Contours from Points & Midordinate Decrease

[Jarrod_FDC]

I have created surface contours from points, but I just can't sem to figure out how to decrease my midordinate distance.  I know I can go all old-school and explode the surface then make a new one by defining contours, but there has got to be a better way.

[Avera737]

Unless I'm missing something, mid-ordinate distance has nothing to do with points.  That's a value which cooresponds to the way C3D grades using curved breaklines.  Are points the only object defining your surface or do you have breaklines as well?

What are you hoping to achieve by "decreasing the midordinate distance?"

[AllenJessup]

The Mid-Ordinate can be set when applying Boundaries, Adding Contours and Simplifying a Surface. Possibly the OP is looking for Maximum Triangle Length? I'd have a better idea if I could access the program right now.

Allen

[Jarrod_FDC]

I don't think you are missing anything, mid-ord is contour related.  And points are the only thing currently defining my surface.  What I am trying to accomplish is a rendering with a texture that more closely resembles the existing land.  The texture is associated with the trinangles, therefore I need to increase the amount of triangles to smooth everything out.

[AllenJessup]

There is a Smooth Surface command that will densify the points - in effect adding triangles - to smooth out the surface. This is provided to make contours look smother but it smooths the Surface in 3D also.

Allen

[Jarrod_FDC]

I will eventually have a few boundaries to define a creek area and intake structure that will obviously be rendered with ther textures besides thick grass.  I'll apply the texture and attach an image, although I am sure everyone has seen the faceted textures.

[Jarrod_FDC]

Is that different than Contour Smoothing?

[AllenJessup]

Yes. Contour smoothing adds vertices to and or splines the contours. That's a visual change Surface Smoothing actually adds points and triangles to the surface. The drawback is that if you smooth too heavily. You'll end up with a complex surface that may be difficult to work with. Depending on your computer resources.

Allen

[Jarrod_FDC]

I came across those settings the other day.  Kringing Method was unfamiliar to me so I moved on.  I've only got 30 or 40 points so this should work out ok (fingers crossed).  I'll try to post before and after pics if I can get them on here.  Have to tweak my settings somewhere.

[Jarrod_FDC]

I gave it a try and it worked well. I didn't get the exact effect I was looking for, but once I play around with it a few more times and figure out how the settings work best together I will end up getting what I want.  Thank you.