From AutoCAD to 3ds Max: An automated approach for animating heavy lifting studies

Modular construction is a dominant manufacturing method for industrial construction in Alberta, Canada. Modularization requires large-capacity mobile cranes to lift heavy modules, such as piperack modules. The current practice utilizes AutoCAD to generate heavy lift studies for modular onsite installations. Heavy lift studies consist of 2D and 3D simulations of the lifting scenarios, along with the corresponding calculations (e.g., lifting capacity checking, ground bearing pressure checking). These static simulations provide snapshots of mobile cranes at pick and set configurations, but they do not represent the movements between the two configurations. For better communication among site engineers and crews, current static heavy lift studies need to be improved by animating the entire lifting process. 3ds Max is an animation tool that can visualize the lifting process, but the tedious and manual process of preparing the animation restricts efficiency and productivity. This research thus introduces a newly developed animation system that automates the transfer of heavy lift studies from AutoCAD into Autodesk 3ds Max animation. Also in this research, the kinetics of mobile cranes are studied and generic crane movements are defined. Using MAXScript, a script is written to link the crane and project database for automatic generating of animations. This research aims to provide the construction industry with a generic method for automating the animation process for heavy lifts based on AutoCAD and 3ds Max systems.