Dynamo AutoCAD/Civil 3D Integrations

[a.ghensi689507]

Hi all,
I was wondering what it takes to build some dynamo nodes able to interact with autocad and Civil 3D. I saw what can be done with the bridge package, and I would like to automate it further by accessing the civil 3D document instead of having to export the report.

After some research I figured out that I cannot control autocad with .net api from an outside process, so the options are:
1 - write the nodes with the Interop library/ COM API
2 - use some IPC techniques (WCF? WEB api? simple Named Pipes?) and write a .NET AutoCAD/Civil Plugin that act as a server for the Nodes calls.

#1 can be really slow, and since everyone is saying I should avoid COM, then so be it. But #2 seems like a lot of work to me, especially because I never did any IPC.
Is there a magic wand to expose all the AutocAD .NET API via some IPC mechanism?
Did you come up with better solutions?

[j.rumpel]

I noticed your question is repeated on the dynamo forum and it may be useful to some so I'm linking it here:

[tntdraftsol]

Hi all,
I was wondering what it takes to build some dynamo nodes able to interact with autocad and Civil 3D. I saw what can be done with the bridge package, and I would like to automate it further by accessing the civil 3D document instead of having to export the report.

After some research I figured out that I cannot control autocad with .net api from an outside process, so the options are:
1 - write the nodes with the Interop library/ COM API
2 - use some IPC techniques (WCF? WEB api? simple Named Pipes?) and write a .NET AutoCAD/Civil Plugin that act as a server for the Nodes calls.

#1 can be really slow, and since everyone is saying I should avoid COM, then so be it. But #2 seems like a lot of work to me, especially because I never did any IPC.
Is there a magic wand to expose all the AutocAD .NET API via some IPC mechanism?
Did you come up with better solutions?

Did you find any further information about your question? I am also exploring ways of how to use Dynamo with Civil 3D. Thank you for posting this.