Creating holes in Polygons

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Ross Bichener posted 03-13-2023 03:04

I'm trying to see if it's possible to create a polygon and then be able to punch holes through it so that there's an internal surface inside of the polygon that I can use to snap another polygon to. Below there's two layers that overlap each other (Figure 1) and often sit below the layer I want them both to exist at (Figure 2). I want the internal green polygons to be able to snap to a boundary inside of the orange polygon so that they create a single smooth polygon together.

(Figure 1)

(Figure 2)

I can technically create these holes with the "tracked Regions" function but the act of doing so converts the orange polygon into a LineString and automatically sets the elevation to 0 (Figure 3). And I need to export as a Polygon and with correct elevation.

(Figure 3)

I also can do the same by turning the bounding orange polygon into a surface (Figure 4) and the using the "Add/Remove Surface Boundaries" function to create these holes, but again, I need to export as a polygon not as a surface.

(Figure 4)

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Ross

Matthew Pitt posted 03-13-2023 08:51

I can't see a way that you'd be able to do that with a polygon, as technically a polygon is defined as a flat or plane, two-dimensional closed shape bounded with straight sides.

The only way I see that working is if you added segments into and out of the "holes" on top of each other from the external bounding line.

There are multiple ways to make holes within elevated surfaces, my go to being setting the linestring property Sharpness to Sharp and texture boundary and placing a null texture inside.

Hope you do find a workflow for this but I can't think of one.