Set a maximum building height using terrain plane?

[JillGold]

I live in Los Angeles, and building regulations in my area stipulate that the height of a house needs to be contained within a "maximum height envelope". The idea is that you drag the terrain plane up about 30' or so, to create a maximum height plane, and no part of the building can extend above that plane. Architecturals submitted to the City need to show this plane. (See Image example here)

 

There's a pretty straight-forward way to do this in AutoCAD. Does Chief Architect have a similar feature? If not, does anyone know of a work-around? 

 

Chief Architect Premier X10

Build 20.3.0.54OSX

Running on Mac

[Chopsaw]

So you are trying to duplicate the red dashed line in the section view ?  Just draw your average terrain section line and copy it up the 30' and change the line style should work.

 

If it was really complex you could actually convert your terrain to a symbol and move it up 30'.

[JillGold]

1 hour ago, Chopsaw said:

So you are trying to duplicate the red dashed line in the section view ?  Just draw your average terrain section line and copy it up the 30' and change the line style should work.

 

If it was really complex you could actually convert your terrain to a symbol and move it up 30'.

 

Hi, thanks for the response

 

Ah, awesome! I was able to convert the terrain to a symbol by selecting the terrain then going to Tools> Symbol> Convert to Symbol.

 

Now to figure out how to "cut" the symbol so that it only includes the area within my setbacks...

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by JillGold

[JillGold]

32 minutes ago, solver said:

Please check your messages.

Thank you

[lbuttery]

I used a transparent box to show building height and the setbacks

 

Lew

[Alaskan_Son]

My suggested method is somewhat of a hybrid between what Eric and Lew have suggested.  Please note that this is only what I would do in X10.  It will work in X12 as well but X12 has some additional features that change things or otherwise make certain steps unnecessary:

1. Copy/Paste Hold Position your Lot Perimeter polyline.
2. Convert Polyline to Terrain Feature and set both the Height and Thickness to match your Max Building Height. NOTE:  If you only care to see the uppermost limit then just leave the thickness at zero and you'll get something like Eric was suggesting when you're done; otherwise, you'll end up with something a little more like what Lew has shown.
3. If you have Hide Terrain Intersected By Building toggled on in your Terrain Specification dialog then temporarily toggle it off.
4. Take an elevation view of your Elevation Region being sure to place your camera somewhere outside of it. 
5. Switch to your All Off Layer Set and make sure all layers are turned off except for your Terrain Features layer and your Cuurent CAD layer (probably "CAD, Default").
6. Create a CAD Detail From View.
7. Hit Control+A, and click Make CAD Block.  This will make quick and easy work of finding the highest elevation of your Terrain feature.
8. Activate your Place Point tool and double click at the top of your new CAD Block.  This should simultaneously place a Temporary Point and open it's dialog.
9. Under Current Location, copy the Y position value.
10. Go back to your Elevation View, and click Tools>Symbol>Make Symbol
11. Place the symbol in your plan and use Point To Point Move to position it exactly over your Terrain Feature.
12. Open the Symbol up, set Elevation Reference to Absolute, and paste your previously copied value into the Elevation at Top field.
13. Open up a 3D view, switch to Vector View and make sure the Elevation region and your new symbol are in the exact same position.  Assuming they are, just delete the Terrain feature and toggle Hide Terrain Intersected By Building back on.

 

You can now use some combination of layer display settings, material settings, Glass House Rendering Technique, Back Clipped section views, etc. to get what your after.  I know that looks like a complicated process, but it only takes a minute if you're familiar with the tools; otherwise it might take a few minutes

[DzinEye]

2 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

I know that looks like a complicated process

I was ready to take a nap after I read that description