Made for Each Other: InfraWorks and Civil 3D

WILLY CAMPBELL: And I do have one slide for you guys besides this transition here, which is amazing. Just a quick breakdown. I'm not going to PowerPoint you to death. I could if you wanted to, but I left all my PowerPoints at home. So let's go ahead and get switched over to-- we're going to start in InfraWorks today. It should be fired up on your machine and you should be able to see the full version of InfraWorks. If you don't, we'll re-log you in and you get you going on that.

So while mine's firing up here, what we want to do is we're going to go ahead and start with Model Builder. Has anybody here not used Model Builder before? Quite a few. OK. So you have a couple of options, and I will show you as soon as my computer decides to actually fire up. There's a couple of options for Model Builder. So go ahead and click on the Model Builder tab.

You should be looking at InfraWorks right now. Go and click on the Model Builder tab. And it's going to bring up a map of the United States. And on the very far right hand side, there's a couple of boxes, a couple of options down here. So Model Builder and then in the top right corner, we have this option. So for those of you that have used Model Builder, you can zoom in, you can zoom out, you can type in specific locations, you can type in certain areas.

But over here on the right hand side, you can also import a polygon for an area of interest. And if I click on that-- and I just want to show you guys that just as an option. On the desktop on the machines, there is a folder there called Class Data Shortcut and there's a folder that says Willy Campbell. And inside there, there's an unzipped folder with this data in it. So inside the class handout I've got all of that information broken down. So on the desktop.

Civil 3D Files, sorry. So Inside the Civil 3D Files, there's a product area shape folder, SHP folder. And inside that, we want to pick the project area SHP file. And this was created from Civil 3D. So in Civil 3D, you can use a polygon and use the Map Export tools to create a closed polygon shape. And when you pick that and click Open, it's going to take the map-- oh, I'm sorry. One step.

You need to pick the shape file and the PRJ file. So on the desktop-- sorry, there's a Shortcut folder on the desktop that says Class Data. You guys find the Class Data folder? Willy. Data sets. So Data Sets shortcut and then there's a folder in there that's Willy Campbell and then inside of that-- yeah.

So inside of there. And of course, I don't have it set up the same. So did everybody find the project data? Yeah. So there's a folder called Willy Campbell in there and then in there, there's a zipped folder that has the class name with the data. And then one step above that, there's an unzipped folder. And there's a folder in there called Civil 3D Files and then you'll find the project area SHP.

So once you get off the desktop, it should look like the CA125523L-Data, that's this class. And once you get past that, Civil 3D Files and then the project area shape. And you have to import the shape file and the PRJ file. You have to pick them both. It won't let you use the shift-select or control-select. And then click Open and then it'll actually go through and take the defined area.

So I just created this from Civil 3D. And it takes you to an area outside of Portland, Oregon that's got pretty much everything that we're going to need. We can use this and import this shape and go through the whole process of using the Model Builder or we can use that same data folder. If we step back a level to the InfraWorks project that's already defined, we could just open up that SQLite file. So this is just to show you guys you can import shapes.

It doesn't have to be a square, it doesn't have to be a rectangle. You don't have to draw them freehand. It can be any shape that you want or need it to be and use the import. It just has to be a closed polygon when you do that. So I'm just actually going to open up the project. So I'm going to cancel this. Back from the top here when he is the Open option and go back to that same folder, the Class Name Data folder.

And then we have the InfraWorks model and IW model. So in these in the newest version of Civil 3D, I don't know if you guys have noticed, but if you open up an SQLite file, it automatically moves the entire project to the cloud. So I've got two copies here because we're going to use one later. So you can go through the model builder if you want or you can open up this model project. Either way, Civil 3D model or IW model, whatever one you use now will be blank for when we use it later on.

