Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler for Interoperability – .IMX and .FBX Files

Here at Ideate, Inc., we often receive requests from customers for information on how they can take advantage of their current Autodesk Suite of products to make modeling and visualization easier. Is there anything that can incorporate GIS data for existing features? Is there a product that can use model data that we already have in Civil 3D or Revit to create rendered animations? 

The answer to those questions is: Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler. And the best part is, if you’re on subscription with the right Autodesk Suite of products, you can have it for free. Autodesk Building Design Suite Ultimate, and Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite Premium and Ultimate editions include AIM. 

Introduced in 2011, Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler has the ability to quickly and easily generate a 3D model from existing GIS and other data sources. In most cases, GIS data in the form of SDF, SHP along with Raster Images are used to generate the base of the AIM Model. For proposed features like buildings, roads, and sitework, the 2013 releases of Revit Architecture and Civil 3D include built-in exporting tools that generate AIM compatible files. These files come in .FBX and .IMX formats and can be imported directly into an AIM project. 

In Revit Architecture, the Export command under the Application Icon (Purple “R” in the upper left corner) includes the FBX option that allows users to export the 3D View to a FBX file. In the FBX file, both the building model and the toposurface will be included. 

In Civil 3D, the Output tab → Export panel of the Ribbon includes an Export IMX icon for exporting Civil 3D objects to AIM compatible format. The IMX file contains data from Civil 3D objects in the drawing and can be used to re-create those objects in AIM. Alignments can be easily converted and stylized to display proposed roads, and surfaces can be exported and combined to display existing and developed conditions.

As of October 2012, an enhanced version of AIM was posted and available for download to Subscription customers. Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2013 R2 can be found on the main Subscription Benefits page after logging in to Subscription Center. AIM R2 has been enhanced with new tools for communicating and presenting proposed designs. 

NOTE: If you’re considering AIM R2, please note that the existing version of AIM needs to be uninstalled from your computer before you install AIM R2. 

Also included in the AIM R2 package is an iPad® compatible version called Autodesk 360 Infrastructure Modeler for Mobile and a web-based version called Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler for Web that works on 32-bit Internet Explorer. Here’s the Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2013 R2 info per Subscription Center: 

Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2013 R2
Release Date: 2012-10-04 

Autodesk® Infrastructure Modeler 2013 R2 software delivers several enhancements to our Autodesk® Infrastructure Modeler 2013 desktop software and our Autodesk® 360 Infrastructure Modeler cloud service. With the extension, Autodesk® Subscription customers will gain new tools designed to help better communicate their designs and produce high quality, low-touch design presentations in addition to new publishing options. 

• Storytelling Tools Enables users to better convey the details of their designs to non-technical audiences with the ability to create camera paths, fly-through animations, and videos that include titles, captions, points of interest and storyboards without needing video editing software. 
• Rendering More Realistic Models Helps users produce higher quality renderings with new photorealism tools like progressive ray trace, more realistic sun/sky models, and high and low definition range output. 
• Open Standards Support – Enables user to access CityGML, the standard many municipal bureaus in Europe use to store city data. CityGML data may contain a whole city’s structure (including detailed 3D models), roads, pipes, and textures in different levels of detail. The inclusion of CityGML can greatly improve our user’s ability to incorporate detailed data into their designs that was previously unavailable. 
• Autodesk 360 Infrastructure Modeler for Mobile Now, infrastructure professionals can share their models as well as specific scenarios in a more secure cloud environment - via Autodesk® BIM 360™ cloud-based services- with public stakeholders who want the ease and convenience of using an iPad® mobile digital device. 
• Autodesk 360 Infrastructure Modeler for Web The new Web application enables interested parties who are not Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2013 users to view models and specific scenarios via a link using their Web browser, giving broader access to project proposals and more. 

We’ve also posted a short fly-through video or a proposed road made with the new Storytelling tools to our YouTube page. The existing ground model and roads were imported via IMX file from Civil 3D and the road used in the fly-through (including light posts, median and intersections) was created directly in AIM R2. The process of setting up the model to producing the recording took about 30 minutes. The quality of this video clip has been lowered so we could post it on the web (down to 3 MB). The original video produced by AIM R2 is just under 3 GB. 

