Error ".tif was not found or is not valid" when loading orthomosaic into Autodesk Civil 3D

PIX4Dmapper PIX4Dmapper Questions/Troubleshooting
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After processing several datasets we concluded that the issue is related to how Autodesk handles large .tiff files. We did not experience any issues when importing results of smaller projects (smaller orthomosaics) but, on the other hand, faced the issue while importing results of larger projects (e.g. orthomosaics of more than 500 Mb). As a consequence, the error ".tif was not found or is not valid" is displayed and the orthomosaic cannot be imported into Autodesk.

To explain further:

  • The issue might also depend on the version of the Autodesk in use, for example, we were able to reproduce the issue with Autodesk Civil 3D 2019.
  • We do not expect issues while importing the tiles or “smaller” orthomosaic (size of the file). 
  • BigTIFF is generated when tiles are merged. From our observations, the Autodesk does not know how to handle the BigTIFF and it looks as if the orthomosaic was not LZW compressed. 

We suggest the following workarounds:

  • Reduce the resolution of the output raster. This will substantially reduce the size of the orthomosaic and, in most cases, will have a marginal effect on visual quality.

  • Load each tile of the orthomosaic one by one into Autodesk. The orthomosaic tiles are stored here …\3_dsm_ortho_QGIS\2_mosaic\tiles. More in the Project Folder Structurearticle.

  • Use QGIS to save the orthomosaic:

    • Open QGIS.
    • Drag and drop the orthomosaic generated in Pix4Dmapper.
    • Right click on the corresponding layer and click Export - Save As…
    • In the dialog Output mode select the Rendered image option.
    • Click OK.
    • Once exported, drag and drop the new orthomosaic into the main view of Autodesk.

  • Use IrfanView to save the orthomosaic:

    • Click File > Save as…
    • Save as Type: TIF 
    • On the TIFF save options window select LZW
    • Click Save. 
    • Open the LZW tiff file in Autodesk.

I would like to reassure you that our team is informed about this issue but, since the issue is related to a single software (Autodesk) and does not appear in other software (e.g. IrfanView, QGIS or Global Mapper.), we are currently not considering changing the way we are saving orthomosaics.

Let us know if you have some additional information or suggestions on this topic.

Best,

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2

Thanks for your help.

We have been using IrfanView to open the tiff and rename it as a jpg. Then we copy the world file and change the name with the extension to jgw.  We also copy the world file and change the name to match.  This has been very successful with little loss of resolution.

Unfortunately, this week we have a problem with IrfanView not being able to save the jpg because it is too large. So I will try your new solutions.

Rick Miller

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We have had luck converting the .tiff from Pix4D to .png format with no loss in resolution.  However, the merged .tiff from Pix4D is typically large and although it will load into C3D, we recommend specifying the “tiling” option when outputing the orthomosaic from pix4D and then convert to .png to efficiently work with the images in C3D.  

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Hello Team Pix4d,

 

We have generated an orthomosaic from Pix4d, which is almost 4gb in size. We want to import entire orthomosaic into Civil 3d, We have followed your steps,

We suggest the following workarounds:

  • Use QGIS to save the orthomosaic: 

    • Open QGIS.
    • Drag and drop the orthomosaic generated in Pix4Dmapper.
    • Right click on the corresponding layer and click Export - Save As…
    • In the dialog, Output mode select the _Rendered image _option.
    • Click OK.
    • Once exported, drag and drop the new orthomosaic into the main view of Autodesk.

  • Use IrfanView to save the orthomosaic:

    • Click File > Save as…
    • Save as Type: TIF 
    • On the TIFF save options window select LZW
    • Click Save. 
    • Open the LZW tiff file in AutoCAD.

In Qgis the rendered file is almost around 13.5gb and that is also not importing into Civil 3D.

IrfanView gives us an error - “TiFF save error”.

How can we import such Bigtiff in Civil 3D???

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@Ankit,

Could you, besides selecting the _Rendered image _option, also use the JPEG compression profile as shown in the screenshot:

Additionally, you can also reduce the size of the orthomosaic in Pix4D using the following:

Note that reprocessing Step 3 is needed in order that the changes are taken into account. 

Please let us know if you manage to load the orthomosaic into Autodesk Civil 3D in the end. 

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6

Saying you won’t fix this is not an answer.   Do you realize that Civl 3D/Autocad is the number one CADD software in the World and used by most if not all those that use Pix4D for surveying purposes?   There are other photogrametry software out there that is not having this issue.  This has been an issue with your software for quite a long time.

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I second the above comments by Bill Neu.  I would easily estimate that 75% of my work for engineering firms has ortho photos that are greater than 500 mb.  We have started using commercial photogrametrists to fly and process some of the projects instead of using our expensive drones and software.

I also repeat Bill’s comment that there are other options for software if you cannot get this fixed!

Also, we use Traverse PC for our smaller surveying projects.  It absolutely refuse to work with large images.  Again, I have to work around to create a jpg with a world file so I can use your data.

I love your software but work is work and happy clients are happy clients.  They want a good product and don’t care what it takes on my part to make them happy.  

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8

Bumping this. This issue has not been solved yet, quite disappointing.

9

While I agree that breaking up large sites into manageable files is the right approach, the information in this post is inaccurate. I can pull orthos from DroneDeploy at any size into Civil 3D 2018 and 2019 without any converting or transforming and have zero issues (sample size of 20+ projects ranging from 600mb to 1 gb). This is not an Autodesk issue, your largest competitor is doing it just fine.

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10

Well, here we sit in 2022 and this issue is still completely ignored. Only replying because it is very disappointing that a major software in this industry, doesn’t easily work with the leading engineering drafting software.

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11

Hi Jim,

We are very sorry for this inconvenience.
The problem has been discussed several times internally, the main problem is that AutoCAD does not support the BigTIFF format. Our developers will contact the AutoCAD developers to see what can be done. But for now, I suggest you follow the following workflow as a workaround: https://community.pix4d.com/t/error-tif-was-not-found-or-is-not-valid-when-loading-orthomosaic -into-autodesk-civil-3d/7607

Have a very nice day.

Best regards

12

There is a better workflow utilizing Autocad Raster Design:

  • Import the tiles (IINSERT)
  • Merge the tiles with Raster Design (IIMERGE)
  • Export the merged images as an JP2000 (IEXPORT) - you will want to include the world file with the export. Do not maintain the image link to the drawing (it is very large and will crash most memory caches)
  • Delete the merged TIFFs
    *Import the JP2000 (IIMPORT)

From there, the JP2000 will have an identical resolution as the big TIFF, but will be substantially smaller and easier for ACAD to handle. If you want a more plot friendly, just IEXPORT the JP2000 to a JPEG and reduce the quality.

I’ve been using this workflow for years, so you’re welcome!

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