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View Full Version : Toposurface Creation Tip



sbrown
2005-03-24, 04:17 AM
Let say you have a hand drawn site contour plan that you want to model. You can try putting hundreds of little points along the lines and you may get what you want but probably not. So heres the way I do it.

1. create a level for each major contour elevation(ie. every 10')
2. create a site plan in which you can see all these levels from the top.
3. using model lines(splines) trace your image setting the work plane to the appropriate level.
4. continue step 3 until you have a 3d contour map of lines at the appropriate levels
5. export the 3d view to dwg.
6. Import the dwg origin to origin in the site plan view
7. create topo surf using imported dwg.

There you go.

Joef
2005-03-24, 05:11 AM
Thanks for the tip Scott. Is there any reason you wouldn't do the whole thing in AutoCAD? You can just draw the polyline and set its the elevation in the properties box. You can always offset the polylines in AutoCAD if some of the contours are pretty simple. Just wondering if there is an advantage to having the original elevations set up in Revit. Thanks.

Joe

SCShell
2005-03-24, 01:15 PM
Hey there,

For those of us who don't use or own Autocad, this tip rocks! Thanks Scott!
Steve

J. Grouchy
2005-03-24, 02:01 PM
Yet another example of something obvious that none of us thought of because it involved a couple extra steps. Just goes to show that sometimes what may seem like the quickest way ends up being less useful than a longer way.

Joef
2005-03-24, 03:18 PM
Sorry Scott, I misunderstood the export to dwg step. I thought you were opening the file in AutoCAD. This is an excellent tip if you don't have AutoCAD! It's an excellent tip even if you do have AutoCAD.

Joe

sbrown
2005-03-24, 04:07 PM
Yes this tip was for those who don't have acad. The other beauty of this is you now have true contour lines if the topo surf isn't quite right.