So I'm just going to go with Civil 3D model. I'm going to click SQLite and I'm going to click Open. And it's just going to go ahead and open up that model and generate that model for us. Hopefully. All right? All they need to do is open it up and click it, and it'll-- sorry, what was the question?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: Yeah. I'm sorry. So if you're still in Model Builder, go ahead and cancel that out. You can send it. You can see how fast it is. It really only takes a minute or two. This is that same project area. So you can start from the master proposal, so up here in the top where it says Conceptual View. Right next to that, it will say Design a Component. That's one of the proposals that I've created.

So we can switch back back to Master View and it will be the same model, just lacking a few things. So when we take data from InfraWorks to Civil 3D, when you draw a road you'll get the road alignment data. If you create coverage areas, the coverage areas will show up as 3D shape files in your model. If you use pipes and structures in InfraWorks, the pipes and structures will translate over to Civil 3D. But those features, including the terrain, that's what will go from InfraWorks into Civil 3D.

So what we want to do is we want to create a couple of types of road. So pick some place, some nice open field anywhere on the model. You can drop through houses, whatever you want to do. I'll just grab the field here. And we're going to use the Road Design button here. Actually, let's start with the orange eye, for lack of a better term. And then I'm going to click on the little pencil to draw.

And the first option I have is to draw roads here. And if I click on that, it's going to create what's called a planning road or a sketch road. Right, so these are just kind of the basic roads. And I'm going to pick sand road and I'm just going to follow along. So I'm selecting it here to activate it. So you can see that it's gray in the-- my laser here-- yeah. So you can see that it's gray, the one that I highlighted.

And that means it's ready for me to start just sketching in the road. And by sketching, I'm just making clicks wherever I want to draw a road inside this model. So I'm just going to follow along over here. And you can see anytime I make a click, it's going to add in a curve. And I double click to finish that command. So now I have a sketch road as we call it, a planning road, inside the model.

And then I want to go ahead and go now to the actual Roads icon, the little brown circle here next to the orange one. And I'm going to go back to the pencil again to sketch. And now I'm going to find a different style of road that I want to put in. I'm going to pick sidewalk and green space. I'm going to do the same thing, start my click, make to click, and then double click to end. So I'm just going through and creating a few things that InfraWorks will take and we can bring those things into Civil 3D.

So go ahead and if you want to create at the top there, you can see we have component roads. You can drag component roads and then you can also do the right of ways and local roads. Get some stuff in your model. So we're then going to then translate it over to Civil 3D.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: Up?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: Is this better? Can you guys hear me better? That any better? I think I have to talk right into it is the problem. So I've got my got my design roads now and I've got my planning roads. And I'm going to go ahead and put in a coverage area, which can be done back from the Build Manage tab, the orange eye, and the sketch. We can put in coverages.

I'm going to just draw coverage area with a grass border, something up here in this field. Again, when we end the commands, we're going to double click so we're putting these things in. I've got a coverage area now and then I want to add some pipes. And I can go to the drainage network. So this is going to be from the green icon.

This is Design, Review, and Engineer Drainage. And then come down to a drainage network. And I have some options to create a drainage network so I'm just going to make some clicks. And when I make a click, it's going to put in the structure and add the pipes in between. So I'm just going to use some generic ones. Again, I'm double clicking to end that.

So you don't see anything there, and that's because it's hidden underground. And you can see those structures and those pipes that I put in there. So I've got these pipes and structures; I've got some roads, some planning roads or sketchy roads; and I've got some design roads. So if you guys are having a hard time finding these icons, you can switch over to the proposal at the top. I've got some generic things in there for you.

So does anybody have a question on these? So these are the basic items that will go from InfraWorks into Civil 3D. Everybody got some drawn? If you don't, we can always open up other files that have this stuff in here. Are we good? Yeah? All right. So now that we have these designed in InfraWorks, there's two ways that we can the InfraWorks files into Civil 3D.

