WEDNESDAY , DECEMBE R 13, 2006 Co nvert i ng 2 D Text t o 3 D Po i nt s There are severa w ays t o i nput data; here i nM al aysi a, t he m ost com m ondat a used are survey poi nt s ( al so know nas spot hei ght s) andcont our l i nes. H ow ever, bef ore creati nga groundsurface, yousho ul dt ry tocl eanthe data upas m uchas po ssi bl e so t hat youhave l es s edi ting w ork l a ter It i s com m on t oreceive a 2D draw i ng w hi chon l y contai n t he t ext represe nt i ng t he elevati onof eachspo t heig ht ; i . e. t here are no poi nt s w i t hel evati ons. Int his ca se, we m ust creat e 3D po i nt s at each po si t i o n A utodeskCi vi l 3D i s abl e t oaut om ati cal l y create 3D poi nt s for youbasedo n eacht ext val ue t hat represe nt s t he el evati ons f or t he points The conversi o nprocess i s very si m pl e: f i rst , younee dt ogenerate anXYZfi l e f rom your draw i ng, aft er w hi ch youwi l l i m port t he f i l e i nt oA utodeskCivil 3D Verify The Drawing Data O pent he draw i ng cont ai ni ng the spot hei ght s i nA ut odesk Ci vi l 3D . If youhadrecei ve d t he draw ing from an ext ernal source , copy it to y our pro jec t ’ sd w g f ol de r fi rst be f ore openi ng i t . 1 . Check t he draw i ng to see w here andhow t he point s and/or t ext i nf orm a t i o ni s sto red. Theyare typi ca l l y savedi nseparat e layers. 2. If your draw i ng al ready cont ai ns 3D poi nt s, youdo n’ t have t oconve rt t he t ext i nt o3D po i nt s; youcan st rai ght aw ayuse t hese 3. ABOUT ME WENDY LI M PETALING JAYA, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA I a m currentl y a Ci v i l Engi neer att achedt oa lo ca consult an t . I als oconduct Ci vl 3D t rai ni ng ona free l a nce bas i s VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE SUBSCRIBE NOW: FEED ICON Subscri be i na reader SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL Subscr i be t o A V I D U SE R of CI V I L3D byEm ai GREAT READS M y Ci vi l Engineer i ng Com m uni t y Ent r y Civi 3D Yvonn Foong A ut oD esk Ci vi 3D Share Report Abuse Next Blog» Create Blog Sign In A V ID USER OF C IV IL 3D Page 1 of 1 1 AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points 11/8/2011 http://wendyllc.blogspot.com/2006/12/converting-2d-text-to-3d-points.html
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Converting 2D Textto 3D PointsThere are severa w ays to inputdata;here in M alaysia,the m ostcom m on data used aresurvey points(also know n as spotheights)and contourlines.H ow ever,beforecreating a ground surface,youshould try to clean the data up as m uch as possible so thatyou havelessediting w ork later
Itis com m on to receive a 2D drawing w hich only contain the textrepresenting the elevation ofeach spotheight;i.e.there are no pointsw ith elevations.In thiscase,w e m ustcreate 3D pointsateachposition Autodesk Civil3D isable to autom atically create 3D pointsforyou based on each textvalue thatrepresents the elevations forthepoints
The conversion process isverysim ple:first,you need to generate an
XYZ file from yourdraw ing,afterw hich you w illim portthe file intoAutodesk Civil3D
Verify The Drawing Data
O pen the drawing containing the spotheights in AutodeskCivil3D .Ifyou had received the draw ing from an externalsource,copy itto yourproject’s dw g folderfirstbeforeopening it.
1.
Check the drawing to see w hereand how the pointsand/ortextinform ation is stored.They are typically saved in separatelayers.
2.
Ifyourdraw ing already contains3D points,you don’thave toconvertthe textinto 3D points;you can straightaw ay use these
3.
A B O U T M E
W EN DY L IM
P E TA L I N G J AYA ,
S E L A N G O R , M A L AY S I A
Iam currently a CivilEngineer attached to a locaconsultant.Ialso conductCivl3Dtraining on a freelance basis
VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
S U B S C R I B E N O W : F E E D I C O N
Subscribe in a reader
S U B S C R I B E V I A E M A I L
Subscribe to AVID U SER ofCIVIL3D by Em ai
G R E AT R E A D S
M y CivilEngineering Com m unityEntry
Civi 3D
Yvonn Foong
AutoD esk Civi 3D
Share Report Abuse Next Blog» Create Blog Sign In
A V ID U SE R O F C IV IL 3 D
Page 1 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points
points to create yourexisting ground surface.H ow ever,besure to check thatthese 3D pointsare placed atthe correctelevations.
