Making curved roads with profile and ability to get its elevation

[yy]

Hi , 

I am currently working on a project which contains curved roads/paths sloped on two sides for drainage purposes but also their level changes along with the project. In the end, the road will contain some layering and profiles (ex. stone paving finish, compacted soil under, drainage channels on side etc. )  and I have to define spot elevations on a plan to share with the constructor. 

I have read/watch many different road making tutorials but surprisingly could not find what I have searched. 

- I can make roads by using a roof tool with composite layering and be able to control slope and easily give associated spot elevations but its not an easy process to redo when there is a change in the road shape or it is not possible to define a roof angled multiple ways (for ex. a road with the 2 percent drainage slope on both sides but also going down on a slope.)

- I can model the path with a mesh tool so I can achieve more flexible modelling and be able to give spot elevations but in this case, i had to calculate grading amount manually and can not use complex profiles for layering for section views. 

-With the beam or railing tool I can assign a road profile and draw along a line, which can be edited easily but shame that I could not get spot elevations from it.  Also with the morph tool can not get spot elevations. 

The tool I am searching for is to be able to extrude my road section a path, that i can modify its elevation and in the end getting spot elevations on plan view. 

I am using Archicad 25. 

Any ideas or suggestions? Many thanks in advance. 

[Emre Senoglu]

hello. i believe fellow forum user heimo has plenty of gdl objects that do exactly this. Have a look at these three links: 

One of Heimo’s road objects

His Bim Components profile 
Forum thread with some GDL objects by Heimo 

[DGSketcher]

I know from past experience that correct road design is a mathematically complex process and I can't say AC is set up to do road design, that's not to say you can't do the basics e.g. the spot levels. The links Emre mentions may be more suited for your needs, but you could also look at whether the SHELL TOOL might provide a solution. It seems to be the only tool you haven't tried! 😉 I was thinking ruled shells may be what you are looking for.

[yy]

Hi, 

Thank you both for the answers, amazed by the GDL objects developed and the graphical control interface, but still can't give basic spot elevations to the gdl objects as they always take 0 point as elevation. (I am sure there is a way tough)

I am about to research the ruled shells, never used them before thank you for pointing them.

I would model this on a different program as a  spline with its vertexes defining elevation points and extrusion of the road section along the spine. There are tools to do that in Archicad, but maybe the problem is the spot elevation tool s lack of gravity options

[Mahmoud Qenawi]

Hi, check this Russian YouTube video at min 15:00

https://youtu.be/ZLgcDBo4yo8

[yy]

Hi, Thank you, 

Yes, this is exactly how it should be modelled with the beam tool, but still, on the plan view, the spot elevation tool does not get associated levels from beams.