Creating a Surface from an ArcGIS TIN File

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone has had the experience of working between ArcGIS and Civil 3D in terms of surface creation. IE If I was to create a surface in ArcGIS as a TIN surface, is there any way besides exporting to an ESRI ArcGRID that I would be able to read that TIN file within Civil 3D? If I were to create a 3D SHP file of the contours, will I be able to rebuild the surface from the 3D SHP file in Civil 3D? Any suggestions on the benefits of ArcGIS versus Civil 3D for creating surfaces?

Thanks,
Jason Hill

[Anonymous]

ArcGIS is good at displaying pre-made surface data but it is not nearly as
well equiped to create surface data from scratch. If you want to model a DEM
then ArcGIS can do the job as well as C3D but if you want to create surface
models from road designs and grading then you just don't have the tools in
ArcGIS.

As for exchanging surfce data between the 2, I don't think there is any way
to do it directly. You will have to export and import from one to the other.
Depending on the nature of the surface in ArcGIS you might get better
results using the contours vs. a grid, albeit not the ideal way to create a
surface.

wrote in message news:5943733@discussion.autodesk.com...
Hello,

I am wondering if anyone has had the experience of working between ArcGIS
and Civil 3D in terms of surface creation. IE If I was to create a surface
in ArcGIS as a TIN surface, is there any way besides exporting to an ESRI
ArcGRID that I would be able to read that TIN file within Civil 3D? If I
were to create a 3D SHP file of the contours, will I be able to rebuild the
surface from the 3D SHP file in Civil 3D? Any suggestions on the benefits of
ArcGIS versus Civil 3D for creating surfaces?

Thanks,
Jason Hill

[Anonymous]

Jason,

What I did to utilize ArcGIS was to export the contours that I selected in ArcGIS. What this did was to allow me to bring them into Civil3D as 3-Dimensional contour lines. From here you can create a surface, then under the Definition drop down, right-click Contours and add. I will attach a word document that I used to import from GIS. There is a downfall though, the files size becomes very large based on the area you are looking at. If you have any questions, let me know.

The file refers to videos for the import into Civil3D; email me and I will send them to you.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Any chance you can send a link to the videos for import into Civil3D? 

Much thanks!

-Charles

[neilyj666]

Unless the contour intervals are very small then contours are probably the worst method of building a Civil surface. Also the smaller the interval the larger the surface files become. If the contour intervals are say 2m or 5 feet then what happens in between? Is the surface linear or are there undulations that are not picked up by the contour interval.

A lot will depend on the end use of the surface- a hydrological catchment study won't need to be as accurate as one that forms the basis for contractors earthworks payments.

[KirkNoonan]

Once you have the surface data in a shapefile, you can easily import it into C3D by clicking the dropdown next to surfaces on the home tab. Be advised, that if you are importing large amounts of Lidar data, that your surface will be quite large.

[Hidden_Brain]

you can convert the arcgis tin to its edges (triangles), export the edges shp and import into C3D, from which you can rebuild the tin using the edges as breaklines.

[TerryDotson]

The only way I'm aware of to maintain the existing triangles is to export using the UNGENERATETIN NET option, then process that file manually (entering coordinates and drawing faces) or import it directly into a Civil3D TinSurface with a gizmo like this.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply and info.
I have a DEM raster which I can use in ERSI ArcMap to creat shapefiles which can then be used in ArcScene to create 3D drawings.
What is the best way to quickly create a civil 3D surface from the DEM or a shp file?
I'm not super concerned about resolution and detail but would like to have a general 3d surface that I can then manipulate.
Much thanks for any advice!

[KirkNoonan]

One possible answer is 3 posts above yours in this discussion thread