Note: To check if the points are in 3D or not, use theProperties Window and check the Z value of each pointaga inst the relevant text.
Ifyourdraw ing only contains the textvalues,notedow n thelayersw hich contain those text.
4.
Creat ing The 3D Points
You cannotcreate the 3D pointsdirectly from thisdraw ing,socreate a new draw ing oropen a blank drawing (forexam ple,the survey.dwg created from the previouschapter).
1.
IfyourToolspace isnotalready open,open itfrom the m enuGeneral > Show Toolspace…
2.
In Civil3D interface,click on Map > Query > Define
Query…
3.
In the Define Query w indow ,click on Drawings and click Attach .
4.
You can brow se directly to the folder containing yourdraw ing,oryou can use aliases.
5.
Note: Using Aliases Aliases in Autodesk Map is a shortcut to your folder. This isextremely useful when you need to access a folder in Autodesk Map often.
To create an alias:
Click the Cr e a t e / E d i t A l i a s e s icon.1.
In the D r i v e A l i a s field, type in a name to identify thefolder you w ish to create a shortcut to. The name mustnot have a ny spaces in between.’
2.
Click B r o w s e and brow se to the folder you wish tocreate a shortcut to. Click OK .
3.
Click Add. You should see your new alias in the boxabove.
4.
Click Close when you are done.5.
In the upper panel,selectthe draw ing w hich containsthe textvalues w hich you w antto convertinto 3D points.Click Add.You should see the file added in the low erpanel.
6.
Everw onderhow to create acutand fillshade??
Converting 2D Textto 3DPoints
Introduction ofCivil3D
V I S I T O R S S S S
Page 3 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points
Click OK .The draw ing nam e w illbeattached in yourToolspace .
7.
Before you startconverting yourdata,firstyou need to filteroutallinform ation to ensure thatonly the textvaluescontaining the relevantelevation data w illbe converted.Youwouldn’tw anttextcontaining w ordslike “Tree” or“School”inyourpointdatabase!To filteroutthe data,you w ould be usingQ ueries.
In Civil3D interface,click on Map > Query > Define
Query…8.
In the query w indow ,filter outthe data by using theoptionsunder Query Type .
9.
Typically,Property isused as the textvalues are often placedon a separatelayer.Click Property .
10.
Page 4 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points
In the Proper ty Condition dialog w indow ,click the Layerradio button.In Value ,you can type in the layer nam e,oryoucan selectfrom a list.Click the Values button.You w illsee alistofallthe layers from yourattached draw ing,from w hichyou can highlight.To selectm ore than one layer,hold dow nthe Ctrlbutton w hile you click on the layer nam es.Click OK .
11.
Check the inform ation,and click OK .12.
Beforerunning the conversion,run a quick check to ensurethatallthe data hasbeen filtered properly.U nder Query
Mode ,click Preview ,and then click Execute Query .(N ote:Ifyou selectO K,nothing w illhappen as itw illm erely save thequery settings;itdoes notactually run the query)
13.
You w illsee a preview ofallthe data in yourdraw ing.You canstillzoom and pan the draw ing to view the data,butifyou
14.
Page 5 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points
redraw ,the data w illdisappear.Take a look atyourdraw ing tom ake sure thatthedata has been properly filtered.O nce you have verified thatthe data has been filtered properly,you can run the conversion now .Go back to the Q ueryw indow.
15.
W ithoutm odifying the query settings,under Query Mode ,selectthe Report radio button,and click Options .
16.
This isw here you specify yourreporttem plate,i.e.yourXYZfile.Click Expression .
17.
In the Report Template Expression w indow ,open theProperties tree.Scrolldow nw ardsuntilyou see X1.H ighlightitand click OK .
18.
Click Add. You should see .X 1 added in the top panel.19.
Page 6 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points
Repeatthe above steps to add Y1.20.Forthe lastcolum n,don’tselect Z1!This isbecause the Z-value in thedraw ing is0.Instead,you w ould be m aking use ofthe textvalue as theelevation.Repeatthe above steps to addSTRING .
21.
Click the Browse button,and type in the nam e ofthe XYZ fileyou aregoing to generate.
