Using ESRI Terrain Dataset in AutoCAD Civil 3D or LDD

[MichaelRoss]

Does anyone know of a way to import an ESRI Terrain Dataset directly as a surface (3D mesh) in AutoCAD Civil 3D or Land Development Desktop?

I can leapfrog through raster or contour lines, but both of those strategies only yield an approximation of the original surface.

There is an "create surface from tin" option in Civil 3D, but it expects files with the *.tin extension, not an ESRI TIN (as best as I can tell.)

Would the best option be to export a gajillion 3D points and rebuild from that?

[JakubSisak]

This is not possible as far as i know. You will have to re-create the TIN surface in Civil 3D from the original source data. And Yes, you could also export nodes from the ESRI TIN and convert them to XYZ file then import the XYZ to ACAD to create your surface. This process might yield some differences especially if you have modified the ESRI TIN surface in any way; added breaklines adjusted nodes manually....

[MichaelRoss]

Yeh, that's what I thought.  Thanks for confirming it.