Compare Surfaces/Report Surfaces Through XREFFED Models

[Jeff@BOC]

All,

I am trying to refine our process for doing volume calculations. I am wondering if it is possible to calculate cut and fill volumes from referenced models in a host model.

I created three .DWG's. One with a flat surface, a second with a mounded surface and a third into which I XREFFED the other two. I made sure that the elevation for the flat surface met the bottom of the mound and then created DATASHORTCUTS from the two referenced files. I can see them listed in the host .DWG and can choose them as surfaces when I run the REPORTSURFACEVOLUME command. The cut is 0 which I would expect, but the fill is also 0.

Is it possible to do this kind of calculation across referenced files? Am I missing some small nuance that makes all the difference?

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

[BlackBox]

I'm not sure that I understand you fully... You're both DREF the surfaces, and XREF their source into the same drawing?

In any event... Did you correctly specify your 'base' surface as your flat surface, and your 'comparison' surface as your mound?

[Jeff@BOC]

This is a the structure:

FlatSurface.DWG - Drawing file containing simple flat surface.

MoundSurface.DWG - Drawing file containing a mounded surface.

HostDrawing - FlatSurface and MoundSurface drawings xreffed into this file.

All DWG's are in a single test folder with a subfolder for Data Shortcuts. The Data Shortcuts Project folder and the Data Shortcuts Working folder is set to the subfolder. I created Data Shortcuts from the FlatSurface and MoundSurface files. I brought those links into the HostDrawing and ran the reporting tool against the surfaces linked from the 2 surface drawings.

The base surface was specified as the flat surface.

Does that make more sense?

[BlackBox]

Thanks for clarifying your steps....

Does that make more sense?

No, not particularly; I do not understand why you would also XREF the DREF source drawings in order to perform volume calculations.

[cadtag]

seems that the simplest approach would be to have nothing in the HostDrawing except datareferences to the shortcuts. Having the same surface(s) as both XRef and DRef is confusing things.

[Jeff@BOC]

The problem I was having was due in large part to user error (misunderstanding). I assumed the in order to DREF I had to XREF. Not so, as both of you BlackBox and Cadtag have pointed out. After re-reading the help files (kind of cryptic) and some experimentation, I was able to create the DREFs. The mounds we are getting data on are not consistently aligned to a site. I also incorrectly assumed that if I XREFFED and moved the mounds to the site, that the DREFs would line up. In the end, I had to move the mounds in their original files to the site, then create the DREFs. Once I did that, I could utilize the Data Shortcuts in any file regardless of XREF status.

Thanks for your patience.

Jeff

[BlackBox]

No worries; we all start somewhere... Glad you got it sorted.

Cheers