building Pad Confusion

[Anonymous]

Hi, As you can see below I have a pad created at Foundation level around the building but when I go to a section there is earth within the building.  How does that happen?  I thought the pad cut away earth from top down to the position of the pad?  Also, you can see the pad in section inline with the Foundation reference but when I select edit boundary, go into the site plan view and then back into the section view the pad boundary becomes a thin pink line at Basement Level - not sure why.

[chrisplyler]

The pink line is where you drew the pad footprint. You drew it in a plan view associated with the basement level. This establishes the upper limit of the cut, because a pad just cuts down. And you assigned a depth, which establishes a lower limit of the cut relative to that upper limit.

But you've got topo/dirt above the basement level. To cut all of it, you'll need to draw the footprint of your pad in a plan view associated to a level that's ABOVE all your dirt. And then, of course, you'll need a larger depth value to reach all the way down below the basement.

[ToanDN]

Select the pink sketch boundary of the building pad and Set Work Plane (on the Ribbon) to Foundation.

[chrisplyler]

He's going to have to set it up to the roof to cut through all the dirt.

[ToanDN]

I don't think so.  A building pad will cut topo volume  above, not below it.  The only part of the topo below the pad is removed is the volume occupied by the pad thickness.

[chrisplyler]

Oh. Then why is his dirt not being cut up in the building?

[ToanDN]

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@chrisplyler wrote:

Oh. Then why is his dirt not being cut up in the building?

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If you look at his last section image, the pad sketch boundary lays on the level above.  He just needs to set the Work Plane to Foundation and that should do it.

p/s: don't ask me why his actual pad is at the correct level while the sketch boundary is not.

[Anonymous]

Right, thanks for the replies. I've moved the Work Plane to Foundations so now the pink boundary line in section is on the top of the actual pad.  Not sure why the position was there but under Constraints the pad is set to Foundations so I thought I had drawn it at that level but guess not!!

Anyway, that repositioning has not made a bit of difference to earth being inside my building.

In fact I have changed the Work Plane to other levels making no difference. I have also moved the pad up levels to see what effect that has.  Interestingly the pad is not removing all the earth above it but sort of is below it.  If you look at the image below and compare it to the one I posted earlier, you can see the pad highlighted in blue and earth inside the building above it.  But below, even though there is no earth as in green shaded portion, there is a sloping line which is the topography I think. 

Still not sure why this is happening.  Bit frustrating!

[ToanDN]

Can you share the file?

[Anonymous]

I've just tried another new section to see if its a bug but it isn't.  I've had a previous problem ( posted on here ) this week, whereby the elevations would not show walls that should be seen.  It would show some walls but not others, and in some cases would seemingly cut a wall strangely. 

I can share the file - do you have any preferences to where?

[Anonymous]

@ToanDN here you go

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7eib909ek4rigf6/Project1%28Recovery%29.rvt?dl=0

[ToanDN]

Your building pad's boundary touching or crossing the edge of the topo (near the square end of the pond).  I adjusted it a little bit so that it stays completely inside the main topo and the pad cuts properly.  You can also adjust the edge of the pond and the main topo if you don't want to change the pad boundary.