What is the suggested method to stop/toggle the "Finished design/Apply Site Improvements" calculation from occurring with every change made to a surface member. I have come up with a way but I was hoping an easier/quicker way exists that I am missing. It really slows down the process when making changes, etc after "Simple Subgrade Adjustments" have been applied.
Once I have my FG surface (note: not using takeoff surfaces yet at this point in the process) created for Machine Control and Layout purposes, on occasion, I will use the Takeoff routines to create a "Simple Subgrade" surface for upload to Propeller or other uses. I do this by adding the my FG surface as a member of the "Finished Design" surface and only categorize the layers I need to define the subgrade boundaries. I figure that will insure that the Finished Design surface is always in sync with the my FG surface regardless of what layers are categorized as Design. So far, it appears to work as expected. If there is an easier way to accomplish this other then using the Design tab please let me know. Note; there are members of the FG surface that are also on layers that are categorized on the Design tab. (I understand the functionality and purpose of using the Category tabs to define the surface members but I have found that workflow somewhat cumbersome/limiting and find it much more efficient and less chance of error to create members and add/rebuild my working surface at my will.)
The only way I have found to stop the subject calculation from occurring, is to re-assign any layers on the Design tab to the Unused tab. I also tried to simply set any/all takeoff and isopatch surfaces to "Show Empty" but that doesn't do the trick.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
-Rich
Richard
If I wasn't doing a Takeoff I would use the Add Site Improvement command to add SIs to a FG Surface and then when ready would use the Create Subgrade Surface command to create the Earthworks Surface. Once created each change you make will try to recompute the FG and the SG Surface(s) but you can change the properties of the FG and SG Surfaces from Rebuild Auto to Rebuild by User - that way you get to control when the surfaces get rebuilt. This method shades the FG surface with the SI color as you apply them - so you can see what you have / havent done - however you have to create SIs for the different depths that you are applying - I will often create a Material called Subgrade and then create an SI for all the depths of subgrade that I typically encounter. You can create one for every 1' of depth if needed (i.e. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 etc. so you have whatever you need when you need it. I have this in my MSI library so it is always there in my project. You can set a different color for each subgrade depth if you need to. Then you just Apply SI and drop a point with a name on the SITE - SI Markers Layer and pick the Site Improvement you want (depth of subgrade e.g. 6" Subgrade) and it will shade the area according to the color defined. when you have applied you SIs use the Create Subgrade Surface and pick "Bottom of Engineered Materials" to create the base of subgrade all over the project. then set the properties and Rebuild Method to control when they get rebuilt.
This should do what you want
Here is a link to a similar post but I dont think it covers all of the above
Click Here
Alan