New Target Type in the Subassembly Composer

[Jens_Hallkvist]

Hi,

In the Subassembly Composer I would like a new Target Type called SurfaceOffset.

The use of such a new TargetParameter should be that a Slope (P2 to P3) can stop in a given vertical offset from a selected Surface. For example 1m above the SurfaceTarget.

The current work around is a copy of SurfaceTarget raised with 1m. In the corridor we Target the Slope (P3) to the raised Surface.

The vertical offset is common used when designing "Breakwater" objects in the Marine section.

Best regards

Jens Hallkvist

NTI CADcenter A/S

[duncang.taylor]

You could accomplish this using the auxiliary points without the need for your copy surface or a new target type. You'd just need to create an auxiliary point targetted down do your original surface and then create your actual point the offset value up from that at the same slope as your auxiliary point.

[doni49]

I thought that you might find a couple screenshots showing what Duncan is suggesting helpful.  AP1 use the OffsetTarget to get the horizontal position and the surface to get the vertical position.  Aux pts do not produce featurelines in the corridor (and you can't link to them either).  Then P3 (in my example) is 1 unit above AP3.  The final step would be to draw a link connecting P2 to P3.

[Jens_Hallkvist]

Thank You both for your input for my request of a new Target Type. Both input where very help full to solve my issue for stoping a slope in a  certain distance above a Surface and to understand the use of Auxiliary Points. I haven't used the Auxiliary Point before now.

Thanks again and have a nice summer.

Best regards

Jens Hallkvist

NTI CADcenter A/S

[peterfunkautodesk]

Look at the "Auxiliary Surface Link" on the surface and then using a "Intersection Point" with the "LinkPointSlope" option. The Auxiliary surface link will provide you the offset from the surface. When used inside of Civil 3D, the surface link will follow the surface. The offset will be a lift.

If this works, let us know so we can mark this correctly.

Regards,

Peter Funk

Sr. Product Manager

Civil 3D

Autodesk, Inc.

[Jens_Hallkvist]

Hello,

In Subassembly Composer I did what You can see in figures below.

And

And

This gives me vertical offset from Surface at Point AP3 but not in P3 where I actually wanted the "Surface Offset"in the first place. It's good enough when the Surface is almost horizontal but not accurate when it is inclined.

Regards,

Jens Hallkvist

NTI CADcenter A/S

[Civil3DReminders_com]

I haven't tried it in a drawing, but there is an option in the Auxiliary Surface Link to adjust the depth of the link above or below the surface. You can then use the intersection point to find the target location. I haven't tried it in a drawing yet though, so it might not work. 

I put together a blog post showing it in more detail: http://blog.civil3dreminders.com/2016/07/subassembly-composer-surfaceoffset.html

[Gary.Barr]

Hi all,

I'm having a similar issue at the moment but it's a step further along. I'm currently modelling a breakwater in SAC but the issue I'm having is trying to maintain an minimum offset of 1m above the existing ground. So even if the ground is undulating quite a lot there will always be a 1m minimum clearance above the highest point along the surface link below.

I can't quite figure out how to do this. I thought I could use the function "Line.MaxY+1" for the Y offset of the point but it is not giving the desired result. I have attached a picture of what I mean and hopefully it is more clear.

Please ignore the Line order notations...thanks.

[duncang.taylor]

The reason the Line.MaxY doesn't work as it only looks at elevations of the link's points - which only exist at the two ends of the link.

The Surface Link (suggested by Peter) would accomplish what you're trying to achieve - although it wouldn't be flat - (in theory - I've never actually used the Surface Link to make sure it does do what it is supposed to do due to the solids limitation below), and can be offset from the target surface using the Depth parameter (a value of -1 will offset the surface link 1m above the target surface).

However, if you want to produce Corridor Solids from this subassembly, then this won't work. This is because your surface link will have a variable number of sides as it follows your existing surface, and the Corridor Solids tool can't produce a solid from a subassembly that has a varying number of sides.

The only other way I can think of for doing this in Subassembly Composer would be to create a series of auxiliary points along your surface and then find the one with the highest elevation (math.max could be used for these, giving it all the APx.Elevation values) and using this value to set the level for your link L3. However this would still be limited to only checking for your 1m clearance at your sampling points where you create the auxiliary points.

[Gary.Barr]

@duncang.taylor Thanks for your comment. I have thought about using several APs for sampling the ground as you have described, I think that is the best work around for now. I was hoping for a cleaner solution, but maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and do that. 

Cheers

[Gary.Barr]

UPDATE:- The problem was solved here 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-civil-3d-forum/vertical-offset-from-surface-link-subassembly-...