IMAGINiT Civil Solutions Blog

IMAGINiT Civil 3D Utilities Google Earth Warped Image

Kevin Stacy | Infrastructure Solutions Team Manager

In this Blog I wanted to show how to attach a Google Image in Civil 3D using the IMAGINiT Utilities for Civil 3D tool.  I had a support call where the Google Earth image was coming in warped. The solution is straight forward so hope this can help others in the future.

Set Coordinate System

Create your new drawing file from your template. Then on the Prospector tab select the Setting tab. Highlight your file name, which is at the top, and right-click to set the coordinate systems in the Units and Zone tab.

IMAGINiT Utilities Import from Google Tool

In Civil 3D, from the IMAGINiT tab, within the Imagery/Terrain panel, select the Import from Google tool. You will need to zoom to the area of interest or enter the address to get to the right location. From the Import dialog you might pick the Fullscreen view option. Next, pick OK to attach the image to Civil 3D.

When you insert the image, in some cases the image may appear to be warped. There is not an easy way to fix this, so instead, remove the image and repeat the same process to import the image however this time, without the Fullscreen option.

This method will likely not result in a distorted/warped image.

Warped Image:

Image NOT Warped:

I hope this blog helps you if you run into this issue. Check out other blogs that might help you as well.

Margin of Error Applied to Swept Path Analysis - Autodesk Vehicle Tracking

Richard Morrow | Application Expert

In this Blog I wanted to look at Swept Path envelopes using Vehicle Tracking to make it more realistic with a reasonable margin of error, knowing drivers are not going to be perfect. The closer those envelopes are to curbs, signage, or building corners, the smaller the margin of error is for the driver. Creating the buffer or offset will help ensure vehicles can successfully navigate the path. Allowing you to create a better and safer design.

Autodesk Vehicle Tracking

As you can see below, we have a Swept Path of school bus navigating the road. There are some tight areas in the design. What I would like to do is add a buffer so I can make sure to make design updates based off the buffer so there is adequate space for the bus to navigate the turn.

To add the buffer, select Vehicle Tracking tab then the Vehicle Tracking Properties. This will allow you to set an offset for the tracking envelope. On the Properties dialog select Reports and expand Report0001 Clearance Envelope and pick Body Outline, then Edit.

Body Outlines

On the Body Outlines you will want to set the Offset Envelope to “1”. You can set the symbology and distance of the offset that will display within the envelope.

You now have a buffer to aid in a more realistic path design. This will make your design easier to navigate for the drivers and safer design for everyone.

To apply the buffer to all your future envelopes you need to set this at the Report Wizard.

Select the Body Outline like before and apply the same settings as earlier. This buffer offset will be applied to ALL you future Path Analysis.

Upgrading an old Civil 3D Template

Brian Johnson | Applications Expert

Historically, Autodesk has released new versions of Civil 3D each year, usually during the spring. Each new release introduces new features, improved functionality and often increased performance. Some prefer to be early adopters and will install the latest release as soon as it has been tested and approved for production. Others prefer to wait until the first update has been released with the latest bug fixes to minimize disruption to production.

Regardless of your position, implementing a new version of Civil 3D across your organization requires planning. A part of planning to upgrade should always include your Civil 3D template. I have recently been troubleshooting performance related issues only to learn that the current template being used to create new drawings was developed in not only an earlier version but two file formats back. Apparently, this is a common practice for many organizations, and most are concerned about the time and effort it takes to build a template, have already done it at least once and do not want to go through that process again any time soon. So, they just use the one they have and assume there should not be any issues, it’s just another version of the same Civil 3D after all.

Starting new drawings from old templates can indeed be an issue in Civil 3D. New versions introduce new features and improvements that often require a change to the format of the .dwg file which has an impact on drawing settings, styles and the overall integrity of the file. It is recommended to create a new template for each version of Civil 3D in use. However, it is possible to use an existing template to populate a new template with layers, styles etc. and this is the process to get that done.

How to upgrade an existing Civil 3D template to the latest version:

1. Start with a clean template by opening acad.dwt in the version you want to make the template for and save as a new .dwt file. The acad.dwt file can be found in the default template path in a folder named AutoCAD Template.

2. Import all AutoCAD based layers, linetypes, text styles, dimension styles, multileader styles, blocks etc. using Design Center. Also, make any necessary adjustments to AutoCAD base settings.

3. Save the template file.
4. Import Civil 3D specific styles and settings using the Import Styles command (found on the Manage tab and Styles panel of the ribbon).

