How to Export a Clipped GEOMAP Aerial Image

In this tutorial, I’ll demonstrate how to export a clipped GEOMAP image from Civil 3D 2015/2016 for use in other drawings and older versions of AutoCAD, MAP and Civil 3D.

1.   Create a new drawing containing Civil 3D surface styles.
2.   Zoom to the project location.
3.   Set the project coordinate system. For this example, my project is located in Virginia so I’m using VA83-SF for a coordinate system code.
4.   Turn on Map Aerial from the Geolocation tools on the Ribbon.

5.   Draw a box with even sides. To cover the project area, the box will be 10,000’x10,000’.

6.   Using the Geolocation tools, capture the area and snap to the adjacent corners of the box.

7.   Turn off the Map Aerial from the Geolocation tools on the Ribbon.

8.   Select the clipped aerial image and change the Resolution to Very Fine.

9.   Plot the drawing.
10.   Select a raster virtual printer. For this exercise, I’m going to select File-PNG.pc3.
11.   Click the printer properties button.

12.   Click the Add button.

13.   Click the Next button.

14.   Type 5000 in both width and height fields then click next.

15.   Name the new paper size then click Next. I’m going to leave the default name.

 

16.   Click Finish.

17.   Click OK to close the printer properties dialog box.
18.   Select the new Paper Size.
19.   Select Window from the Plot Area, What to plot: pull down.
20.   Snap to the adjacent corners of the 10,000’x10,000’ box.
21.   Click Apply to Layout and then OK.

22.   Save the image file to the project folder. (It may take a few minutes to plot the image.)
23.   Delete the GEOMAP aerial image.
24.   Reference the new aerial image into the drawing.
25.   Snap it to the lower corner of the 10,000’x10,000’ box.
26.   Scale the image to the same size as the box.
27.   Use Raster Tools to create a geo-referenced World File if needed.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Adding Breaklines to a Civil 3D Surface

I see a number of Civil 3D users adding a surface smoothing edit to smooth contours. Surface smoothing often creates a very large TIN Surface (Triangulated Irregular Network) and CAD file. A construction contractor may also have a difficult time working with a large TIN and CAD file if used for Machine Control. Breaklines can be added to a surface to create a cleaner TIN and contour lines.

Here are the steps:
Once the breaklines have been modeled and are ready to be added to a surface, adjust the Supplementing Factors in the Add Breaklines dialog box. The following settings work well but adjust them as needed.

• Turn on and set the Distance to 10.00’.
• Set the Mid-ordinate Distance to 0.01’.

Below are the links explaining the Supplementing Factor Distance and Mid-ordinate Distance from Autodesk’s Help file.

Autodesk Civil 3D Help: Supplementing Factors

Autodesk Civil 3D Help: Mid-ordinate Distance


Below are images of a surface with the default settings.

 

 

 

 

Below are images of a surface with the adjusted settings. Additional editing may need to be added to smooth the contours.

 

 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

How to create a Civil 3D 2015 surface from an ESRI shape (shp) file.

In this tutorial, I’ll demonstrate how to create a Civil 3D 2015 surface from an ESRI shape (.shp) file. I believe this feature was introduced in Civil 3D 2014.

1. Create a new drawing containing Civil 3D surface styles.
2. Zoom to the project location.
3. Set the project coordinate system. For this example, my project is located in Virginia so I’m using VA83-SF for a coordinate system code.
4. Click the Surfaces pull down on the Create Ground Data panel of the ribbon.
5. Click Create Surface from GIS Data to launch the wizzard.

6. Create Surface from GIS Data – Object Options.
     a. Type a name for the surface.
     b. The description is optional.
     c. Set the surface style.
     d. Set the layer to your standards.
     e. The render material is optional.
     f. Click Next.

7. Create Surface from GIS Data – Connect to Data.
     a. Click the SHP radio button.
     b. Click the box with the three dots and locate the shape file.
     c. Click the Login button.

8. Create Surface from GIS Data – Schema and Coordinates.
     a. Check the box next to the shape file name.
     b. Set the coordinate system for the data if needed and the drawing if you have not done so.
     c. Click Next.

9. Create Surface from GIS Data – Geospatial Query.
     a. Click the Window radio button.
     b. Click the selection button to the right.
     c. Select an area around the project limits. I usually select an area larger than the project.
     d. Click the Crossing radio button.
     e. Click Next.

