My company is trying to develop a way to utilize the intelligent Civil 3D Pipe Networks, but we are required by most of our clients to display all of our data in a 3D model in Microstation. I am trying to create a workflow to convert Civil 3D 2012 Pipe Networks to 3D solids in Microstation V8i. Unfortunately, a direct Export to DGN from C3D converts the pipes and structures to cells with no elevation or shape intelligence. After reading a couple other forums, it seemed like StormCAD would be the answer, the workflow of which would be:
However, this doesn't seem to be working. I can load the .sdb file in InRoads, but the network cannot be viewed in plan view. When I choose Drainage>View>Drainage, InRoads inexplicably crashes every time. The trouble could easily be my lack of experience with Microstation, but no one in my office seems to have an answer either. Does anyone have any experience with this? Am I missing a step? Is there another or a better way to transfer 3D data into Microstation?
Thanks for your help.
Export to AutoCAD.
Could you confirm the method you used? Was it Export to Autocad or did you attach as reference?
Neil Wilson (aka Neilw)
Power Civil v8i 08.11.07.245
AutoCAD Civil 3D 2018
I tried that and it worked perfectly. I believe all I need is dumb 3D graphics, so this should work for me. Sometimes the simplest solution is the most difficult to come up with. Thanks for your help!
Assuming you only need dumb 3D graphics, here is what works for me:
Set Civil 3D to an Isometric view and then use the Export to Autocad tool to export the drawing to a DWG format that is compatible with your version of Microstation (2010 for SS2). This will convert the C3D objects to dumb Autocad graphics. By setting the view to Isometric you force C3D to display the pipe parts as 3D graphics which is what you'll get in the export. You must use the Export to Autocad tool, not Save As, to convert the graphics.
Another thing to try is attach the C3D file as a reference and in the Attachment Options dialogue you must set the view orientation to isometric. Using an isometric view should force the pipe parts to display in 3D. I'm on SS1 so I can't test this.