you can use the drawing you created in Map as a drawing in Civil 3D and overlay the point cloud or add additional cloud data such as buildings or other surveys.  Here's the surface with the point cloud in Civil 3D.

There are couple of other things to note about this object.  It seems to be a bit fragile when viewing it in 3D, either in Orbit or the Object Viewer.  I've heard other people have experienced the same instability and crashes, as I have.  To be fair, I'm not sure if it's the application or my video setup.  I'll have to look into that a bit more.  It can also be a bit slow to respond.

So, while I'm disappointed that we don't have an easier way of generating TINs from lidar and other large data sets, I'm impressed with what Autodesk has done with the Ambercore engine so far.