Preliminary design, we do it for many reasons, from sketches to collecting useful GIS data to sharing design intent within the community. Detailed design is time consuming and laborious, so we welcome technology that provides a way to simplify and speed up the process.
An improvement to an existing feature that extends between Civil 3D 2019 and InfraWorks 2019 is intended to improve efficiency via interoperability for road projects. Previously when transferring a preliminary road layout in InfraWorks to Civil 3D, the results in Civil 3D would be an alignment and profiles. The designer would then be required to build out the assembly (typical section) and model the corridor. If you have modeled corridors in Civil 3D before you know the complexity and time it takes. I think you see where this is headed.
Now when opening an InfraWorks model in Civil 3D, component roads will be fully built corridors including the assemblies that can even daylight to the InfraWorks existing ground surface.
How Does it Happen?
Roads that are laid out in InfraWorks must be defined as or converted to Component Roads. The model and included data are exported to an IMX file.
The Export to IMX dialog provides a way for you to determine the extents of the model you want to transfer, the target coordinate system and the storage location for the IMX file itself.
When defining the extents of the model you can choose from either using a polygon or a bounding box to delineate the area. The file will seamlessly get created in the folder you defined in the dialog box and by the name you gave it.
Before opening the InfraWorks model, I recommend reviewing and making any necessary adjustments to the settings and styles which are applied to corridors, assemblies, alignments and profiles during the import process.
Now we are ready to “Open InfraWorks Model” from within Civil 3D
The Open InfraWorks Model dialog provides a way to choose the IMX file that was created in InfraWorks, assign a coordinate system, choose the object settings (the settings that we reviewed in the previous step), and further Refine the Selection Set.
Opening the InfraWorks model will result in importing the data chosen in the selection set, surfaces, alignments, profiles, assemblies and corridor get created and styles set for each.
Ok, so I did have to create the Profile View in the image above for visual effectiveness. Not too bad for the short amount of time to go through the process. Obviously, this is not a final design, but it has gotten me far enough along so that I can adjust the initial design to further refine it as opposed to starting from a blank slate.
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