ASCENT Blog

Creating Coverages in Autodesk Infraworks

By Michelle Rasmussen

 We had a great turnout for the Creating Coverages in Autodesk InfraWorks webcast. It is exciting for me to see so many people moving to Autodesk InfraWorks. I love being able to create designs in the software and better communicate what the finished project will look like.

In this webcast, I showed you how to use coverages to change the display of a terrain surface and how to change surface elevations using coverages. Since the software does not come with a lot of coverage styles, I also showed you how to create a material style and a coverage style in order to get the exact result you are looking for. If you missed the webcast, just click on the video below to see the replay. A number of questions came in during the webcast that I answered. There were also a couple questions that I did not have time to get to. In order to make sure that everyone got their questions answered, below is a list of all the questions along with my answers.

Create Coverages with Autodesk InfraWorks Webcast

  

Questions & Answers

QUESTION: What if you wanted to grade in vertical elements... maybe a shoring wall?

ANSWER: Depending on how big the wall is, you can use barriers for walls or possibly even a building with a wall material style applied to it. If you do plan to use coverages for grading vertical elements, select the coverage, right-click, and select Properties. Within the Properties dialog box, change the Smooth Radius value and click update. The smaller the number, the more vertical the grading. The larger the number, the less steep the grading will be.

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QUESTION: Can you explain how the data sources work between proposals?

ANSWER: When creating a new proposal, everything in the current proposal is copied to the new proposal. That includes all imported data sources and any new design elements you have created. If you create a proposal, then go back to the Master proposal and add additional data sources, they only appear in the Master proposal. Therefore, you will need to add additional data sources to every existing proposal which you want the newly added data to appear in. For instance, I forgot to add my Railroad data source to my master plan below. Since it will make a big difference to the approval process for the project, I added the railroad shape file to my Proposal1 but it did not automatically add it to the Master proposal. Therefore, if I need to see it in the Master proposal, then I will need to go into that proposal and add the data source to it in addition to Proposal1.

 

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QUESTION: What file types can buildings be? i.e. Revit, 3D AutoCAD, other?

ANSWER: It really depends upon which InfraWorks you are using. If you have the InfraWorks software that comes in the Infrastructure Design Suite, then you are not able to add Revit models directly to the model.  Instead, you will be required to create a building style. In order to use a Revit model, you will need to ask the architect to export the Revit model to any of the following file types: .3ds, .dae, .dxf, .obj, .sff

No matter which InfraWorks software you have, if you have a vector file that contains 2D polylines of the building’s shape, you can bring that in as a building source file through the Data Sources palette and create 3D building models from it. Alternatively, if you have 3D models (.3ds, .dae, .dxf, .fbx, .obj) you can bring those in as a building source file through the Data Sources palette.

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QUESTION: Does 3D terrain and addition of numerous materials exponentially add to file size?

ANSWER: Yes, it can. In fact, the more elevation changes happening in the terrain model, the larger the model. A Trick to reducing file size is to set your model limits so that you do not end up with data further out from your project boundary than you need.

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QUESTION: Did you start off with a jpeg of a Google Map clip? What are the possibilities?

ANSWER: I started off with a DEM file and an aerial photo that I downloaded for free from the Utah AGRC which is a government agency that gathers all GIS data for the state of Utah. Most states and/or municipalities have a similar organization to Utah’s AGRC.

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QUESTION: With default materials in the software, is there much mapping (scaling, etc.) that has to occur?

ANSWER: Most of the default materials in the software are set up to real world sizes for the objects they represent. However, I often make copies of default materials and change the scale just to suit my needs. For example, I have made copies of many of the vegetation 3d models, then changed their scale. That allows me to use trees as bushes or vice versa depending on my needs.

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QUESTION: Do most file extensions work for importing the initial images?

ANSWER: Yes. Whether you are importing an aerial photo or an image for a material style, several image formats are available for import. Material styles can use .png, .jpg, and .dds file types. Raster data sources can take advantage of .adf, .asc, .bt, .ddf, .dem, .dt0, .dt1, .grd, .doq, .ecw, .img, .jp2, .jpeg, .png, .sid, .tif, .tiff, .wms, .xml, .vrt, .zip, and .gz file types.

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QUESTION: Can you juxtapose image files with vector-based in the file to represent the site?

ANSWER: Absolutely. Both models that I worked on during the presentation included both raster files (DEMs and images) and vector files (buildings, roads, and coverages). In fact, the coverages are vectors that merely have images applied to them for display purposes. The Smith’s model that I showed you also had point data (cars, vegetation, people) included in it.

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QUESTION: What is your current file size?

ANSWER: The Smith’s model that I was showing you in the webcast was 3.3 GB but I have one model with a LOT of vertical elevation change happening within the project site and that model is 13 GB. These files do get very large. That is why I highly recommend setting the model extents as early as possible to keep the file sizes down.  

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QUESTION: How can we import residential facades such as townhouses or houses?