10. Create Surface from GIS Data – Data Mapping.
     a. Not all GIS data is created equal. Look for Elevation or Elev. in the GIS Filed column.
     b. Click the Civil3D Property field to the right and select the data. My data is called Elevation.
     c. Click Finish

11. The finished object is a usable Civil 3D surface with elevations

Let me know if you have any questions.

Day 3 of Autodesk University 2014

Day 3 was a blast. I'm sad AU is in the books but I was ready to head home. It was awesome meeting everyone and I'm already looking forward to AU2015.

Day 2 of Autodesk University 2014

Day 2 is in the books. Today was also a great day. The 3D Studio Max classes were great. I finished out the day at the Blogger/Social Media event. Great times with good friends and meeting new friends.

Day 1 of Autodesk University 2014

Day one is in the books. The classes were great. There are exciting new things coming down the pipeline. Day two should be just as fun.

Autodesk University 2014

Autodesk University 2014 is in full swing! The first class is over and now on to the Keynote Session.

How to Import GIS Soils Data and Soil Type Labels into Civil 3D 2015

For this exercise, I have downloaded soils data from the United States Department of Agriculture web site. http://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov

Importing the Soils Data

1.       Start a new drawing.
2.       Create a new Soils layer and Soils Label layer. I’m using  layer names for this exercise. C-SOIL-E and C-SOIL-IDEN-E.
3.       Change the drawing Coordinate System to the project location.
4.       Importing the Shape file (*.shp) data.
           a.       Type MAPIMPORT at the command line.
           b.      Change the file type to ESRI Shape file (*.shp).
           c.       Select the soilmu_a_aoi.shp file.

 

 
 5.       Change the following settings in the Import Dialog box.
           a.       Set the Drawing Layer..
           b.      Check “Import polygons as closed polylines”.
           c.       Add a data field by clicking in the data cell and the box on the right.
  

          d.      In the Attribute Data dialog box, click the “Create object data” radio button.
 

 
          e.      Click Ok to get back to the Import Dialog box.
          f.        Click Ok again to import the data.
          g.       Zoom extent to view the imported line work.
          h.      Save the file. I’m saving the file to C:\temp for easy access of the labeling steps. I named the file USDA Soils.dwg.
          i.         Close the file.
 

Add the Soils Labels

1.       Start a new drawing.
2.       Create a new Soils layer and Soils Label layer. I’m using NCS layer names for this exercise. C-SOIL-E and C-SOIL-IDEN-E.
3.       Change the drawing Coordinate System to the project location.
4.       Change the Civil 3D workspace to “Planning and Analysis”.
5.       Open the “Map Task Pane” from the View tab on the Ribbon.
6.       Click the “Map Explorer” tab on the Map Task Pane.
 

 
7.       Attach the USDA Soils.dwg drawing saved from the Importing the Soils Data steps by right clicking on the “Drawings” folder on the Map Task Pane.
8.       Click Attach.
 

 
9.       The file is located in C:\temp.
10.   Click USDA Soils.dwg and then click Add.
11.   Click OK.
 

 
Now the file is attached to the current drawing. We have to execute a query to import the soils and labels.

Importing the Soil Polylines

1.       Right click “Current Query” on the Map Task Pane.
2.       Click Define.
 

 
3.       Click the Location button.
 

 
4.       Click the “All” radio button then click Ok.

5.       Click the “Draw” radio button under Query Mode.
6.       Check the box under Options and click the Alter Properties button.

7.       Click the Layer radio button.
8.       Click the “Values…” button and select the C-SOIL-E layer.
9.       Click Ok.
10.   Click the “Add” button.

 

 

11.   Do not close the Alter Properties dialog box.

Importing the Soil Labels

1.       Click the “Text” button.

2.       In the Define Text Dialog box, click the “Expression” button.

3.       Expand the Object Data folder then click MUSYM data field.
4.       Click Ok.

5.       Set the text style, text height and layer.
6.       Click Ok.

7.       Click Ok to close the Set Property Alterations.

8.       Click the Execute Query button.

9.       Zoom extent to view the imported line work and labels.

10.   In Map Explorer, right click on the attached c:\Temp\USDA Soils.dwg.
11.   Click Detach.

12.   Save drawing.
13.   The labels may have to be moved for better presentation.

Let me know if you have any questions.