Surface work from earlier releases

[Anonymous]

I'm using Land Companion strictly for bringing in surfaces from surveyors that use R14, which I then open in C3D. They provide me with their complete project file.  I had done this successfully once before and can't for the life of me figure out how/what I did.  Can someone provide the steps to do this?  Here's what I did:

1. created a new project with proper coordinate system

2. created a new dwg then inserted the surveyors dwg

3. In Terrain Model Explorer I created a new surface

4. In the new surface's tree selected Point File, then Add Point File

5. Navigated to the project file and selected that.

6. Select "Build Surface"

A suface builds, but the TIN is nowhere it's supposed to be and looks nothing like it's supposed to.  I also get a geo-marker that can't be selected, frozen or deleted.

I know I'm missing something simple here.

[Sinc]

Have you tried using Civil 3D instead, and creating a surface directly from the R14 project?  I've never tried it, but I don't think the surface model changed between R14 and later versions of Land Desktop, so it might work.

[Anonymous]

If you created the surface from a point file make sure your setup matches the file format.  If you're set up for Easting first but the file is Northing first, it will not show up in the right place or look like it should.  Also make sure your units match.

By the way, geomarkervisibility set to 0 turns the marker off.

[Anonymous]

That's why Land Companion is needed.  C3D isn't capable of bringing it in from the earlier versions.  But if it's created in Land, I can then open it in C3D.  Easiest thing is if surveyor can provide an XML, but that's not possible in R14.

[Sinc]

OK...

But then is there a reason you are you creating a new project?  I don't remember ever having any trouble opening R14 projects in Land Desktop.  So if you can't create a C3D surface straight from the R14 project, you should simply be able to open the R14 project in Land Desktop, and that should do whatever upgrading is necessary.  Then theoretically, you should be able to create the C3D surface straight from the Land Desktop project.

[Matt.Anderson]

R14...that would be Softdesk...havent seen that in a LONG time...

I would suggest requesting the 3d faces from the surveyor since LandXML wasnt around back then...

[Anonymous]

Turns out I don't nearly have the data needed to do it this way, and better yet (or worse yet) I didn't even have to do it this way.  The .dwg itself had the surface TIN view and all I had to do was build the surface from that from within C3D. 1-2-3 and it looks fine.

Thanks to John Cooke for saving me on more than one occasion.

[Anonymous]

I'm working with an LS that's transitioning from R14 to C3d.  I've taught him that if hes has a TIN (3d faces) in his R14 drawing, that can be imported into C3d, and a surface created from that.  There are some minor variations in his contours, because his older ones are smoothed. but by & large the two surfaces are almost identical.

We also created surfaces from points & breaklines using an imported ascii point file and 3d polylines for the breaklines.

No need to use LDC at all.

Reid

[jmayo-EE]

Didn't that version's project folder still make a dtm folder which has a subfolder for each surface? That is what the surveyor should send you if they have it, the surface's dtm folder. You can then simply import the surface on the Insert tab of the ribbon using the Land Desktop command.

On a side note, wasn't the first version of LDD on R14?

John

[Sinc]

I think there was a version of LDT for R14, but I've never seen anyone use it.  All I've ever seen anyone use on R14 is Softdesk 8.  I know we jumped straight from R14/S8 to LDT2004.