Suggestion:
Grading Object system is broken. Have a little pride Autodesk! Fix this! If this cannot be fixed, publicly admit defeat and more forward. Identify the replacement for grading objects. This may be corridors. This may be Revit. This may be something in Infraworks. It is time to let your users know what is going on.
Discussion:
Grading object are fragile, at best. When they work they are great, but we all know that they will at some point become unstable. Sometimes they just disappear. Sometimes adding a new grading object changes older grading objects. They often corrupt drawings., and cause the drawing to freeze or crash. If you successfully create a grading object then immediately run audit you often find errors.
My workflow: create a grading object, checking existing gradings, and run audit. If there are no errors, save; if there are errors abandon the drawing and open the saved drawing and try again. This is sort of like a workflow for transporting nitroglycerine along a rough road in a truck with no shock absorbers. (it works, but not for long.)
Many experienced users suggest we think of grading objects as temporary. Create them then detach the surfaces and dele the grading objects, or explode and use the resulting feature lines as break lines. This removes the very powerful nature of the grading objects.
I agree that over the years, grading objects have become more stable. If this is as good as it gets, it is still not good enough. Autodesk, do you really feel that this is acceptable?
Corridors are being suggested as a stable alternative to grading objects. If this the direction that Autodesk supports, the process should be documented, the tools/codes updated, and examples provided. I have reviewed the Codes Script file and find it lacking as to site grading. That leaves individual users/companies to develop kludgey workarounds using existing codes, or add their own custom codes that might conflict with future standard codes. I don't really understand this, but it can't be good. This is a place where Autodesk should take a lead.
I am not familiar with how Revit or Infraworks might play into this, but the emphasis on the AEC Collection leads me to believe that Autodesk could envision Revit or Infraworks as the successor of the grading object system.
