Exporting Civil3D Surface to 3D Studio Max

More often than not, we may find the need to edit surface created in Civil3D in 3D studios max for rendering purposes, 3D massing, etc.

1. There are three methods to create an editable mesh from Civil 3D. Generally, the points that generate the surface need to be displayed in Grid so that the surface can easily be edited using polygonal mesh in max. Expert in Max has told me that this surface display is easiest to edit in Max.
2. This can be done either by one of the following methods:

1. Method 1- Using EDITS surface

i. In prospector, right click on Edits and select Smooth Surface... The Smooth Surface dialog appears.

ii. Under Point Interpolation/Extrapolation Output, select the surface as the output region.

iii. Change the Grid X - spacing to 1 and similarly for Grid Y spacing. This spacing is dependent on the density of the mesh you want to see in MAX. The smaller the number (1 being the smallest), the denser the surface will become and this will impact the size of the file which obviously will be large as well.

Figure 1.0

iv. When completed, your surface would have displayed the 1 m Grid spacing as shown in Figure 2.0

Figure 2.0

v. Change the display of the surface to show just points in the isometric view. Create a new Surface style under Surface properties.

vi. Name it Points. Navigate to Points Tab and change both the +Data Point Symbol and Derived Point Symbol to

vii. Then, click on the Display tab and change the View Direction to Model. Make sure the only component that is visible is Points.

Figure 3.0

viii. Export the surface to AutoCAD from the main menu, File>Export>Export to AutoCAD>2007 Format as shown in Figure 4.0

Figure 4.0

ix. Import the Exported AutoCAD surface to 3D studio max.

2. Method 2- Using Civil 3D points or COGO points

x. In prospector, right click on Points and select Create... The Create Points dialog appears.

xi. Expand the Create Points dialog. Under Points Creation, change Prompt For Elevations to Automatic, Prompt For Point Names to None and Prompt For Descriptions to None as displayed in Figure 5.0

Figure 5.0

xii.Collapse the Create Points dialog. From the Create Points dialog, click On Grid as shown in Figure 6.0

Figure 6.0

xiii. Select the surface when prompted. At the command-line prompt, pick the lower-left corner of the surface. Press enter or space when prompted to select Grid rotation. Enter the desired spacing when prompted Grid X spacing and Grid Y spacing. Pick the upper-right corner when prompted to Specify the upper right location for the grid:

xiv. When completed, your surface would display the points and elevations as displayed in Figure 7.0

Figure 7.0

xv. Expand the Point Groups from the prospector. Right click on _All Points and select Export Points... as shown in Figure 8.0

Figure 8.0

xvi. The Export Points dialog appears. Set the format field to ENZ (Comma Delimited).

xvii. Click the file folder button and navigate out to save the output file.

xviii. Leave all other boxes unchecked.

xix. Click OK.

xx. The above steps (i - x) are to export points in a grid format and to obtain the points in a desired ACSII format. The ASCII format can be in txt, prn, auf,csv, xyz...etc

xxi. Cr eate a new drawing using the _AutoCAD Civil 3D (Metric) NCS Extended Template.

xxii. From the main menu, choose Surfaces >Create Surface. The Create Surface dialog appears.

xxiii. Change the Name value to Grid points, and click OK to close the dialog.

xxiv. In Prospector, expand the Surfaces > Grid Points> _ Definition branches.

xxv. Right-click on Point Files and select the Add option. The Add Point File dialog appears.

xxvi. Set the Format field to ENZ (Comma Delimited).

xxvii. Click the Browse button shown in Figure 9.0. The Select Source File dialog opens.

xxviii. Navigate to the Data folder, and select the txt file saved in step vii.

xxix. Click OK.

xxx. Click OK to exit the Add Point File dialog and build the surface.

xxxi. Right-click on Grid Points in Prospector and select the Zoom To option to view the new surface created.

Figure 9.0

xxxii. Export the surface to AutoCAD from the main menu, File>Export>Export to AutoCAD>2007 Format as shown in Figure 4.0

xxxiii. Import the Exported AutoCAD surface to 3D studio max.

3. Method 3- Using AutoCAD points

i. Label the surface from the Surfaces menu. Choose Add Surface Labels>Add Surface Labels... as shown in Figure 10.0.

Figure 10.0

ii. From the Add Labels window, choose Spot Elevations on Grid under Label type:, Elevation Only under Spot elevation label style: and Basic for Marker style as shown in Figure 11.0

Figure 11.0

iii. Depending on the size and spacing of the Grids, it will be prudent to change the default point styles to reduce the processing time. This can be done by going to the Settings tab in the Toolspace. Then, change the point style as shown in Figure 12.0 and 13.0

Figure 12.0

Figure 13.0

iv. Click Add (Figure 11.0). At the command-line prompt, pick the lower-left corner of the surface. Press enter or space when prompted to select Grid rotation. Enter the desired spacing when prompted Grid X spacing and Grid Y spacing. Pick the upper-right corner when prompted to Specify the upper right location for the grid:

v. When completed, your surface would display the points and elevations as displayed in Figure 14.0

Figure 14.0

xxxiv. Export the surface to AutoCAD from the main menu, File>Export>Export to AutoCAD>2007 Format as shown in Figure 4.0

xxxv. Import the Exported AutoCAD surface to 3D studio max.