I'm going to fire this up in the background. So there's two ways that we can get these files into Civil 3D, and the first type is the IMX type file and the second type is actually opening the SQLite. So when we opened up this InfraWorks file, this InfraWorks file uses an SQLite database. So there's a file folder that says the name of the project, including a matching SQLite So if somebody asks for a copy of your project and you don't have the cloud, you can zip those up and send them, but you have to have both of those pieces.

You can't just send the SQLite, which is usually very small; all of the other data; all the other imagery. Everything else gets saved inside that matching named folder. So you've got to have both pieces. So if you don't have Civil 3D loaded on the machines, I don't know if we got them loaded, go ahead and load them up now and we'll look at bringing that data in. So inside Civil 3D, we have a couple of options for importing the data you'll notice here at the top in the ribbon.

There's actually a dedicated InfraWorks ribbon tab now. You can also go to the Insert tab and you'll find it an option for InfraWorks. And if you go to the Output tab, you'll find the output option for export IMX. So IMX and the SQLite files, those are what talk back and forth in the Civil DWG. The first thing that we want to do-- so InfraWorks works in a real world coordinate system. So your data when it uses goes into the model builder.

It puts it in the right location. And actually, you know what, let's step back one. I forgot one step in InfraWorks. So we can use the IMX format or we can use the SQLite file. So the last thing that we want to do inside of InfraWorks, I'm actually going to switch over from master to the design and concept. You'll see some similar type data in here.

And now that I've got this, what I want to do is I want to extract this area around where I built my designs. I'm going to extract that to an IMX file. So if we go over here to the right, the little wrench and screwdrivers are criss-crossed settings in utilities, there's an Export IMX file option, which is not to be confused with Export Model, Export 3D Mode. We're going to use the Export IMX. I'm going to click on that and it's going to bring up a window.

And I can use the entire model, that's my first option, right here at the top. I can click on that. That's going to use the entire boundary, the entire extent of my model. In this case, I don't want to do that. I want to define it interactively and I'm going to use the polygon. So I'll click that and I'll pick the corner. And I'm just going to start to draw this box around my working area.

So you can do the whole model if you want, you can do the Define Box if you want. Again, this is going to be a double click to end the command. So I've got it double clicked now. And the other thing that I want to do is set my target coordinate system. So right now, the default is this UTM 84 10 north.

And we can go into Civil 3D and assign that coordinate system, but it's going to come up somewhere near the North Pole. It just ends up being a bad match on the UTM. In this case, this is Oregon so it's OR. So I'm going to type OR here and it's going to start to define this. 83, and then it's going to be the dash NIF. So this is the one that I want to use here to assign the coordinate system. So when you open up Model Builder and you start a project and you're going to be taking data from InfraWorks in Civil 3D, it's good to know what the local coordinate system is because the UTMs don't work well.

It's better to define it. So everybody's got a coordinate system for their area. So this is OR 83-NIF is the one I'm going to select. Good? And then I'm going to click Export. Sorry, I double clicked and it went right to that screen. I'm going to click Export. And too fast going to double click. Let me show you guys that again real quick just so you know.

So you can export this to the same folder where the data is. Right? So it's going to go to that same folder where the data is because we can't write to the desktop. The one step that I missed with the double click there was

AUDIENCE: OR 83-NF?

WILLY CAMPBELL: NIF, yeah. Actually, I'm pretty sure that any one of those will work, the NIF or the NF, but I think I typically use the north international foot for this one. So the last thing, and sorry, when I double clicked it last time, it closed. Do you want a mic? I've got one. You're loud. So the last thing that we want to do is set the target file location at the bottom here. When I clicked to close it last time, I clicked Export as well so it automatically went to the default location, which is something.

That folder where our data is residing right now is where we're going to be able to extract this. And if you're not able to get this extracted, I've got a copy of the IMX that we can use to import into Civil. But so the last thing you want to do is set where it goes. All right. So we got that exported. So now we can actually go into Civil 3D.

