IMAGINiT Civil Solutions Blog

My Pond's a Heap!

I was taking a look at some volumes a couple of days ago, and I thought I'd try an experiment.  Ihad a mound sitting on a pad and was wondering what the volume might be between one contour and another, say the 45.5 and 50 meter contours.  Here's the original mound.

Now, I've taken a slice through it between the contours I specified, so we get it looking like this.

Alright, I thought.  Let's see what happens when I calculate the volume of this slice using the standard surface volume tools, then compare that to the volume calculated by the Stage Stroage extension routine.  The Stage Storage etension is an add on for Civil 3D 2010 (and 2009) that computes basin volumes as a function of the elevations through the basin from bottom to top.  This mound slice is really just a basin that's turned upside down, so I thought it should work.

Here's what I got with the surface to surface volume tools,

Here's the volume from the Stage Storage routine.

That's pretty close.  Only a difference of 4.37 cubic meters if I use the conic method calculations for comparison.  The end area and the conic methods agree pretty closely within the Stage Storage (2441.28 for the end area method).

Creating the slice through the mound took a few steps, using the Stage Storage routine took a few clicks.  It's useful for determining volumes for different types of contoured shapes, not just your average pond.

If you haven't look at the add on functionality available for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010, take the time to browse this site.  As whoever in your organization manages your subscriptions for access to the Autodesk Subscription website.  The latest content on the site are the Subscription Advantage Packs, available for a number of the Autodesk products.  I've found the Civil 3D 2010 se add ons to be great  extensions to the functionality of the product.

Check it out!
 

The Novia Cafe

I'm back from Regina, where I had some Civil 3D training to take care of.  I had a great time.  The weather was unusually warm, something I'm sure helped fuel the Roughriders fever sweeping the city (not that they need much help with that).  Saskatchewan plays Montreal for the 97th Grey Cup on Sunday.  The game will be held in Calgary, where there is now an acute shortage of watermelons.  The Riders fans carve them into helmets and wear them at Riders games.  So, if you're new to Calgary and see greem painted people with watermelons on their heads wandering around, it's OK.  They're just Riders fans.

When I visit Regina, I alwasy like to stop in at the Novia Cafe for lunch.  The Novia has been in continuous operation since June of 1918.  Going inside is going back to the world of a 1950s coffee shop.

The food is good and simple with no fear of cholesterol: burgers, soup, sandwiches, desserts, milkshakes and lots of coffee.  The decor is original.  They aren't trying to create an atmosphere here; it's authentic age.

 I was here last year when they celebrated their 90th birthday.  Cake for everybody!

 

So, when you're in Regina, check out the Novia.  It's on 12th Ave, between Scarth and Cornwall Streets in the heart of downtown.

Back From the Twilight Zone

Remember our drawing stuck in the Twilight Zone?  Well, thanks to Christopher Fugitt, we have a way back to our own dimension.  What transported us to the Zone turns out to be a combination of the view direction and the front and back clipping planes.

Here's the link to Christopher's blog explaining how to get all this straightened out:

http://blog.civil3dreminders.com/2009/11/corridor-section-editor-problem.html

Nothing's lost!  We're back!

Another AU Update

Here's another Autodesk University update!

Malcolm Fernandez, one of our very capable Application Specialists, is again going to present a session on Lot Grading.  This was a great session last year, and Malcolm has updated and enhanced it for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010.  Here are the details.

Lots More: Rules-Based Lot Grading  CV118-3 
Malcolm Fernandes – IMAGINiT Technologies

Rules-based grading. A proper residential lot design will produce a residential lot that can sell. Learn how to leverage AutoCAD® Civil 3D® 2010 to quickly and efficiently design or grade a lot and ensure that the revisions are dynamic, as are all the other objects within Civil 3D. In defining a rule-based lot grading, we will also explore other options of applying these same rules to not only subassemblies but also to feature lines.
 
In residential municipal design, it all comes down to one thing, the sale of the lot or parcel. Regardless
of your years of experience as an engineer or your proficiency with the software; creating multiple design options, volume calculations, alignments, profiles, placing pipes in the ground, etc., it all comes down to one important factor, producing a properly designed lot for your client. This in turn produces a saleable lot and relates to money for your client. This is the “widget” in land development. So, how can we leverage AutoCAD Civil 3D to help us quickly and efficiently design or grade a lot while ensuring that revisions can be as dynamic as in all the other objects within Civil 3D? Subassemblies and feature lines!
 
