Producing road and rail plans requires clear, well-organised annotation without compromising the visibility of other design information.
This video demonstrates the Super Alignment Style Output – Explode and Process Labels tool in 12d Model, which converts Super Alignment labels and symbols into individually named output models for more flexible plan presentation.
Key capabilities include:
Individual output models for each Super Alignment string.
Configurable label formatting, including trailing-zero trimming and start-of-alignment display options.
Flexible annotation placement to improve drawing clarity and minimise conflicts with other design elements.
Structured text and symbol naming to support downstream drafting and layer mapping in AutoCAD workflows.
For engineers and design teams preparing road and rail documentation, this provides greater control over annotation and the final presentation of design drawings.gineering
Super alignments are a powerful string type in 12d Model that allows horizontal and vertical geometry to be managed independently within a single string. Unlike a standard super string, a super alignment can contain its own horizontal geometry—such as straights, curves and transitions—and vertical geometry, including grades and vertical curves. This makes super alignments particularly useful for design applications where both the plan and profile need to be controlled independently while remaining linked through chainage. In 12d Model, super alignments are commonly used for road and rail design, airport runways and taxiways, drainage channels, and other civil infrastructure projects.
One method for creating a super alignment is the IP (Intersection Point) method, which builds the horizontal alignment by establishing horizontal intersection points (IPs). The initial straights are defined through the IPs, after which curve radii and, where required, transitions or spirals can be added. The vertical component can then be developed separately using vertical intersection points (VIPs), grades and vertical curves. This approach gives designers greater flexibility when refining an alignment, including the ability to insert specific grades over a set distance, change existing grades, add vertical curves, or position IPs precisely using coordinates and CAD snaps.
Creating a super alignment in 12d Model starts from Strings > Super Alignment > Create a Super Alignment, where users can define properties such as the string name, model, colour, starting chainage, labelling style and whether the alignment should be closed. Advanced settings also allow a super alignment to be configured as a pipe or culvert, with options for its justification and size. During editing, dedicated super alignment tools can be used to add or move IPs, insert curves, extend geometry, adjust grades and refine the horizontal and vertical design. These specialised tools are important because super alignments are a unique string type and have their own editing functions.
Existing strings can also be converted into super alignments, making the workflow useful when working with survey or CAD data. Individual strings can be converted through Strings > Convert > Super Alignment, while multiple strings can be processed through Utilities > A to G > Convert > Super Alignments. When bringing CAD geometry into 12d Model, separate lines and arcs can first be joined into a single string using the Head to Tail utility before conversion. The conversion can then be performed using either the IP or Element method. Once converted, the dedicated super alignment tools can be used to apply labelling styles and further edit the alignment, providing a practical workflow for turning existing design geometry into a fully editable horizontal and vertical alignment in 12d Model.
Super Alignment Computators and Components in 12d Model provide a flexible way to create more efficient and responsive civil engineering designs.
In this training session, 12d Model trainer and technical support specialist Rod Burns demonstrates how Computators can be used to connect road alignments and maintain relationships between different elements as a design changes.
Smarter Alignment Design with Computators
Super Alignment Computators are calculated geometric elements that can reference other parts of a design. Rather than relying solely on fixed coordinates, they can recalculate their position when referenced geometry is moved or updated.
This is particularly useful when connecting road alignments. As demonstrated in the video, a referenced line can be used to calculate the intersection between two roads. When one alignment changes, the connected geometry can be recalculated to reflect the new position.
Computators can also be used with horizontal and vertical geometry, providing greater flexibility when developing road designs.
Using Components in 12d Model
The session also introduces Components, which can be used to create and manipulate reusable design geometry. These can be especially useful when adapting designs to different project conditions, including moving from Greenfield to Brownfield environments.
Together, Super Alignment Computators and Components can help reduce manual editing, improve design consistency and make design changes more efficient.
Watch the Full Video
Want to see these workflows in action?
