translucent 3d surface

[acoghill]

I work for an Airport group, and we have begun using IW14.

All airports have an imaginery 3d surface for the protection of the airspace (below is a google earth view).

Is there way to import and in what format. The orginal 3d surace was created in acad.

Cheers

Aaron

[ToddRogers-WPM]

If you attach your surface in IW then on one of the tabs (I don't have it open right now), there is a slider bar for your Surface Opacity.  This is to give a transparent ground.

[acoghill]

thanks for the answer. My collegue used the same base file that created the google earth KML to create an IMX file. I imported the data into IW14 and it lifted the ground except for the roads to an elevation of the surface. IW14 automatically took the IMX file to be a terrain and not a 3d model.

maybe i didn't explain myself properly on the surface. Its more like a set of planes (no pun intended) that define the maximum heights structures and building can go to ptotect the airspace and to prevent aircraft accidents.

[jutters]

Instead of importing it as a ground surface via IMX, export the planes into of the supported 3D object formats (e.g. FBX, 3D DWG) and import that as city furniture. The transparence has to be set in the exported model already though and it will have to be placed manually though (except you use a tool for export that provides/preserves correct geo-referencing during export that can then be leveraged by IW automatically).

[kleungCALBU]

I'm having the same issues with importing a Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS) that I created in Civil 3D. How do you make it so the OG does not attach itself to the OLS? Hope you found a solution 5 years later!

[Glenn.Coppard]

Try the process discussed HERE and @ToddRogers-WPM ground transparency suggestion above.

HOWEVER - they are not likely to be visible from below - so...

You will also need to turn on 'show back faces' in the application options - 3D Graphics (this use to also disable shadows - but that may have just been my old PC)

You could import as a generic '3D Model' BUT something with the spatial extents of an Airfield OLS is going to have some distortions due the way IW (doesn't) re-project '3D Models' that it expects to be small things like trash cans or streetlights.  It's worth a try though, chances are you won't notice with something in the air and may be fine for 'visual' purposes.

Same as above re: back faces, and you will need to apply a transparent 'material' to the object/mesh in the authoring software or other intermediary (eg. 3DS/Maya).

Let us know how you go...

[andrewofabley]

I've worked on this problem before.

These were built from contours provided from GIS, the surface was modeled in FME then imported through. I had no issues with accuracy or positioning.

[kleungCALBU]

Excellent - Thank you guys! I figured it out. All I had to do was create a new Terrain Surface and add that OLS surface to that Terrain Surface. This is what it looks like:

I was looking at how to import contours so you can see the elevation increments - just like how it would look in Civil3D in plan view. I was thinking shape file of the 3D Polyline, but it doesn't import into Infraworks as well as I thought. It would be cool to visually see at what elevation the buildings penetrate the OLS. Any thoughts?