Jump to content

2D vs 3D in Civil Engineering


derek

Recommended Posts

I was just wondering if plain old 2D draughting methods were still the most popular choice within the civil engineering industry. With 3D modelling being heavily promoted throughout autodesk's products particularly civils 3d, it would seem there is a movement toward the advantages of real world draughting with all the bells and whistles of the Civils design package.

 

So:

 

Do you still work with the tried and tested methods of 2D draughting, getting the job done with the minimal fuss and quick editing abilities?

 

or

 

Do you draw mostly in 3 dimensions adding to initial workload and re-design but enjoying the benefits of only drawing things once?

 

Thanks I'd be interested in all responses on this matter, I have nearly 10 years experience of both 2D and 3D draughting and my current thoughts are along the lines of 2D for shop drawings and rapid changes. 3D for specialized design modelling or presentation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I work on an AWFULL lot of grading plans and maps. Whole thing with 3D is that is supposed to be sensitive to elevation, but if you work on flat landed items the 3D is jsut a waste of time as you cannot see the difference in elevations. Therefore have worked in 2D for a few decades and will continue to do so. You print and hand off a flat paper drawing, so why not think in flat dimensions too.

 

Also all deeds are written in flat 2D manner, no matter if natural ground has a significant slope or not.

 

We read about this 2D versus 3D designs many times, but has not shown up the value yet. Is nice to show a customer how a new house will fit onto a lot though.

 

Wm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For any underground piping I have found Civil 3D to be a very valuable tool. Once a pipe network has been created for both new and existing C3D will draw the profile for you in your profile view. If it is for new pipes you can run interference checks with other pipe networks weather it is existing or new. Not only that you can setup rules for min. and max. coverage as well as any other criteria you can think of.

 

One project I had a pond designed and the volumes calculated and ready to go then it needed to be moved a bit. Not a problem for C3D. I moved the pond surface to where it needed to be and was done. New volumes were automatically calc'd which needed to be tweeked a bit but it was no problem. This took about half an hour total. With LDD it would have taken a lot longer.

 

In short doing the work in C3D makes the job a TON easier with much less hassle than doing it in 2D. There is a bit of work to do up front but once that is done you don't have to worry about it any longer and can just focus on the project.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...