How to create 3D terrain from contour lines in AutoCAD for Mac

[lois-pl]

Hello friends,

This is my first post, I hope I'm not asking for too much. 

I am in need of some help, I've tried various solutions that failed and I hope you can give me a hand here.

I am trying to create a 3D solid out of contour lines that I have. I use Autocad for Mac, there is no way to generate the solid here. Solutions I've tried: exporting to Sketchup and using Sandbox tools, result is a mess, not solid and it just looks off; Also exported to Rhino and used 2 ways of generating the terrain, Patch and MeshPatch, one makes the terrain to soft and untrue to curves, the other made terrain to harsh and hard to manipulate, also, both meshes, not solids.

After watching some tutorial I found that the DRAPE command creates nice 3D terrain solids but I can't install ACA, nor do I have access to PC, so I could do it myself.

I am in great need of this terrain, it has been 5 days trying to solve this with no success.

Is there anyone who could use my file to DRAPE the contours and send it back to me as a solid please?

The file is clean. There are 3 layers with curves: A-Curves 1, B-Curves 2, B-Curves 3. The rest of the layers can be hidden, but please don't delete them. You may chose to not use B-Curves 3 to DRAPE, if that makes an error on creating the terrain.

Thank you so much! 

Luis

*I hope I posted in the right section.

USERNAME for clarity Kevin.Palmer edited the original subject: From Contour Lines to 3D terrain, DRAPE [Help]

[dbroad]

Welcome to the forum.  Have you tried loft? This is available on a Mac.  You would be best posting this in an AutoCAD for the MAC forum where you could learn how to do it  yourself rather than relying on soliciting free services.

[lois-pl]

Hey, Yes, I've tried loft, it kind of works for 2-3 curves and then the the surfaces disappear. and it creates surfaces, not solids.

I've posted in other external forums as well, and came to the conclusion that it's just not possible 

I've only asked for a hand in this, it's an exceptional case. I really would love to do this myself, and learn it, but the solutions available just aren't any good. And Drape tool makes it look so simple and easy, it's a shame that Mac version doesn't have this.

I will ask the Autocad forums in hope of some miraculous answer, because I want to learn it for the future.

But for now, how much do you charge to use this tool for me? (if you have ACA).

Thank you! 

[dbroad]

All the contours need to be closed in order to get a solid. Just connect them where they run off the edge.

[Kevin.Palmer · Accepted solution]

Hi @lois-pl,

Welcome to the Autodesk Community, and thank you for posting your question here in the AutoCAD Architecture forum!

In this instance, I've gone ahead and applied the DRAPE command to your file and saved it as a dwg; let me know if you have any trouble opening the file. I would definitely recommend bringing this up in the Mac forum as well to explore workflow alternatives in core AutoCAD. I'll also move this thread over to the Mac forum so that the users there can access this thread. Feel free to direct message me if you have any issues opening the file. I hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Hello Sir

I also need some help in converting 2D drawing to 3D. I have contour lines which i want to visualize it in 3D.

I have attached the file. Please let me know if it is possible. Thanks.

Best Regards

Zargham Ali

[maxim_k]

Welcome to Autodesk Forums!

Hi @Anonymous,

It is practically impossible to convert your drawing using plain AutoCAD and AutoCAD for Mac.
Polylines forming the relief in your drawing have thousands of vertices and the use of the LOFT command causes the AutoCAD to hang.
You need to simplify polylines at first.