Controlling toposurface to receive subregions

[amorie]

Working in 2010. I created a copy of the existing grade toposurface, and raised it above the existing to represent the zoning height limit. It was placed on a separate workset to allow visibility control, and given a new material that is mostly transparent so you can see the building below it. That way I can show the zoning police that no portion of my new building exceeds the height limit above existing grade.

Now I need to add a subregion to the existing grade toposurface, and can't. Automatically, all subregions get attached to the one that is 35' in the air - I guess becase that is the most recently created one. I've tried making sure the one I want the subregion to be associated with is the only one visible in the view; I've tried using phasing to force the subregion onto the correct toposurface, all to no avail. I've tried changing the workset the subregion is placed on, but can't get to it to change that parameter. If I have to I'll delete the "height limit" toposurface, then recreate it again later. Before I do, any ideas on how to control which toposurface gets the subregion?

[cliff collins]

Make a new Level at 35' ( if you don't have one yet ), and then create a new Plan for
the new Level 35'. Now, hide the toposurface that is at 35' elevation. Do you still see the orig. toposurface below? Just trying to set some datums, and troubleshoot the problem.

Try tiling your views--Site Plan with orig. toposurface, 3D isometric view and perhaps an
elevation or section view. Select the orig. toposurface, and it should highlight in all views.

In the Site Plan, place the subregion, and look at the other views and see where the sketch lines are--are they up at 35' above the orig.?

If so, go to the properties of the subregion and see if it is offset from a Level?

That's about all I can think of. Perhaps you could post an example?

cheers.......

[amorie]

We have been troubleshooting this. The sketch lines do appear on the elevated toposurface. If you are in plan view, the sketch lines are in the view until you finish the sketch, then they "dissolve" out of the view. The finished sketch is on the elevated toposurface. We have hidden the toposurfaces in the view, and also associated them with worksets that were turned off in the view. It seems to make no difference. They end up on the surface that is not visible in the view. I've even turned off all toposurfaces in the view, then added a subregion. As long as the sketch was entirely within the toposurface boundary, and not intersecting another subregion, the sketch completed, and the subregion dissapeared from the view, as it was hidden. Going to another view where the toposurface is visible, the new region is indeed there, and on the "latest" toposurface.

The last thing we did was add a pad, and it too connected to the upper toposurface. It definitely appears that the last toposurface created "wins".

I received an updated DWG file from our Civil Eng. that included the new proposed grading. I made another toposurface from that file. It now is the recieient of all new toposurface embellishments. Seems to confirm workflow.

So we are now testing ways to control the recipient toposurface. Our latest idea is to copy to the clipboard the one we want to add subregions or a pad to, then delete it from the file. Then do a paste aligned, in the same place, so it is now the "newest" toposurface in the file. This seems to work. Adding subregions and pads to the file now come onto the toposurface that was paste aligned, as it is the newest one created in the file.

By the way, Cliff, I'll be in St. Louis the tail end of next week. See what you can do to order some good weather for my daughter's graduation!

Al

[Bimboozled]

Does anyone know if any improvements have been made in this topic? Running into this issue tonight. First time it's come up in my 14 years using Revit, so I suspect it's not a very squeaky wheel...