AutoCAD Civil 3D :: Make Surface From Contour Lines
Oct 24, 2013
I have this contour lines from dwg file (see attached) and I am trying to make a surface out of it. Initially i thought it is already a surface for C3D but i cant seem to follow tutorials. While browsing for solutions from the Internet, it seems it is not even a contour file that can be added in C3D. what is this file and how i can convert it into a surface in C3D?
I just upgraded to Civil3D 2014 and Windows 8. When I create a TIN surface using a DEM file no contour lines are displayed. Points are processed and triangles are created and can be displayed but no contour lines. Contour line layers are set to display in the style file.
I have drawing giving to us for a senior design project. I'm trying to create a surface to so that I can analyze cut/fill. Not sure if what i'm doing is right or wrong, I've never used civil 3d. But i'm getting break-line errors whenever i'm trying to create the surface from the contour lines.
Heres a link i took of what i'm doing on youtube [URL]........
I'd like to be able to create a surface or mesh from contour lines to give a better 3D representation of terrain than just contour lines. "Drape" seems to be the tool ACA, but I'm wondering if AutoCAD can do something similar. LOFT sorta works, but even then, I have to do it in sections, and I'm not really looking for a solid.
I want to make contour lines in autocad 2010 map 3d, but dont know how to start and where .
I have xyz coordinates in. txt format , something like this: [URL] .....
I tryed to do with spline, but its pretty hard some times :/. I need something that i can import and let autocad draw the contours, if its possbile (import txt or another format if its possible) !??
I have a drawing set to UTM83 Zone 14 Meters and my drawing units is set to meters also. I created my surface from my point cloud. When i do the contour extract feature (surface object extract), the contours elevation is in the wrong datum or elevation? The surface contour is 620 but the same extracted contour says 188.97? Curious why this happens. It seems to me that it is back calculate elevation or datum to a different coodinate system.
I have Civil3d2012 and have created a surface in one drawing and then referenced it to another. It appears to be working, but the contour labels will not work on the drawing where the surface is referenced. I have all the appropriate layers on.
I am using Civil 3D 2011 and wondering how to create just one contour on an existing surface at a specific elevation. I need to show where floodwaters would get to at a specific elevation so that contour would be the easiest way if I can contour the surface with just 1 elevation. I don't want to have to create 0.1' contours all over the site and then remove all the extras.
So I have an existing grade surface and I am laying out a number of different site designs. I've got all my surfaces from those site designs on different layers each displayed in a different layout. I need to label existing contours on each layout in different places. I've setup additional contour label styles (two for each design, major, and minor) and layers (two for each design, major, and minor). However, when I add labels to my existing surface, they come in on the right layer, but whenever I freeze any of the many layers my contour labels are on, they all turn off. The only workaround I can figure is to make copies of my existing surface for each design option and label each independantly. However, this is inacceptable as far as data management goes, since my one file will be hundreds of megs with all those surfaces.
Windows 7 x 64 bit NVidia Quadro 2000 Dual Monitor 6.00 GB RAM Intel Xeon W3550 @ 3.07 GHz Civil 3D 2013 SP 2, Civil 3D 2012 SP2, Civil 3D 2011 V3, Civil 3D 2010 V3
I have 400 files each represent a tile of contour at 0.5m interval, if I xref all into one dwg it is extremely slow. These files have some 3d blocks which represent xyz and I made a .net program to open each file with "readdwgfile" method. However turned out that the points are not dense enough to generate the same accuracy contours as the 0.5m contours.
I am going home now to use my home computer and see if it can handle all these files xrefed and then bind and explode.
Worst case in make another program to extract only the contours and insert into a blank database. Always difficult when not given raw lidar point files.
Total size for these contour files combined is 327mb.
We have microstation capabilities not sure if it can put in the file in an easier way. I can work with the xrefed bogged down file. But is there a way to only export what's shown ? I have frozen the layers for all other objects from all the references.
I estimated total points from contours will be 20 million. Since each generate about 50000 points. Which is still workable. The computer i use in the office just make this more difficult. Slow cpu. Difficult day. Spent 7 hours programming and got it figured out but didn't solve the problem. I should have known better 20 points are not enough to generate that look in the 0.5m contours.
Civil 3D 2012 Work: Xeon W3503, 12GB, Quadro 2000, Dell P2211H x 2 Home: 3930k, 12GB, GTX 590, U3011, QX2710
I'm working on a topo survey and the contours are crossing each others (See attached pic) and what I did was edit the surface by adding points. I know that these points are fake, but how does this affect the terrain surface for design point of view? I did try swapping edge and deleting lines but makes it worse. Also as you can see in the pic, I don't see the added points like it did back C3D 2008.
