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Is there an easy way to convert a 2D CAD drawing to…
Posted by monkee6123 on November 7, 2018 at 2:01 pmI’m in a bit of a pickle here, I have received a 2D CAD dwg from a consultant, and I’d like to use it in Civil 3D. All the lines have been exploded in the CAD drawing so the contour lines aren’t contour lines just fragments of lines. Can I convert the 2D lines into polylines and insert some civil 3D points? I’m not doing the Civil 3D work on the drawing, I just need some ideas to pass on to our designer. I’m trying to figure out an earth excavation quantity for a project I’m working on. I have survey’s of the original ground in the area and I’m have a survey done at the present time since there has been a bunch of earth that has been moved to the site. So that info will be usable in Civil 3D, the design doesn’t. I’ve spoke to the consultant and they can’t do anything since they don’t have that software, so I’ve hit a brick wall with them.
I just don’t work with Civil 3D day in and day out so please don’t be harsh with the comments, thanks!
Norman_Oklahoma replied 5 years, 5 months ago 12 Members · 19 Replies- 19 Replies
join the lines back into polylines. Elevate the polylines to the correct elevation. Create the surface from the elevated polylines, but without breaklines to control the surface, the surface will be rough but might be close enough for what you are doing.
It will be rough….if you have a flat site it will be wrong. If it??s a site with some relief you should be good enough.
It will be rough….if you have a flat site it will be wrong. If it??s a site with some relief you should be good enough.
If you have topo survey points I would use them anyway, I wouldn’t even use the contour lines unless it’s all that I have. I would generate the contours from the survey points and see if they match the contours you were given in areas where the dirt hadn’t been moved. Normally it doesn’t take hardly any time to do a site topo for contours if the data was collected correctly.
Yes I need to use all the data that I can get my hands on, I’m just trying to give some solutions to the designer. He is relatively new to Civil 3D and I’m not much help to him either.
I can get a surface created from the first topo of the OG and now I’m having another done to see what has happened on site. There has been a bunch more fill brought in from another project, don’t ask lol, hopefully I can figure out some quantities for earth ex in relation to the design that has been submitted from the consultant
Sounds like the product you were provided is inadequate for your needs. Hopefully your firm didn’t pay for it? Its
usuallyalways best to have the original surveyor provide you data in the desired format. What happens if you re-create something wrong and things get built with data that is now your responsibility?Or perhaps hire a surveyor or consultant with the proper experience to analyze that data and create the surface for you.
With training, could also teach you how to process the data from 2d to 3d.
- Posted by: Monkee6123
I’m in a bit of a pickle here, I have received a 2D CAD dwg from a consultant, and I’d like to use it in Civil 3D. All the lines have been exploded in the CAD drawing so the contour lines aren’t contour lines just fragments of lines. Can I convert the 2D lines into polylines and insert some civil 3D points? I’m not doing the Civil 3D work on the drawing, I just need some ideas to pass on to our designer. I’m trying to figure out an earth excavation quantity for a project I’m working on. I have survey’s of the original ground in the area and I’m have a survey done at the present time since there has been a bunch of earth that has been moved to the site. So that info will be usable in Civil 3D, the design doesn’t. I’ve spoke to the consultant and they can’t do anything since they don’t have that software, so I’ve hit a brick wall with them.
I just don’t work with Civil 3D day in and day out so please don’t be harsh with the comments, thanks!
What software is the consultant using? If there are contour lines then theymust be using a ground modelling package. Chances are there will be a format he can export with 3d information that you will be able to read into civil 3d. Maybe a 3d DWG or a LandXML.
That’s assuming they are interested in helping you.
I work with this type of data very often. The OP is saying the design contours are 2d and exploded. What this actually means is the engineer used basic CAD techniques to “hand draft” the contours. No surface model, no 3d features. Likely there are a few spot elevations. I call this technique, using CAD for one step past the drafting table. If you don’t have experience creating a 3d surface from this type of data, you can make a very poor model that can be costly in earthwork volumes.
This job has landed in my lap and I’m trying to make the best out of a bad situation. I’ve been back to and forth with the consultant, to no avail with getting any 3D data. So at the present time this is the information I have to work with, a topo of the OG of the area, a topo of what is existing out there at the present time. This info will be useable in civil 3D since it was picked using a GPS and has elevations tied to the survey points and I have the design from the consultant that was done in CAD. Yes it has spot elevations on the CAD dwg but I cannot create a surface with information within civil 3D. I’ve put the ball in the hands for the designer but they are struggling with getting the CAD drawing from the consultant into civil 3D.
So you can see my struggle….I kinda wish we kept this work in house and I wouldn’t be posed with solving this issue
An ounce of planning (and understand) can save you a ton of frustration.
You are asking too much for the Consultant or Designer to put the data in a very specific format such as Civil3d. There are a lot of other applications out that are NOT compatible with Civil3d.
Save yourself some grey hairs and contact me, this is a simple project made overly complex by miscommunication and lack of training.
We have specific tools that can quickly create 3d data. But it needs to be used properly.
In LDD we used to create DTMs by faults using proximity polylines. 2d polylines together with elevated points at the vertices. That function is in C3d. I’ve never tried it. I’ve been told that it doesn’t work, but possibly that was a one time user error.
OUAT a place I worked at had written some LISP to create 3d polylines out of 2d polys and points. So there are solutions to your problems out there.
OUAT
??
Once upon a time.
You may also want to check your state licensing laws related to topo work to be sure you can legally do what you’re trying to accomplish. This should really be left in the hands of those that did the work. Sounds like your firm or project manager placed you in a terrible position with this project data.
That would be a Providence as it appears he’s in Ontario Canada.
- Posted by: Monkee6123
This job has landed in my lap and I’m trying to make the best out of a bad situation. I’ve been back to and forth with the consultant, to no avail with getting any 3D data. So at the present time this is the information I have to work with, a topo of the OG of the area, a topo of what is existing out there at the present time. This info will be useable in civil 3D since it was picked using a GPS and has elevations tied to the survey points and I have the design from the consultant that was done in CAD. Yes it has spot elevations on the CAD dwg but I cannot create a surface with information within civil 3D. I’ve put the ball in the hands for the designer but they are struggling with getting the CAD drawing from the consultant into civil 3D.
So you can see my struggle….I kinda wish we kept this work in house and I wouldn’t be posed with solving this issue
You’ll have to convert or “trace” the 2d data to 3d. There are a few tricks and tools to do this. For example 2d points with a text elevation can be converted to 3d using a lisp routine. I only have experience in AutoCAD but I assume these can then be converted to civil 3d points. Likewise lines can be joined using pedit commmand. Then the elevation will need to be assigned to them manually as far as i am aware.
Not sure how. Much experience you have in autocad or civil 3d?
Ah, the days of hand drafting contours. Measure, interpolate, tick marks….. It was the best training I ever had to be able to shoot good data for contouring!
- Posted by: leegreen
That would be a Providence as it appears he’s in Ontario Canada.
Dang speak ‘n spell. That’s province.
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