Why can't I see contours on my surface?

[Anonymous]

I create a surface. Then add a point file. The Surface boundary shows up but I see no contours or triangles. If I 3drotate and esc from that command I can then see triangles.

I need to show contours, or better yet colors, to provide a good visual of the existing ground.

Thanks

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

did you use a surface-style that is setup to show contours?

Select the surface, right-click to get the context-menu ==> modify style and look then

a) within contours-tab to set the distances

b) in the display-tab check if contours are switched on or off (for both, 2D and 3D separately)

- alfred -

[jtshumpert]

Right click on your surface and select Surface properties.

Set your "Surface Style" to a style that has contours.

[mehmet.aktas]

To troubleshoot this problem, try these solutions:

• Turn off Level of Detail using the LEVELOFDETAILOFF command.
  
  
• Check if other surface styles, such as triangles, are displayed.
• Double-click the middle mouse button to zoom to extents and make sure the surface is within the display area.
• In the Surface Properties > Information tab, check the surface style settings:
  1. On the Contours tab, make sure the correct Contour Intervals are set up.
  2. On the Display tab, make sure that the Major/Minor Contours are visible for all 3 View Directions (Plan, View, Model).
• In the Surface Properties > Statistics tab, confirm that the surface has data such as a minimum/maximum elevation, points, triangles, etc.
• Select the surface and check if the layer of the surface is On. In the Layer Manager, make sure the surface layer is visible and not frozen.

[AAAStructural]

Thank you for posting this.  I had no idea why I could not see the contours on my drawing that I had previously saved.  I would probably have given up on starting to learn Civil 3D in discouragement.