Creating a model of the terrain

[Tyke]

I have a survey of an area that I need to get into SolidWorks so that a model of the area can be made of it.

I have contours as polylines or points with X,Y,Z coordinates and I can create a surface or a collection of 3D faces. I can also create a 3D solid and export it from AutoCAD Civil 3D in STL format.

Does anybody have any idea how I can best get my data into SolidWorks so that it can worked up into a model?

I do not have SolidWorks, I must just give my data on to someone who does have SolidWorks, so that he can do something with it. I'm a pure AutoCAD/MAP/Civil man.

[shift1313]

Well if you can export a surface or solids he should be fine with that. SW can open dwg 3d files just fine. You can also export as other formats such as stl but you may be best to just leave it as a dwg. If he loaded it SW has a DWG editor program that is similar to Acad, well Acad 07. If you want to upload a small portion as a test im sure one of us could open it to make sure there are no problems.

If that is a problem the person with SW should be able to use the xyz data as an excel sheet

[bhamze]

Tyke,

I'm not a civil 3d man but this seems possibly and I would like to give it a try. Maybe we all can learn from the experience. In SolidWorks we have the option of creating curves through X,Y,Z points. This data can be imported in SolidWorks as a text file. We also have the ability to import STL files along with several other formats. So the question is.......which is the best approach? Matt suggested a 3d DWG, he has both Acad and Solidworks experience so that may be the best approach. Either way, If your willing to upload files, I'm sure we can help.

[shift1313]

Its super simple to run in Acad bill. You can take your excel text file and convert it a comma deliniated text file. Open that in word pad, type 3dpoly as the first line and then run the script in acad. It will create a polyline from each coordinate. It works great for plotting grid lines or paths from gps data. You can then loft between these plines in acad or export them to SW. Running this type of thing in SW would probably be a little more labor intensive honestly but do able. I was thinking on this some more and there is probably an add-in for SW that would make this a lot easier but ive never looked into. I had to plot some gps data for our test road and i used acad and made a text file as stated above.

[Tyke]

So here's a few extracts from the project.

A DWG with some contours as polylines as gernerated from a DTM (LW-Polylines, but they can be converted into either 2D-polylines or 3D-polylines if necessary).

A DWG with 3D faces as extracted from the TIN from the DTM.

An ASCII file with 1000 X,Y,Z coordinates as a comma delimited file.

Both the DWGs are in AutoCAD 2004 format. The origin of the files is the regional coordinate system, let me know if they need transforming to a local grid with smaller numbers.

Let's see if any of these formats are of any use in SW in creating a solid.

[bhamze]

I was able to open both the contour and 3D face files. I had no luck with the text file. Attached are images of both. What do you guys think?

Contours.jpgFaces.jpg

[Tyke]

Hi Bill,

Are both of them surfaces or solids, or do you have the contours just as lines?

Which of them were the easier to read in.

How can explain to my guy how he should read in the data, no doubt its dead simple, but I don' have SW and have no knowledge of the commands or import procedure.

[shift1313]

Tyke i didnt have time to try and mess with this but looking at bills screen shots the first image is only curves, the second image is surfaces.

[bhamze]

Matt is correct. The first image consist of curves and the second with surfaces. I did no manipulation to your files. Both of these models were generated as a direct import of said files.

Both are easy to read. The question is....what are you trying to accomplish? Does the model require a smooth finish? Is the image of the surface file above acceptable? Does model need to consist of a solid body? Both files can be manipulated to become a solid. Both will require some work. The contour file however will be much more involved, as the user will need to create each of the faces/surfaces to create the solid model. Either way........both should work.

When I get home I will make a video demonstrating how to import the files into SW. It's simply yes......but the video will clarify what selections need to be checked.

Hi Bill,

Are both of them surfaces or solids, or do you have the contours just as lines?

Which of them were the easier to read in.

How can explain to my guy how he should read in the data, no doubt its dead simple, but I don' have SW and have no knowledge of the commands or import procedure.

[bhamze]

Here is video link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoEbnxnAkFs