Has anybody had any experience with the above software?
Insite converts 2d drawings- dwg,pdf, tif to 3d models. From there you can estimate quantities.
Field General then exports the model for machine control.
The marketing materials look pretty slick (as they should) but first hand experience is the real test.
How would one convert a 2D dwg, pdf or tiff to a 3D model? Where would the elevations come from?? What would be the acuracy of such mystery elevations?
I know that when I went to Carlson College there was a guy there from Catapillar Corp. checking out the survey and machiene contol products for use in Saudi Arabia, but the Carlson products work off of 3d surface models.
Going from pure 2D to some form of 3D would be a streatch. What kind of accuracy do they claim. I've seen BIG fights over a shortage of 1 cu. yd. in cut/fill calcs, and that's minor to what you are looking at.
I just went to their site and it looks like someone has misrepresented the product to you or you misunderstood what you were told.
"Export to Machine Control. InSite’s Field General Office exports surface models to products like Caterpillar Accugrade, Leica PowerGrade 3D systems, Topcon's 3DMC2 and Trimble's Grade Control System Machine control systems.
The triangulated surface file from Field General is loaded into an on-board machine (dozer, grader, etc.) control. The GPS unit supplies the X and Y (northing and easting) coordinates, and the triangulated surface provides the target elevation data. The on-board readout shows the desired grade and raises or lowers the blade for stake-less grading."
No where on their site do they claim to be able to work with 2d, tiff's or pdf's. I do not think that is possible.
Other than that it looks like a good product. Similar to the Carlson products.
I've made thousands of 3d models from 2d CAD files and plan drawings. Using Microstation, InRoads, and Carlson TakeOff. I've tested InSite and others. None of them have a "magic bullet". They each do have good apps that when used properly can be huge time savers, or huge error makers. They each have their quirks also. I know InRoads and Carlson very well, and constantly jump back and forth between the two on the same dwg file in an effort to take advantage of the time saving routines each has to offer.
Don't be fooled by the advertisements. Creating vector lines from PDF's sounds impressive, but is actually useless in most cases. Due to the large file size and lack of accuracy in the vectors. You are much better off either requesting the original files, and entering the true dimensions while digitizing the PDF overlaid in CAD. No more board digitizing.
Also a huge problem with InSite it will NOT deliver 3d polylines to the final product. This a must myself doing layout, and my clients.
LeeGreen
What do you use to establish an elevation on the 2d lines? Maybe I am wrong, but I thought that to create a 3d model or surface you had to have a Z value for the points on the linework. Or are you talking about opening a standard 2d drawing, importing the x,y,z coordinate file and using those points for your surface model? If so, isn't aligning those points to a pdf ot a tiff a bit of a trick?
The initial question seemed to indicate that all of this could be done with a 2d model, pdf or tiff alone. No mention of a crd or txt file. And, cosidering the scale transformation problems inherent in pdf's and tiff's , that still seems to be a challenge to me.
I've made hundreds of DTMs from 2d drawings using LDT, like so....
- Points with elevations but with the object inserted at zero elevation.
- Breaklines that are 2d polylines at zero elevation.
- Create 3d breaks using the "Proximity by Polylines" function.
Thanks guys for the "real world" knowledge. I'll take a look at Carlson and Inroads.