IMAGINiT Civil Solutions Blog

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.

Add Custom Attribute Columns in BIM360 DOCS

Matt Miyamoto|ISD Project Manager

During a recent customer conversation around Autodesk BIM360 implementation, a requirement for the ability to add custom properties to BIM360 DOCS files was brought to our attention.  The default settings within BIM360 DOCS already include primary file-based information like Name, Description, Version, Shared status, Size, and DOCS specific information like Markups, Issues, RFI’s and Sets.  In addition to controlling the visibility of any or all of these default fields, users can create their own custom attributes to add more columns of relevant information to the BIM360 DOCS view.

Custom Attributes are easy to add using the “Add Attribute” option by right-clicking on any folder in BIM360 DOCS or clicking on the ellipsis (…) icon next to the folder name.  Similar to permission assignments, custom attributes that are added to a higher-level folder are automatically added to subfolders under the same project folder structure.

When creating custom attributes, you must first provide a name, then select from one of three available options (available at the time this blog was written).  The Text Field option allows the user to manually enter text in the custom attribute column.  The Date Picker option loads a calendar for users to manually select dates from, and the Drop-down Menu option provides a user-defined list of items to select from a drop-down style menu.  This list can also be edited at any time to include more items as the project progresses.

With Version tracking in BIM360 DOCS, the current attribute value is applied to future versions of each file, however users may manually override version specific values as needed.

Currently, custom attributes are only allowed for individual files (folders do not support custom attributes at this time).  When attributes are changed or edited by a project member, the Last Updated and Updated By fields will indicate the date, time and project member who made the change.  Project members must have edit-level permissions to the folder in order to make changes to custom attributes. View-level members will be able to see the attribute data, but not edit the values.

In the screenshot below, a custom field for Phase with a pre-populated drop-down list for Phs 1 and Phs 2 has been added to the Civil Design location.  Additionally, a user-defined column for Company was added to the main top-level Project Files directory and has been automatically added to the Civil Design sub-folder.

To find the details of what changes were applied, check the box next to the file name, then go to View File Activities from the top menu.

For step by step info on how to add custom attributes, check out this BIM360 DOCS Help file post on the Autodesk Knowledge Network:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/bim-360/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/ENU/BIM360D-Document-Management/files/To-Work-with-Document-Management/To-Work-with-Folders/GUID-244FAB32-8E3B-4D1B-A1EB-C982DB93ABB3-html.html

Custom attributes do not currently appear in the Civil 3D START tab when accessing your BIM360 DOCS project files from you desktop application, however if you are a project owner looking for a way to include custom attribute data to your files being housed in BIM360 DOCS, now you know how to do it.

Civil 3D-to-AutoCAD - XREF Cleanup

Bryant Quinney | Sr Applications Expert

When exporting an Autodesk Civil 3D drawing, the process has been generally straight-forward with some well-placed results in Model Space. That caveat adds some steps to an otherwise simple procedure.

First, let us take a look at how this drawing file is set up. There are numerous external references which have Civil 3D entities such as pipe networks, feature lines, alignments, parcels, and surfaces.

It is a typical practice for a need to bind, insert, and explode all external references to the drawing. This need is for sending drawings out to subcontractors or outside contacts that only work with vanilla AutoCAD. Therefore, this employs the requirement to break down all objects to the most primitive entities (lines, polylines, arcs, text, etc.). Navigating to Application Menu > Export > Export Civil 3D Drawing brings up the interface that gives the user control over what, and how, to convert to such a basic file.

I will convert just one of the paper space layouts to illustrate the issue for exporting a plan sheet with external references.

Also, since we want to completely drill down to the simplest of entity types throughout the drawing, choosing Bind, Insert, and Explode seems to be the best option to get us close to it. Bind and Explode would work as well but handles the layer names differently.

Once the export process is complete, inspecting the resulting file allows the user to see what happened to the XREFs. Each XREF is actually converted to a block object but not exploded. So, for each XREF, there is a corresponding anonymously-named block that must be exploded.

Since this anomalous behavior does not occur when the choice is to convert/export the model space only, I would presume this is due to the extra step required to “snapshot” the model space viewport, clip the previous-XREFs to those extents, and copy all paper space objects to model space.

Therefore, explode each block once and the basic geometry should be intact.

It is also a good idea to purge the drawing to rid it of any, and all, block data.

Pipe Runs and Pressure Pipe Updates in Civil 3D 2021

Bryant Quinney | Sr Applications Expert

Having been a long time coming, Pressure Pipe Networks and associated behaviors have been updated for Civil 3D 2021. This is a feature that I have found many users bypassing, due to the perceived (and somewhat real) gripes or difficulty in using the tools. By “bypassing” the tools altogether, I mean that gravity pipe tools are being widely used to layout pressure networks. That workaround comes with its own set of difficulties, but we will not get into that…today.

