Civil 3d materials block IW to open a model

[JMINDYFC]

Hi, 

I have imported a 3d model from Civil 3d into IW which uses materials like a metal mesh. At first, it is coming up correct, see the picture, but when reopening the IW, model will not open and gives an error. After checking the log file, it is clear that it is the path name length which is causing the issue (attached). Having the problem identified, still  I am not able to solve this issue, because when changing the path name in the model folder or shortening the material name in Civil3d, IW will not show materials at all for this 3d model. Thanks for help!

[Karsten.Saenger]

Hi @JMINDYFC ,

I'm wondering why such a long filename is created in InfraWorks.
Sometimes, material names have very long path names, especially if they come from 3ds Max.

Is your material an Autodesk material that is available in Civil 3D?
Is it possible to send a sample DWG with for example a 3D solid that has that material assigned?

Regards,

Karsten.

[JMINDYFC]

Hi Karsten,

thanks for reply, attached is the example 3d object with assigned Metal Mesh material, causing the problem. I know about at least 2-3 such materials, seems Metal Meshes are problematic. 

This is a standard Autodesk library material, assigned in Civil 3d (2021). Same issue in both IW 2022 and older. 

Best regards

[Karsten.Saenger]

Hi @JMINDYFC ,

thanks for sharing the DWG.

I find a material that I think it's not a standard Autodesk material. When I search for the material, I see that the image "Plate.Mesh.1.jpeg" is missing. I couldn't find that file in any of the Autodesk Material libraries.

Without having that image and material, I loaded the 3D solid into InfraWorks as "AutoCAD 3D model". I then restarted InfraWorks and couldn't find any issue with materials in the log files.

If you can send me the missing image, I can retest the workflow.

Regards,

Karsten.

[JMINDYFC]

Sorry, this was a wrong file (where I tried to test changing the material name to shorter). Sending the updated one. Kindly try that 🙂 

The actual material in the library is this one:

[Karsten.Saenger]

Hi @JMINDYFC ,

the material in the new DWG is available in the Material Library.
After importing it to InfraWorks, it doesn't look very nice - is it the same for you?

I closed InfraWorks and re-opened it, there is still no error regarding long filenames.

However, I find this material file in path ..\test-line.files\Resources\3D Models\3da51d2f-be38-40ce-ac44-1af3aee3acb6:

"Metals.Ornamental Metals.Plate.Mesh.1_svf_tex_mod_Metals.Ornamental Metals.Plate.Mesh.1.cutout_svf_tex_mod.png.jpg"

It's converted to a very long filename. If your model is located in some folder also with a long filename, the overall "file (=path) name" is too long for InfraWorks to handle. That could trigger the error message.

Can you send the full InfraWorks log file where the error is mentioned?

The full log files are located in path %appdata%\Autodesk\Autodesk InfraWorks\logs

Regards,

Karsten.

[JMINDYFC]

The materials shows usually correctly for first time I import the dwg, not as you see in your test. But then it blocks the model for me. See the log attached. 

I also understand it is long path, but as this is standard a Autocad material, one would expect a smoother collaboration between C3D and IW 🙂 

Any idea how to  make this work? 

[Karsten.Saenger · Accepted solution]

Hi @JMINDYFC ,

I don't have any other suggestion to solve the issue than reducing the overall path length.
Your path length for this image file is 265 characters:

C:/Users/jmi/Documents/Autodesk InfraWorks Models/Autodesk 360/1208846/Ski etappe 2 new.files/Resources/3D Models/4e15f64a-b21d-46ec-8d3b-0acdda2dcf59/Metals.Ornamental Metals.Plate.Mesh.1_svf_tex_mod_Metals.Ornamental Metals.Plate.Mesh.1.cutout_svf_tex_mod.png.jpg

I see that you are using the default path for the cached cloud models: C:/Users/jmi/Documents/Autodesk InfraWorks Models/Autodesk 360

If you change that in the application options to a shorter path (i.e. C:/InfraWorks360 Models/) you saved 38 characters.

In general, I am with you that it doesn't look very reasonable that a filename with 41 characters ("Metals.Ornamental Metals.Plate.Mesh.1.jpg") is converted to a filename with 115 characters ("Metals.Ornamental Metals.Plate.Mesh.1_svf_tex_mod_Metals.Ornamental Metals.Plate.Mesh.1.cutout_svf_tex_mod.png.jpg").
I will bring this to the attention of the development team.

Regards,

Karsten.