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First time at importing .xyz file, please help

svpribyl
Contributor

I'm trying to import .xyz files. I got a sample text file from my surveyor. I renamed it with a .xyz extension.

It has this kind of data (see attachment). I tried to import it using the interoperability menu, but the file is not recognized and will not import. How do I get the file to import?

 

Thanks!

 

 


Screen Shot 2023-05-03 at 11.23.17 AM.png
Steve Pribyl
MAC OSX 11.7.1
ArchiCAD 26
22 REPLIES 22
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator

There is a lovely 'search' box at the top of the Community pages.  Searching for 'import .xyz' returns a lot of threads.  Some refer to surveyor files, others to point clouds.  A solution by user @runxel in this thread:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Collaborate-forum/surveyors-data-import-failing/m-p/355263

notes that "There is no "standard" for XYZ data, it's more or less just an ad-hoc solution, and everybody does as they please."

 

But, look at that thread and others to see if any help.  Here are a few, or search to find more:

 

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Data-Exchange-articles/Import-Export-File-Formats-in-Archicad/ta...

 

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Design-forum/Import-Terrain-XYZ-Error-is-not-in-the-right-format...

 

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Document-Visualize-forum/How-to-align-2D-survey-with-mesh-from-s...

 

 

One of the forum moderators
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svpribyl
Contributor

Hi Karl,

Thanks for your reply. I know how it's supposed to work, but I have not found anything using the search bar that answers my questions. I have tried excel files, textedit files, plain text files, Numbers files, with and without manually attached .xyz suffixes. Using the "Import Point Clouds..." command shows all the file names greyed out. I haven't found an application that will convert plain text files to .xyz files. 

Using the "Place Mesh from Surveyor's Data" allows me to click on the plain text files, but I get a dialog box shown here saying "No elements were created...", but I don't think that's the correct command to be using anyway.

 

What am I missing?


Screen Shot 2023-05-03 at 5.37.03 PM.png
Steve Pribyl
MAC OSX 11.7.1
ArchiCAD 26

Your XYZ file is not in the correct format

It literally needs to be a tabulated list of X, Y & Z co-ordinates.

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
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Lingwisyer
Guru

Northing Easting? Are the headers out of line or is there suppose to be some angle of rotation associated with that?

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Hi Barry,

I exported the list as csv out of Numbers format and deleted all cells that had text (not number values) in them. Isn't that a "tabulated list of X, Y & Z coordinates? It still shows as greyed out and won't open. 

Steve Pribyl
MAC OSX 11.7.1
ArchiCAD 26

Lingwisyer_1-1683163156593.png

Do not have one on hand. From web search.

 

AC22-23 AUS 7000Help Those Help You - Add a Signature
Self-taught, bend it till it breaksCreating a Thread
Win10 | R5 2600 | 16GB | GTX1660 

@svpribyl wrote:

Hi Barry,

I exported the list as csv out of Numbers format and deleted all cells that had text (not number values) in them. Isn't that a "tabulated list of X, Y & Z coordinates? It still shows as greyed out and won't open. 


No, you need just the X, Y & Z co-ordinates as Ling has shown in an attached image.

It is the co-ordinates for each point that will form the mesh.

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Hi Barry, 

This is a screen shot. I manually copied and pasted these values into a plain text file, from the surveyors file, and tried to open it with and without a manually attached ".xyz" suffix. It still won't open. The values are separated with a space. I also tried separating the values with a comma. I'm sure there's something simple that I am just not getting

Screen Shot 2023-05-03 at 6.32.53 PM.png

Steve Pribyl
MAC OSX 11.7.1
ArchiCAD 26

Have you tried using tabs instead of commas or spaces?

I read in one of the posts Karl linked to that the solution was tabbed separation.

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11