Setting up an EG/TIN Surface to use Grading Optimization Tool

[aa6673]

So I'm trying to use the grading optimization tool offered by Civil 3D to make my life easier. Using it requires an EG/TIN surface to grade on. Problem is, the site given to us is just a sketch. I manually traced the existing contour lines using polylines and assigned elevations to them (by the way, does anyone know how to display the elevations in ft, not inches?). Then, I created an EG/TIN surface using the new polylines and set a boundary. The grading tool worked, but came out to be a mess (See below). I'm not too familiar with Grading Optimization/ Surfaces, so any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[Pointdump · Accepted solution]

Hi @aa6673,
"...does anyone know how to display the elevations in ft, not inches?"
Look in Drawing Settings >> Ambient Settings.
Dave

[aa6673]

Thanks!

[Pointdump]

@aa6673,
Changing Dimension Units to Feet just now had no effect whatsoever, and I can't find any other Inch unit settings in Ambient Settings. I'm baffled, and I'm hoping someone will chime in with a solution.
Dave

[rl_jackson · Accepted solution]

If you go to the UNITS command, currently the drawing is set to use Architectural Units, this should be changed to decimal. While there change insertion units to UNITLESS. HTH

[Pointdump]

Rick,
I can't believe I missed that. I checked Drawing Settings >> Units and Zone and saw that Drawing Units were set to Feet, but I didn't check UNITS. Good catch.
Dave

[aa6673]

So I tried both your solutions and my elevation values are still appearing in inches. Is there something else I'm missing?

[Pointdump]

@aa6673,
Which elevation values? Screen shot please.
Dave

[aa6673]

Apologies! I assumed my elevations would correct itself to ft after inputting the elevations in inches. I had to manually change each elevation after adjusting my units. Now it looks much better!

Thank you all!