One feature I do want to point out is the idea of Pipe Runs for Pressure Pipe Networks. Essentially, this terminology of ‘pipe runs’ is reflective of how it is used in the industry: It is merely the layout of the pipe system. With that, any references to the Pressure Pipe layout are now called out as Pipe Runs. Also, where some commands, panel layout and overall structure of the command ribbon were pretty bunched up in previous versions, 2021 sees a revamp that splits out the creation, modification, profile, and other pipe tools.

2020:

2021:

Creation

Initially, when creating a new Pressure Pipe network, you will see a small change in the dialog box:

The name provided in this line will also create a pipe Alignment of the same name and it will be categorized as a Miscellaneous Alignment outside of a site.

During the picks and clicks laying out your Pressure Pipe network parts, you should notice that the previously restricting compass is gone! You are no longer constrained to the predefined angles of 11.25-,22.5-, 45-, and 90-degrees. Instead, the layout goes in as entered, with the pipes being inserted with any allowable deflections in place.

For instance, I laid out a pipe run with a bend that is closest to a 90-bend. However, the bend as I drew it is actually closer to 82 degrees. The 90-degree bend is still inserted but zooming in shows us the deflection that is allowed by that part, at both ends.

Selection

Totally reworked from previous versions is how parts are selected, whether individually or as a group, for information, part swap, deletion, etc. Now, when you hover over a single part, it highlights as usual, but click on any part of a pipe run and only the Alignment that was generated is highlighted. With the Alignment highlighted, editing the geometry of the pipe run is controlled by the Alignment grips (this is where things get interesting).

In previous versions, when you selected the ‘move’ grip on a fitting (because that was the only real way to move the ‘PI’ location), the attached pipes would also move or stretch as expected. However, the part remained the same. That is to say that a 90-degree bend would remain as such even if you straightened out the angle between the pipes.

The before-and-after sequence of such a grip-edit move would show that a 45-degree bend would stay as-is, giving a false layout. It would require more cleanup, part swap, et cetera when done in the previous versions.

Now, in 2021, when you perform a similar task, something different happens to the layout.

Here is a small (and fictional) layout that I will make a more extreme change to…

First, here is the grip edit:

Now let us move a grip. I will choose the middle ‘move’ grip on the last pipe segment:

The parts automatically get swapped out for those that are closer to the new geometry layout!

Note: I could have saved that trick for a ‘Swap Parts’ section, but I could not wait any longer on that one.

Modifying

So, what change does the new feature layout apply to Swap Parts then? Since you cannot simply select an individual part anymore, you must access Swap Parts in the command ribbon.

With that, you can now select multiple parts to swap at once! Simply click the icon, select the parts to swap, make the desired changes, and there you have it. Multiple swapped parts!

‘Break Pipe Run’ does as one would expect and now adds a PI to the associated Alignment.

Now, this next new feature is a much needed one: Add Branch Fitting. When you have two pipes that form a junction, it was previously a bit tricky to get them to properly connect once you get the fitting in place. Now, this command allows you to simply drop in a fitting where a pipe branches off.

Below, I have a pipe that I ‘teed’ into another with no fitting. Now, clicking ‘Add Branch Fitting’ then selecting either the main or branch pipe segment first, and then the other (the command apparently does not care which is selected first), a fitting is inserted. The command also recognized that it was a tee that was needed because of the geometry involved.

When I removed the tee and extended my pipe, the command automatically recognizes the difference in the geometry and added a cross once I executed the command again.

Lastly, about the Alignments… two new icons are added to allow adding and removing bends/PIs to your pipe runs. This additional functionality automatically adds or removes any necessary pipe geometry when executed. How cool is that?

There will be more to come as we expose the awesome changes in pressure pipes for 2021!

Civil 3D: Using IMG files as DEM Surface Data

Bryant Quinney | Sr Applications Expert

In many states, data is available for large areas in the form of IMG files (essentially a DEM file but differing data format). While Autodesk Civil 3D does not natively handle this type of file, the data would need be converted using one of a couple of options you can find for GDAL usage. I use the OSGeo4W environment (available at https://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/), which includes QGIS, GDAL/OGR, GRASS and many other packages. Alternatively, I am told you can use ArcMap to open the files and change the format.

In the setup, since I am most concerned with GDAL, I opted for the Express installation option and left the other packages in place that were already checked. However, if you would like to, check or uncheck any desired choices and proceed with the installation. The disclaimer(s) for this is actually a series of disclaimers, requiring your agreement to the legalese of each package. For other setup instructions and specifics, please refer to https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/tools/rasterconversion/gdal-installation-and-setup-guide.html#TWO.

