Creating a .tin file for a surface.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out how to export or create a .tin file from C3D. I currently bounce between C3D and Carlson Survey, both 2010. I need to create a .tin file of a surface for excavation purposes to be able to use in my data collector. Carlson Survey is very simple to use but the surface I create with CS never comes out properly and I have a difficult time trying to fix it. C3D makes an excellent surface but i cannot seem to export it into a .tin file extention that my data collector will use. I know that the surface can be created in C3D and then opened up in CS but I can't seem to get that to work either. I am open to a couple different options here, either: finding a way to create a .tin in C3D, figuring out how to get the surface loaded into CS, or getting my data collector (Allegro CX) to accept a .dem file extention or a xml. Any help will be appreciated!

[Todd_Rogers]

Download Carlson Connect.  It's a plugin for Civil 3D.  It's free.

[TerryDotson · Accepted solution]

Carlson Connect may be handy for survey points, but it won't create a Carlson Binary TIN from a Civil3D surface.

Have you tried using Land XML format to transfer surfaces?

We can read that TIN file format and may be able to write it, especially the points and triangles.

[Todd_Rogers]

The trick is to turn the TIN lines on, explode the surface, then use Carlson Connect to export to a .tin.

[TerryDotson]

Can you provide details on how that works.  I have it installed and have 3dFaces but don't see any options in menus/ribbon.

[Anonymous]

Right after i posted this tread i found how to import xml into carlson and long behold it worked. Carlson loaded and converted the xml into a tin file that i was able to use. Thanks for the help! This makes my life so much easier when creating excavation surfaces now!