Watch Rod Burns’ full session on Super Alignment Computators and Components for practical examples of how these tools can be used to create smarter and more responsive designs in 12d Model.
Explore more 12d Model training and resources to build your civil design skills and improve your workflow.
What if you could quickly bring a preconfigured storage basin, culvert and weir system into your 12d Model project and then adapt it to suit your design?
In this webinar, take a closer look at how the 12d Library can be used to set up hydraulic structures and integrate them into a stormwater network.
The demonstration starts with a basin configured with an elevation-versus-area relationship, then explores how the culvert and spillway controls influence the hydraulic behaviour of the system. You’ll also see how catchment characteristics and storm events affect basin inflows, and how inflow and outflow hydrographs can be used to examine the resulting response.
The workflow then moves into a larger stormwater network, showing how the same hydraulic structure can be positioned within an existing design and related to the project TIN and surface levels.
There’s also a look at how the 12d Library can be customised, including creating your own library entries for commonly used hydraulic configurations.
Watch the webinar to see how the workflow comes together in 12d Model.
The 12d Tech Forum 2024 Directors Cut webinar, 12d Model and Google Earth, explored how 12d Model users can export civil engineering and surveying data into the Google Earth environment. Presented by Rodney Burns of Extra Dimension Solutions, the webinar highlighted enhanced tools available in 12d Model 15 that make it easier to communicate technical project information to non-technical audiences. By exporting project data while retaining important metadata, designers, surveyors and engineers can provide clients with a more accessible way to explore and understand project elements within a familiar 3D environment.
One of the key features demonstrated was the ability to export a wide range of project data, including contours, estate lots, drainage networks, survey marks, utilities and road designs. Users can control how data is positioned relative to Google Earth terrain, with options such as absolute elevation, relative elevation and clamping data to the ground. Additional settings allow users to control colours, labels, plot scale and text presentation. For example, drainage catchments and networks can be displayed directly on the terrain, while roof catchments can be positioned above the ground to create a more realistic representation. Drainage networks can also be exported as 3D trims, allowing pipe and pit information, along with associated attributes, to be viewed in three dimensions.
The webinar also demonstrated how 12d Model 15 can export alignment information, long sections and cross sections into Google Earth. Using the new Google Earth section plot functionality, users can apply existing plot parameter files and generate section plots that are stored with the relevant alignment or section data. These plots can then be viewed directly within Google Earth, giving clients an intuitive way to explore road designs and move between sections. This capability provides an alternative way of presenting design information without requiring clients to work directly within 12d Model, while still allowing technical information and design details to be communicated visually.
Overall, the enhanced Google Earth export capabilities in 12d Model 15 provide a practical way to bridge the gap between technical design data and client communication. By combining civil and surveying information with an interactive geographic environment, users can create visualisations that are easier for clients and other stakeholders to understand. The webinar demonstrated how these tools can support a variety of workflows, from presenting survey and utility information to visualising drainage, road designs and detailed cross sections, offering 12d Model users new ways to present and share their project data.
Unlock the power of point cloud data and learn how to turn millions of points into practical, manageable data in 12d Model 15.
Point clouds are becoming an increasingly valuable source of survey and spatial information, but working with large datasets can seem challenging without the right workflow. In this self-paced SPOT course, you’ll be introduced to the fundamentals of working with point clouds in 12d Model and learn practical techniques for importing, displaying, managing, reducing, and editing point cloud data.
Starting with the basics, you’ll learn how to import LAS point cloud files and configure important settings to improve display and performance. You’ll also explore point cloud classifications, allowing you to identify and isolate features such as ground, buildings, and vegetation.
As you progress through the course, you’ll discover how to reduce large datasets using point cloud mesh thinning. This powerful workflow allows you to transform millions of points into a more manageable dataset that can be converted into super strings, edited, and used to create a TIN surface.
You’ll also learn how to identify unwanted points, remove spikes and anomalies, and recalculate your TIN to create a cleaner and more usable ground surface.