Disclaimer: Install software at your own risk. Please follow documented instructions and pay attention to the links which you click to access downloads. Modifying the path variables of your computer must be done with caution. For what we are trying to achieve here, modifying the environment variables as stated in the links above, is not necessary.

Now that you have the package(s) installed, we can jump right into converting some data to use directly in Civil 3D.

Command Usage

GDAL is a command-line interface that has far more capabilities than what we will cover here (options found in https://gdal.org/programs/gdal_translate.html). So, in getting going, here are a few notes about the environment.

Command path: “C:\OSGeo4W64\bin\ gdal_translate.exe”

Data source path: “D:\_Class Data Samples\Surface\DEM\Brown County, Texas”

Data destination (output) path: “D:\_Class Data Samples\Surface\DEM\Brown County, Texas\OUTPUT”

Now, the syntax to follow is:

Basically, it is the command, option(s), source dataset, and destination dataset.

Since we are converting file types in this setting, we will use the [-of format] option. Replacing the word ‘format’ with a file type indicator from the following list allows the translator to identify the file type you wish to create.

The file types GDAL will work with are:

Data Conversion

Now, the command I will need to enter (or copy/paste) into the command-line window, to test my first of many files (using GeoTiff format), is:

gdal_translate -of GTiff "D:\_Class Data Samples\Surface\DEM\Brown County, Texas\stratmap19-1m_3198171a1.img" "D:\_Class Data Samples\Surface\DEM\Brown County, Texas\OUTPUT\stratmap19-1m_3198171a1.tif"

Keep in mind that you will need use quotation marks (“) when the path has spaces in it as mine does (this is common in a DOS setting).If you have input the correct command string, you should see something like this:

As well, you should see a corresponding output file in the destination directory.

Just to check, before using in Civil 3D, upon opening in my default program for that type of file (ERDAS), I see that the translation worked as hoped or expected.

Civil 3D Surface Creation

With the initial image created, I now have a format that Civil 3D will recognize, a GeoTIFF.

When I go to ‘Create Surface from DEM…’ and browse to my output file, select GeoTiff as the file type and select Open, I get the surface I have been looking for.

As with many GeoTiffs, you will notice, in the surface, certain data that was not apparent in the image file. Also, as touched on earlier, there are many other operations that can be done in the GDAL translator. Perhaps I want the color depth or interpolation to be different for possibly overlaying the imagery onto plan sets or exhibits. Using GDAL, you can also change scaling, work with metadata, specify the output file size, and even work with projections.

Combining or Tiling Files

If you are like me and have many other IMG files to convert so you can have one unified surface, you will need to figure out how you want to approach this. The documentation at https://gdal.org/programs/gdal_translate.html mentions ‘gdal_merge’ to even combine the output files into one.

A second approach would also be to use the “Add” capability when specifying DEM files to use in the surface definition.

This way you can independently add, and remove, files for usage as needed. Well, there you go! I am off to convert more files, by batch file of course.

Okay, I did not actually go anywhere. My batch file is done and executed. Happy converting!

Import an InfraWorks Surface into Civil 3D

Richard Morrow | Application Expert

In this blog post I wanted to use the surface model created from 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.

Dynamic Civil 3D Offset Alignments and Widenings

Richard Morrow | Applications Expert

In this Blog I wanted to show how Offset Alignments are dynamically linked to a “parent” alignment within Autodesk Civil 3D. This makes them perfect for defining linear geometry that would otherwise need to be redrawn as a design change. Widenings can use offset Alignments to accommodate things like turn lane transitions. No matter how offset Alignments are defined, they will always maintain a geometric relationship with their parent Alignment. This saves time from rebuilding the offsets on future design modifications.

Build Offset Alignments

Use the Offset Alignment command to build your Offset Alignments. Then define your offsets on the Create Offset Alignment dialog.

You have now created your Offset Alignments. They maintain a dynamic relationship with centerline Alignment.

Create Widenings

Use the Add Widening command to create the control line for the lane widening.

Set the Widening and Transition parameters. Remember that the distance is from your parent Alignment. You can use the grips or dialog to adjust your transition. Also, use the add + grip to add a widening to a widening. You can have a linear or curved transition.

You now have an Offset Alignment which you can use to control your lane widenings that is dynamic as you can see below.

Using Dynamic Offsets can save you a lot of time by automatically reacting to the parent Alignment when design changes occur.

