Image Draping on Civil 3D Surface Objects

You would like to drape an image on a Civil 3D surface object.

To drape an image on a Civil 3D surface object, Autodesk® Raster Design needs to be installed with Autodesk® Civil 3D®. This requirement is necessary to insure that the image is placed at the same coordinate system as the surface.

Note: The steps below assume that the Civil 3D surface object already exists in the Civil 3D drawing session.

Setting the System Render Options

The following options need to be set to see the image draped onto the surface.

Note: The following steps should only need to be done once, and then they will apply to every Civil 3D drawing session.

Set the following system settings in the Options dialog box.

1. At the command prompt, enter OPTIONS to display the Options dialog box.

4. In the 3D Graphics System Configuration dialog box:

• Select the Render option.
• Select the Enable materials option.
• OPTIONAL:  Under Acceleration, select the Hardware option. When a isometric view is set, this option will provide near real-time rendering/shading while orbiting using the ORBIT command, but is at a lower quality than the RENDER command.

5. Click Apply & Close to return to the Options dialog box.
6. Click OK to return to the drawing.

The image that is to be draped on the surface must be inserted into the drawing, and perhaps additionally correlated on the same coordinate system as the surface object.

Using Raster Design, perform the following steps:

1. Using the Image command, insert the image.
2. If necessary, correlate the image using the Match, Scale, and/or Rubbersheet commands.
3. Make sure that the image frame is toggled on for future reference.
4. If necessary, enter REGEN on the command line to see the image placed behind the surface object

Autodesk Civil 3D – Surface Style

The surface style that is applied to the surface must be modified to display triangle faces when the surface is displayed in 3D.

To modify the surface style

1. Right-click the surface object. Click Edit Surface Style.








2. In the Surface Style dialog box, click the Display tab.
3. On the Display tab, select 2D from the View Direction drop-down list.
4. To turn the Triangles component on, click the lightbulb in the Visible column. You can also turn other components on or off as necessary. This ensures that the surface has 2D faces onto which the image can be mapped in subsequent steps.
5. On the Display tab, select 3D from the View Direction drop-down list.
6. To turn on the Triangles component, click the lightbulb in the Visible column. You can also turn other components on or off as necessary. This ensures that the surface has 3D faces onto which the image can be draped (rendered) in subsequent steps.

2. In the Customize User Interface dialog box, under Customizations in All CUI Files, click the Toolbars node.
3. Click the Render toolbar option.

Attaching the Image to the Surface Object

1. On the Render toolbar, click the Materials icon. 
2. In the Materials dialog box, click New.
   
   



3. In the New Standard Material dialog box, under the Material Name edit box, enter a name. 

4. Click Find File.



5. In the Bitmap File dialog box, select the file type from the Files of type drop-down list. This is the same file type specified when the image was inserted using Raster Design.
6. Find the same path and file name used to insert the image with Raster Design.
7. Click Open.
8. In the New Standard Material dialog box, click Adjust Bitmap.








9. In the Adjust Material Bitmap Placement dialog box, under Map style, click the Fit To Object option.
10. Click OK to return to the New Standard Materials dialog box, and then click OK to return to the Materials dialog box.








11. In the Materials dialog box, select the image name displayed in the Materials list box.
12. Click Attach.
13. At the command prompt:
    Select objects to attach “<image name>” to: <select the surface object and press enter>
14. Click OK to close the Materials dialog box.

Mapping Image to the Surface Object

1. On the Render toolbar, click the Mapping icon. The following command prompt will be displayed:
   Select objects:  <pick the surface object and press enter>






2. In the Mapping dialog box, under Projection, click the Planar option. 
3. Click Adjust Coordinates.






4. In the Adjust Planar Coordinates dialog box, under Parallel Plane, click the WCS XY Plane option.
5. Click Pick Points. The following prompts will be displayed:
   
   Place the lower left corner of the mapping plane:  <OSNAP the lower left corner of the image frame>

   Place the lower right corner of the mapping plane:  <OSNAP the lower right corner of the image frame>

   Place the upper left corner of the mapping plane:  <OSNAP the upper left corner of the image frame>

6. After you pick the upper left corner, the Adjust Planar Coordinates dialog box will be displayed. 
7. Click Preview to see a graphic preview of the image correctly mapped to the surface object.

 

8. Click OK to return to the Mapping dialog box. 
9. In the Mapping dialog box, click Preview to see a graphic preview of the image correctly mapped to the surface object.






10. Click OK to return to the drawing.

Viewing the Draped Image in 3D

At this point, the image has been mapped to the surface object. The image will drape over the surface when viewed in a 3D isometric view using the RENDER or SHADE commands.

To set the drawing in a 3D view, use any of the following procedures:

• At the command prompt, enter ORBIT on the command line, and then use the orbit jig to place the surface in the desired 3D perspective.
• On the menu bar, click View > 3D Views > SW/SE/NE/NW Isometric command to place the drawing in an isometric view.

To see a quality rendering of the draped image

1. On the Render toolbar, click the Render icon.






2. In the Render dialog box, select the Photo Real or Photo Raytrace option from the Rendering Type drop-down list.
3. Under Rendering Options, select Apply Materials.
4. Under Destination, select Viewport, Window or File.
5. Click Render to render the draped image on the surface object.