Extracting 3D Points from AEC Proxy Objects Imported From a DWG File

TBC Work Processes (Info Only) TBC Site Data Prep Work Process
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This one came up today and I think it is a neat little workflow wort sharing in case you encounter it also

The imported DWG file has a Topo Survey where all of the points of the Topo in the DWG file are AEC Proxy Objects represented as a cube. The Top face of the cube is 1’ higher than the required point, the base of the cube is 1’ lower than the required point so the point required is in the centroid of the cube or 1’ higher than the centroid of the lower face of the cube or 1’ lower than the top face of the cube. How can you create the required points from the provided data?

Here are the steps that I took to achieve that - the video below shows you how

  1. I used the select similar command to select all of the squares (top and Bottom)
  2. I changed their Layer property to move them onto a separate layer
  3. I then made a surface out of all of them - because they are identical in position and shape and are all separated vertically, the surface will always use the lower of the pair of lines to make the surface and flag the higher squares as errors (Surface Flags)
  4. I then used the RPS Explode Surface command to extract the Breaklines (the squares used by the surface) onto a layer of their own
  5. I then used the Join command to join all the lines of the extracted squares back together
  6. I then used the Create from CAD command to create 3D points at the centroids of all the squares extracted in 4 above
  7. I then use the Change Elevation command to change the elevation of all the points by 1’
  8. I can now make a surface out of these points to represent the Topo

Of course this would be a whole heap easier if AutoCAD just shared useful data and did not try to lock up the data in their proprietary formats - but that is just Autodesk for you I guess …