So in Civil 3D, by default it doesn't use a coordinate system. It doesn't automatically pick something so we have to set that. And there's a couple of ways to get that set in Civil. The way that I've found easiest is to type map CS for coordinate system and it'll pop up the command map CS assigned. And once I hit Enter, it's going to take me to the Coordinate System Assign dialog box.

So that was just map CS assign. And then I will type it in the same one. So we're doing OR 83 and then find the NIF from the list. You can type it all the way out, but you still have to select it from the list. And then once we've got that assigned or selected, we'll hit the Assign button at the bottom. So I'll click Assign and now it's assigned.

And the only difference that you'll notice inside of Civil 3D once we get it assigned is the Geolocation tab will now pop up in the corner here. And the Geolocation tab comes along with some options to do, especially on the online map. Because one of the things, if we look back at our model in InfraWorks real quick, we've got a nice big map aerial loaded on the project. But when we move this data over to Civil 3D, those big maps don't come through, right?

So we're going to have to reload those using those online tools.

AUDIENCE: If you assign a different coordinate system in Civil 3D [INAUDIBLE]?

WILLY CAMPBELL: It'll get moved to--

AUDIENCE: Because I know there's a lot of things if you assign it one way in Civil 3D and it's in another corner doing something else [INAUDIBLE].

WILLY CAMPBELL: That's a good question. So the question the question was, if I assign the wrong coordinate system in Civil 3D, meaning it doesn't match what I took out of InfraWorks, is it going to automatically reproject? My default answer is I don't think so, but I'm not sure. That's a good question. Let me--

AUDIENCE: Because I know it [INAUDIBLE].

WILLY CAMPBELL: Yeah. Yeah. So it could potentially, but you could also end up in the same x-y, but in the wrong coordinate system. And there is a good way to verify that using the Bing Maps. So once we get the data brought in, that IMX and the SQLite files, we'll do both. We'll turn on the map so you can see. That's the easiest way to verify if the map matches up or not, right?

All right. So everybody got their coordinate system assigned in Civil? We're good? All right. So we have two options. We can import an IMX or we can open a model. So the IMX is obviously the one that we just exported, and opening the model is going to be that SQLite file. To open the SQLite file, you actually have to have InfraWorks-- you don't have to have it closed, but I have my model open in InfraWorks works here. And if I click the Home tab here, what happens? Anybody know?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: It's still open. The model is still live in the cache in InfraWorks. Even though I'm looking at the Home screen here, that model is still open inside of InfraWorks. If I open another model, it will remove that from cache or I can simply close InfraWorks. So if InfraWorks is open, it will not let me open the SQLite file. It has to be closed or another model has to be open. So just keep that in mind.

You'll see a funny error, and I've got a screenshot of it loaded in the map here. Let me just show you what the error looks like if we try and open it real quick. So in Civil, we've got the coordinate system assigned. I'm going to click Open Model. I'm going to find the model here at the top, so InfraWorks Model. I'll click the little open screen. And I'm going back to the data and I'm going to pick the folder it might be IW Model, it might be InfraWorks Model because the other one got moved to the cloud, depending on which one you open.

But if I click under the IW or InfraWorks Model folder and find SQLite-- now, keep in mind down at the bottom, you can switch this to IMX at this point. So just make sure if it's not finding your SQLite files, switch the files of type. So I want SQLite. I'm going to pick that and it's going to give me an error right here in red that says that the coordinates-- interesting. Oh, I know why. It's because I didn't-- so can anybody guess why that didn't give me an error?

AUDIENCE: Different model.

WILLY CAMPBELL: Different model. Right? The model that I opened has been moved to the cloud so it's now in a different location entirely. It's on the C drive, it's under Documents, it's under InfraWorks Models. So that's why I didn't get the error because I'm opening up a completely different model. It tried to trick me. I promise it'll show an error if you try to open up the same one.

