Help with Contouring Issues

[jsteinhauer]

Hi All,

I am wondering why my model's topography is not behaving. I linked in a CAD site plan, scaled it to the correct size then drew a 'Toposurface' on top of the lines. All fine and dandy, but the contours are not following my points. Is there anything I can do to get them to match up with the CAD file?

Thanks in advance,
Jeff S.

[luigi]

Hi All,

I am wondering why my model's topography is not behaving. I linked in a CAD site plan, scaled it to the correct size then drew a 'Toposurface' on top of the lines. All fine and dandy, but the contours are not following my points. Is there anything I can do to get them to match up with the CAD file?

Thanks in advance,
Jeff S.

Did you manually set the points from the topo.dwg? It looks like the contours from the dwg are all flat, not in the proper elevation.

I will try a few more things, but the immediate culprit is the fact that there aren't enough points along the contours...if you copy some of these points then it is more accurate....will send you another post soon...

[jsteinhauer]

Yes, the contours from the CAD file were flat, and I manually switched them to the correct elevation.

[luigi]

Well, it looks like the main location it doesn't like is that huge open area at elevation 21'

It's trying to figure out the triangulation and getting confused there....I was able to get the rest of the topography to match the site by modifying the acad file to actually have the elevations...it's actually much easier to prep the acad file, then to manually modify each set of points (or better yet, all surveyors are able to give you the 3D contour, instead of only the 2D, so have them give you the 3D contours) I also added a few additional points along the cad contour when the triangulation wasn't perfect.

But ultimately, that large area isn't working perfectly. I suggest to use the imported topo file for showing the contours, and use the topo just for the 3d views.

You should report this to autodesk, so maybe they will increase the accuracy of the topo tool.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help....

[jsteinhauer]

Well, it looks like the main location it doesn't like is that huge open area at elevation 21'

It's trying to figure out the triangulation and getting confused there....I was able to get the rest of the topography to match the site by modifying the acad file to actually have the elevations...it's actually much easier to prep the acad file, then to manually modify each set of points (or better yet, all surveyors are able to give you the 3D contour, instead of only the 2D, so have them give you the 3D contours) I also added a few additional points along the cad contour when the triangulation wasn't perfect.

But ultimately, that large area isn't working perfectly. I suggest to use the imported topo file for showing the contours, and use the topo just for the 3d views.

You should report this to autodesk, so maybe they will increase the accuracy of the topo tool.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help....


Thanks Luigi,

I did a similar step in cad by placing the topo's to their proper height, but it still didn't like the open space as you noticed too. Kind of a bummer, I didn't think this site was this difficult. Stupid parking lots, being so flat. What is this 'Points File' option?

Jeff S.

[luigi]

The surveyor is able to give you a 3D points file...but I didn't find this so successful....but worth a try...

Thanks Luigi,

I did a similar step in cad by placing the topo's to their proper height, but it still didn't like the open space as you noticed too. Kind of a bummer, I didn't think this site was this difficult. Stupid parking lots, being so flat. What is this 'Points File' option?

Jeff S.

[aggockel50321]

Yes, the contours from the CAD file were flat, and I manually switched them to the correct elevation.

Since you raised the countours to their elevation, did you try creating the topo using the "imported instance" option, and then selecting the layer(s) the contours reside on?

May give you a more accurate topo...

[jsteinhauer]

Since you raised the countours to their elevation, did you try creating the topo using the "imported instance" option, and then selecting the layer(s) the contours reside on?

May give you a more accurate topo...

Yes, this was a little better, and a lot faster. But, I was still having issues with the Revit contour lines not following the CAD file. Some instances they were not even close. I don't know if having a better contour map will help. I could ask the surveyor for a map of the entire area, so I could get closed polygons, but I think, they would think, I was insane...and maybe I am a little.

Maybe I should try jumping back a version. It worked well in 2008, for another project.

Thanks for your assistance,

Jeff S.