About Simplify Objects
Removing nodes will NOT make your contours smoother. A four sided polygon looks like a square, five sided one will look like a pentagon while an eight sided one will look like a hexagon.
The more ‘sides’ a closed polygon has then the smoother it will appear. Think of a 360 sided closed polygon where each segment turns one degree until it’s closed. Technically it’s not a circle but will appear to be since the change in angle is only one degree—compared to 90 degrees in a square.
If you really want ‘smoother’ contours you’ll need to use splines.
When dealing with contours, which is DATA, topographic data, its best to put accuracy ahead of aesthetics. Since contours are formed from x,y,z data, you’ll need (a) enough point data and (b) have the right data in the right places so the program doesn’t need to guess, or interpolate, to generate your contours.
It is the interpolation, or the lack points that requires guesswork, which produces the blockiness or those nodes you wish to delete.
I know you want a simplify command (magic wand) to make your contours look smoother, but what you want can only be achieved with better data, not a hack to make contours look nice.
The Map Cleanup function can be found >>HERE<<.
If you can’t get better data and you’re unwilling to use splines then you’ll be better off adjusting your contours using the Civil3D toolset (video by James Lord) not Map3D tools.
Chicagolooper
Hi
Sorry, the word smother was wrong. My Contours lines have way too many nodes (or maybe it is called Vertex?) so wat I want is to straighten(?) the Contours lines. I have made the map from a DEM (TIFF) file and now the Contours have ‘millions’ of vertexes, like every 10 cm. Totally unnecessary to have vertexes so close to each other, and when I make a top surface of this map in Revit it is nearly impossible to work on.
In my About Simplify Objects link above, Autodesk have a picture and explanations on how to fix this:
I have no clue how to start this "non interactive" task with possible different tolerance settings. Can someone guide me?
PS. Thanks for your detailed explanation on how to make contours look smoother. This will be useful to me later 😊
Hi @joakim
Enter MAPCLEAN at command line.
On 1st step choose object to simplify,
on 2nd step select action you want (simplify polyline) by double clic to transfer to right panel and choose parameter to apply. Check automatic if you want computer do the job without manual action
on 3rd step choose if you want to modify original objects or if you want to create new objects (and keep original)
click Finish to start the process.
Olivier
Olivier Eckmann
