IMAGINiT Civil Solutions Blog

Converting a Civil 3D Pipe Network to an EPA SWMM Model (or vise versa)

Randy McCollum | Applications Expert

Converting a Civil 3D Pipe Network into an EPA SWMM model is a relatively straight-forward process, if not the most directly.  Currently, there is no way to convert a Pipe Network into a SWMM model without using an intermediary software.  Luckily, Storm and Sanitary Analysis is just that intermediary and it is installed with Autodesk’s Civil 3D.

The first step in creating an EPA SWMM model from a pipe network is exporting the pipe network to Storm and Sanitary Analysis (SSA).  SSA gives us the ability to run SWMM models directly if we chose but moving back and forth from SWMM directly does have benefits.  Before we export the model, make sure that your pipe network migration settings are set correctly.  An explanation of this process can be found here:

https://blogs.rand.com/civil/2019/04/importing-and-exporting-pipe-networks-from-civil-3d-2019-and-autodesk-storm-and-sanitary-analysis.html

Once the migration configuration is complete, export the pipe network from the Civil 3D Workspace>Analyze tab>Design Panel>Edit in Storm and Sanitary Analysis.

Check the model over to make sure that all your structures were exported properly.  If you have never used SSA before, the first thing that you might notice is how similar the interface and icons are to SWMM.  Once you are satisfied with the results of the model, go to the file menu at the top left of SSA Export>EPA SWMM.  Note: if this option is greyed out, then you most likely have an object in your model that is not in SWMM (EG. Inlets instead of junctions).

To create a pipe network from a SWMM model, it is the same process but in reverse.  In SSA go to File>Import>EPA SWMM. 

To get the model back into Civil 3D, we must now export the SSA model as a Hydraflow Storm Sewers file…

Finally, we import the file into Civil 3D (Civil 3D workspace>Insert tab>Import Panel>Storm Sewers) making sure that the import storm sewer migration settings are configured for our destination file (see link above). 

If done correctly, you should have a computer pipe network with all the necessary data included.

Civil 3D – Contour Labels Auto Decimal Place

Leo Lavayen | Applications Expert

For a long time, with Autodesk Civil 3D I have wanted a smart contour label that drops decimal values.  Something like what is available for Stations, a modifier that could “Drop Decimal Value for Whole”, but none are available by default.

Next, I then turned to Equations and was not able to come up with something simple.  I then found an old post for Crest and Sag Profile Labels, from a colleague James Mussleman.  In the post, equations are leveraged to controls text height.  Below we create a contour label based on the same idea:

1. First, we will do “Math” to check for the whole number.

2. Next, an “If” statement is created that will show/hide the right of the decimal. To be used as 2^nd Text Height value.

3. Last, a two-component text label is created:
   • The primary text will always be shown (“Elev-Lt”) with the whole value left of the decimal.
   • 
     
   • The secondary portion of text (“Elev-Rt”) will autohide decimals based on the “If” statement used as height for values right of decimals.
   • 
     

This setup will be useful for situations when contours are set less than whole values or when Surface analysis creates user-defined contours.

Identifying an Unknown Source Projection for Spatial Data in Map 3D or Civil 3D

Randy McCollum | Applications Expert

Have you ever tried to insert geolocated data or imagery into either AutoCAD Map 3D or Autodesk Civil 3D only to have it end up miles away from your project area?  Chances are that the software just does not know where to place the data relative to yours because either:

• You do not have your coordinate system defined in your drawing
• The files you are using do not have a readable coordinate system definition to use for a projection.

Below are a few steps that you can take in order to eliminate most projection issues.

Make sure that your drawing coordinate system is defined

This may sound obvious, but some templates do not define the coordinate system for the user.  Instead, the user is either supposed to know which projection to use, or in the case of smaller firms, they assume that every job will be in the same state plane system and therefore defining the coordinate system is unnecessary.

Checking the existing coordinate system in Map 3D

Knowing if you have a coordinate system defining in your drawing in Map 3D is simple because it is located right in the status bar.  At the bottom of the screen near the middle, you should see a globe icon with either the shorthand for the coordinate system just to the right of it or the word <none>.  If there is no projection defined, click the down arrow right next to <none> and define it.

Checking the existing coordinate system in Civil 3D

While the drawing is open, click on the Application menu (Civil 3D/Map 3D icon at the top left) and go to drawing utilities>drawing settings.  When the Drawing Settings dialog box appears, define the projection in the Units and Zones tab.

Attempting to connect to spatial data

Now that you have defined your coordinate system to give your spatial data a location on which to project, open the Map Task Pane (command: MAPWSPACE) add a connection to the data by the appropriate data type.  From the Display Manger tab, click on the stack icon called Data and select Connect to Data to open the data connection dialog.

On the left-hand pane of the dialog, select the data source that you are using for a connection.  Give the connection a name that you can recognize and click the icon on the right-hand pane to select the file that you are trying to connect.  Note: you also have the option to connect to every file in a folder by selecting the folder icon.  In my example, I will use an aerial TIF file, which is a raster image. 