Which is better to do: contour smoothing or surface smoothing? I did a little test with a surface with no smoothing, a surface with contour smoothing set to medium, and a surface with surface smoothing. The results puzzled me. The contours in the surface with no smoothing matched the contours of the surface with surface smoothing. The profiile of the surface with no smoothing matched the profile of the surface with contour smoothing. Are these results typical? I was surprised that the contours of the surface with surface smoothing didn't look smoother. I was also surprised that the surface with no smoothing and the surface with contour smoothing generated the same profile.
I would like to create surface from contours and extract points (with value) from on it. I had contours in my drawing; each major and minor contours are single polyline with elevation (Z value).
If I create surface form CONTOUR, some polylines (major or minor) are not included in to surface. After the creation of surface, I tried to erase the existing contour lines (Polyline) from drawing but the surface will be disappearing.
If I create the surface from ''DRAWING OBJECTS'', I'm not able to select the polylines (attachment 01) .
Is it possible to weed contour lines displayed in a surface based on the slope? I am having an issue plotting construction plans due to steep cut slopes and flat adjacent areas. I have several cuts ranging from 33%-50% adjacent to flat areas around 1%. Due to the drawing scale required by the client and the .2FT and 1FT contours required to detail the flat areas, my steep cuts appear as dark hatches due to the tight contour lines.
How to use the Surface Contour Label Group class in the .NET API.
My first guess was that I had to create an instance object of the class and name it, and then use a "Create" method (e.g., CreateMultipleAtInterval) from there, like this:
Dim labelgroup As SurfaceContourLabelGroup
labelgroup.CreateMultipleAtInterval(arguments)
However, this doesn't work, as Visual Studio told me "Warning: Access of shared member, constant member, enum member or nested type through an instance; qualifying expression will not be evaluated."
I created surfaces in Civil 3d 2011 for existing and proposed and I did a surface volume between them. Is it possible to create a specific contour in the volume surface that represents the fill volume elevation (daylight line I think)? My proposed surface is a flood water elevation and I need to define the boundary at that elevation.
I have a client that just started using C3D 2010. When I sent him a topographic survey with contour lines (I am also using C3D 2010) he called me and asked if there was a way to select an individual contour line and have it display the elevation in the 'properties' dialog box. I have not been able to find an answer for him.
We recently received a LiDAR data in the form of an .asc file. Brought it fine into Civil 3d.
However, the level data is in mm so levels are showing as 98450 instead of 98.45. The level ranges from 98450 to 166260.
When I create a surface and set the style to show contours, it only displays contour lines below 100,000. Is this a limit in Civil 3D or am I missing some setting somewhere? I'm using the UKIE template btw.
I’m having some issues with my CAD. Every now and then, my contour lines disappear and I can’t get them to reappear. My surface border and triangles will appear but not the contours. Sometimes if I change surface styles they will appear but other times they are gone forever.
Troubleshooting: Regen AllAuditPurgeLayers on/offLayers frozen/thawedPromoting (if the surface is a data short cut)Changing the surface styleChanging the contour interval
None of this has worked…
AUTOCAD Civil 3D 2013 Windows 7 Processor: Intel (R) Xeon (R) CPU W3565 @ 3.20GHz Installed Memory (RAM): 12.0GB System Type: 64-bit
I am having problems viewing my contour lines after I create a surface. I create the surface using points. The contour lines will show up when I create the surface. After I close the program or the drawing, I am not able to see the contour lines again. The contour lines are on in the surface style. How can I see the contour lines without creating the surface again?
When I plot my dwg my contour lines disappear. Looks good in model and layout but when I plot (usually to pdf) the contour lines do not show. Labels for contours are there. I attached samples.
I am trying to add contour lines to a surface at very specific elevations (rain event elevations). I can add all the intervals I want but can't seem to figure out how to add a contour at a certain elevation.
As far as I know there is no way to add or remove vertices on contour label lines. Is this correct?
If so it's another one for my wish list. Neil Wilson (a.k.a. neilw) Infrastructure Suite/C3D 2013, LDT 2004, Power Civil v8i SS1 WIN 7 64 PRO HP Pavillion h8xt, i7 2600, 12 GB RADEON 6450, 1 GB [URL]....
I would like to make a thesis about software civil 3d, the concept of how to make contour, if the result is close to the original surface these results affect the accuracy of the data because in indonesia does not yet exist that discuss this. How to make contour 3d civil concept?