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Question about converting 2D Plan to 3D Data

26 REPLIES 26
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Message 1 of 27
msotiri
2470 Views, 26 Replies

Question about converting 2D Plan to 3D Data

Hello!

 

I have a question.

I am civil engineer. I work with road projects. I am in the first steps of using the cad civil 3D, and normally I have some difficulties.

My question is:

When I begin to work, the first phase is to get the topographic plan. The problem is that when I open this plan in Cad civil 3D this is as 2D drawing and I can't use the command of civil 3D. I know to import the the point data from file csv, but the topographic engineer always gives the topographic plan in cad format 2D.

Someone told me that there is a way to convert the drawing 2D to file csv, ( I don't know this action), and I need a solution for this.

 

thanks in advance

 

 

Edited by
Discussion_Admin

 

 

26 REPLIES 26
Message 2 of 27
rkmcswain
in reply to: msotiri


@msotiri wrote:

...... but the topographic engineer always gives the topographic plan in cad format 2D.

 


There is the problem. 

Do you not have a contract or some other type of agreement with this surveyor to provide the files is the desired format?

 

Ok, forget that for the time being.... what exactly do you have? A set of contours at elevation 0.0? A set of points at elevation 0.0? What exactly are you starting with?

R.K. McSwain     | CADpanacea | on twitter
Message 3 of 27
AllenJessup
in reply to: msotiri

What version of Civil 3D are you using? Can you post the 2D plan so we can take a look at it? Do you just get the Drawing file or is it possible other files are delivered along with it?



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 4 of 27
neilyj666
in reply to: msotiri


@msotiri wrote:

Hello!

 

I have a question.

I am civil engineer. I work with road projects. I am in the first steps of using the cad civil 3D, and normally I have some difficulties.

My question is:

When I begin to work, the first phase is to get the topographic plan. The problem is that when I open this plan in Cad civil 3D this is as 2D drawing and I can't use the command of civil 3D. I know to import the the point data from file csv, but the topographic engineer always gives the topographic plan in cad format 2D.

Someone told me that there is a way to convert the drawing 2D to file csv, ( I don't know this action), and I need a solution for this.

 

thanks in advance

 

 


For goodness sake....did these sort of practices not die out with the dinosaurs, what is the point of 2D data in this day and age???

 

As the other replies suggest you need to provide a bit more of a clue as to what you do have...and then someone will be able to offer a solution.

neilyj (No connection with Autodesk other than using the products in the real world)
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Message 5 of 27
antoniovinci
in reply to: msotiri


msotiri wrote:

I have a question


...and here's my answer: have a regular Autocad course, period.

If you aim to project something seriously, there's no room for improvisation: before you learn the software, then you handle data, sir.

Message 6 of 27
msotiri
in reply to: rkmcswain

What I always have is:

I have all what the surveyor does, but he gives his job in format dwg. 2D. I mean, when I open this file by cad civil 3D, and begin to apply the command of cad civil 3D, these command doesn't work. All his job is exported in this format. We don't work with the same program, and I don't work with the same surveyor.
Yes, I ask them to give the points in the format file. csv, but they told me that I can do it by myself. They consider that easy, but they didn't give that to me.
I have read somewhere that one way is to apply this command. select the drawing in format 2D,copy and  paste to original coordinate. I have done in this way, but It doesn't work.

Message 7 of 27
neilyj666
in reply to: msotiri

This post doesn't really add anymore to my knowlege of the problem......post the dwg or WBLOCK a selction of entities and someone will be able to assist.

 

In you explanation of what you tried if everything is alread at a zero Z coordinate, then pasting to original will still retain the Z value will it not??

 

It is of course not possible to make a 2D file into 3D file using this method

neilyj (No connection with Autodesk other than using the products in the real world)
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Message 8 of 27
msotiri
in reply to: antoniovinci

What kind of answer! Such stupid was my question to have this kind of answer. In fact I had a course period and it was a successful one. I really learned a lot from this course which helped me a lot for the last two projects. The first lesson was how to import the point from the file csv. the second lesson until 9 lesson how to edit the points, and then we continued with the surfaces, alignments, profiles, sections, assemblies and so on. As you see the two first classes ( Classes one"points" and Classes 2 "surfaces", which of one was divided into 9 lessons) are not in fact my job. My job begin from the classes 3, ( alignment).
My question  in fact was for something that is not my duty, and my responsibility, because someone else is payed for this, and I am not a topographer....
 
However, thanks for the answer, even I did not  need it at all.
 
Sincerely,

madam not sir m.sotiri

Message 9 of 27
Joe-Bouza
in reply to: msotiri

If you open the surveyors file and no civil3d is available it is due to his drawing template. Open a blank drawing with your civil3d template and insert the surveyors drawing. You should now have civil3d command available.

 

The survey said you can make the point yourself; this tells me he has points in the drawing that should be convertible into civil3d points. The y may be on frozen layers. List his points and if they are AECC points you can use the convert LDT points command. If they are SoftDesk poin blocks you can use that conversion command. If they are blocks with elevation, blocks with attributes or ACAD points you can convert those in myriad ways. Describing how to convert all the permutations is too much for a DG posting but you can do it.

 

Did he give you contours? However he gave them to you ther are ways to add them to civil3d

Thank you

Joseph D. Bouza, P.E. (one of 'THOSE' People)

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Note: Its all Resistentialism, so keep calm and carry on

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Message 10 of 27
ian_mcgregor
in reply to: msotiri

Hi

 

Your problem is that Civil 3D and AutoCAD can (and do) provide a myriad of ways to infer the 3rd dimension from the myriad of ways there are to represent it in 2D.

