Another Grading ?

[jrosenbaum]

I am not finding a way to incorporate multiple footprints (some with daylighting that overlaps) into a single grading object within Civil Design 05. Is this correct, or am I missing something?

[Phil Ferguson]

To the best of my knowledge, this is correct. It is also my understanding that multiple grading objects can be "grouped together" with Civil 3D...the last time I saw this attempted, the workstation locked-up.

[jrosenbaum]

That doesn't sound promising. The work around I've come up with is to create grading objects for each building pad, create contours from those grading objects, manually edit all of the overlapping contours and then create a surface from the edited contours to get cut/fill quantities. I s there an easier way?

[Phil Ferguson]

My approach is about as "hybrid" as I can imagine. Most of my work is in single-family subdivisions with bldg pads starting within 50' of the street. As a result, once I have set my proposed profiles, I run templates for the roadway and as far as the grading is "typical" onto the lot. Once I have this done, I generate a surface from the templates (if for no other reason) so I can get a 3D-polyline that I can either use to create other breaklines or as a starting point for my grading objects. Most of our "typical" grading scenarios are pre-determined depending on whether I have a cut-slope or fill-slope and the parameters required to achieve "daylight". Once I have all of the grading objects created, I create breaklines from them in a copy of the original proposed surface. This creates a TON of breaklines and I'm sure there is a better way but this method seems to be working for now.

We used to try to apply templates to "over-lot" grading as well (and in some cases, still do) but I like the feedback that I get from grading objects. I know right away whether a scenario is going to work. I seem to be able to move faster as well.

Another approach that I have used a couple of times is to create roadway and over-lot grading in the described manner...only I'm using a typical "basic" grading scenario for all lots. After I have done this, I create individual grading objects for each bldg pad and eventually create individual surfaces from these grading objects. These surfaces, I then paste into a copy of the original proposed surface (you have to be careful how many surfaces you try to paste into the original). I have found this approach particularly useful for multi-family-building projects and I like that I can balance the earthwork with the original "over-all" surface and then balance each individual or a group of bldg pads on their own.