So we can open up the SQLite. You'll notice here Civil 3D drawing coordinate is the OR 83-NIF that we assigned. And it's telling us that the one coming from an InfraWorks is this LL-84, but it's telling me that it's compatible. It knows that it's in the right location. This is where we have the entire extent of the InfraWorks model. And we can use that as an option or we can click on Area of Interest.

And I can click Select Area, and this is going to let me refine my model from the entire project. So if I zoom out a little bit, you can see that we have this square. So this is the extent of my InfraWorks model. And there's a chance that you may not have the maps working. Does anybody have it so you're not seeing an online map? Because that's one of the-- we've got one here?

So there is a file inside of here-- we tried to get these loaded this morning. There is a fix for this, for Civil 3D. By default, the online maps doesn't automatically work. You have to run a 3 meg patch. Its in the Data folder here. So if you're not seeing the maps, go ahead and run that. You can. It takes 30 seconds.

AUDIENCE: Do we have to close Civil?

WILLY CAMPBELL: You do have to close Civil, yes. So now I can define my project area based on this bounding box. So obviously, my InfraWorks data is going to come inside of that bounding box. So if I want to use the whole thing, I can let it go. If I want to refine that area, I can refine that area. And I know that my project data is around these fields here. So I can start to click and draw and drag my working area and double click, and it's going to open back up my boundary.

So I've now gone in and set that boundary. I think my laptop is more tired than I am. All right. So I've got my boundary set. So if I don't want to use the entire model, I can use that boundary specific from where I just told it to go. But it needs to be inside that overall bounding box. I can also refine the selection set. At the bottom, if I click on that, it's going to pop up and show me that I've got three terrain surfaces, which is typical for InfraWorks-- the AIWs, AutoDesk InfraWorks; existing ground, existing transportation; and proposed ground.

And then any of the roads that were created are all listed there. So if I don't want to bring in the road definition data, I would uncheck it from this list. Pipes and utilities, of course I opened up the wrong one. I've got some design roads, the dirt road, I've got a couple intersections, and I do have some drainage networks. So those pipes that I drew in there, so this is showing me everything that's coming from my InfraWorks model.

And I can uncheck anything from that list that I don't want to come in. So I'm going to leave the default and click OK. And then I'm going to click Open Model. And it's going to go through and tell me that there's 54 elements that are being imported. And we get the imported elements and we'll have the surfaces; we'll have the roads, the planning roads, which are those sketch roads; and the design roads. So you can see now inside my bounding box, inside my project area, I have all that data that I brought in.

And if you can't find the right SQLite, there is a copy inside the Data folder that you can use. And if zoom in here to the data, you'll notice that I've got some roads on the side in red. So when InfraWorks uses Model Builder, all of the roads that get brought in from Model Builder are what they call planning roads, OK, or a sketch road, just that low level sketch road. And when you open up the SQLite, you get us a different stylus size.

So you can see that the red roads here, these are all the sketch roads that were brought in, the planning roads from Model Builder. And then this is that dirt road that I created using component roads or design roads. And I've got a component road here that I drew as well. So these come in with a different style.

You can see these look like alignments with the stationing assigned to them. The planning roads don't get that information. The planning roads come in as the 2D information only. There's no profile assigned to these. If you do a sketch road, if you do a component road, or a design road, which is what you see here, it comes in with stationed and it looks like an alignment, those have your 2D and 3D information, your alignment and profile. And the way you can check if you go into your prospector and you expand alignment, you're going to have a list of all the alignments that came in under centerline.

And you can see that the dirt road, this is the one that I created up here. See the little carrot in the corner, the little cheese wedge for lack of a better term? That little guy right there? That tells me that there's other data assigned with this. So the roads that I drew, the roads that I designed, have profiles with them. The rest of them don't. So you would need to convert those to either component roads or design roads in InfraWorks if you wanted that that 3D information to come through.