Whether you’re new to point clouds or looking to build confidence using them in 12d Model, this course provides a practical introduction to the essential tools and workflows you need to get started.
What You’ll Learn
Throughout this course, you’ll learn how to:
Import LAS point cloud data into 12d Model 15.
Configure point cloud display settings for improved performance.
Use OpenGL views and graphics settings to get the most out of your hardware.
Pin point clouds and use levels of display to work more efficiently with large datasets.
Adjust point size and cloud display settings for clearer visualisation.
Understand and work with LAS point classifications.
Isolate categories such as ground, buildings, and vegetation.
Inspect point cloud information and understand the size of your dataset.
Use Point Cloud Mesh Thinning to significantly reduce the number of points.
Convert thinned point cloud data into manageable super strings.
Create a TIN surface from point cloud data.
Use contours and elevation information to identify spikes and unwanted features.
Edit and delete unwanted points using selection tools.
Recalculate and refine a TIN surface as your data is cleaned.
Apply practical tips and settings to improve your overall point cloud workflow.
Who Is This Course For?
This course is ideal for surveyors, civil designers, engineers, and 12d Model users who want to develop a foundational understanding of working with point cloud data.
No advanced point cloud experience is required. The course focuses on practical workflows and introduces the essential tools needed to confidently bring point cloud data into 12d Model and turn it into useful project information.
Build Your Point Cloud Skills
Large point cloud datasets don’t have to slow down your workflow. By understanding how to efficiently import, classify, thin, edit, and convert your data into a usable surface, you can spend less time managing millions of points and more time focusing on your project.
Start building your confidence with point cloud data and discover practical workflows that can help you work smarter in 12d Model 15.
Upgrading to 12d Model 15 brings an important change to how cartographic projections are managed.
In this video, we take a closer look at the new 12d Carto file and what this means for users working with their own projection files.
You’ll learn:
How to convert your existing .4d Carto file to the new 12d Carto format
How shipped projections are now carried through from the standard 12d Carto file
What you need to consider when selecting projections from the new file
How to add your own projections while avoiding unnecessary duplication
Why the new XML-based format makes it easier to introduce additional fields in future versions
While the change may require a little adjustment when upgrading, the new approach is designed to simplify future upgrades and make managing projections more efficient.
Watch the video to understand what’s changed in 12d Model 15 and how you can prepare your existing projection setup.
As your 12d Model customisation grows, managing multiple licenses and environment configurations can become increasingly complex. In this video, we introduce a more efficient way to handle license selection by using the Dongle Configuration feature within the Environment Configurations file. Rather than maintaining separate dongles.4d files for each modelling purpose, you can store your license information directly within the configuration file, creating a cleaner and more streamlined setup.
Throughout the tutorial, you’ll learn how to create and manage dongle entries, understand the relationship between dongles and nodes files, and determine when a single environment configuration may be sufficient for your workflows. We also cover situations where separate environments and variable overrides may still be beneficial. Whether you’re setting up a new customisation framework or refining an existing one, this video provides practical guidance to help reduce administration, simplify maintenance, and make managing licenses in 12d Model more straightforward.
Looking to better manage your company setup or work with multiple customisations in 12d Model? This webinar provides a helpful introduction to Environment Configurations and how they can support a more organised and efficient workflow.
In this session, you’ll learn more about: • Environment variables and how to enable or disable them • Setup files and search paths • How 12d Model searches for setup files • Managing customisations and configuration settings • Helpful resources for setting up your 12d Model environment
We hope you find this session useful! Take a look at the video preview below, and explore the full webinar for a more detailed discussion on working with Environment Configurations in 12d Model.
Keeping your shared 12d license environment up to date is an important part of ensuring users can continue accessing the software without issues.
In this video, you’ll learn the different ways to update a nodes file, whether you’re working from a local machine or writing directly to a server. It also covers the recommended process for new server administrators who may not have the latest nodes file on their computer, helping you understand the safest and most efficient workflow for managing license updates.
