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    • M Offline
      Mr S
      last edited by

      A thought has just occured to me.

      Would using 3D Studio MAX help in any way?
      Some of our other offices have this and I am sure I could gain access to it.
      Does 3DS MAX have more powerful tools to handle this type of thing?

      I was thinking that it may be possible to:

      Import the .dwg file in to MAX.
      Use the tools (which ones?) within 3DS MAX to create the terrain.
      Simplify the mesh.
      Export back to SketchUp.

      Is this worth exploring or am I clutching at straws?

      Thanks

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      • GaieusG Offline
        Gaieus
        last edited by

        You can also get SketchUp to display the items coloured by layer...

        The problem here is that all the mesh data is at 0 z level and I don't know how to move those points up to the appropriate height (at least other than manually).

        Whoever drew the dwg file must have worked from some kind of a datanase of the points. You should get access to that database. I think Max could also only draw a flat mesh from these points.

        Gai...

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        • TIGT Offline
          TIG Moderator
          last edited by

          Here's an AutoLisp tool I wrote a while ago (it's zipped as .lsp files can't be uploaded 'raw'). Obviously you'll need AutoCAD with AutoLisp enabled to Appload and then run it on the DWG file BEFORE trying to import it into SUp. Basically it takes any selected Text such as Z-heights in metres, works out what the text is in real numbers, and then moves them in their Z to suit (this version takes m heights and moves in mm, BUT it's easy adjusted to do other unit combos), it then adds a 3D-point at the Text's origin - you might need to move the 3D-points over the +markers... For more info see the first few lines of the .lsp file itself... you can open it in a plain text editor (like NotePad.exe)... That's how I wrote it !!!


          text2d3d[m].zip

          TIG

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          • GaieusG Offline
            Gaieus
            last edited by

            TIG, I can't believe you have a tool (weapon) for everything. 😲
            Thanks a lot for all this care! 👍

            Gai...

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            • K Offline
              Kaladar
              last edited by

              @gaieus said:

              Normally a stamped surface is horizontal (and a single face only) that you should be able to paint separately.
              Are you sure you are not talking about the drape tool?

              Gaieus

              Thanks for the reply. I used both the drape and the stamp tools over many faces and the stamp seemed to work better. But supposing I do use the drape tool, is there a way to fill the different areas with textures for roads, grass, etc?

              Kaladar

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              • GaieusG Offline
                Gaieus
                last edited by

                Well, make sure to smooth the surface first and apply the drape tool second. If everything works well*, the draped lines separate the surfaces and you should be able to select/paint them separately.


                *sometimes the drape tool won't precisely work and you may need to find the gapes between line segments and close them manually. In these cases turn on hidden geometry to see the original TIN as well and to be able to close them correctly.

                Gai...

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                • M Offline
                  Mr S
                  last edited by

                  Hi,

                  I decided that the best solution, suggested by Gaieus, was to go back to the Data Survey company and ask them to send me data suitable for use in a 3D package. I mentioned that I may be able to use a tool that works with a simple text file.

                  I downloaded and installed Cloud V6 with its example.dat file.

                  Below I show samples of the example.dat file and the simple text file I was supplied with.
                  As you can see they are similar, but Cloud V6 won't process the survey file.
                  Error: "Only 1 data per line"
                  Any ideas? Any help appreciated.

                  Example.dat file:

                  -4290.989333,29509.42004,17271.801618
                  -4274.989333,29511.005136,17286.136452
                  -4289.989333,29488.014542,17264.960225
                  -4289.989333,29466.389034,17268.746701
                  -4275.989333,29491.061477,17295.038726
                  -4274.989333,29469.013192,17287.431288
                  -4273.989333,29448.496995,17278.538275
                  -4241.989333,29453.771813,17323.717654
                  -4242.989333,29494.627943,17327.292103
                  -4242.989333,29473.248948,17328.260914
                  -4226.989333,29474.834044,17342.595748
                  -4209.989333,29476.41914,17356.930583
                  -4225.989333,29430.887233,17333.782246
                  -4225.989333,29454.714121,17337.286444
                  -4239.989333,29409.851506,17322.714357
                  -4240.989333,29428.782607,17317.272535
                  -4223.989333,29412.202646,17336.406403

                  Site Survey.txt file:

                  017,NORM
                  001FORMAT(3D23.17)
                  003,ORDR,4=1,1,2,3,
                  080,B000, ,5= 0.0, 0.0,100007703
                  0.49837422321267177D+040.49869317927816728D+040.67812740300658106D+02
                  0.49794159350231557D+040.49846097107062114D+040.67878910415849163D+02
                  0.49776537255463436D+040.49836638683515694D+040.67878910415849163D+02
                  0.00000000000000000D+000.00000000000000000D+000.67878910415849163D+02
                  080,B001, ,5= 0.0, 0.0,100007703
                  0.49547870430138828D+040.50609582792710808D+040.65732765063426058D+02
                  0.49568466124033775D+040.50566385791095627D+040.65813697637536023D+02
                  0.49590731422961362D+040.50519860486242706D+040.66166417278662365D+02
                  0.00000000000000000D+000.00000000000000000D+000.66166417278662365D+02
                  080,B002, ,5= 0.0, 0.0,100007703
                  0.49512690401388672D+040.50511415069123086D+040.65929156188998277D+02
                  0.49550570526746833D+040.50527709423329316D+040.65901904671221885D+02
                  0.49558844990824973D+040.50510189197858554D+040.65944131344513437D+02
                  0.49520964865466813D+040.50493894843652324D+040.65971382851789116D+02
                  0.49512690401388672D+040.50511415069123086D+040.65929156188998277D+02
                  0.00000000000000000D+000.00000000000000000D+000.65929156188998277D+02
                  080,B003, ,5= 0.0, 0.0,100007703
                  0.49547896016676204D+040.50609597659579667D+04-.99900000000000000D+03
                  0.49605844595099497D+040.50638011225230885D+04-.99900000000000000D+03
                  0.49683981386075220D+040.50676027706360901D+04-.99900000000000000D+03
                  0.00000000000000000D+000.00000000000000000D+00-.99900000000000000D+03