You could take the surface data.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: It's about the same. So the question is, is there a best practice, open the SQLite or export the IMX? They're about the same. You get the same results. So one thing to kind of think of, though, if you're using the IMX, you're in your current proposal and you're refining an area, you know what data is coming out of that. If you're in InfraWorks and you switch proposals, the proposal that you're last on when you close it, that's what data comes through.

So if you're on the wrong proposal or you have multiple proposals, you're going to need to export one for each proposal. You have to close it down. If you do the IMX, you know exactly what you're getting. So it's really a personal choice. I typically do IMX just because I know what I'm getting, I'm refining a specific area. But the SQLite also works. Just keep in mind it's your current proposal in InfraWorks.

AUDIENCE: Got it. [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: They both are.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: They're both a snapshot, yeah. So the other question is, the IMX is a snapshot in time. It is. When you create that IMX fie, you're taking a snapshot of that data. SQLite is the same. There's no live link back and forth. So if I update the Civil or the InfraWorks drawing and try and re-import it, there's no re-import. You would have to go through the whole process again. There's no live link between that data.

And that's true going from Civil to InfraWorks. So it's just it's a dead link, it's just a way to get the data back and forth. Is that on the future road maps? I don't know. I really don't.

AUDIENCE: Yeah. I was wondering about the 2D [INAUDIBLE] 3D [INAUDIBLE]. So the 2D information [INAUDIBLE].

WILLY CAMPBELL: It does bring in an alignment. And you see I have the prospector on the side here listed. So these are all of the roads that are coming in like this. So it comes in as an alignment, it just is assigned a different style. So you can change the style and have it be stationed, but there's no profile information that tags along with that.

AUDIENCE: And is [INAUDIBLE] automatically created [INAUDIBLE] 3D [INAUDIBLE]?

WILLY CAMPBELL: Yes.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] profile and it [INAUDIBLE].

WILLY CAMPBELL: So when I did like this road here, I put in a bridge just as an example. So when you open up, you can look at it. So that profile, all that information is there. So if I were to come in here and pick that road, I can put my profile in Civil and it'll match up with what I had designed in InfraWorks. So the 3D data is there based on this surface information and based on the profile that I used to design that. Make sense? OK.

So if we look at this model now and we zoom in here, we've got our alignments and our profiles. And I did go through the extra step on this model, I put in a bridge that was just created in InfraWorks. If I click on that bridge and I come over-- actually, I can just get it from the right click and go to the Object Viewer. You can see that I get a nice 3D solid representation of that bridge, right?

So if I have done the bridge model created in InfraWorks, it will come through in a Civil 3D. Now, I'm in InfraWorks and Civil 18. So if I try to go back pre-2017, this model will look different or won't even come in in older versions of Civil 3D. So you can mismatch the versions of InfraWorks and in Civil 3D.

So we've got our data in here. Now, you can see the structures that I drew, the pipes that I drew. You'll notice that we've picked up some of that neighborhood. So any of the house models, those 3D models InfraWorks, don't come through. OK? That's not part of the export. The imagery is not part of the export, but the alignments and profiles for those design roads and for the component roads will come through.

So it needs to be one of those two if you want that data. OK, does that make sense? And then also, you can see this is my coverage area that I had brought in. That comes in as a 3D polyline. So if I have an area of interest that I want to look at in Civil, it's going to come in as a 3D polyline. And the surface is being affected by that as well. Anybody know how the InfraWorks surfaces work?

And I'm just getting back to bolts. Is it a 10 or is it a grid? It's a grid. OK. InfraWorks uses grid surfaces by default. So if you look at some of the boundaries on the surface-- and I'll zoom in so you can see a little better-- it's going to give you nice smooth contours as a grid surface. So my contours look good, but the boundaries are going to be based on a grid because InfraWorks uses as grid surface.

