Need to be able to offset a surface not just raise or lower a surface. If you need a civil 3d surface that is parallel from an original surface there is no easy way to achieve this now. However there is a new command SURFOFFSET in 2011 that does not work with a civil 3d surface, only a plain AutoCAD surface.
Couldn't you just copy the surface, and raise/lower the copied entity? I'm not saying a copy surface utility is a bad idea, but I think it's pretty quick and painless to manually copy and adjust.
I believe what he was referring to was to do the following:
-'Copy', pick any basepoint
-'Paste', and type '@' for the same point.
This puts a duplicate in that occupies the same space. Then, you can raise/lower, edit, etc. your surface.
What "offsetting" does, is basically what I described. It will make a copy of the surface, rather than simply raise/lower it.
They want the surface to be offset normal to the traingle faces. Copying the surface and raising and lowering does not accomplish this.
Yes, I too would wish for this...and I will tel you where it would be very useful.
We use C3D for earthwork calculations for site preparation for large dam sites.
Many of these sites exist in steep-sided river valleys and the preliminary work usually requires us to say strip 6m depth off the existing surface. Copying a pasted surface downwards does not remove 6m depth of material normal to the steep sides.
So, the ability to offset a surface as this poster is asking does in fact have a seriously useful purpose and I would use it reasonably frequently.
cheers,
Peter T
The explanation you have in its use does further explain how the feature would be beneficial, contrary to the copy/paste - raise/lower option.