Adding contours to a proposed surface

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all the help on my last question about creating a surface from contours generated in LDT.  I think I have resolved my issues with that, but of course I now have some issue with the proposed grading and surfaces.  I am using Civil 3D 2010 and I want to build a proposed surface from the proposed contours I drew myself (I have swales and berms in the area).  I have experimented with grading groups and although they are pretty useful, I feel I will have better control over the proposed grading by drawing in the proposed contours and making them a part of the surface. 

What I did was create a feature line along the back of curb and then another one along the property line I am tying into.  I created an infill to generate a surface (this worked and looked pretty much the way I figured).  Once that surface was made, I created feature lines over the contours I had drawn as polylines and then added them to the surface as breaklines.  This throws everything out of whack.  I made sure that the contour/feature lines tied into the boundary feature lines and everything is in the same site.  Is there a better way to make the grading look the way I want it?  I notice in edits under surface, there is an "Add Line" option....should I use this to add the contours to the surface?  If I add points to the proposed surface, that seems to work, but adding contours/feature lines is where I am getting messed up.  Again, any help on the matter would be  huge considering I am now past my deadline!  Thanks, Brian  

[tcorey]

If you extract the contours from the design surface you made, you can then build a new surface from those contours.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure what you mean Tim.  I created the contours as simple polylines, not attached to anything.  I am trying to add them to a proposed surface to show my berms and swales but I'm not sure of the best way to do this.  If I convert them to feature lines, it looks really bad.  In an ideal civil 3d world, I should probably build a complex corridor but That is just beyond me and the scope of the project.  I guess I am just looking for a quick way to build a surface from a feature line that is a boundary and a bunch of contours located within that feature line/boundary.

[Jeff_M]

If the polylines are at elevation, just add them as breaklines to the surface. If they have arcs, make sure to set the mid-ordinate value to something small (0.02 is what I use for most jobs).

[Joe-Bouza]

I'm going to put a match to the gas can with this, I'm sure.

There is no rule that says you have to display your c3d surface or use all the perceived required paradigms to create a surface. If you are accustomed to creating grading plans by drawing contours keep doing that. Add them to a c3d surface as contour data and keep the c3d display off. You can bend and push and delete and add more data as you go. (I'm not saying I do it this way, but I have and you can.

 I used to work in a Kitchen and when I had to chop miripoix I used a French knife; could I have dumped it in a robcoup, yes but that's the way I liked to do it. Would I be done faster using the robcoup" Yes. Would the soup taste different? No. Did the owner loose money because I used a French knife? Doubtful. The point is use the tools you are good with. But, keep an eye open for new techniques to add to "Your" tool box.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jeff and Joe.  Just so I am clear, here is what I am going to try.  I am going to create a feature line around the area I want to tie into (Back of curb and property line).  Then I need to create a surface with this feature line.  Should I infill this area or not?  Once I have a surface, I can add polylines with elevations as breaklines and make sure my mid ordinance is low.  Is this how you would recommend doing this?

[mathewkol]

It sounds very much like you would not need to infill.  I assume that feature line around the site has been set to drape along the existing surface so that each vertex in existing elevation?  Then just add your polylines to the surface.  Jeff suggested adding them as breaklines, I would add them as contours since that is what they are.  Doing this allows for use of the minimize flat areas tool as you add them.  There is no requirement to convert them to feature lines first.

[mathewkol]

Nice Joe.  I never knew how to spell miripoix.  Heard it many times on the Food Network.