Determining Displaced Volume

[Chris Grantham]

Does anyone know if there is any way to determine the volume of mesh? I am trying to figure out how much export fill I am going to have for a permit. Currently I have the site created as a mesh and the building sitting in it at the appropriate height. I just need to figure out the volume of the intersection between the two. Please help me to not do math! 😉

-Chris

[Thomas Holm]

Select the mesh and Windows>Palettes>Element Information

[Chris Grantham]

Thanks Thomas, I never noticed that palette before!
That gives me the entire volume of the mesh... how can I figure out the amount that will be displaced by the building?

[Thomas Holm]

Well, this calcuation isn't something I do on a daily basis, but you could try selecting the lowest floor slab (or foundation) of the building in a section and SEO it (Design>Solid Element Operations, subtraction with upwards extrusion) from the mesh and then check the Info palette again. I think it will work.

[Chris Grantham]

Thanks Thomas, but unfortunately it still reads as the entire mesh.

Any other ideas?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Chris wrote:
Thanks Thomas, but unfortunately it still reads as the entire mesh.

Any other ideas?

Works perfectly for me, Chris. Check your 3D to verify that you did the subtraction - the difference between the original mesh volume and the final volume is your displacement. Also - are you sure you clicked on the volume button in the Element Info palette?

Another way that just worked fine for me now and does not require the subtraction is to duplicate the mesh, duplicate the lowest slab (or create one) - both on a normally invisible layer of course - make the slab tall enough to be stick out of your mesh completely, and then use the Intersect operation of the SEOp palette. The resulting piece of mesh will have the volume of your displacement.

Often, I use two meshes anyway - the survey mesh, and then an editable site mesh that I adjust to show fill. Subtracting one from the other leaves the fill - for which ArchiCAD instantly gives the volume. I use different cut fills for each so that fill vs original soil shows up in section. Sometimes I use a slightly different grass material on one vs the other, too, to see where fill is going in OpenGL and renders (obviously working renders, not presentation).

Cheers,
Karl

[Chris Grantham]

Okay that worked... Thanks for your help.

-Chris