Divide a surface into manageable pieces

[russc]

I have a very large surface that I have created from contours. I need to make edits to the surface, but every edit takes entirely too long. Swapping a single edge takes over 1.5 minutes. There are easily hundreds of edges that I need to swap, and this is an unacceptable lag.

My question: is there a way to divide the surface into more manageable pieces, make the edits, and then use the paste surface to merge them back together? I have tried to use boundaries, but these only change the appearance. The underlying data is still the same size. I don't want to use the delete lines command, because 1) this takes a long time as well, and 2) there would be a lot of possibility for error in creating the seam lines.

I am open to suggestions, ether on how to break the surface apart, or other methods to perform the edits I need to make. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

A lot of "back end" editing was always a no-no in LDT, and I think that rule
still applies in C3D.

So, the first question is, "Why do you need to swap hundreds of edges?" Can
you "minimize flat faces" instead? Can you use breaklines instead?

Sincerely,
Drew Burgasser
CAD Masters, Inc.
www.cadmasters.com


wrote in message news:5106574@discussion.autodesk.com...
I have a very large surface that I have created from contours. I need to
make edits to the surface, but every edit takes entirely too long. Swapping
a single edge takes over 1.5 minutes. There are easily hundreds of edges
that I need to swap, and this is an unacceptable lag.

My question: is there a way to divide the surface into more manageable
pieces, make the edits, and then use the paste surface to merge them back
together? I have tried to use boundaries, but these only change the
appearance. The underlying data is still the same size. I don't want to
use the delete lines command, because 1) this takes a long time as well, and
2) there would be a lot of possibility for error in creating the seam lines.

I am open to suggestions, ether on how to break the surface apart, or other
methods to perform the edits I need to make. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

As drew suggested, using breaklines would be the preferred method. Is there
ANY chance of you getting such info? If you're dealing with aerial
topography, that shouldn't be much trouble. Beyond that, again as Drew
suggested, try the minimize flat faces before doing any more fooling around
with it.

"Drew Burgasser" wrote in message
news:5106814@discussion.autodesk.com...
A lot of "back end" editing was always a no-no in LDT, and I think that rule
still applies in C3D.

So, the first question is, "Why do you need to swap hundreds of edges?" Can
you "minimize flat faces" instead? Can you use breaklines instead?

Sincerely,
Drew Burgasser
CAD Masters, Inc.
www.cadmasters.com


wrote in message news:5106574@discussion.autodesk.com...
I have a very large surface that I have created from contours. I need to
make edits to the surface, but every edit takes entirely too long. Swapping
a single edge takes over 1.5 minutes. There are easily hundreds of edges
that I need to swap, and this is an unacceptable lag.

My question: is there a way to divide the surface into more manageable
pieces, make the edits, and then use the paste surface to merge them back
together? I have tried to use boundaries, but these only change the
appearance. The underlying data is still the same size. I don't want to
use the delete lines command, because 1) this takes a long time as well, and
2) there would be a lot of possibility for error in creating the seam lines.

I am open to suggestions, ether on how to break the surface apart, or other
methods to perform the edits I need to make. Thank you.

[russc]

There are a couple of limitations I have. The project is a hand-me-down, and the only source of topography I have is the 5 foot contours from a TTM. The terrain is VERY uneven, with long finger ridges, and deep valleys. The contours themselves have a great amount of detail, but 5 foot intervals leave a lot to the imagination. The detail needed to add accurate breaklines just isn't there, and even doing so as an aproximation leaves many flat areas

I tried the Minimize Flat Surfaces, and while it seemed to be a vast improvement at first, upon closer inspection and a 3D object view, the edit made a horrible mess, and actually crossed over many of my contours, and made spider webs in my valleys.

Bottom line, tricks aren't the solution. I can clean up the surface, but not at over a minute per click. Additionally, a time will come when I need to use pieces of this surface. I need to have an overall surface, for analysis, volumes, etc. I will also need pieces for design. I don't want to have to edit twice, and it seems I can't edit the overall. So what can I do to get a clean version of the full surface?

[Anonymous]

I am having similar problems with the delay in processing. I am starting to use Civil3D 2006 on a 4.5miles project with 68k points. Starting the points groups, surface model was slow, but worked. Creating the alignmnet and profile was OK. But working with the profile view is so slow. It take 10-15 minutes to do a single pan or zoom. The CPU is running at 100% and the RAM is at half use. I am using it on a Dell Pentium 4 with 800MB RAM.

I changed the profile to static instead of dinamic, but stil equally slow.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully you don't have the points in the drawing.
(800 MB ram is w-a-a-y too low)
You probably have a lot of HD activity.)

Bill

wrote in message news:5107624@discussion.autodesk.com...
I am having similar problems with the delay in processing. I am starting to
use Civil3D 2006 on a 4.5miles project with 68k points. Starting the points
groups, surface model was slow, but worked. Creating the alignmnet and
profile was OK. But working with the profile view is so slow. It take
10-15 minutes to do a single pan or zoom. The CPU is running at 100% and
the RAM is at half use. I am using it on a Dell Pentium 4 with 800MB RAM.

I changed the profile to static instead of dinamic, but stil equally slow.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

You are right.

Although I have 40GB of hard disk with half of it empty, it did slow the system.

I turned off all the points, and it worked better. While I was at it, and following what you said, I turned off also all the details on the 4.5miles profile, and VOALA, it is running fast again.

Thank you for the advice.