Simplifying surfaces in Civil 3D 2008

The newer versions of this software (Civil 3D 2009 & 2010) already has these tools that simplify surfaces thus reducing file size. But if you are still using Civil3D 2008 like me (but will be upgrading soon) and working on a 50+Mb file and suffer frequent crashes, then this is for you.

Surfaces created from TIN files in civil 3D comprise about a 70% of the file, so the suggested work around was to divide it into smaller manageable portions with each portion being saved on a separate file. A segment of the corridor being designed would have to be done on each portion of the divided surface on separate files. If there is a revision, then all the files had to be revised because they are not interconnected.

The work around I was using was simplifying the surface. Civil 3D 2008 still does not have this nice little feature so everything had to be done manually. From my experience, file size can be reduced up to 60% with minimal effects on the accuracy of the model. I did a test using the simplified surface vs. the original surface. An identical corridor model was placed on both surfaces and volume of and cut & fill was computed. The differences on the results was not even 1/2 of 1%.

This is how it was made:

1. Open the drawing file.
2. On the plan view, set the contour interval to 1m minor & 5m major.
   
   • Right click surface on drawing & choose surface style
   • The surface style dialog box appears
     
   • Choose the contours tab and start setting the interval
3. After setting contour intervals, new contour lines will be generated.
4. Explode surface twice.
5. The existing surface will be taken out from the Prospector tab.
6. On the prospector tab, right click surfaces and choose 'Create Surface'.
7. Give the new surface a name and expand it. Go to 'Definition' and expand again.
8. Go to 'Contours', right click and choose Add.
9. The Add contour data dialog box appears.
10. On the weeding factors, change the default distance of 15.00m to something like 40m or 50m. Click OK and choose all the polylines from the exploded surface.
11. A new surface will be created from the polylines.
12. Add new boundary (non destructive) on the new surface by using the old boundary from the previous surface.
    
    

Modeling a tree in Sketchup

Constructing this model in Sketchup was much easier than what I thought. First thing to do was to draw the leaf and construct the stem. Join the two to form a group or component. Make several copies of this leaf component and construct a twig. Attach the leaves to the twig in the same way as real leaves are attached to twigs. Make this new leaves and twig group again into another component. Make several copies of this and construct a branch. Attach the leaves and twig components to the branch. Make this into a branch component and make several copies again. Construct the tree trunk and attach the branches until the tree is finished .

Even though there are millions of pictures on the net, I was not able to find a suitable image to use as leaf texture, so I just took a maple leaf and scanned it. The final image was rendered in Indigo Renderer.

Right now, I'm still trying to figure out a way on how to make the surface of the leaves curved. They are so flat.

Interior Spaces

With the right tools already installed in my home computer, I am now ready to do interior renderings. Modelling an interior space is like constructing a real home. The good part is that you do not have to be a really good handyman. You can make as much mistake as you want. To fix it, you just have to undo or delete it. I did 10 renderings for this and the client chose 3 for the poster. This was my first project.

It was fun working with the folks at UrbanGreenLiving. Since this is the first time I'm into this business, it's like Building Reality before it's Real 101.

All the interior space including the Scavolini kitchen were all modeled in Sketchup. All other typical items like fruits, faucets, stove, fridge, table, chairs & bamboo plants were downloaded from the Google 3D warehouse and Archibase.net. All the scenes are rendered in Indigo Render.

Using trueSpace and Sketchup

These two free software packages are great. But they have some limitations. Some of the useful features like exporting to another format or rendering are disabled. You still have to buy the Pro version or buy a plug-in that can do the rendering.

Anyway, buying them is not really that painful since they are 95% cheaper than AutoCAD, 3DsMax, Maya and XSI.

trueSpace and Sketchup

I thought Blender was the only free 3d modelling/animation software. There are more. From 1999 up to last month, I never tried typing in 'free' when searching for a 3d modelling software. I thought nobody would just give away their precious work away.

I downloaded and installed these two softwares, trueSpace http://www.caligari.com/ and Sketchup http://sketchup.google.com/ . How these two became free? Well, just google it!

Vue 6

I came across Vue 6 when I tried to look for ways on how to put more trees, plants, clouds, etc. for the environments modelled in CAD software.

The usual way to add trees and plants in AutoCAD is to do a real 3d model of it. There are also plug-ins that use a billboard that has a picture of a tree on it. An example of this is the background of the transmission tower I posted earlier. But AutoCAD is not designed for this kind of work. When the trees in the model I am building reaches a certain number, the computer crashes.

The cool thing about Vue , is that it can place millions of objects inside a scene. Some test modelling and rendering was done using the personal learning edition I downloaded and showed the results to the boss. The company then bought a copy of the software.

I did a test animation of a group of plants and just used the default settings on the software including the light breeze.

Another feature about Vue that I liked is its ability to animate clouds to provide dramatic time lapse scenes.

I did some practice renderings of my company's projects. I need to know how to operate the newly bought software and to prove that the company will save money by having presentation work done in-house. My workstation can handle rendering work running in the background while I am working on my usual CAD drawings.




I tested the water surface simulation of Vue.




I tried a fly by animation.






Another flyby



More flybys


Another more of the same but with different lighting.



Test animation on focusing.


Apartment flyby.


Aircraft test animation

City development test animation.



Test rendering of forest with different times of day

Introduction

When I watched The Matrix back in 1999, I was fascinated by the concept of this computer rendered world that exists only inside a computer.

A few months later I decided to take a 3D modelling and rendering course in AutoCAD (it was the only available course then) to experiment on building virtual objects and environments. And this was the start of my computer generated world.