                  Regards
                  Mr S

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                  • AnssiA Offline
                    Anssi
                    last edited by

                    Mr S,

                    It seems to me that Didier's script expects commas as the break symbol and uses a dot as a decimal symbol. Your file has some other method of distinguishing the x, y, and z coordinates, represented, perhaps, by the characters D+0. You might try opening the survey file with Notepad, and replacing all "D+0" s with commas. Maybe all the lines that clearly don't represent 3D coordinates should be deleted too.

                    Just a suggestion

                    Anssi

                    Edit: now that I look at it closer, I am not so sure about how the format could be figured out... Maybe you could ask the supplier.

                    securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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                    • G Offline
                      GreyHead
                      last edited by

                      It looks to me as though these lines parse into three numbers: so

                      0.49837422321267177D+040.49869317927816728D+040.67812740300658106D+02

                      becomes

                      0.49837422321267177D+04 0.49869317927816728D+04 0.67812740300658106D+02

                      The data in the elevation file looks like this (from a random point):

                      4968388, 4982342, 0

                      add back in the elevation for this point and you get

                      4968388, 4982342, 68.0

                      These are like the numbers from the data file so maybe the D+02 is an exponent (a decimal scaling factor). If so then the data file now reads:

                      4983.7422321267177, 4986.9317927816728 67.812740300658106

                      Roughly scaling off a building it looks as though these are in units of meters or thereabouts.

                      I pulled out the valid points (those with three non-zero entries) and parsed them into this format in a text editor. The result is in the attached data file which will import into SketchUp with Didier's cloud script. The result is not exciting - there are eleven almost coplanar points - but looks OK.

                      Bob


                      elevations.txt

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                      • GaieusG Offline
                        Gaieus
                        last edited by

                        Seems to be logical (though I'm not sure about them).
                        Now can you make an automated way for doing this with all those thousands of points?

                        Gai...

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                        • Didier BurD Offline
                          Didier Bur
                          last edited by

                          Hi,
                          Cloud script assumes that ALL lines of the input file are formatted identical, from line 1 to end line, no matter the delimiter.
                          So the first line of your file "017,NORM" even if it has a comma delimiter, doesn't have 3 data (x,y, and z) in it.
                          Sorry but I didn't coded the script as to parse what is a line of 3D coordinates and what isn't...

                          DB

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                          • G Offline
                            GreyHead
                            last edited by

                            Hi,

                            I don't think that it would be too difficult to clean the script into a form that would be usable by Didier's cloud script - for the short sample I just deleted the lines that weren't xyz co-ordinates. For thousands of lines there are a couple of approaches. Manually I'd probably sort the list (the sequence isn't important), then delete the blocks of junk; import into Excel and parse the lines into three columns, do a couple more sort and deletes and that's it.

                            If the sequence were important, or this were a frequent task then a tool like TextPipe Pro will chew through it.

                            Bob

                            PS If someone can send me the full data file, I'll happily give it a go.

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                            • GaieusG Offline
                              Gaieus
                              last edited by

                              I doubt the sequence is important since Didier's sript interprets every line separately and it's all the same which order they are put into the model - the final result will be the same.

                              Gai...

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                              • M Offline
                                Mr S
                                last edited by

                                I think I will give my brain a rest and learn how to read and write in Sanskrit.
                                Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit.
                                Looks a lot easier to me.

                                Regards
                                Mr S
                                😆

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                                • boofredlayB Offline
                                  boofredlay
                                  last edited by

                                  If you want to upload the dwg here just put it in a zip folder, or put .rb on the end. Then just tell us you did so and to remove the .rb before opening.

                                  http://www.coroflot.com/boofredlay

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                                  • R Offline
                                    russellbeta
                                    last edited by

                                    Just found this:

                                    Name: Simplify Contours
                                    Description: Often the site contour data generated by the surveyor is quite dense (more than 5,000 edges). Attempting to generate a surface using the Sandbox From Contours tool may take a very long time. To speed up the process, you may simplify the contours using the SimplifyContours.rb Ruby script.

                                    only problem is, The download doesnt work. am having a hard time finding a working one... anyone have an idea?

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                                    • GaieusG Offline
                                      Gaieus
                                      last edited by

                                      Where did you try? At the sketchup.google.com site or elsewhere? You may try it in the Ruby Library Depot - I believe Didier has collected all "freebies" from the web. 😉

                                      Gai...

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