I have a fairly substantial pipe network that has been created in Civil 3D. No one at our company can seem to figure out how to export Civil 3D pipe networks to StormCAD V8i. I tried exporting the Pipe Network to a LandXML file via prospector, but when I import into StormCAD, a pop-up box comes up that says "US Survey Foot" with an OK button. When I click okay, the file that StormCAD has created has no pipes or nodes in it. What am I doing wrong?! Could it be that our C3D parts (we use non-standard C3D parts created by a third party consulting company) are not translating correctly to the LandXml code, and are therefore unreadable by StormCAD?
Finally, as I am searching the forums, I see that there are some other tools that can be used to communicate between C3D and stormcad. Are these all non-standard add-ons to the base V8i product? We do C3D storm sewer modeling on all of our projects, and typically utilize StormCAD V8i for our hydraulic analysis. Our typical workflow is to keep both models current by manually updating/entering data (no communication between C3D and StormCAD).
I know there's a better way! Help!
Hi,
I'm not sure how much of an issue US Survey feet might be in your workflow. Hopefully someone else can let you know if there might be any issues there.
One possible alternative workflow for you - can C3D export shapefiles of the pipe network? If so, then you can use the ModelBuilder tool in StormCAD to read & write to these files, which therefore gives you a two way link between the two products. ModelBuilder is a standard part of StormCAD - it's in the Tools menu. It takes a bit of setting up, but once you've done that, then you can use the settings over and over again.
ModelBuilder can also read / write to other data formats, so if C3D is able to create a spreadsheet(s) of pipe and node information then this might be an alternative.
Regards,
Jon
Hello,
You can also export the pipe network into dxf format, then you can import the dxf through tool Modelbuilder in StormCAD.
The tool comes along with the basic product only, here is the link to the support solution which illustrates how to import cad files through Modelbuilder
communities.bentley.com/.../3070.aspx
When you imported LandXML in StormCAD , you mentioned nothing happens so did you try with zoom extents?
For better working between Civil 3D & StormCAD you can integrate it with StormCAD which is addition to the basic standalone mode, so that you can work in AutoCAD environment for StormCAD.
Hope this helps to you.
Sushma Choure
Bentley Technical Support.
Bentley Technical Suppport
Soom extents was the very first thing that I tried, but no luck. I'll give the dxf a try. What are the options for integrating stormcad with Civil 3d available right now? Does that require an additional license?
Sushma,
It does not appear that the .dxf approach is particularly useful for CIVIL 3D pipe networks as the pipes and structures have multiple lines associated to them. Additionally, I do not believe you can incorporate invert and rim information with that approach. Do you have any tips for trouble shooting the landxml approach? This is what I get after I import: Note that I tried zoom extents afterwards and also checked flextables but none were populated.
Jon,
I did some quick googling to see if I could export to a shape file, but that does not seem to be an option. There were a couple of complicated work arounds with mixed results. What I can do, however, is to get an excel file of all of the information. Can I import information using that excel file? It would have northing eastings of structures, invert in and out, rim elevations, pipe lengths/diameters/slope, etc.
Would model builder be able to use an excel file?