Contours running through breaklines

[dbiehler]

I am having an issue with my contours running through my breaklines (feature lines).  I have reviewed many of the previous suggestions but they don't seem to work.  I have tried re-ordering the breakline, edits, etc and have also set my settings to allow crossings.  Any further suggestions?

[Jeff_M]

A picture would be helpful, the drawing more so...

[dbiehler]

I tried to attach the file but it says it is too large.  here is the screen shot.  I am fairly new at this and this has been driving me crazy.  The magenta line is my feature line which I am trying to use at my breakline.  it is the proposed dwelling.

[rl_jackson]

Dont make the house a break line - it never is.

Instead use a mask to hide the contours.

[dbiehler]

I need to do a cut and fill analysis so I need to set the elevation of the basement floor.  How would I do that without breaklines at the foundation line?

[rl_jackson]

Thats a little different.

You would need to create a proposed surface. Then use the house as a boundary and do a featureline offset down to the elevation you intend on setting the basement at and make that part of the new surface. Then you'll be able to get a cut/fill by comparing the 2 surfaces.

Oh yeah, you'll need to make the featureline for the house get the elevations from the surface.

[dbiehler]

That is exactly what I am trying to do, but my suface is not recognizing my feature lines. 

[AllenJessup]

Contours will cross breaklines that have elevations that bracket the contour elevation. Breaklines do not prevent contours from crossing them. Breaklines (should) prevent triangles from crossing them.

It looks like the surface is recognizing a breakline at the house boundary. I see areas where the contours run parallel to the houseline and one area where a contour runs along the houseline for quite a ways. I don't know if the magenta line in the PDF is your breakline or not. But at that scale I can only see one line.

If you want an existing basement included in your existing surface, you will need a line just outside the basement wall at the surface elevation and one at the basement line at the basement floor elevation. For a proposed surface you'd need the same thing only with the first line at the proposed ground elevation and the inside line at the proposed basement elevation.

Allen

I reread your reply to Jeff and see that the magenta line is the breakline. So with only one line the PDF looks line I might expect.

Allen

[castled071049]

You need two feature lines to accomplish your goal: One feature line is the Finish Floor elevation. Then a second feature line offset very slightly to the outside of the first FL, with elevations set at the Finish Ground elevation outside the house at the footing. Add both to your surface, then proclaim the time to be Beer:30 and act accordingly.

[lkirby]

For contour work like this, rather than a breakline, I make the house a "hide" type boundary.  It blocks the contours from running through the building linework.  

I find it best to wait until I'm almost done with my other surface work though because I tend to get a bug where if I continue making other changes to my surface, the boundary will eventually disappear and contours will ignore it again.    

[castled071049]

However, if you want to get an accurate cut/fill number, as the OP suggested, a Hide boundary won't work. One will need the breaklines for that.

[lkirby]

oh, I see - I missed that part.  thanks.

[jamesmac1200]

Your solution here would be utilizing multiple surfaces. Your first surface would be, of course, your EG. The second surface (lets call it SURFACE 2) will include only two feature lines (credit to AllenJessup and castled71049) (i.e. breaklines); one is the building outline at the finished floor elevation and the second on is the offset that represents the basement floor elevation (use a offset difference of 0.01'). The final surface (lets call it COMPOSITE SURFACE) will be a composite of the two surfaces to show the final product. Just paste the EG surface first then paste SURFACE 2. For cut and fill quantities, just compare the EG to SURFACE 2. Depending on your finished floor elevation, coutours may go through your building as your illustration shows. Like rl_jackson stated, add a hide boundary so the contours won't show.