Add ability to force the triangulation direction or 'bulk swap triangle edges'

[pieter_haeck]

In certain domains (e.g. dredging) the acquired data comes from single beam scanners, resulting in coordinates/points that represent a kind of cross sections of rivers, canals,... Those 'cross sections' aren't always straight. These 'non-straight' cross sections can create 'wrong' triangulations between the different sections (see screenshot below).

The following triangulation is expected for this type of terrain models:

The above result can be obtained by using the 'Swap Edge' editing command or by (manualy) creating longitudinal breaklines through each scanned point, but for this kind of projects it is enormly cumbersome and time-consuming.

Dreding companies work with surfaces with up to millions of points... For this kind of Customers (and certainly other users as well) it would be an enormous advantage and time-saver to have a tool where the direction of the triangulation could be forced in some kind of way. Or perhaps have the ability to swap edges in bulk (as the 'Minimize flat areas' command does for Contour line breaklines in case of flat triangles).

[arnaoutf]

A good Survey Linework suppose to fix triangulation directions, when are added as break lines thru figures process. however the tool to save time and increase production is a good idea, i suggest another idea to solve for good reliable surface to use is to break down importing survey data categories as a table option added to to the surface such as grass area vs concrete of asphalt area as well other type of materials involved in creating surfaces and should an option to priorities  levels such as concrete pad elevation is 3" higher then the grass area, building corners or retaining walls can be automatically recognized in such a tool to void overlaps. hope I could deliver this ideas as first time using this post and thank you for allow me to participate.

FA  

[arnaoutf]

I wonder why contours Labels are not part of surface object as in slopes, elevations, watershed or points. I would like to see that in the next version or service pack which allow to turn on contours labels and able to adjust increments, in addition to select type of text and precision for display and avoid drawing lines .   

[pieter_haeck]

@arnaoutfIt's obvious that good Survey Linework would solve the problem, but as I stated in my original post, in this case the survey comes from a Single Beam Scan on a canal, river,... The result is just a bunch of XYZ coordinates without linework codes.

Your second comment is a great idea. I get this one asked during trainings or support cases. Perhaps it's an opportunity to check if this idea has already been posted and to vote for that, or if the idea isn't posted yet, to submit it. 😉

[TimYarris]

Thank you for your idea. The development team will review the idea while customers continue to add feedback and vote on it.

[autoMick]

thanks for suggesting this. I deal with single beam data a lot and share your pain. Two key issues plague me - one being curved/meandering survey lines (anyone who's tried to survey in the surf zone or across a fast flowing creek will know about this), and the second being survey lines that are not perpendicular to bank/beach contours. 

For the first issue I wonder if the solution could be as simple as another surface build option which allows the user to set a maximum triangle angle as is available now, but can be applied to internal triangles (not just the outside edges of a surface).

A related thread: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/civil-3d-forum/creating-a-surface-from-bathymetric-...

In relation to non-perpendicular survey lines - see my thread here for an extreme example. https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/civil-3d-forum/forcing-diagonal-triangulation/td-p/7474249. I could articulate the triangulation rules that would help in this case, but haven't found a solution apart from proximity breaklines.
Regards

Mick

[tcorey]

Have you explored the Grading Optimization tool? It gives you some control over how the TIN is configured and it creates the surface using AI to apply your desired results.