Question

Can i convert CSV/xlsx to a 3D CAD format?

C
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I am very interested to know if FME can take a spread sheet based file and convert it into a 3D CAD model.

I work in the water industry and if I had a spread sheet full of manholes and another full of pipes. Could FME plot the manholes based on X and Y's in the spread sheet, it would also have manhole depth, diameter. The pipe spread sheet would the contain its upstream and downstream node, its depth, length and diameter. Everything in theory that it would need to convert to 3D. Is FME able to then take all of this and give me a CAD output?

I have seen a video taking GIS buildings to a 3D format by the person telling FME that the height is in Column X of Y spread sheet, I guess this is just a more complex use of the program.

7 replies

M
Badge +5

Hi @connor27

Yes, this is possible. As you say, it's a bit more complex, but shouldn't be too difficult.

Here's a short video I created demonstrating how to turn id,x,y,diameter,depth into a 3D structure.

http://screencast.com/t/ERr8BYQvux

The pipelines would be slightly more difficult, but still possible I think.

If you need more assistance then please do ask here, or contact the Safe support or sales team (safe.com/support or sales@safe.com). They'll be able to help you out with a more detailed demo of exactly what you require.

Hope this helps

Mark

Mark Ireland

 

Product Evangelist

 

Safe Software Inc.
takashi
Rank
Userlevel 2
Badge +17

Hi @connor27, you can also create pipes with a similar way to the way @mark2catsafe suggested for manholes. Just add a process to rotate the cylinder-like solid. It requires some math expressions, but not so complex.

  1. 2DEllipseReplacer: Create a circle that represents the section of a pipe.
  2. 3DForcer: Give z-coordinate at the upstream node to the circle.
  3. AttributeCreator: Calculate 3D vector (upstream -> downstream) and 2D / 3D length of the pipe.
  4. Extruder: Extrude the circle vertically by the 3D length to form a cylinder-shape solid.
  5. 3DRotator: Rotate the solid in 3D so that it will lie between upstream and downstream.

Assuming that these attributes are given by the source dataset.

  • Upstream coordinates and depth: x0, y0, depth0
  • Downstream coordinates and depth: x1, y1, depth1
  • Diameter of the pipe: diameter

Left: View in 2D, Right: View in 3D. Added a red center line to validate the result.

See also the attachment: create-pipe.fmw (FME 2016.1)

L

Hi @connor27, you can also create pipes with a similar way to the way @mark2catsafe suggested for manholes. Just add a process to rotate the cylinder-like solid. It requires some math expressions, but not so complex.

  1. 2DEllipseReplacer: Create a circle that represents the section of a pipe.
  2. 3DForcer: Give z-coordinate at the upstream node to the circle.
  3. AttributeCreator: Calculate 3D vector (upstream -> downstream) and 2D / 3D length of the pipe.
  4. Extruder: Extrude the circle vertically by the 3D length to form a cylinder-shape solid.
  5. 3DRotator: Rotate the solid in 3D so that it will lie between upstream and downstream.

Assuming that these attributes are given by the source dataset.

  • Upstream coordinates and depth: x0, y0, depth0
  • Downstream coordinates and depth: x1, y1, depth1
  • Diameter of the pipe: diameter

Left: View in 2D, Right: View in 3D. Added a red center line to validate the result.

See also the attachment: create-pipe.fmw (FME 2016.1)

This would make a great transformer in the hub @takashi

takashi
Rank
Userlevel 2
Badge +17

This would make a great transformer in the hub @takashi

In fact, the 3DBufferer can do that ;)

C
Badge

Hi @connor27

Yes, this is possible. As you say, it's a bit more complex, but shouldn't be too difficult.

Here's a short video I created demonstrating how to turn id,x,y,diameter,depth into a 3D structure.

http://screencast.com/t/ERr8BYQvux

The pipelines would be slightly more difficult, but still possible I think.

If you need more assistance then please do ask here, or contact the Safe support or sales team (safe.com/support or sales@safe.com). They'll be able to help you out with a more detailed demo of exactly what you require.

Hope this helps

Mark

Mark Ireland

 

Product Evangelist

 

Safe Software Inc.

Thank you very much Mark, the video helps greatly!

Connor

C
Badge

Hi @connor27, you can also create pipes with a similar way to the way @mark2catsafe suggested for manholes. Just add a process to rotate the cylinder-like solid. It requires some math expressions, but not so complex.

  1. 2DEllipseReplacer: Create a circle that represents the section of a pipe.
  2. 3DForcer: Give z-coordinate at the upstream node to the circle.
  3. AttributeCreator: Calculate 3D vector (upstream -> downstream) and 2D / 3D length of the pipe.
  4. Extruder: Extrude the circle vertically by the 3D length to form a cylinder-shape solid.
  5. 3DRotator: Rotate the solid in 3D so that it will lie between upstream and downstream.

Assuming that these attributes are given by the source dataset.

  • Upstream coordinates and depth: x0, y0, depth0
  • Downstream coordinates and depth: x1, y1, depth1
  • Diameter of the pipe: diameter

Left: View in 2D, Right: View in 3D. Added a red center line to validate the result.

See also the attachment: create-pipe.fmw (FME 2016.1)

This is great Takashi, thank you very much for your reply!

D

Hi @connor27, I have a similar problem and I'm wondering if you could help get me started. I have CSV data sheets for block models for mining companies. The sheets include xyz (wsg 84 coordinates, or NAD 83), a metal grade for each block/point and a classification for each block (IE which resource category it fits into). Sometimes the sheets have other classification data such as whether or not it fits into an open pit, etc. We currently do this using C4D but it's a process that doesn't like large files and this process typically has large files :-) As this something you could help with? I'll attach an example fo the data... thanks very much.

Here's an image of what one should look like:

block-model-example.jpg

And here's an example spreadsheet (not the same as the image):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_zAzNa5gi-uMkAkaqZ3zHXEhnKK2O8Ch/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for any assistance you can offer.

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