Importing x,y,z from excel

[member 65051]

Hi guys n gals, I’m currently in the process of reverse engineering my 47ft alloy hard chine sailing ketch. I've tediously measured almost every square inch of the vessel and compiled a series of measurements in excel. I have around 600 x,y,z points that I would very much like to avoid typing again. Perhaps a wise mind around these parts might suggest a good software to import these numbers into from which I can connect the dots and ultimately create my model. Cheers

 

[Mr Efficiency]

600 sounds like a lot of points to define the shape of a hard chine boat, what is the purpose of the exercise ?

 

[member 65051]

There’s points measured every 300mm fore/ aft at significant edges, eg. chines, Center Line, gunnel etc. Also points for every stay, Stauntion, hatch, winch, water inlet, fuel, and so on. I have some OCD, and plenty of time. Ive found quite a few discrepancies in the build. The purpose of the excercise is primarily to do the foot work for the architect as the budget is not excessive. I could buy the original plans but I’d rather not spend $6000 there. I’ll be making some changes to the design once a few discussions have been had with the architect.There’s a business model behind all this but that’s not something for this forum.

 

[TANSL]

I have the software that allows you to read Excel data and draw the curves, using splines or polylines in AutoCAD. But I should see what format you have given your data to give a more concrete answer. Reverse engineering is one of the challenges I intend to overcome

 

[DCockey]

Do you currently use any CAD or 3D design software?

 

[TANSL]

@DCockey, if you ask me, I have to answer yes.

 

[DCockey]

@DCockey, if you ask me, I have to answer yes.

Question was intended for the original poster. My apologies for not being clear.

 

[TANSL]

No, on the contrary, my apologies for getting into a private conversation. Cheers.

 

[member 65051]

Left hand column is fore aft measurement, center column is vertical axis, right hand column is offset from Center Line (all to port in this case). All measurements relate back to a single datum point as the bow.

 

[ludesign]

Hi guys n gals, I’m currently in the process of reverse engineering my 47ft alloy hard chine sailing ketch. I've tediously measured almost every square inch of the vessel and compiled a series of measurements in excel. I have around 600 x,y,z points that I would very much like to avoid typing again. Perhaps a wise mind around these parts might suggest a good software to import these numbers into from which I can connect the dots and ultimately create my model. Cheers

TouchCAD can import tab based points exports from Excel and convert it into both curves and surfaces.

 

[TANSL]

@member 65051, if you decide not to use TouchCAD, send mi your Excel file. I can return the points drawn in the space, and the corresponding curve, in one of these formats, dwg, dxf, igs .... or what format do you prefer?

 

[member 65051]

I think Ill give Touch CAD a go for now, it looks as though it will do everything I need, thanks for suggestion

 

[Ing de la Rosa]

I recomend you use this soft is free and it will mounted over autocad like a new module. Its easy to import in cad the point using an excel or txt file

The soft name xyz to cad of cadnet

Cheers

 

[tspeer]

Delete the column with the name of the curve so you only have the coordinates. Save that sheet as a comma-separated text file. Your CAD package will have the ability to input a points file, and it should be able to read the csv file from Excel.

If you don't have access to CAD, just do this for each line you've measured and give the csv files to your architect. They'll be able to import them.