Surfaces from .tiff files

[getrekdent]

Hey everyone! Been quite a while since I've been on here! 

I'm just starting a project and have been supplied ~500 .tiff files from a dem which contain elevation data..  I need to dump these into a surface but can only do one at a time through the toolbox -> Surface -> Definition -> DEM Files.

Does anyone know of a way in which I can import multiple at one time to a surface?

Thanks a bunch in advance! 

Kyle

[TerryDotson]

I can think of more humane ways to kill Civil3D !!!  A more appropriate attempt would be to limit the imported points to a selected area of interest, being a window pick, polyline or some other XY limiting method.  Of course I assume you also want one surface, not one surface per TIFF file.

Would it be possible to provide a couple of these files for experimentation, ideally (4) that form a 2 row x 2 column area?

[getrekdent]

See attached downloads for the .tiff files.  I am breaking them into sections of 10, creating multiple surfaces then going to paste that all into one and see if I can export as a landXML file... 

Surface 1 has ten files; if you try and add #11 from S2 the grids don't match therefore I have to create another surface.  There's 86km in total LiDAR data they have supplied, typically I would get a .las file but they aren't capable of supplying this to me for some reason.  If anyone has any idea how I can streamline a surface build out of these files rather than doing this incredibly painstaking, monotonous process I would be super happy!! 

Surface 1 - 

1-10

Surface 2 - 

11-20

Thanks again for the assistance!

Kyle

[TerryDotson]

I see what you mean about them not forming a traditional grid. If you zoom to the corners of 4 tiles do you see thin gaps between?

I think you also see what I mean about processing speed as only these 20 files bog a capable machine down quickly.  Still working on them from a end user standpoint, back in touch soon.

[tcorey]

It takes AutoCAD Map Data Connect less than thirty seconds to display tiles 1-10 or 11-20.

[TerryDotson]

For now, we have put together some freeware that allows you to select the multiple files and it will import the DEMs as separate GridSurfaces or a single TinSurface (takes more processing time).  We will be working over the next few days to add better GeoTiff support to our Mass Points Processor (sometimes there is a world file, sometimes not).

[Neilw_05]

I recommend you use a point cloud app to process the images into a point cloud format. From there you can merge them together in a contiguous cloud or tile them into larger chunks. You can then export the clouds to ASCII and import into C3D surfaces or point clouds as needed. The point cloud software will handle the data much more efficiently than C3D. Cloud Compare is a free Point Cloud app that I have been using. I tried importing one of the GEOTIFFS and it loads quickly (10 seconds?). I haven't quite figured out how to export the cloud to an XYZ file but I am confident it can be done.

[Neilw_05]

Good news. I loaded all 10 DEMS in about 5 seconds. I merged then all into a single DEM in about 1 second. The resulting cloud has over 23 million points so you'd probably have to re-tile it to make it useable in C3D. Still this is a lot faster than trying to do it with C3D or Recap.

[Neilw_05]

Using cloud compare I imported one of the GEOTIFFS, filtered it down from 3+ million points to about 600k points, exported to .las and imported to a C3D point cloud. From there I generated a surface from the point cloud. So it is a confirmed work flow.