How-to: terrain mesh

[Arcadia]

I want to know how I can trim the base of my mesh. I have my project zero set to a finished floor level of 99m and my 1st reference level at 0. When I put my mesh in I used a level of 0 to 1st reference level then put in my contour lines at the appropriate levels between 96m and 99.5m etc in relation to 1st reference level. This is all fine and the mesh shows at the right hieght in relation to my floor level. However I now have a mesh that is essentially a column 99m high. This makes 3D navigation a pain as when I use the orbit function it sometimes picks a spot in the middle of the mesh to rotate around instead of the model and I get wild swinging instead. Also when I export to VBE you sometimes drop in off the mesh and end up down at reference level which means you have a long way to fly up to floor level. How do I keep my levels at the correct 99m above reference (in other words without having to assign assumed levels) or whatever but then cut the base of the mesh so that is only say 2m below my lowest mesh level so it more manageable. Sorry for this long explanation!

[Anonymous]

Can you SEO the bottom and hide the operator on a hidden layer? Does the references still work?

You could also copy the mesh, drop the copy in the same place and adjust it's thickness. Hide the other mesh on a hidden layer but use it for the calculations while using the copy for 3D modeling.

[Anonymous]

zeropointreference wrote:
Can you SEO the bottom and hide the operator on a hidden layer? Does the references still work?

Yes.

[Arcadia]

I already tried the SEO option and it works fine except that in the 3 window I still get the swinging orbit sometimes when it centres on the terrain column even though it has been SEO'd.

Once you set it up correctly in the first place there is no problem.

[Anonymous]

Arcadia wrote:
I already tried the SEO option and it works fine except that in the 3 window I still get the swinging orbit sometimes when it centres on the terrain column even though it has been SEO'd.

It's probably still using the full height of the terrain to calculate the extents of the model. I've also found that the orbit function works great when nothing is selected (ie it pivots around the center of view) but when something is selected it pivots around the center of the extents.