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Why is my takeoff report not generating an original ground surface based on the contours I categorized in the "Orignal" tab?

  • 1.  Why is my takeoff report not generating an original ground surface based on the contours I categorized in the "Orignal" tab?

    Posted 08-14-2020 08:19


    I'm attempting to create a takeoff report and I believe that I have everything set up correctly, however, the original ground surface is not being built off of the contours I've given it. All of the site improvement quantities are being generated but the mass earthwork quantities are coming up as zero because the original surface is not being built. Is there something I need to do different for this to work?

     

    P.S. The contours I'm trying to use were generated off a surface that I received from an engineer so I was not directly given the contours I want to use for the original ground surface. I'm not sure if this makes a difference.

     

    • Is it because my contours are polylines and not linestrings? If so how do I convert multiple polylines to linestrings?



  • 2.  Re: Why is my takeoff report not generating an original ground surface based on the contours I categorized in the "Orignal" tab?

    Posted 08-16-2020 10:53

    I just tried what I think is your workflow - you created a surface, then created contours and then tried to use those contours to create an Original ground Surface using the Takeoff workflow. I can see your issue here - it looks like lines that start out as contours cannot be used for Takeoff for some reason. You can however do the following

     

    1) Build your surface as you did

    2) Run the Explode Surface command - this is a TML command (call me on +1 720 323 0481 / email me alan.sharp@rockpilesolutions.com) if you need help on this

    3) This will create a set of lines and points on the defined layer for the exploded data - this layer you can add to the Original Ground category and it will work just fine.

     

    You could also export the contours that you created to DXF/DWG and then reimport them and that will clear whatever blocker is on those lines from a Takeoff perspective

     

     

    The following notes were my first look through this and are likely not needed now but I have left them in case you need them - I will log the issue in with the contour lines not working (that is an unusual workflow and likely untested)

     

    Are the lines 3D lines (check their elevations in the properties of the lines).

     

    The Takeoff Surfaces will form from Polylines or Linestrings provided that they are 3D. 

     

    Once you have Categorized Layers you need to hit the Build Surfaces button - for Takeoff that is the way that you build or rebuild surfaces after a change - they do not rebuild automatically.

     

    If you open the view in 3D can you see the Original Ground Surface? If Yes - then look at the properties of the Original ground surface - find Surfaces in project Explorer, find Original ground and then click on it to see its properties - take a look at how the Plan View Display settings are defined - you likely want the Plan and 3D Views set something like this if you want to see the Triangles in Plan View. The Triangles (wireframe) are turned off by default on Existing Ground which may be why you cannot see it.

     

     

    Also check the properties for the Summary information as shown below - If there are no triangles or vertices ar a Min / Max elevation then you have no Original ground surface yet 

     

     

    If these don't help then email me the project or the contours as a VCL file and I will take a look to see what is going on. Apologies - I don't know how much you know about TBC so not sure how much you know at this point.

     

    Try selecting the contours manually and use the Create Surface command - do they form a surface that way? If they do then there is nothing wrong with the data, so it must be the categorization of the layers that is off in Takeoff.

     

    If the lines are TBC Contours then you may want to use the Explode command to explode them out into Polylines 

     

    Let me know - you can email me at alan.sharp@rockpilesolutions.com if you want to send me the file privately.

     

    Alan



  • 3.  Re: Why is my takeoff report not generating an original ground surface based on the contours I categorized in the "Orignal" tab?

    Posted 08-17-2020 16:20

    We had a look at this today and the Contour lines will be able to be added to an Existing Surface if you need to in next release. I thought about this some more after my last response - you may not know this, but if all you wanted to do was make an imported TIN model the Existing Ground in Takeoff, you can categorize at least one layer as Original Ground or Finished Design and that will force Takeoff to create those two surfaces. If you have an OG surface TIN that you want to use, and that is all the data that you want to use for the OG then you can simply use Add and Remove Surface Members and add the TIN Surface to the Original ground surface (created by Takeoff (which will have been empty) - this will make the TIN the OG and now you can do your Takeoff Calcs. You can do the same for the Design surface. You may struggle to apply Subgrade Adjustments to the TINs in the absence of breaklines around the features, but you can use the imported surfaces to make your Original Ground if needed.

     

    Alan