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Matt Miyamoto, P.E.
Ideate AEC Application Specialist
Matt is a licensed Civil Engineer in the state of Hawaii. Matt obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and has 7 years of private sector design experience which he applies in his role as an application specialist with Ideate, Inc. His project experience includes residential and commercial site development, private and public sewer, water and drainage systems, harbors improvements, and roadway improvements. While in Hawaii, Matt was involved in multidisciplinary projects for City and County agencies, State Departments, the Army COE and private developers. @MattM_PE

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Import Sketchup Model into Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler

At Ideate, we are asked about the value of purchasing the Infrastructure Design Suite. Included in Infrastructure Design Suite Premium and Ultimate is Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler; a great program for quickly visualizing your design in context for meetings with stakeholders and/or clients.
 
Problem – you are using Infrastructure Modeler to present your next urban development project proposal. And to make it more realistic and compelling you want to insert a 3D model of the nearby landmark giving the project stakeholders a visual perspective. You have seen 3D models of buildings in Google Earth but this is Infrastructure Modeler. Not Google Earth!
 
The 3D buildings you see in Google Earth are sketchup models. But can you import these 3D models in Infrastructure Modeler?

Is it possible to import any sketchup model into Infrastructure Modeler? The answer is Yes. Here’s how!
 
Before I raise your hopes – I am not aware of any direct way to achieve this so we will have to take a detour via Civil 3D.
 
So the process is to:

1. Import the model first into Civil 3D by using the Sketchup Import plug-in. This plug-in can be downloaded and installed from Autodesk Exchange which is found in the Infocenter on the top right as shown below.

2. Then export this model to an FBX file
3. And finally import and configure it in Infrastructure Modeler. Configuring includes move, scale, rotate as necessary to georeference.

You can possibly insert the sketchup model in Civil 3D project drawing that contains the georeferenced image and terrain and move, scale and rotate the model to georeference it here in Civil 3D.
 

Import the Model in Civil 3D
From within Civil 3D, Plug-ins tab > Sketchup Import panel > click on Get 3D Model

From Sketchup Import – Get 3D Model window, click on Download Model to download and insert the model in Civil 3D. Depending upon what’s available you will be given options – I got the 9MB model.

Here is the 3D model of Golden Gate Bridge in Civil 3D.

Export the Model to FBX
Go To Application Menu > Export and save the file as FBX format.

In the FBX Export Options dialog box, choose what you want to export appropriately – I exported everything visible – the drawing had only one model.

Import the Model in Infrastructure Modeler
From within Infrastructure Modeler, click on Data Source in the Home tab to open the Data Source palette. Click 3D Model as shown below and then pick the above FBX file. I had already imported the surface and image from Civil 3D 2012 using LandXML and Raster data sources, respectively.

Once the model is imported you need to configure it.
 
In the Data Source palette, double click on the row corresponding to the FBX file you just imported.
 
In the Data Source configuration dialog box,

Assign it a type depending upon the data, I chose Buildings, could have chosen City Furniture as well.

Assign a coordinate system to the data source (on the top), in this case I used XY-FT because the data does not have any coordinate system. Then there is a coordinate system for where the data will get placed in the model - I assigned the appropriate California State Plane coordinate system. I also had to scale the model down 12 times to convert meters to feet. You can see the scale factor of 0.083 for X, Y, Z. 

Click on Interactive Placing… and then double click in the model area to place the sketchup model in the project. Remember, it’s a double click. 

You may have to move and rotate the model to place it accurately.

That’s it, you are done. 
Here is the final result in Infrastructure Modeler. Enjoy!

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Gaurav Bagga
Ideate Infrastructure Solutions Application Specialist

Gaurav is a well rounded Application Engineer and Project Manager for Infrastructure Solutions at Ideate based out of San Francisco. He has over 15 years experience in construction industry and has been helping numerous small, medium and ENR 500 firms maximize their CAD investment for the last ten years. Gaurav is an Autodesk Certified Instructor and Autodesk Civil 3D Implementation Certified Expert. He has taught at several conferences, CAD Camps and Autodesk University. He has taught AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Land Desktop and Map 3D to thousands of students and helps Ideate develop the Infrastructure Services curriculum and courses. With his extensive CAD technology background he helps Bay Area engineering and surveying firms analyze and improve their design and drawing production process thereby improving productivity and the bottom line. Follow Gaurav on Twitter: @BeGeez

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Share and View Your 3D Infrastructure Models Online + Browser + iPad

Are you using Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler (AIM) to create 3D models of your projects? If not, refer to my earlier blog post where I talked about importing GIS data straight into a 3D model using Infrastructure Modeler.