Notes: Certain settings will need to be manually copied by drag and drop from the old template to the new such as Description Keys and Pipe Network parts lists. Also, some settings will need to be set manually such as the Object Layers in Drawing Settings. For a complete list see: About Importing Styles and Settings .

5. Save the template file.

I recommend testing the new template to ensure all settings and styles are configured as necessary. Create a clean drawing from the new template and create AutoCAD and Civil 3D objects just as you would for a project and verify the behavior and standards are as expected.

Migration to Autodesk in 2020

Kevin Breslin | ISD/RCS Services Manager

Here we are in the middle of 2020 and I’m writing a blog post about “Migration to Autodesk”.  Seems kind of odd when you think about it, considering AutoCAD has been around since the 80’s and our flagship infrastructure program Autodesk Civil 3D has been around since 2004. The reality is, despite Autodesk technology being mature in the CAD/engineering world, it’s still *NEW* for what appears to be a growing number of users.

Unless you happen to be with an organization that is working on this move to an Autodesk platform, you might wonder “Who is just now going to Autodesk?”.

The Top Two Answers Are:

• The expected new engineers, designers, etc., fresh out of school and/or just beginning their careers in the industry.
• But the growing part of this segment of our customers are those migrating FROM a Bentley platform to an Autodesk platform.

For over 25 years, we have been in the consulting services business and have been providing education, support, implementation services to customers, and over these years, we have encountered customers that were also making this Bentley/MicroStation to Autodesk/AutoCAD/Civil 3D migration, but in the last year or so, the numbers have gone up . . . . a lot.

While I could spend time opining on the “why” this is happening, I’ll leave it at, there are changes within the industry that are driving people to consider an Autodesk-based alternative for design, drafting, engineering, survey processing, visualization and data management needs.

The ISD Services team over the years have collectively assisted many organizations, large and small, commercial and government with the move to Autodesk from Bentley and have done so as part of our TakeAIM services.  While the TakeAIM platform has given us the ability to meet the needs of customers making the migration, it often required additional steps which we have found necessary to effectively get an organization migrated to a new platform, with a customized optimized environment, standards, workflows, education and support to ensure the challenges associated to making the change is as minimal as possible.

By leveraging our collective years of experiences, we have developed best practices and methodologies to address the unique aspects of migrating platforms and have used these lessons learned to develop a new service.  This new service is simply branded “Migration to Autodesk”.

 Yes, it’s kind of on the nose. . . . but hopefully it’s self-explanatory.

In addition to the typical aspects of implementation (discovery, education, optimization, piloting, support), the challenges of migrating from another platform also adds the potential of needing to address migrating legacy standards (line types, cells, levels,) and in some cases, the actual conversion of legacy design data from Bentley/MicroStation-based files to Autodesk/AutoCAD/Civil 3D equivalent.  There are also aspects that deal with data management (ProjectWise to Vault Professional), automation, and more.

This new service takes all of these aspects into account.

While there may be many similar needs from one organization to another, we know that once you dig into the specifics, each migration requires a unique plan to be defined.

If you are with an organization that is currently considering making the move to Autodesk from Bentley, please review the details of this new service here, and as always, feel free to contact us with questions.

Import an InfraWorks Surface into Civil 3D

Richard Morrow | Application Expert

In this blog post I wanted to use the surface model created from Autodesk InfraWorks' Model Builder to create an existing surface in Autodesk Civil 3D. This is NOT a replacement for your survey, but a way to enhance the area outside your survey. The great thing about this it can be done in about 15 minutes.

Autodesk Civil 3D users with InfraWorks installed locally can open an InfraWorks model directly in Civil 3D. An Autodesk Civil 3D user can also bring InfraWorks model data into Autodesk Civil 3D by referencing an IMX file that was exported from an InfraWorks model.

Import Your Surface Model into Civil 3D

Autodesk Civil 3D will perform a conversion on InfraWorks model objects when you bring InfraWorks model data into Autodesk Civil 3D. InfraWorks Objects become Civil3D Objects.

Hover over the model in InfraWorks to see the path location to where the file is stored. You will need this location to import the surface into Civil 3D.

From Civil 3D select the InfraWorks tab and then open model. This is where you will navigate to your model location.

On the Open InfraWorks Model use the Refine Selection Set to pick only what you want to bring in. in this case we only want the surface.

The Surface is now imported into Civil 3D. You can see below the three surfaces were brought in. This all can be done in a matter of minutes. This can be a very useful tool for you in your preliminary design and to add a larger area to your surveyed data.