I would like to see a Subgrade Volume Tab located after the Analysis Tab in the Surface Properties dialog box for true earthwork calculations for Civil site work.
It would consist of the following working from top to bottom:
1. A check box toggle to "Calculate Subgrade Volume".
2. A "Select Comparison Surface".
3. A box that looks like the Range Details box on the Analysis Tab.
1. ID -Finish Material Name (user entry cell)
2. Depth of Finish Material or Depth to Subgrade (user entry cell)
3. Area of Finish Material (calculated)
4. Volume of Finish Material or Volume Above Subgrade (calculated)
4. It would have an ellipsis button at the end of each row (or possibly in the ID cell of each row) that would take the user into Model space for selection of the Polyline or Feature Line that defines the Area of the finish material.
5. Cut/Fill Factor user entry box.
6. Read-only Statistics information box.
7. Check box toggle: to show small Panorama box in Model Space that displays a dynamic running tally of the subgrade earthwork volume so that the user can keep track of volume as they design and grade the Finished Ground (FG) surface.
Add to #4:
For ease of recognition and visibility of the subgrade areas for the designer:
The total hatching for the Surface's subgrade defined areas would be all one entitiy, on a single layer, so that it may be easily hidden or turned off/frozen by the designer.
What sort of data saved in the drawing and what sort of output do you envision? I was thinking for each subgrade area defined, it should create a volume surface in the prospector. Also, you mentioned a panorama. This should be able to export to .xml, the same way the volume analysis panorama does now.
Mark Green
Working on Civil 3D in Canada
Yes, you could have the option to create one overall subgrade surface, or the option to have each of the top surface material areas have their own subgrade surface.
Yes, the typical Report and Output buttons would be located at the bottom of the Tab.
The little panorama would be just a lttle window the designer could move around that shows the overall subgrade cut/fill volumes dynamically reacting and updating as the designer makes changes to the FG surface.
*Instead of another Surface Properties tab, the Subgrade surface could live in Prospector at the hierarchal level of Masks, Watersheds and Definition under the FG surface.
Agreed. We need something to extend the material and subgrade concept from corridors to the full site. Allowing for true earthwork and true material volume calculations and graphics.