From DWG to MESH... a trick

[Nando Mogollon]

Hi,
You all may be familiar with the AC14 new option "Place Mesh From Surveyors Data"...

It is a really fast way to create real terrains with just a few clicks. The only problem is that you will need a txt or a xyz file, and not all surveys provide with them, some will give you a dwg containing contour lines at real height.

There is a workaround to use the "mesh from surveyors" option with that dwg file:

• 1- open the DWG as an object
  2- copy the 3D script to a text editor (just the lines) and save it as txt
  3- open the file in MS excel (using commas as separators)
  3- use find & replace to replace the LIN_ text with a space
  4- at this moment you will have 6 columns
  5- take the last 3 and place them at the end so you can have a list of X, Y and Z values
  6- save it as a txt , again using commas as separators

now you can use the "mesh from surveyors" option by selecting the txt file.

It worked for me with more than 12000 points, so it pretty reliable.
just be aware of the amount of polygons generated when viewing on 3D.

Let me know if any clarification is needed.

Regards

Nando

[Anonymous]

jonyyybe wrote:
Nando, can you by more explinable.

Can you explain the exactly the steps in the ravoneldar dwg file uploaded.

1- open the DWG as an object - i understand
2- copy the 3D script to a text editor (just the lines=what lines? there are many lines) and save it as txt - i don't understan what lines, but to save to a txt yes.

The "lines" are "LIN_" statements that define lines in 3D. These are the source for the XYZ coordinates.

3- open the file in MS excel (using commas as separators=???) - Using commans as separator?

This is a basic spreadsheet standard. Text files converted to spreadsheets typically have commas or tabs as the separators between the data in the cells.

3- use find & replace to replace the LIN_ text with a space - same ????

This is to delete the LIN_ command which the XYZ file does not need.

4- at this moment you will have 6 columns - remaning to be seen...
5- take the last 3 and place them at the end so you can have a list of X, Y and Z values - ??????

This isolates just the XYZ coordinate values in the spreadsheet. I'm not clear about the instruction to place the columns at the end as I assume the procedure is simply to delete all but the thee columns.

6- save it as a txt , again using commas as separators - ?????

See above.

If you are still not clear on this you will have to wait for Nando to put together his tutorial.

[Anonymous]

Sorry but there aren't any LIN_ in my 3d script text document. I guess I should change PLANE_ or I made a mistake. Please people I need this information for starting my project. Could anyone make mesh the document which I've sent?

[Nando Mogollon]

a couple of comments:

The DWG provided by Ravoneldar is a different kind of topographic file: instead of having contour lines with heights, contains 3D planes with heights as well.

But it serves a good example:

The main difference in the process is that instead of finding LINE_ statements you will find PLANE_ statements. Nevertheless you still have the information you want: ---X---, ---Y---, ---Z--- values for each point.

The TXT created with this DWG requires a bit more of "cleaning" before you save the final TXT for import into Archicad.

I'll try to find the time to explain this later... in a more "Human" way

Regards

[Anonymous]

could you please send the .pln file to my e-mail?

It's ravoneldar@gmail.com

I need it so much!!!

[Nando Mogollon]

ravoneldar wrote:
could you please send the .pln file to my e-mail?

It's ravoneldar@gmail.com

I need it so much!!!

I try not to do baby sitting when helping others. Nevertheless this is not an "out-of-the-book" procedure so I can offer you a deal:

Here is the TXT file you will need to create your Mesh, it is important for you to try to understand the procedure. Then you do your mesh.

The procedure to obtain this TXT file was:
1- Open the DWG as an Object
2- Copy the 3D script and Paste it into a simple text editor like Notepad/Textedit
3- Save it as TXT
4- Open the TXT in MS Excel
5- Clean the content in order to obtain separate columns with X,Y,Z values
6- Save it again as (the final)TXT

[Anonymous]

NandoMogollon wrote:
I try not to do baby sitting when helping others. Nevertheless this is not an "out-of-the-book" procedure so I can offer you a deal:

Here is the TXT file you will need to create your Mesh, it is important for you to try to understand the procedure. Then you do your mesh.

you're absoloutly right. I'm sorry for bothering you but i'm trying this stuff for days. The problem was I had nothing to get an example. Anyway I have an example right now. Thank you for helping me again.

And I know how to do it now. I got my mistake. It was commas and so many numbers after the point.

[Anonymous]

Awesome Tip !

Got it to work on 2 big sites. One had LIN_ and the other had PLANE_.

When I copied the GDL in Excel I had 85000 points, so I added another column to concatenate X-Y-Z and then clicked Remove Duplicates based on this column.

Whether it's LIN_ or PLANE_ there is bound to be lots of duplicates because the start point of LIN_ or PLANE_ is likely to be the end point of another (or several others for PLANE_).

After Removing the Duplicates I ended up with 21000 points.

ArchiCAD imported it instantly and the Mesh is super fast and clean in both 3D and elevation and the file size is still small.

Thanks Nando !

[Mats_Knutsson]

thumbs up

[Arcadia]

This is a neat trick but I don't think I would use it because I find it much easier to have a mesh with fewer points. I have tried the surveyors data method and it works okay but a bit untidy. With an extra 10 minutes work I can create a mesh from the dwg by plotting in the contour lines and manually creating levels. This way I have an accurate mesh with MINIMAL number of points all placed along regular contour lines which makes it MUCH easier when it comes to editing the mesh for final ground levels, cuts, putting in holes etc.

[Anonymous]

Trying to do this, but coming up against a couple of road blocks.

First up - where has the "Place mesh from Surveyors Data" command gone? Doesn't seem to be in the design menu in AC20 (it is in AC19).

Second - does anyone understand line 5 in Nando's description?

5- take the last 3 and place them at the end so you can have a list of X, Y and Z values

I don't quite understand.

I do re-save as a .txt file (without step 5) but I keep getting an error message saying "The selected file is not a Text files (*.txt) file. Please select a valid Text files (*.txt) file."

Help would be appreciated, thanks.