Can anyone explain spot elevation snapping behavior?

[patricks]

I have a toposurface with several points where I have some site steps. I have points at the nose of each step (top of riser), and then points 1" away from the nosing points at the elevation of the tread below (bottom of riser), roughly 6.5" down.

It seems that spot elevations want to snap to certain points in the toposurface, but the points they snap to is random. In some areas, I can get a spot elevation to snap to either the bottom or top of riser points. In one area in particular, at the bottom riser, it will ONLY snap to the top of riser point. It will NOT snap to the bottom of riser point, and as such, if I try to place the spot elevation anywhere within about 10" of that point, it automatically snaps to that point.

It's extremely frustrating when you need a spot elevation in exactly one spot, but you can't because it's snapping to another point nearby. I would love it if spot elevations didn't snap to points on a toposurface at all.

Anyone have an idea?

[cliff collins]

Are the stairs modeled? Or are you trying to use the toposurafce to create the steps?

I would recommend using stairs, and then using the target elevations on the stair
nosings,etc.

Maybe I am missing something?

cheers........

[patricks]

I am trying to make the toposurface match the modeled stairs somewhat, but I guess I could use spots on the stairs themselves.

But that still doesn't explain why spot elevations snap to some points in the toposurface, but not to other points.

It's a major problem when I'm trying to show top/curb and bottom/curb elevations by using 2 points about 1" apart, with 6" difference in height. If a spot elevation snaps to one of those points, then I have to move the other spot elevation a good distance away so that it WON'T snap to that same point as the first spot elevation.

[cliff collins]

Yes--that is a known issue, which has been around since the early releases.
I appreciate what you are trying to do, and I know how frustrating it is working with
the site tools.

The fact is that the Site Tools are really not intended to perform very detailed
tasks--Adesk would suggest those things should be handled with Civil 3D, which is
designed specifically for complex civil engineering work.

I have suggested that Adesk create a separate software plug-in called "Revit Site" which would replace or vastly improve the current poor and negelected site tools--my suggestion stirred up a lot of heated discussion on this forum, some time ago, as you may recall.
I was trying to bring to light the idea that if Adesk is not going to touch or improve the site tools, over the course of 5-10 years of development, the remove them and give us a whole new set of site tools which really do the job.

But the Ribbon UI and Conceptual Massing have taken precedent over site tools, stairs, etc.

If Adesk would offer a new set of Site Tools that really worked well, they would sell
a lot of software, and please a lot of customers. LOL.

FWIW, Eagle Point is now offering a Land-Cadd plug-in for Revit--I think you can request a free trial. But I think since it "plugs in" to the current site tools, it really won't make a huge
difference or drastic functional improvement in workflow.

cheers

[patricks]

Well the fact of the matter is - we do the site drawings for most of our projects, and we don't have Civil 3D, nor do we really have time to be learning another program. Yet we still need to convey the elevations of various points around the building, since the contour lines are really useless when you're looking at ADA-accessible areas that can only slope a maximum of 1:50 (ADA parking areas, landings at doors, etc).