And I'll show you how to correct that when we take this data back into InfraWorks. Because there is a way to tell it, don't convert. Because it wants to convert to a grid, even if you have a 10 by default. So we've got that data, we've got it all imported. We did the SQLite. Now we can go ahead and-- let's just go ahead and start a new drawing real quick. So right up here at the top, we're going to look at bringing in IMX just so you guys can see the difference real quick.

So up here in the very top left right next to the little blue a, we're going to click New and it's going to give us a new drawing. So the first thing that we want to do, map CS, assign, right, just like we did before. And we're going to pick the same coordinate system. So map CS assign. You could also go into the drawing settings, edit drawing settings, and then come in and assign it here.

I just find that it's easier to type map CS assign. It's one of those ones that I remember. So map CS assign. And I'm going to do the same one as before, OR 83-NIF, and click assign. So we're just doing exactly like we did before. And this time, we're going to use Import IMX. So before we did Open Model, this time we're going to Import IMX.

And inside the data, there is an InfraWorks Model folder that's going to have the IM export, .IMX. So if you did export your own, use your own, go ahead and open that up. If you didn't, there is one available inside the data set. So IM Export. I'm going to click Open and it's going to tell me that it's bringing in different things. So right off the bat, you can see that there's a little bit of difference, right?

The maps don't turn on automatically. That's part of that opening that SQLite and refining my area. So it's giving me that area that I defined inside of InfraWorks. The same information is there. The sketch roads you'll notice, or those planning roads-- you see these ones hanging out here on the side-- they don't get clipped necessarily to the boundaries. So you might have to go in and clip those. But you'll notice that these ones have a different style assigned by default.

These ones have the stationing like the component roads did. These ones have all the same style. All the data is still there, right-- the roads that were selected in there, the sketch roads, the component roads, the design roads. If I want to turn on my map to verify where I am at, that Geolocation tab, this is where this is going to come in handy. I'll click the Geolocation tab and now we're here on an online map.

I can pull this down and I have a couple of options for map. It sounds like somebody's trying to drive through the wall. So I can turn on Map Aerial, I can turn on a hybrid, I can turn on the roads. I'm just going to use the Map Aerial option this time and it's going to go through there and turn back on that live Bing map. So this is only tiling for the area that I'm working in. So you can see that it'll fill in as far as I want to go back.

So it doesn't load the whole thing. I can also come in for the Map Aerial and do a Map Hybrid. And if I do that, it actually turns on the names of the roads based on that Bing map information. So we do have that option to change those. So just keep that in mind that the aerial is not going to come through from InfraWorks to Civil so you will have to turn that on.

If you try to turn on the aerial and you get an error message that says that you don't have permission, there is an update. We got all these loaded up today. It's in the Data folder for you guys. So you don't even have to find it. You can just load it. It's a three meg file, it takes 30 seconds. Then your online maps work. So if you see that, if you find that out, that's because you don't have the update. All right.

So SQLite, IMX, what's better? They both give you the same data. Yeah. It depends on what your workflow is. I mean, there's no live links, like I mentioned, so it just depends on what your workflow is for getting the data from one to the other.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: Can I clip the aerial image back?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: Oh, so it matches? Yeah. There's a way to use Capture Area here, the command right next to the Map Hybrid. So the question was, can you clip the map so it's just around my project area? And I don't have the live map, you can. I'm using Online Map. Right next door, the next one over, is Capture Area. That will let me define a boundary for the map so it's just showing over my project area.

I don't have to keep the live maps going while we're doing this if I don't want to. All right. So we've got our data. We started with our data in InfraWorks, we've got our data into Civil 3D.

AUDIENCE: I have a question about the [INAUDIBLE] different types of roads. When it brings in the [INAUDIBLE] roads, the curves have just [INAUDIBLE] of [INAUDIBLE] and then I also noticed [INAUDIBLE] in your curves, your horizontal curves in the road [INAUDIBLE].

