Importing XYZ data

[Anonymous]

please tell me there is an easy way?  i can't believe i even have to write a post to ask this, isn't autocad a design software program?  and importing xyz data isn't available without resorting to some complex lisp routine or something equally painful?  please say i'm wrong ... sorry for the attitude just hoping for some help here with this, i have 2010

[Murph_Map · Accepted solution]

With Civil 3d or Map 3d there are commands/tools to do it, with vanilla AutoCAD one way is this.

http://map3d.wordpress.com/2006/06/25/points-from-a-text-file/

[dgorsman]

You may want to elaborate on what your "XYZ" data is.  If its survey points, then as noted Map3D or Civil3D would be the tool of choice.  If this is LIDAR/lasergrammetry data, then depending on the version of your software you may need additional third-party software such as Lecia Cloudworx. 

Either way, both are well outside the realm of basic drafting that vanilla AutoCAD is built for.

[hmsilva]

wings1080,

in addition to what Murph and dgorsman already said, and without knowing your xyz data format, but if the data is a text file (csv, txt...) then perhaps you may consider change it to a .scr file, and then use the command script to import your xyz data to de dwg. The .scr, must have this format (the xyz must be separated by a comma, and a space at end, or an empty line between xyz and at the end)

i.e.

_.Point
10.00,10.00,10.00
15.00,15.00,15.00
20.00,20.00,20.00

or

_.Point
10.00,10.00,10.00

15.00,15.00,15.00

20.00,20.00,20.00

Before using the script command, turn the Snap off...

HTH

Henrique

[Anonymous]

this worked perfectly thanks!

[Anonymous]

thanks for writing, all good now

[hmsilva]

You're welcome, wings1080
glad you got a solution

Henrique

[Murph_Map]

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@Anonymous wrote:

this worked perfectly thanks!

---

You're Welcomed.

[oransen]

You may want t have a look at Pointor  it will create a DXF file for you and you bring that into AutoCAD.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I'm trying to follow these instructions and somehow I'm not able to import the XYZ point cloud.

Do you think you could take a look at the attached file and see if it has the correct format? I'm using Autocad 2014

Thanks in advance for your help,

Jose 

[Patchy]

It works Ok.

Save your text file as CLOUD.SCR

then use command SCR

Find your file and a few Enters should bring in your points.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. It worked perfectly!

Do you know if there is a way to directly connect these points with a spline without having to do manually?

Solidworks has a similar option called spline through XYZ but I haven't been able to find it in AutoCAD.

Thanks in advanced for your time

[Patchy]

Lee Mac has a program to import points and draw polylines; in his web site it also explains how to use autolisp.

http://www.lee-mac.com/ptmanager.html

[sthompson1021]

Just modify your script file to use SPLINE instead of point

[Anonymous]

The spline command worked perfectly.

Thank you all so much.

Jose

[nodink]

My way doesn't need LISP prog exp. Here's my solution:

Open your file, yourfile.xyz, use Notepad app or something similar. It should look like this when opened:

1st, 

7630303.50 699947.50 -35.70
7630096.50 700064.50 -34.32
7630270.50 700293.50 -35.39
7630607.50 700114.50 -36.13
7630060.50 700149.50 -35.76
7630298.50 700222.50 -34.39
and on and on...

2nd, perform Find-Replace All:  replace all spaces to ,

3rd, perform Find-Replace All:   replace all 763 to Point 763

Should look like this:

7630303.50,699947.50,-35.70
point 7630096.50,700064.50,-34.32
point 7630270.50,700293.50,-35.39
point 7630607.50,700114.50,-36.13
point 7630060.50,700149.50,-35.76
point 7630298.50,700222.50,-34.39
point 7630243.50,699730.50,-11.86
point 7630308.50,699874.50,-35.49
point 7629804.50,700860.50,-37.61

and on and on...

4th, Save yourfile.xyz

Lastly, rename yourfile.xyz to yourfile.scr

Open Acad>Script>yourfile.scr

and that's it.