So now that you have 3D infrastructure models, the question is how do you share them with your design team or project stakeholders? The answer was simple if you needed to share DWG files – email the file or use online document management such as Autodesk Cloud. But how to share infrastructure models that are represented by multiple files and folder structure? Here is the answer:

Project Galileo Online
Using PLUG-IN to SHARE FILES

In short, create infrastructure models using AIM and share them with your project team member using Project Galileo Online. Team members can view the model online or within AIM.

On the Project Galileo Online page you will find three download options:

1. Project Galileo Online Installer: Plug-in that gets installed and runs within AIM
2. Web Browser Plug-in: Browser plug-in that gets installed and runs AIM scenario within Browser
3. iPad App: Use iTunes to download the application.

 

 

Download and install Project Galileo Online Installer to be able to see the options to share project data within AIM.

Once this is done you will need to activate your Sync > My Galileo Online Account which will give you a unique Service URL and Account ID.

Next create a scenario from the Scenario Explorer and publish it. A scenario is just the subset (or more) of the whole project that you want to share. Once the Scenario is created and published you will see the share links in the Sync > Manage Online Scenarios dialog box:

Now the project stakeholder who does not have AIM can view the infrastructure model in the browser by installing the Web Browser Plug-in as below:

By downloading the plug-in and publishing the scene, team members and stakeholders can see the 3D infrastructure model. Using an internet browser, the process is even simpler. Collaboration and team communication is greatly enhanced, further reducing project timelines, and getting valued team feedback quicker.

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Gaurav Bagga
Infrastructure Solutions Application Specialist

Gaurav is a well rounded Application Engineer and Project Manager for Infrastructure Solutions at Ideate based out of San Francisco. He has over 15 years experience in construction industry and has been helping numerous small, medium and ENR 500 firms maximize their CAD investment for the last ten years. Gaurav is an Autodesk Certified Instructor and Autodesk Civil 3D Implementation Certified Expert. He has taught at several conferences, CAD Camps and Autodesk University. He has taught AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Land Desktop and Map 3D to thousands of students and helps Ideate develop the Infrastructure Services curriculum and courses. With his extensive CAD technology background he helps Bay Area engineering and surveying firms analyze and improve their design and drawing production process thereby improving productivity and the bottom line. Follow Gaurav on Twitter: @BeGeez

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Import Street Centerline from GIS Data Straight to a 3D Model

So you import GIS data into AutoCAD or Civil 3D to get AutoCAD lines and use it for design and analysis. What if you could import the .SHP file and get a 3D model instead! What if you could click a button to import existing street centerlines for a project and get a 3D Model of the roadway including the curbs, sidewalks, medians, striping, as well as street lights, and with the 3D palm trees in the median, etc. all rendered and ready to for a presentation. Is this really true? Yes, it is.

Introducing Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler 2012
This is just one of the features of this new software released by Autodesk. I wanted to share this with you as I am learning and exploring.

 
This image shows Google Image and Google Surface imported in Civil 3D 2012 and then brought into Infrastructure Modeler 2012. The surface was imported via Land XML and the image as Raster Data Source.

This image shows the next step which contains the street centerlines data imported from GIS data either as a .SHP file or from .SDF file. In this case, I imported county wide GIS data into Civil 3D and then exported an SDF file for the project area which I then imported into Infrastructure Modeler.

Infrastructure Modeler is perfect for Master Planners. You can model existing infrastructure by importing LandXML data from Civil 3D, FBX data, SHP files from GIS data from ESRI. Or import detailed models from Revit and 3ds Max. Sketch roads, railways, city furniture in 3D and communicate the visually rich infrastructure proposal with relative ease.

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Gaurav Bagga
Infrastructure Solutions Application Specialist

Gaurav is a well rounded Application Engineer and Project Manager for Infrastructure Solutions at Ideate based out of San Francisco. He has over 15 years experience in construction industry and has been helping numerous small, medium and ENR 500 firms maximize their CAD investment for the last ten years. Gaurav is an Autodesk Certified Instructor and Autodesk Civil 3D Implementation Certified Expert. He has taught at several conferences, CAD Camps and Autodesk University. He has taught AutoCAD, Civil 3D, Land Desktop and Map 3D to thousands of students and helps Ideate develop the Infrastructure Services curriculum and courses. With his extensive CAD technology background he helps Bay Area engineering and surveying firms analyze and improve their design and drawing production process thereby improving productivity and the bottom line. Follow Gaurav on Twitter: @BeGeez

Get it. Know it. Use it.