C3D Styles in 2020 Reference Template Not Working in 2019 & 2018 Versions

Richard Morrow | Application Expert

In this Blog I wanted share with you a tip I learned to solve the following challenge. You are working on a project where the Prime is using Autodesk C3D 2020. They supplied you the reference template set with all the styles and layers etc. but you’re using Civil 3D 2018. All the styles and the Object layers in the drawing settings are imported. The problem arises when referencing it in 2019 and 2018. The styles are not being referenced in either of the other versions. After import, all layers are imported, Object layers settings imported but the styles are not imported. During import, in the Manage Referenced Settings > settings tab, if the Drawing settings and Feature settings are checked then the styles are not imported. If they are unchecked, then styles are imported. This is a very strange workaround, but it works.

Workflow

Open Civil 3D 2019. Create a new file or use your current 2019 file to reference in the 2020 template. In this case I created a new empty file from the ACAD.dwt 2019 template. Located, C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Autodesk\C3D 2019\enu\Template\AutoCAD Template, and now have an empty file called “Empty 2019 file.dwg”.

On the Manage tab, reference the Standard 2020.dwt file using the Attach Referenced Template function. This should bring in everything, but the styles are not coming across into the 2019 file.

As you can see below everything came across but the Civil 3D Styles.

Try this again, but this time change the workflow just a little bit. On the Attach Reference dialog pick Manage Reference Settings.

Under the Settings tab toggle OFF the Drawing Settings and the Feature Settings.

Now you were able to reference everything into your 2019 drawing including Civil 3D styles from 2020. This is an import workflow to allow you to work with a 2020 template.

I hope this Blog and workflow saved the day for you. Make sure to check out our other Blogs.

Dynamic Civil 3D Offset Alignments and Widenings

Richard Morrow | Application Expert

In this Blog I wanted to show how within Autodesk Civil 3D, Offset Alignments are dynamically linked to a “parent” Alignment. This makes them perfect for defining linear geometry that would otherwise need to be redrawn as a design change. Widenings can use offset Alignments to accommodate things like turn lane transitions. No matter how offset Alignments are defined, they will always maintain a geometric relationship with their parent Alignment. This saves time from rebuilding the offsets on future design modifications.

Build Offset Alignments

Use the Offset Alignment command to build your Offset Alignments. Then define your offsets on the Create Offset Alignment dialog.

You have now created your Offset Alignments. They maintain a dynamic relationship with centerline Alignment.

Create Widenings

Use the Add Widening command to create the control line for the lane widening.

Set the widening and transition parameters, remember that the distance is from your parent Alignment. You can use the grips or dialog to adjust your transition. Also, use the add + grip to add a widening to a widening. You can have a linear or curved transition.

You now have an Offset Alignment you can use to control your lane widenings that is dynamic as you can see below.

Using dynamic offsets will save you a lot of time when building them for your control and your design updates.

FACETDEV to Smooth Sectioned Civil 3D Pipe

Richard Morrow | Application Expert

In this Blog I wanted to show you how to smooth your crossing pipes in profile and section views.

Within Autodesk Civil 3D, have you ever come across your pipes in section view and they look like octagons rather than the nice 12” RCP that you drew in plan view? If so, this is caused by the setting FACETDEV. 

The number you specify for facet deviation defines the maximum distance from the chord to the arc—the chord being an edge that is created from faceting the curve to the true mathematical arc. The facet deviation has a range of greater than zero (0) and no upper limit. The lower this variable is set; the more segments will be used to draw the pipe. The minimum number of segments is 8.

Pipe Appearance in Section View

Pipe sections are drawn using the FACETDEV (Facet Deviation) system variable. This variable controls the smoothness (tessellation) of curved edges of the pipes in section view.

The default value of FACETDEV will usually cause pipe sections to be displayed in section views with line segments, rather than as smooth curves. The following illustration shows an elliptical culvert in section view when FACETDEV is set to 0.5 feet.

If you set FACETDEV lower, to 0.01 for example, the appearance of the pipe sections will become more circular, as shown in the following illustration.

To change the FACETDEV variable

1. At the command line, enter FACETDEV.
2. At the Set New Facet Deviation prompt, enter 01. Adjust the value to a smaller number if greater smoothness is required.

Notes:

• The maximum number of facets is controlled by the FACETMAX variable. This variable can be set from 100 to 10,000. Note that using a small value for FACETDEV and a large value for FACETMAX will adversely affect drawing performance.
• FACETDEV and FACETMAX are AutoCAD Civil 3D variables (rather than AutoCAD variables). They are therefore not listed when using the AutoCAD command SETVAR.
• As with many other graphic-based settings/variables, using very high, or in this case, very low settings may negatively impact system performance.  Be sure to test the values with your system and your data.