Click Connect.  With luck, the coordinate system will be identified as shown below and you can just select Add to Map.

If, however, you do not see a coordinate system and instead see <unknown> in the Coordinate System column, you will need to do some digging.

Sources of Coordinate Systems for unknown/unidentified systems

Having “<unknown>” appear in your coordinate system could be a sign of a few different issues, but most likely it is because the data system that you are trying to use is not embedded in the file or collection of files that you are using.  If the data came from a free data repository (EG. USGS Earth Explorer), then you should be able to find the projection by searching the metadata.  Other times, data sources will include a text file that will also give you the projection definition.  These “unknown” systems can always be overridden in the connection dialog by selecting the line you wish to override, right-click, select Edit Coordinate System and place the correct projection into the Override column.

From ADSK Files to BIM - What Happened and Why the Move

Bryant Quinney | Sr Applications Expert

About this document

This document takes to task the usability of a feature, one that was designed for cross-discipline consumption, and why it was discontinued, while exploring the possible reason for doing so. Autodesk has, since, very well expanded on a capability they previous had at a lesser extent by developing BIM 360. The following discussion also serves to put a spotlight on a feature many may not have even noticed. As well, some of those same people may yet be using the version of Autodesk software that did not include the depth of BIM that the current versions offer.

The terminology referenced here discerns the use of BIM from BIM 360. BIM is the foundational structure of information access about design objects, while BIM 360 is the product that Autodesk continues to develop, allowing this sort of access between their many applications. Not to be fully discussed here is the environment and depth of tools available to allow access to BIM data at various levels of project development.

Introduction

Between releases, it is typical of software developers to discontinue features, due to technology progressions or other reasons. The benefits and downsides of doing so do not get missed by Autodesk. Being a “hermit” of functional capabilities, the .ADSK file type had been discontinued from the Revit family with the 2019 version.

The ability to export this file type was in place up until the bigger push towards BIM 360 usage. The reasoning is understood to an extent, but the functionality assisted those who were (and are) not ready to make the full push into BIM 360.

Having left the export function in place, Autodesk could have leveraged (see “showcase”) the basic capability of cross-discipline modeling that is desired in many firms to this day. As it will be discussed further here, and from a Civil 3D standpoint, the use is notably limited when compared to BIM 360. With that said, the import functionality of an .ADSK file is still there. One may wonder what the end game could be.

Discussion

Thanks to my good colleague here at IMAGINiT, Marie Williams [Applications Expert – Building Solutions Division], I have an exported .ADSK file of a Revit model, found in the fundamentals class she delivers. It is of sufficient size and complexity to illustrate the level of information that can be consumed in a Civil 3D environment. As a modern-styled multi-level hotel, fully equipped with exterior doors and balconies, it gives a good basis towards the conceptual idea of project placement. This speaks to the context of a development project, namely when incorporated into a development software capable of handling such an object.

The ability to take the native Revit model into InfraWorks (IWX) is definitely there, allowing the visualization of the relation between the architectural component and the civil portion that also gets imported. With this capability, the InfraWorks software is situated in a place where the design components of civil engineering can meet architectural design intent without interfering with, or losing, data. However, this useful feature requires both the civil portion and the architectural portion to be used outside of the familiar design environment. If you are in the process of design, the simplicity of importing the most recent version of the architectural design component, while still in the vicinity of the design controls, can go a long way to prevent unnecessary repetition. This prevents having to export all of your design and then figure out how it works or interacts with the final design. The other side to this proverbial coin is that the capability involves importing, rather than using a live connection to the data. When the design changes, you would have to remove the previous iteration and repeat the process of importing the model into your design.

An ADSK File Discussion

With project development underway in Civil 3D, using an .ADSK file exported from those who are working on the Revit building model allows the design intent to be realized without leaving such a familiar environment.  Many designers and engineers have not made much use of such a feature but have had a profound need for it. This could be due to the perceived (and often real) disconnect, or lack of communication, between the land development group, project manager, and the architectural group of whatever entity (or entities) given the charge of the project. The questions surrounding the possibility of cross-discipline data viewing or merging come up frequently, in classes and forums alike. Depending on the direction of data flow (between applications), or even the understanding of the software placement, answers come in forms like data conversion and export only after the degradation of the model in question. Therefore, it is no longer a “model” in function but a visual representation of what is intended.

This is where, like other technological features Autodesk has forged ahead with in their design software lineup, the .ADSK file shines. The actual model and a lot of associated data comes into the Civil 3D environment for reference. After importing a building model, via building site import, this is evident when you look at the model in the Prospector. It is imperative that this part of the discussion must disclose that you will only see the Building Site collection in the 2021 version of Civil 3D and no other version prior. If you recall on the previous page in this blog that the ability to export an .ADSK file from Revit was removed back in the 2019 version. Why the gap in functionality between the two leading software platforms that Autodesk has invested so much into? One software ceases to provide it while the other software makes more use of it.

