3D Excavation Animation

[Geodetic20]

Good day everyone

I was wondering if it was possible for Civil 3D to animate excavation by using two surfaces, one before and one after, or at least something similar to what I've mentioned

[neilyj666]

Don't think this can be done in Civil 3D but perhaps can be in 3ds Max

[Geodetic20]

I see. I really hoped that Civil 3D can animate the base surface morphing into the excavated surface

[neilyj666]

No I don't believe it can (this is the type of thing I need to do as well) but perhaps others will suggest a method.

You could perhaps do something manual with surface transparencies (if using 2012 or 2014), isometric views and screenshots and put them in Powerpoint as a slideshow?

[Geodetic20]

I was hoping I wouldn't have to resort to "brute force" methods. Just to clarify, are 3DS Max and 3DS Max Design the same because I only have 3DS Max Design

[neilyj666]

They are slightly different but Max Design (part of IDSP) is the one required.

Not sure how/if it can be done though so would be interested in if you manage to do it

[Joe-Bouza]

I think you will need the intermdeiate surfaces to get a video

[Geodetic20]

What exactly do you mean by this sir? I'm new to Civil 3D and and completely new to 3DS Max Design

[neilyj666]

I was thinking along the lines of existing surface 0% transparent, proposed 100% transparent then lowering the existing transparency and increasing the proposed in increments ending up with the proposed only.

This is just "typing out loud" I've no idea if this is possible in 3ds Max design and even if it is I've no idea how to do it

[andrewpuller3811]

Have a look into the autocad command anipath.

This allows you to create animations along a polyline etc. It can output WMV, AVI, MOV and MPG from 320x240 up to 1024x768

You could create an animation of one surface and then create another animation with the other surface along the identical path, then using movie maker you can fade one into the other with the path being identical, you should see one surface fade out as the other fades in.