22.
Click OK ,and then click Execute Query .The XYZ file w illbegenerated.23.
You can check yourfileby opening itfrom W indowsExplorer.24.
Page 7 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points
To im portthe points,go to the m enu Points > Create
Points > Import Points .25.
U nderForm at,select ENZ (comma del imited) from thedrop-dow n list.Note:
26.
The drop-down list contains a list of standar d file formats in Autodesk Land Desktop. You can easily create your ownformat if you need to.
P = Point NumberN = NorthingE = EastingZ = ElevationD = Description
Comma delimited means the columns ar e separa ted by commas, whereas space delimited means the columns areseparated by spaces.
U nder Sour ce File ,click the open icon,brow se to the foldercontaining yourXYZ file,and select the file.
27.
Check the Add Points to Point Group ,and click the blueicon on the right.Create a pointgroup nam ed Existing.This isto m ake iteasier foryou to create yourexisting ground surfacelater.By nam ing yourpointgroup Existing,you w illknow thatallthe points in thisgroup are m eantforyourexisting groundsurface.
28.
Click OK .29.The pointsw illbe im ported into the draw ing.30.
Page 8 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points
Original text by Hoo Sze Yen and was originally meant for Land
Desktop. She is generous enough to allow me to publish this.
Thanks pal. Imagine if you have to manually edit those texts ????
Thank God for technology.. ;-).
P O S T ED B Y W E N D Y L IM AT W E D NE S D AY, D E C E MB E R 1 3 , 2 0 06LABELS: CONVERT 2D TEXT TO 3D POINTS
9 C O M M E N T S :
M rW G said...
This isa very good tip clean,instead offighting w ith thesurveyorforthe data dam p this isa loteasier and fast.
ThanksD EC EM B ER 20, 2007 6:56 A M
W orlds6440 said...
Its a LO T sim plerand quickerand m oreaccurate to useTopoGX.
Allyou need do ispress the 2D to 3D converttoolbar button,then press the big "ConvertN ow "button.The conversion is
done in a few secondsand autom atically convertsyourTextlevels to Z levelsand insertsthem at the visually associatedinsertion cross,w hether itbe a Pointentity orblock insert.
Its also gotgreatfeatures like a really easy 3D View er,instantSurface Contours,Surface H eightcolouring,Flow Arrow s,Longsectioning and Ithink they m entioned thatthey w illbeadded Volum ing soon!
JAN U A R Y 11, 200 8 7:23 A M
W orlds6440 said...
Page 9 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points
Sorry,forgotto m ention,TopoG X autom atically usesyour2Dsurvey lines as constraintsso D itches,roadsand any othersurveyed featuresstand outcleanly.
JAN U A R Y 11, 200 8 7:25 A M
Anonym oussaid...bonetiberiu@ gm ail.comim anaged to createthe txtfile butireceive the "errorparsingvalue"w hen im porting.do you have any idea w hatididwrong?thanks!
FE B R U A R Y 28, 200 9 7:51 PM
D iego D elgado-Elias said...
hey ive been trying todo thisw ith civil3d 2010,butijustcantfind the com andsyou m ention,can you do an updateforthenew version?
O C TO B E R 29, 200 9 6:57 PM
Anonym oussaid...
A reply to "bonetiberiu@ gm ail.com ":
Anotherreason w hy the "parsing erroroccurs"isbecause ofthe TextEncoding form at.Try so "save as..."the textfile usingAN SI encoding instead ofU N ICO D E.You can search theoptionson the "save as..."w indow .Sim ple as that.Everythingwillw ork justfine.
m andaldyis@ yahoo.com
N O V EM BE R 2,2009 4:12 PM
W endy Lim said...
Reply to D iego D elgado-Elias,U nder Custom izations in AllFiles,scrollto O pen >"C:\D ocum entsand Settings\usernam e\ApplicationD ata\Autodesk\C3D 2010\enu\Support\M apClassic.cuix"Then click APPLY.The m ap m enu should appearand you canfollow the sam e stepsas m entioned in the post.
N O V EM BE R 5,2009 8:40 AM
Anonym oussaid...
Ifound this site using [url=http://google.com ]google.com[/url]And iw antto thank you foryourw ork.You have donereally very good site.G reatw ork,greatsite!Thank you!
Page 10 of 11AVID USER of CIVIL 3D: Converting 2D Text to 3D Points