Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> lines on topo surface

col9000

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Hi,

I'd like to get some advice about projecting a site plan onto a revit topo surface, to see what methods people have found most useful. I have a relatively complicated site plan done up in AutoCAD and I would like it to lay it over a revit topo-surface so that it is visible in its real location in 3D views. Using revit split surfaces / subregions is not really an option as it would be too time consuming.

Is there a good way to do this using other software, maybe sketchup or 3DS max? Any other solutions?

Thanks!

C

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WWHub

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Too bad it wasn't 3D to begin with .... but then it was CAD.

I doubt that you will find anything to drape a 2D image over a 3D surface and be able to use it in Revit but it will be interesting to see if anybody has some suggestions.  We split the topo surface for major areas.

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mbsteve

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Take a look at SiteWorks, which is an add on by EaglePoint I think. It might be useful to you. You can build all of the required roads driveways etc. in you site in Revit. There are numerous ways to do this. As WW, said you will want to get familiar with site regions. If you need more help give us a follow up question.

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itsmyalterego

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We use a lot of sub-regions in our projects.  They can really bog down the topo however, if you site is measured in miles. 

Here's something I took to the extreme which I don't exactly recommend....  Since we have 4 projects within a couple miles of each other, we decided to roughly model several square miles of town, and link in our project files on top.  It might develop well, but the trees are obviously a little off the hook, and making any changes to topo or trees take a couple minutes.  All of the asphalt is one extraordinarily complex sub-region. 

So any time there is a change in the topo or anything affecting topo, revit is forced to rethink the sub-region properties/area/whatever at the same time.  It's the #1 contributor to sitework slowdown, as I learned by deleting it and trying the same tasks.

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col9000

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Hi... thanks for the advice...

@itmyalterego - That site plan looks pretty mental... Subregions are obviously pretty limited in terms of doing up a detailed site plan, I've used them before and it wasnt fun... those giant sub-regions are really unmanageable. Im sure I saw someone map a 2D image onto a 3D topography in 3DS max years ago... I dont have or know how to use 3DS max though unfortunately, so I can't really confirm that. I've seen tutorials where google earth topographies are brought into sketch-up with both the topo and the surface image being retained, so maybe there's something along those lines that could be done.

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itsmyalterego

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well, you can actually copy and paste imported autocad lines as your boundary for regions.  That's largely what I did for that.  Import DWG, explode, select all the lines and Ctrl-C, start boundary, paste, finish boundary. 

Sometimes lines drawn in autocad are overlapping or have gaps, however, so there can be a little maintenance work.  But it's accurate from top down.

But for images, that's not really an option.... UNLESS...  Hmm.  I just had a good idea.  You make your site plan/Aerial image jpg at a 1:1 scale.  You can then assign this as a material, and give the material tile size the same dimensions as your jpg, and then apply that material to your topo surface.  I will upload an example in 10 minutes.

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itsmyalterego

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BEHOLD!

"Reverest"

 Obviously you don't have to be extreme and the gradient will cause a lot less distortion on any real site plan/building site.  But that's a principle someone could try exploring further if they have some ambition.

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col9000

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Looks promising... That's the render appearance that you used right? I don't have much experience with that, but I know you can't put a hatch pattern on topo (that would have been the handy way to do it probably). I assume it's not going to be so easy to position it correctly, but I'll see...

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itsmyalterego

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correct -- that's the "realistic" view in 2011.  Or for renderings.  In other views you would have to rely on imported images. 

Also, positioning could be difficult without a hatch to rotate it with.  you might have to tweak the rotation on the material to get it right if you go this route. 

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WWHub

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itsmyalterego - that material was an interesting suggestion.  I'm going to have to play with that to see if we can use it....

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