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: Oh, OK. It's interesting because-- so the question was about how the roads get imported, the sketch roads. For a couple of people, it sounds like they're coming in-- instead of being a curve, it's coming in and it's giving you basically a bunch of PIs, right, so you're doing straight segments between. But you mentioned on the component roads, as well.

AUDIENCE: Right now [INAUDIBLE] horizontal curve in there and it just put in the PI and that [INAUDIBLE].

WILLY CAMPBELL: Oh, because-- OK, that's it. That one I'm not sure why that's happening. This road here with the bridge, this is a component road that I had. Yeah. So we'll have to look and see what's going on there, why that's happening.

AUDIENCE: I believe sketch road, if it's a sketch road, rather than a component road, will do that.

WILLY CAMPBELL: The planning road will have-- because those are just basic-- when you bring those in, that information, it is just a series of-- and when we take them back, it'll look horrible in InfraWorks.

AUDIENCE: Actually, [INAUDIBLE] worry about [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: Yeah. Yeah. This is what it typically looks like when you bring in the component road. The curve is there and you can see PI, but you can also see the curve. So that's how it should come in. Sorry, I'm not sure what's going on in that computer. So with the component roads, when the design roads come in, they should look like this. Does anybody not see the curve on a design road? Anybody else? All right. OK. You guys?

AUDIENCE: We're good.

WILLY CAMPBELL: OK.

AUDIENCE: We've got both. [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: So don't let him drive anymore. So this is the intent of how the data comes in. So now that we've got data in Civil 3D, we're ready to take it back to InfraWorks. So when I export data and I get it ready from Civil 3D to InfraWorks, I can use the DWG file. InfraWorks understands that the DWG file and understands the Civil 3D components. They're going to be the same components-- services, roads, alignments and profiles, the utilities.

That bridge solid won't come back through. So if you have, say, a Revit model imported, any type of 3D solid object imported into your Civil model, that won't come through into InfraWorks. That will have to be processed separately from importing, whether it's a Revit file or whatever that solid is. So similar to the houses in InfraWorks don't come through, it's the same going the other way.

So all that information, the surfaces will go through. I can use the DWG or I can use-- anybody, gold sticker?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

WILLY CAMPBELL: IMX. IMX, right? Just like we took the IMX file from InfraWorks, we used the SQLite IMX, now we're going to use DWG and IMX. So let's switch back to-- no, let's take out an IMX file. Gosh, you've got me saying [INAUDIBLE] XML now. So if we go over to the AutoDesk InfraWorks tab again, then we have an option here to export an IMX file.

So I click on that. It's saying-- oh, I need to save my changes. So when you do the IMX file, let me do a save real quick. So if we're going to create an IMX file, you're going to have to save your drawing. And wherever-- not save as, just a save. All right. Fine, Drawing 2. So wherever your drawing is saved as when you create an IMX file, that's where it's going to go to.

You can manually override that. But when I click Create IMX, it's asking me where do I want to place this? I can type that in. There's no way to bring up a dialog to search here. So if you can manually type in the path, type in the path. Now, I'm going to accept the default location. I'm just telling it to go to the desktop. And I do have different versions of IMX.

If I pull the down arrow, I can do 2.1 or 2.0. 2.1 is the most current and the default. I'll leave it at that. And that was it. I mean it takes almost zero to export that IMX fie. It's a quick process. I don't have any data outside of my project area, so it's going to create a pretty small IMX file. So if we switch back to InfraWorks and let's go ahead and open, but let's open the other-- actually, there's a blank one I've got in there.

If we click Open, we get to that document. I wish I was using the bright computer with the same mapping. So it's going to be that same path with the data, and then inside there we've got a blank project. Let's go ahead and open up that one because we're pretending that we're starting-- you could start a brand new project in InfraWorks, it just takes several minutes. This one I've already got a blank one defined. So go into that project data, Blank Project, open the SQLite, and it's just going to open up a blank fresh drawing project inside of InfraWorks.