Does anyone know how exactly "automatic" determines terrain height?

[Renerabbitt]

I would just love to have a better understanding of exactly how automatic determines terrain height

[Alaskan_Son]

Click the Help button while you're in that dialog and then follow the link.  You'll find this:

 

"The program automatically positions Floor 1 a set distance above the terrain. To do this, it first calculates the average elevation of the building footprint's perimeter and then assigns that average elevation to the center point of the building footprint. Finally, it adds the thickness of the floor platform to this value . If a foundation is present, it also adds the thickness of any sill plates  plus either 6” (150 mm) or 8” (200 mm) depending on the foundation type. The resulting value, referred to as the automatic Subfloor Height Above Terrain, is how far the default height of Floor 1 is above sea level in the current plan. See Foundations and the Terrain."

 

[Michael_Gia]

My question is, why doesn’t Chief have the standard elevation drop-down for all dialog boxes like the one in the majority of the dialogue boxes?
 

Edit:  gee, I wonder who downvoted me?…

[Renerabbitt]

18 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

Click the Help button while you're in that dialog and then follow the link.  You'll find this:

 

"The program automatically positions Floor 1 a set distance above the terrain. To do this, it first calculates the average elevation of the building footprint's perimeter and then assigns that average elevation to the center point of the building footprint. Finally, it adds the thickness of the floor platform to this value . If a foundation is present, it also adds the thickness of any sill plates  plus either 6” (150 mm) or 8” (200 mm) depending on the foundation type. The resulting value, referred to as the automatic Subfloor Height Above Terrain, is how far the default height of Floor 1 is above sea level in the current plan. See Foundations and the Terrain."

 

Sorry, I thought I had looked and clearly had not. Thank you

[Alaskan_Son]

3 minutes ago, Renerabbitt said:

Sorry, I thought I had looked and clearly had not. Thank you

You bet. I’m suspecting you just didn’t click on the link. The title doesn’t make it very clear that it’s going to describe what you were looking for.

[Hammer7]

Thank you, dealing with this very issue for a tight sloped lot with lots of restrictions on setbacks and heights.

 

[Renerabbitt]

2 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

You bet. I’m suspecting you just didn’t click on the link. The title doesn’t make it very clear that it’s going to describe what you were looking for.

You're exactly right...and since I have you and appreciate your take on suggestions..does this one make sense to you:

 

[GeneDavis]

I'm with that on a garage door if present doing terrain autoset at its bottom, but how do you want it when there's no garage door?

 

It sets the elevation 8" below slab top for a simple one-level (by that I mean the main floor is all at zero) plan when mono slab is the foundation.  When it is a stemwall foundation, and of course a framed floor structure, it sets the elevation 6" under stemwall top.  The concrete stemwall top, not the top elevation of the mudsill.

[Kbird1]

8 hours ago, Renerabbitt said:

I would just love to have a better understanding of exactly how automatic determines terrain height
 

 

Don't forget about the KB when you have questions too.......

 

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00938/how-the-height-of-floors-relate-to-the-height-of-the-terrain.html

 

M.

[Alaskan_Son]

On 10/6/2022 at 8:49 AM, Renerabbitt said:

You're exactly right...and since I have you and appreciate your take on suggestions..does this one make sense to you:

 

 

It did at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it wouldn't actually change my current workflow hardly at all.  The offset would vary based on foundation type, sub-floor thickness, and joist depth at a minimum meaning I would almost certainly end up having to manually change that number for every plan anyway...which in turn means that I might as well just manually change like we already have to now. 

 

If you're always working with a flat lot and always use the same foundation/garage slab, joist, and subfloor specs, then you might as well just change that Subfloor Height above Terrain setting in your template plan.  Again, just like we already can.

 

If you're dealing with a sloping lot or dealing with multiple garage slab heights than there's no way around it, you would need to set differently for each individual scenario. 

 

Bottom line, I can't think of any situation where I wouldn't still be going through the same number of steps with or without a manual offset setting.

[MoeGia]

I would like to see a graphic within the terrain dialog box similar to the story pole dialog. We could set terrain to lowest slab, top of garage slab, or with reference to the top of subfloor, whichever makes most sense for the site.  Or preferably, multiple locations if we want Chief to do the magic.  Maybe that would remove some of the manual work?

 

Chief's terrain build function has always been confusing.  Why set the terrain height from the center of the building?  I understand they have to start somewhere, but that location ONLY matters on a flat lot.  The terrain relates to the perimeter and that is where the calculations should be made from.

 

It's been a long time since terrain was worked on; a tune up would be welcomed.