ANSWER: It is actually easier to add a 3d model of a townhouse or house than it is to create a new building style.  Building styles are extremely complex and could be a full-one day class all by itself.

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QUESTION:Whenever I use Infraworks, its slow or get stuck. I have a 64 bit system. Does this happen to you?

ANSWER: Yes, often. Depending on the size of your models, you may find your computer slowing down a lot. The best thing to do is make sure you are using a computer that is powerful enough to handle it. I have had one model that took an entire day to upgrade from InfraWorks 2014 to 2015. That is why I often have at least two computers going at one time. That way, while I am waiting on InfraWorks, I can be productive doing another project.

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QUESTION: How do you grade the coverages that have many vertices... Do you need to go to each vertex and add elevation?

ANSWER: This depends on what kind of changes you are wishing to make. If you want to change the elevation of the entire coverage, you can use the move qizmo and just click on the Z-axis (blue arrow) to move it in a vertical direction only. If you need to change the elevations of each vertex separate from the others, then, you do have to do one at a time.

 

My Autodesk University 2014

By Jennifer MacMillan

I can’t believe that another Autodesk University conference is once again behind us! This year I was excited to have been asked to teach two classes: Unleashing Free-form Modeling and Life Made Simple with Model Simplification. Along with three other colleagues, ASCENT had 5 classes on the schedule.  Very Exciting! 

If you happened to miss my classes (or others) and would like to learn more, Autodesk has all instructors post a copy of the Handouts and the PowerPoint presentations we use. You can download them from the Autodesk University site. You will need to log in to an existing AU account - or create a new one - to access the downloadable materials. If you don’t have an account, it is well worth the effort! Below is a little extra info on my classes and some Q/A that didn’t get handled in my short 60 min classes.

Unleashing Freeform Modeling

The Freeform Modeling tool is new to the Autodesk Inventor 2015 software, and it was really nice to see people excited about how they could incorporate this tool into their parametric modeling workflow. The course was geared towards new users and explained how to create and edit the five base shapes. In 60 minutes I was able to cover all of the tools, but certainly left some things unsaid. Thought that I would share a few of these extra tips:

• Firstly, Extrude: Yes, this is a command in the Freeform environment! Who knew? Unfortunately, this is not on the Ribbon or else you would all know about it! So how can it help and where do you find it? The following image should explain. As you can see, when the Extrude option is disabled (on the left), the face is translated upwards and adjacent faces update as needed. When the Extrude option is enabled (on the right), the selected face is extruded and new faces are generated. To enable or disable this command, when you are in the Edit Form command, right-click in the graphics window to access the toggle option for this command. What’s important to note is that the Extrude command remains enabled (or disabled) once set. Therefore, once you start using Extrude, be sure that you verify its setting before you edit a face to be sure you are getting what you want.

              

• Crease Edge: This is another very useful tool that can also be hard to find. As you can see in the following image, when you select edges, you can right-click and gain access to the Crease Edge command. This is a great tool that enables you to flatten an edge. Note that if you run the Crease Edge command on an edge that is adjacent to edges that are not tangent, the command will result in the crease radiating in other directions. This occurs when the edge you select is within 2 edges of a non-tangent point. Certainly a very cool tool, but using it may require some trial and error.  It is great for flattening the bottom of a cylinder, as I have done below.

               

Life Made Simple with Model Simplification

I hope that I made life a little simpler for those using (or those that should be using!) the Inventor model simplification tools. I loved hearing from one student that he was going to pass along my handout to his vendor who was refusing to send him fully featured models. Good luck my friend! I hope that the tools get you what you need. There were a few questions that were asked that I didn’t have time to test in the class. I hope that the following helps:

Q: How does Vault handle simplified models?

A: Vault handles simplified models and their parents differently based on whether there is a link between the simplified model or not. If a link exists (as can be done in a Shrinkwrap or a Derived Part file), the associated assembly and all part files will be handled by vault. If no associative link is maintained during creation (as can be done when creating a Shrinkwrap or Derived Part, or as is always the case for a simplified part), the simplified model is standalone and Vault ignores the parents used to create it.

Q: With Shrinkwrap, I thought that you could edit the file after it was created?

A: Yes, you can edit Shrinkwrap files once created. The only caveat here is that you aren’t actually using the Shrinkwrap dialog box. Shrinkwrap was created to be used as a quick way to simplify the model to show the external surfaces. Although you can’t gain access to the original Shrinkwrap dialog box, you can right-click and use the Edit Derived Assembly command to access the Derived Assembly dialog box and redefine as necessary. Keep in mind that if the Shrinkwrap was created such that the link was broken, you won’t be able to edit the file.

Over the last few months I also taught similar webcasts for ASCENT on these two topics. If you wanted to watch these classes (approx 45 min each) here are the links. 

• Unleasing Freeform Modeling
• Modeling Simplification using Autodesk Inventor

Thanks to everyone that attended my classes! Hope that this post gives you some more to think about. 

Jennifer