Converting Lidar SDF file to surface

[JerryG]

Hi all!
Using Data Connect I have added a SDF connection
to Lidar data and created contours of the site.
It looks great and all but can I turn this data into a surface?
I know I can create a surface from the contours but
I'm looking for something more accurate.

Thank you!

[BOB'27T]

I just use the lidar contours and make them into a surface. I've had really good success thus far.

[JerryG]

Thanks bob - but is it accurate enough?
I can see surface imperfections that the contours dont seam to pick up. I set to Major Contours at 4' - am I possibly missing a setting?

Thank you for the help!

[BOB'27T]

I set mine to 5', maybe that will make a difference.

[rustysilo]

You might need to mess with your weeding/supplementing factors as well as performing surface edits after adding the contour data to your surface such as swapping edges. When you add the contours I think you can set it to "minimize flat areas by..." and check the options you want to include.

What is in the lidar data? Is it points? Could you perhaps upload the sdf file? I've never had a chance to play with one of those as our topo is always conventional survey data.

[JerryG]

Not points but more of a GIS based system like metadata.
Sorry it wont let me load an ADF file. (orginal format).
Unfortunatly I dont have the option to minimize flat areas since it
is not a surface I'm creating contour data from.
Its more of a image with Z values. (I think - still trying to grasp it all)

The forum wont let me upload the file.
Sorry.

[rustysilo]

Email it to me.

[JerryG]

I just started from sctratch again and noticed that the orginale file is actually a adf file (sorry for the confusion)
It dosn't create a SDf file until you create contour data from the image.

[rustysilo]

Ah I see. Maybe a small tutorial on creating contours from this data. Some of us have never used such file formats and created contours this way.:)

[JerryG]

You bet...as soon as I figure it out more completly I'll write something up. This is really new to me also. Its something our GIS expert recomended so I thought I would give it a shot. My orginal idea was have hime convert it to a point file
(from Lidar data) then just delete areas i didn't need. But by doing it this way you can clearly see your site and its
a much more managable Dwg. (no crashes or slowdowns)
BTW - tried emailing you file but dont see anywhere to attach file
under Send Email or Send PM ?? I must be missing something simple?

[rustysilo]

I guess you'd have to email, then I can reply which would allow you to reply back and attach via your email client.

[miken]

I think you're working with DEM (digital elevation model) data. Is it a grayscale image? Each grayscale represents an elevation, the program just de-codes that. Are you using Civil3d. If so, once imported just create the contours, the surface is already made.
Mike -

[JerryG]

Right mike.
I was able to get that far fairly easily. But the contours
are not picking up all the grade slopes as they really exist.
Is there a way to put the contours in at say a 2' intervale
as opposed to 5' and 10' ? There are allot of areas on the image where I can see a small hill etc. but the contours are not picking it up.

[miken]

Yes, in the toolspace, under Surfaces, right click and select Create Surface. On the dialog you should see a Style and to the right it should say Standard, click the little box and another dialog opens. Click the little box with the pencil and the Surface Style editor opens. Find the words Contour Intervals on the Contour tab. For minor set it to 2 feet. You can save various styles. 2 and 5's, 5's and 10's etc.
Hope this helps.
Mike -

[giraffeking]

Hi guys, I know this is an old thread but I was hoping for a little bit of clarification. I'm loading massive point cloud files (.las) to my Civil3d drawings and it's taking forever. I really only need small parts and am planning on clipping them (I'm also not sure of how I'm going to do this), but really, should I be waiting 30min for these point clouds to load? Any other way I could do this? I am also going to be turning them into contour lines..

Thanks in advance

[Emigrato]

Which commands do you use to load that .LAS file?

:)

[miken]

Hi guys, I know this is an old thread but I was hoping for a little bit of clarification. I'm loading massive point cloud files (.las) to my Civil3d drawings and it's taking forever. I really only need small parts and am planning on clipping them (I'm also not sure of how I'm going to do this), but really, should I be waiting 30min for these point clouds to load? Any other way I could do this? I am also going to be turning them into contour lines..

Thanks in advance

In my experience it does take a huge amount of time to load .las files. We have a guy with Merrick Mars Explorer software, which is used to edit and process our .las point cloud data prior to importing directly into Cad. Applied Imagery Terrain Modeler is another software.
Mike -

[giraffeking]

I'm just entering it in through the Home tabhttp://docs.autodesk.com/CIV3D/2012/ENU/images/ac.menuaro.gifCreate Ground Data panelhttp://docs.autodesk.com/CIV3D/2012/ENU/images/GUID-82B0FDD3-E5B9-4538-8219-16A0084727E5-low.gifCreate Point Cloudhttp://docs.autodesk.com/CIV3D/2012/ENU/images/GUID-56A8DE1E-CACC-4677-875E-280D3364129E-low.png. And it really does take a really long time to update after I've entered it. Miken, I think I'll look into that software, but I'm curious if you know how to clip point data to certain lats/longs? I've tried the conventional methods and it doesn't work (not that I thought I would but I thought I'd give it a shot) I Just need a small section so even if after the long loading time if I could cut out 90% of the point cloud it would really help in not bogging down the program so much.