Topo Surface Errors

[Anonymous]

Not much hope of getting an answer to this, seems like a random bug/known error that manifests occasionally with no interest from Autodesk in doing anything to solve it. However I am at my whits end, so here's hoping:

I made a (large, complicated) topo surface.

I drew a number of subregions to denote roads, sidewalks, etc. (This is frustrating and time consuming, though not problematic - only noting because there's no way to start over and be finished in time)

I linked in a couple Revit models.

Everything was chugging along just fine until I did the next thing - added building pads.

Now, pieces of my topo surface are missing, as if I had split the surface where my subregions are. Not all of them. Not even whole subregions. Pieces.

Some people have had pieces of subregions transpose up or down -  this is not happening. I did not split the surface. It is not an element other than a subregion. If I select the part which is not missing and edit the sketch, the whole sketch is there. If I copy the subregion, it still behaves the same way. If I draw a new subregion in the same area, it behaves the same way.

I need curbs for my presentation Thursday and I have no idea what to do!

Commiseration welcome, although I confess I prefer solutions.

[barthbradley]

Sounds like you deleted the Building Pad Topo Infill.  The Building Pad makes a Pad as well as a Topo Infill.  

Be easier to troubleshoot if you could post your file. 

...also, it's hard to understand what you doing. It sounds like you are using both Split Surfaces and Sub Regions - which produce entirely different results.  The result you are describing sounds like a Split Surface (or BP Infill) is missing. 

[ToanDN]

I assume the building pads are not within the extent of the sub regions?

[Anonymous]

Some pads are completely within the extent of "A" subregion (not the one I'm having problems with). Some have subregions they share edges with (also not the ones I'm having problems with). I'm posting the file in reply to the other comment if it helps to look at it.

[Anonymous]

I confess I have no idea what you are referring to, and neither does google. Can you clarify? For what it's worth, I did not consciously delete anything in regards to the building pad. 😉 Here's the file.

[ToanDN]

I can't tell which pieces are missing from your file. Can you point them out?

[Anonymous]

I have used no split surfaces, unless building pads count. I was very careful not to use split surfaces, as I have had issues with them in the past.

[Anonymous]

Here's a PDF highlighting one subregion, please let me know if this helps clarify?

[ToanDN]

I think your subregion has too many closed boundaries. Break it in to several subregions with a single loop or a fewer number of boundaries may avoid the issue.

[barthbradley]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I have used no split surfaces, unless building pads count. I was very careful not to use split surfaces, as I have had issues with them in the past.

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Your right. No Split Surfaces, but a lot of Sub Regions -- virtually all of them showing a Warning.   

[Anonymous]

A brief attempt had no success, unless you think I need to do this to all of them, in order for it to make a difference?

In regards to the warnings, they are pretty much all "line slightly off axis" warnings and there's not much I can do about that given the nature of it's being a site plan... totally open to ideas though.

[barthbradley]

Okay, so you have no Split Surfaces, so therefore you can't be "missing" anything. It does look like you have Sub Regions in close proximity to other Sub Regions, which may give the appearance of something missing between them.  Is this what you are seeing?

...I see you post a PDF showing where you are seeing an issue. Hard to find that on the Topo. Can you post an Aerial view showing where this spot is located?  

[Anonymous]

Nope. I'm not sure how to say this so it makes sense.

There is a subregion which is the curbs around the triangle shaped area - this is the one I pointed out in the PDF. It does occupy the area between the road subregion and the pavers/sidwalk subregions. So essentially, all it's borders are are also the borders of other subregions. If you select it, and edit the profile, you can see that the sketch includes several regions all around this area. However, two pieces show concrete - the rest just vanish. So they are white, like the screen color. If I changed the material to be bright purple, you would see two purple curbs, and the remainder white spaces. I've tried getting rid of the larger complex sketch and putting in several individual "curb" subregions instead, but they are still not showing up. Also, if I select the topo surface itself, which causes the entire surface (including the subregions) to highlight blue, these "missing" areas are still white, as if they are not part of the surface. This is what caused me to refer to them as "missing."

Not sure if that helps, or if there's anything to be done - I'm guessing at this point it's just a glitch, and Revit isn't really intended to be good at site plans of this size and complexity, as I've never had this problem before.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, missed this request before. Here's a PDF showing the location.

(By the way, thanks so much for your willingness to help!!!)

[barthbradley]

The "white" area to are talking about and show in your PDF, has to be a surface.  The only way I can see it missing, is if you Split the Surface there and deleted it.  If you are sure you did not -- then there's a surface there.    

...Just look at your PDF and File again. You are absolutely right: there's no surface there.  I'd bet money that you accidentally used a Split Surface at one time and deleted it, instead of Merging it.  This is a hard one to correct.  Shame too, because you've done so much work. 

...it's not a glitch though. I've made the same mistake. 

[Anonymous]

I don't disagree with you - I just don't know how to fix it.

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

When I edit a curb sub region I do see the boundary around the white holes, but there are no surfaces outside of the editing mode.  Since some parts are gone from the sub region, simplify the boundary at this point doesn't help because there are only holes in these areas. 

If you have the original topo surface, do a test by create the curbs as several sub regions instead of a complex one.  Ideally one sub region only has one closed loop boundary.  For  a long curb with some curved and straight segments, you can even break it into smaller sub regions, one for the curved part, one for the straight part, as an example.

Below is an example:

- pic 1 shows a part of a sub region with one curb and some white holes

- pic 2 shows the boundary when edit the sub region, only the green part has a surface, the rest are holes

- pic 3 shows how I would break it into several sub regions instead of one

[Anonymous]

So basically I have to start over and hope for the best. I figured it was at least work asking - thanks again for your help!

[barthbradley]

Do you really need to start over? That sound pretty drastic; especially at the 11th hour.  I'd submit it and see if get returned with "red lines".    

...keep in mind: I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out. 

[ToanDN]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So basically I have to start over and hope for the best. I figured it was at least work asking - thanks again for your help!

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Since the site is big and the curb are smalls, it is not really noticeable on a plan, even a 3d overall view.  I would keep it for now and come back to fix it when you have time.

Anyways, you can still re-use the existing boundary when you create new subregions in the original file by copyclip paste align sketch lines.