In just one version prior, Civil 3D 2020, users could import and assign styles to building sites. However, the model data was not available in the Prospector in any capacity. So, why would Autodesk further increase, rather than limit or remove, functionality in a program that could best make use of one that was removed entirely from another? It seems that their closer involvement as an active member (and on the Strategic Advisory Council) of buildingSMART International, incorporating openBIM, could yield part of the answer in the IFC file format (Industry Foundation Classes).

Even though an IFC file seems to be a highly similar beast to an .ADSK file, inferences of unified development efforts may show that an IFC could, inevitably, have more to offer. Through strategic partnerships with other software providers, allowing design data to be portable and fully usable, IFC development could prevent Autodesk from standing in a silo filled with their proprietary file formats. As well, it is possible this all points to a plan that Autodesk may have in store for further development when it comes to consuming BIM data within the Civil 3D environment.

More information on IFC here:

                https://www.buildingsmart.org/standards/bsi-standards/industry-foundation-classes/

BIM 360 Discussion

With the advent of, and subsequent push for BIM 360 adoption, Autodesk provided a method that allows team members of one discipline to access project data from members of another discipline. Most all of the legwork in facilitating the process and tying together of data being performed in the cloud. Since it has been suggested, wished for, and at times expected, accessing design data where it no longer goes through tedious workflow process iterations gets us moving more towards a fluid direction in design collaboration.

Where BIM 360 serves as the “handler” of design data between the software involved, each application must natively, as a destination application, enable the object to begin with. Add to that, the design information about the connected objects must be available in order to be useful, but not all of it is necessary. This sort of interaction is a natural progression in development but should come as a surprise that there is a slow movement to adopt this workflow. It can be presumed that users are awaiting more clarity, as well as features to be implemented and ironed out, before jumping aboard. Whatever the reason, the development has been moving along steadily, adding more ways for users to interact with the data shared by other applications.

The Capabilities of ADSK Files

With the ability to only import the model before, the capability where a user could access certain bits of data are now found in the Prospector in Civil 3D v2021. The various families used to develop the model are viewed by expanding the object listing. The top-level gives a summary and each family lists individual object data.

This is a considerable step forward in an effort to better consume BIM data inside of the Civil 3D environment. With some of this data, relying on the most mundane questions to be answered when the data is in front of the user is a game-changer.

Why remove the ability to export a Revit model to an .ADSK file for import into Civil 3D then? Based on the direction of development and the push for BIM 360 to be the main integral vessel for design collaboration, it seems pretty obvious. Importing a model is a one-time move until the model updates, then an execution of “Update Building Site Definition”. Though the process does not require repeating again with placement and stylization, it does require pointing again to a specific file. That is not a totally bad thing, actually. You can point to a different version of the same object through different file names. However, Autodesk may have realized they hit a snag somewhere with that limitation or others, based on their future direction. So, through BIM 360, the connection is made by associating to the project, maintained with updates pushed to the cloud, and only stylized within the workspace.

Conclusion

Though the capability of data access has been expanded to drill down into the BIM data of a model, imported as an .ADSK file, Autodesk has merely shifted the mechanism by which Civil 3D does so. Like many other technology steps and leaps they have made in the past, only time will tell if the move to force users towards BIM 360 is a wise move. It is possible that many companies, and users, will not graciously accept being forced away from a methodology of importing, and any workflows surrounding it, they may be more accustomed to and more open to using.

Civil 3D QTO File Creation from Agency Data, Part 1 - CSV Files

Kevin Stacy | Infrastructure Solutions Team Manager

The creation of the Civil 3D Quantity Takeoff (QTO) files to support projects permitted by major review organizations, such as municipalities, environmental agencies, and state departments of transportation, might at first appear to be a formidable task.  However, this effort can frequently be mitigated by making good use of an agencies available data.  Many agencies post construction and material pay item information on web pages like the one displayed in the image, below:

This information is usually available in a standard spreadsheet file format.  But, if it is only available in a text file format, it can still be easily converted.  The data required for the Civil 3D QTO comma-separated value file (CSV) can be readily be identified within an agencies’ data file (see image below).

Any extraneous data (as illustrated in the image below) must be selected and removed.

The remaining, required data must be arranged in the proper order and saved in CSV file format.  Removing extraneous data and rearranging data columns is a quick and simple process that can be performed in Microsoft Office Excel^© or other spreadsheet software.  Conversion to CSV file format is accomplished by selecting this format when saving.  An example of the completed process is shown in the following image.

This CSV file can be saved to the default location (as shown below) or to a network location, if preferred.

This file can be selected in Civil 3D from within the QTO Manager available on the Analyze tab, as shown in the following images.

Once selected, the QTO item data in the edited CSV file is available for use in Civil 3D, as shown.

Note that, although the item numbers, descriptions, and unit types are all shown, no categories are established to help navigate through this large volume of information.  A categorization file is required to accomplish this.  Creating categorization files from available agency data is demonstrated in a separate blog titled “Civil 3D QTO File Creation from Agency Data, Part 2 - Categorization Files”.