AutoCAD Civil 3D

[#1]

Maybe it's me not following your thoughts Joe, but here's my question: How do you have a dummy volume surface set up in your template and then use it for a real application?  Wouldn't you have to swap the base & comparison surfaces from whatever dummy surfaces you used to set it up, to the real surfaces you want to use?  Or what is the workflow you're suggesting?

[#2]

You'd just need two dummy surfaces to paste other stuff into, and have those referenced by the volume surface. It would work in this instance, but I use them multiple times in the drawing and it wouldn't be practical for me to include that many surfaces.

[#3]

Oh, I get it. You paste into or just edit the dummy base & comparison, rather than editing the volume surface to suit.  Seems a bit cumbersome, you have to know where you're going before you start & all that.

1. I think you should have the option within the properties of a volume surface to switch the Base & Comparison surfaces.

2. I think the 'Analysis' tab of a Tin Surface properties should be located within the surface style instead.  That way it would be so much easier to get multiple surfaces with the same elevation analysis, and would also solve the issue of this thread.

[#4]

Sure:

Surface1: = _EG = dummy surface for base. Add to it a few dummy points

Surface2: = _FG = dummy surface for comparison. Add to it a few dummy points

Surface3: = VolumeSurface. Create in template with the _EG vs _FG as base and comparison

Once actual EG and FG are made paste into _EG & _FG respectively and remove the dummy points.

If you were compelled to swap just paste accordingly