After completing this session you will be able to leverage subassemblies to create lot grading based on different design criteria.

The Corridor Twilight Zone

One of my colleagues, Malcolm Fernandez, ran into an interesting (in a disasterous sort of way) problem with Civil 3D 2010.

If you are working in the Corridor Section Editor, and you save your drawing while in the editor, there are a couple of things that might happen, depending on what you do next.  If you immediately close the drawing while the editor is active or close the drawing after closing the editor but without saving the drawing again, your drawing will exist in a twilight zone the next time you open it.  You will see only the corridor section you were working on: all of the other Civil 3D objects will have disappeared.  If you save your drawing again after closing the editor, everything should be OK.

Being a big fan of twilight zones, I thought I would look into this and see if I could find any more doors into this other dimension.  If you look closely at your otherworldly drawing, you will see that the view direction in the drawing is now not the plan view.  Setting it to plan view may restore a couple of contours in your once visible surface, plus a few other lines and bits of objects.  You're not likely to see any assemblies, profiles, or alignments.  I even tried to drag an assembly off of the tool palette.  That didn't show up either, even though it was listed in the Prospector.  So, where are all your objects?  Actually, they're still in the drawing, albeit hidden in the twilight zone.  If, for example, you select an assembly from the Prospector, you will see the grips for that assembly.  Nothing else in the assembly shows up and you can't select any of the grips.  If you select what remains of your surface and then look at it in the Object Viewer, you will see some of it, although it seems to be sliced by and partially hidden behind an invisible plane.  Very strange!

Can you recover any of these objects from this other universe?  Well, anything that can be exported by LandXML will export correctly, so you can save things like surfaces, alignments and profiles, pipe netwoks and parcels.  I'm afraid the assemblies will remain in limbo.  There just doesn't seem to be a way to recover them.

Stay tuned for the next episode.  We may yet find a way to bring these objects back to our own dimension and relinquish the Section Editor's power over them.

So, be careful, or you may find your drawing in the Twilight Zone!

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.

Sunday

It's Sunday, and I'm sitting in the Calgary airport waiting for a connection to Regina.  I go to Regina a few times a year, and even though it's not a big place, I can always find something new to write about.  I'll be there for a few days, so I'm sure I'll have something for you.  Stay tuned!

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.

A Wider Road

We were looking at a road widening the other day.  AutoCAD Civil 3D has a few subassemblies to take care of this.  We decided that since we had an existing ground surface representing the road surface and ground to each side, a centerline alignment, and not much else, we would use one of these subassemblies to widen the road.  There was no superelevation data for the existing road, so we wanted the existing surface to control the pavement slope as we went along the alignment.  There was no milling or overlay to the existing roadway, so we chose the OverlayWidenMatchSlope1 subassembly with an overlay thickness of zero,

This subassembly commonly is used to extend the width of one side of the road.  The Sample Point usually is at the crown and the insert point at or near the existing EOP.  There is no right or left to this subassembly; you specify positive or negative values for the offset to the Insert Point.  This all works very well if you are doing one side of the road, but what if you want to do both sides at once?

What we wanted to do is show the datum surface and get some volumes.  Here’s our assembly.

You can see what happens when we built the datum surface.  Notice the triangular area caused by the crown in the roadway.  Now, this wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but it is correct as far as the coding of the assembly goes.  There is no Datum link between the Sample Point and the Insert Point, so the surface goes straight across the road.  Not a problem if you are doing one side of the road.

 

We added a Basic Lane subassembly to the right and left of the crown point using 0.001m thickness for the pavement.  The width was also set to 0.001m.

Now, here’s what we ended up with.

There’s some other trickery we could have used to obtain this result, but this was a pretty simple fix.  It demonstrates how flexible these assemblies can be, and what you can do with a little effort.  There may be some debate as to whether the existing road surface could actually be referred to as a datum surface, but I’ll leave that for another time.  We got what we needed to show the surface.

I’m sure you’ve got other ways of dealing with this, and I’d love to hear them.  So, leave a comment here.  Maybe we can get a discussion going on this.  Even an argument might be fun.

Blogs and Friday the 13th

Some technical difficulties here.  I've got a few things I've been working on, but when I try to post, they disappear into the aether.  More electrons wasted!  I should have this sorted out soon, but I guess blogs and Friday the 13th have a special relationship!