Export format to Autodesk Civil 3D including GCPs

[kulagabe]

I am having difficulty finding a export format that my engineer / surveyor can use. 

He already has done a survey with a total station and we want to update the topography data as work as been done since he surveyed. 

So far I have tried DFX from mesh and DFX from dense cloud, but the resulting files were too large to work with.

[Alexey Pasumansky]

Hello kulagabe,

DXF format is a plain text uncompressed format, so every record related to the mesh vertex or point of the cloud requires quite a lot of lines. It means that the size of the file would be huge even for millions of points or polygons.

To reduce the size of the mesh model you can decimate the mesh to more appropriate number of polygons using Tools Menu -> Decimate Mesh command.

[SAV]

Hi kulagabe,

It is probably best to not export the mesh nor point cloud, but contour lines as DXF instead. These are most commonly used by engineers and surveyors (and plotted on maps and plans).

Here is what you need to do:

1. Process you imagery in PhotoScan and compute a DEM

2. Generate contours for the DEM. Open the DEM in Photoscan by double-clicking on it in the workspace pane, then click TOOLS > GENERATE CONTOURS. Choose your desired interval (e.g., 1 will give you a contour line for every meter).

3. The contour lines are stored as a group called Contours within the SHAPES folder. Right click on the Contours group and click EXPORT LAYERS. Choose DXF as file format.

DONE.

All the best.

Regards,
SAV