Can a Revit Topo Surface be scaled??

[jseltzer]

i just spent a day imputing this topo surface from autocad because the points didn't align up correctly from the cad file, and then i realized its in Millimeters and it need to be in metric and it needs to be scaled by 1000. only when i highlight the surface, the SCALE command wont highlight. this is going to be a huge problem af i cant scale it any ideas? i tried exporting the drawing into auto cad, but it flattened the topo.. so i don't have any other ideas.. any help would be greatly appreciated

[cliff collins]

Try going into Edit toposurface, select the bounding lines and see if you can scale them?

Or, drop in a cad dwg. of the bounding lines at the proper scale and then edit the sketch
of the toposurface to align with the cad dwg.

I do not think it is possible to select the toposurface and "scale it" live--perhaps
this can be done in edit mode per the above?

cheers..........

[patricks]

Bounding lines? A toposurface has points, not bounding lines that I know of. I just tried it and no, a toposurface cannot be scaled that I can tell, either directly or while editing the point elevations.

[jseltzer]

just tried scaling the points in edit mode, and unfortunate it doesn't work that way either.

The whole scaling issue in Revit is really annoying. why would they do it this way i'll never understand.


Try going into Edit toposurface, select the bounding lines and see if you can scale them?

Or, drop in a cad dwg. of the bounding lines at the proper scale and then edit the sketch
of the toposurface to align with the cad dwg.

I do not think it is possible to select the toposurface and "scale it" live--perhaps
this can be done in edit mode per the above?

cheers..........

[cliff collins]

Sorry--did not have Revit open.

Can you bring in a new cad dwg., scaled correctly, and just create a new toposurface
from it, rather than trying to "adjust" the one which is the wrong size?

cheers..........

[patricks]

It's because most objects in Revit, both 2D and 3D, are dimensional- and parameter-driven. Scaling really doesn't work for those types of elements. Say you could scale a roof in plan. It gets larger in length and width, but does it also get larger by a proportional amount in the Z-direction also? What about the roof types, which have set thickness for each layer? Do those get bigger when you scale it? If so it would have to somehow create new roof types for the scaled-larger objects.

The Help file lists what you can scale using the Scale tool: lines, walls, images, CAD imports, ref planes, and positions of dimensions.

[jseltzer]

I totally understand and hear what you are saying, but we should still be given the option... like right now, it would super helpful instead of redrawing an entire site...

is there a way to make the topo map that revit creates more accurate, with more topo points? that's why i had to redraw it, it wasn't very accurate. and the CAD drawing i brought in was very well drawn


It's because most objects in Revit, both 2D and 3D, are dimensionally-driven. Scaling really doesn't work for those types of elements. You can scale 2D line-based objects, such as lines and CAD drawings, since lines are really one-dimensional and scaling doesn't change anything except for the length of each line.

[patricks]

Unfortunately no. But hey it usually goes quicker the second time around.

Just remember from now on to always always always check the scale of CAD imports before you start creating stuff from that import.

[jseltzer]

very true about being faster the second time. and i know i know, i should have checked, and actually thought i did. problem was it was in Meters and that is always a little confusing

and i scaled the new topo and it added like a trillion more topo lines because it was 1000x times larger than the first topo i brought in, so it was a little more accurate.

thanks for your help guys...


Unfortunately no. But hey it usually goes quicker the second time around.

Just remember from now on to always always always check the scale of CAD imports before you start creating stuff from that import.

[sbrown]

yes there is. you specify the spacing it puts the points. Check you simplify surface tab. Someone may have adjusted it to be too large. Its usually set at 3" which puts a point every 3". I usually change it to 1' to "simplify the surface".

[jseltzer]

thanks for that tip.. ill try that next time


yes there is. you specify the spacing it puts the points. Check you simplify surface tab. Someone may have adjusted it to be too large. Its usually set at 3" which puts a point every 3". I usually change it to 1' to "simplify the surface".