 

You need to provide a dataset to show the group what you have in order for us to provide a meaningful answer.



Ian McGregor
BIM Technical Consulting Manager
Autodesk Customer Success EMEA
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 11 of 27
AllenJessup
in reply to: msotiri

I think Joe is getting to the heart of our questions. What you need to do may be possible depending on what is in the drawing. So far all we know is that the drawing is 2D and that Civil 3D commands don't work. That's not enough information to offer a specific method of getting it in a form C3D can work with. It's like asking a mechanic to tell you how to fix your car without letting them look at it.

 

What we need to know is what IS in the drawing. As Joe mentioned; some key items are Points and what they are composed of, Contours and what type of polyline they are and if they are at elevation or just labeled. Also are there any existing Alignments and Profiles and what they are composed of.

 

The ideal would be if you can post the drawing or a portion of it. If that isn't possible. A listing of each item would help. Once we know what we're dealing with we can post some more substantial suggestions.



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 12 of 27
msotiri
in reply to: AllenJessup

Thanks guys for your replies. I really appriciate all of them!  I am so happy that I found a way to discuss and share our experiences. By the way, Allen, I liked very much your comparison with the car.

For the moment I have a small project in process. I am waiting for the final plan from the surveyor. Maybe this time the surveyor will give me that as I want, to open directly in the program.

But this has always been  a problem for me and I thought to discuss with you in advance. But now I see, that you need the file (Car as Allen said) to have a Deep Look on It, and you are right.

 

Thanks a lot!

I will attach it as soon as possible!

bye, bye.....

have anice day

 

 

Message 13 of 27
AllenJessup
in reply to: msotiri

Thank you for letting us know the status of this. When you want to continue just add to this post. Most of us have it set so we are notified by email when a post is added to a thread we're participating in.



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 14 of 27
msotiri
in reply to: AllenJessup

Hi guys.
Finally I have the file dwg, that the topographer sent me. The same problem. I tried to apply the commands and the message is there is no surface. I need your help as soon as possible.
 
Thanks in advance!
Message 15 of 27
peterfunkautodesk
in reply to: msotiri

You have what appears to be good information in this file. There are AutoCAD points at elevation and polylines at elevation. You can make a surface from both of those elements and start your design from there.

 

Regards,

 

Peter Funk

Autodesk, Inc.



Peter Funk
Autodesk, Inc.

Message 16 of 27
AllenJessup
in reply to: msotiri

Yes. As Peter said; it looks like you have a usable drawing there. Whatever software the topographer used, could be Civil or Land Desktop (or other), everything is exploded into simple AutoCAD entities. There is no existing Civil 3D Surface. You'll have to create it from the points and 3D polylines.

 

It looks like there are a couple of blown shots in the drawing. Tip it up in to 3D and you'll see the areas I noticed. Either don't use that date or ask the person who produced it for a corrected file.



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 17 of 27
sboon
in reply to: msotiri

It appears that you have a mix of 3d polylines, ACad points and survey point data in this drawing.  When I orbit the viewpoint I notice right away that some of the 3d polyline elevations don't make sense and that that survey point blocks have all been exploded.  Most of the polyline vertices do not have survey points attached so I don't know how they were created.  Contours have been supplied but it's not clear to me what data was used to create them.

 

You could use the contours and the points to recreate the surface, but that is not really the ideal solution.  I would recommend that you go back to the surveyor and insist that he provide some answers to:

 

  • What is the source of the point grid on the layer "Level 52"
  • What is the source of the 3d polylines.  If they are surveyed then where are the survey points for these locations.
  • What data was used to build the contours.

PS: A picture is worth a thousand words.Clipboard01.png

Steve
Expert Elite Alumnus
Message 18 of 27
msotiri
in reply to: AllenJessup

Hi Allen!  Thank you so much for your reply. Unfortunately,  I am still confused about It. In fact that was my question how to create surface when everything is exploded into simple entities.

 

What I have learned are two ways:

 

To copy this entities by using ctrl +C and paste to original coordinate, but it doesn't work.

 

The other way is:

 

Import points from the source file format csv. In this way I call points and I can make everything with that, edit the points.

And after that I know to create the surface.

 

I see that the points in the drawing have three datas x, y,z, and polylines, contours also, but how can I use them All to create the surface.


 Please, I really need your help. Maybe, you can sent me a link (the video) to illustrate It.

 

I have found many links in youtube, but none of them as an example like that.

 

 

 

 

 

Message 19 of 27
AllenJessup
in reply to: msotiri

First create a  new surface blank surface to contain the data. On the Prospector Tab of the Toolspace, expand the Surface and the Definition until you see Drawing Objects. Right click on Drawing Objects and select Add. In the Add Points From Drawing Objects dialog box, you can select the type of entity you want to add. Below you will see it with the option to add points.

 

TG1.PNG

 

You can also add other types of drawing entities.

 

TG2.PNG

 

Right click on Breaklines to add the 3D Polylines as breaklines.

 

TG3.PNG

 

Hope this helps.

 

BTW As I and others have mentioned. There are some problems with the drawing that will have to be addressed before you can create a usable Surface.



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 20 of 27
msotiri
in reply to: rkmcswain

What I always have is: I have all what the surveyor does, but he gives his job in format dwg. 2D. I mean, when I open this file by cad civil 3D, and begin to apply the command of cad civil 3D, these command doesn't work. All his job is exported in this format. We don't work with the same program, and I don't work with the same surveyor. Yes, I ask them to give the points in the format file. csv, but they told me that I can do it by myself. They consider that easy, but they didn't give that to me. I have read somewhere that one way is to apply this command. select the drawing in format 2D,copy and? paste to original coordinate. I have done in this way, but It doesn't work.

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