creating a road matching site mesh contours

[Anonymous]

I have created a small mesh approx 3 ac (US), for an existing site for a building renovation. I have contoured it, and have the outline for a road that is on site, but can not figure out a simple way to create the road. I want it to follow the contours of the mesh, as well as having it depressed 8" to show curb materials. I have tried the LONG way on a much larger project/mesh, and do not have the time for such a process. (Copying the mesh and removing unnecessary items-this took many many hours).

There has got to be an easier way to do this. Right? Please advise. Thanks !

AC 7.0v3 • MacOS9.2 • 288 MB RAM • PM 8500/180

[Anonymous]

cdsipes wrote:
There has got to be an easier way to do this. Right?

I don't think so.

Architerra 2 might give you some good results, but if you only use ArchiCAD, you'll have to divide your mesh to create the road !

These divisions shouldn't take hours, if you use 2D fills to define the area you want to keep and use the + / - tools in the mesh editing palette.

[Anonymous]

Of course Architerra has actual road tools and stuff, but there is a way to make decent roads that is not too troublesome.

1. Adjust all the grading as accurately as possible. It will be more of a pain to do later.

2. Make two (additional) copies of your terrain. Put one on a hidden layer in case you need the original again. The other two will become the new terrain and the road.

3. Use the subtraction tool in the pet palette to remove the non-road areas from one mesh and the road areas from the other. This will leave you with two or more pieces that fit to gether to make up your basic site model.

This method leaves the road mass as deep as the surrounding ground which looks odd if their materials are different in section. Changing only the surface material of the road section probably looks best. If you want to get really fancy you could try using SEOs to subtract a thinner roadway from the terrain, but I can't vouch for the reliability of this.

[Anonymous]

Matthew

Great advice once again. Problem though. Road was created easily- no problems. But, subtracting the road from the mesh leaves me with just the selection boxes for the contours, not the contour lines nor the ridges showing in plan and the mesh does not show in 3D. Why would that be?

Part of the road ends on the end of the mesh. The other 2 parts end in the mesh (imagine a Y). Anyway I get the "intersection with boundary error" each time I try it, along with no countour lines, etc.

How am I screwing this up? How the heck can I get the main mesh to work with the road subtracted?

TIA

AC7.0v3 • MacOS9.2 • PM8500/180 • 288MB RAM

[Djordje]

cdsipes wrote:
How am I screwing this up? How the heck can I get the main mesh to work with the road subtracted?

Try the non-SEO way - copy the mesh, use Polygon editing to subtract excess (or the road itself).

There is quite a tutorial on this on ArchiGuide, the matter was discussed about a year ago.

Maybe all of the fuss is worth 175 Euros? 😉