the clown sidewalk

[SHCanada2]

I have a house in which there is a sidewalk which from east to west declines, so I put in elevation lines reflecting that. But the terrain on the house inclines from the sidewalk and the customer wants retaining walls and what not. When I try and add regions or lines to shape the lawn area, the sidewalk becomes a clown show.

 

I put a narrow elevation region on either side of the retaining wall, which helps but that is not the best in real life because it should follow the slope of the sidewalk (as opposed to a fixed elevation)

 

Any advice?

 

[Gawdzira]

The video posted by @Mark3D in this thread has a great clarification on how to get good results by simplifying and avoiding overlapping data.

 

[SHCanada2]

interestingly, I thought I saw a different video of his on another thread and added a question today, but now I cannot find it. Maybe the author deleted it.

 

Anyway, this one was helpful. I don't have any overlapping data but if I change the terrain surface smoothing to low or linear, that makes it better. Ironically I changed early on to be high, to fix another issue.  So I will need to see if that issue comes back.

 

He had an interesting tidbit that sometimes the elevation line cannot be too close to an elevation region, presumably if the elevation differences are too much.  But I'm not sure what the other option would be.

 

the clown show is better:

[Mark3D]

Share your plan you should get a solution

[Michael_Gia]

I would love to be able to create my terrain using 3D solids and then, simply convert 3D solid to terrain.

[DBCooper]

Just build it that way IRL.  I think the kids in the neighborhood will love it!

 

[SteveCanbury]

Maybe it's just me YMMV, I've always found it works better using 300 separate (slight exaggeration, but not really) Elevation Points vs using Regions or Lines. Gives a lot more flexibility, at the cost of taking forever and feeling like Prison Sex.

[JonathanK]

Are you using any terrain breaks?

 

In the past, I've "ignored" the retaining wall tool, and just used terrain breaks and elevation lines/regions to get my terrain correct.  Then used solids to get my retaining walls.

 

Finally, make sure that your sidewalks are thick enough that your grass region isn't going to "bleed through" onto it.

[SHCanada2]

2 hours ago, JonathanK said:

In the past, I've "ignored" the retaining wall tool, and just used terrain breaks and elevation lines/regions to get my terrain correct.  Then used solids to get my retaining walls.

 

I just use a foundation wall, with a terrain region on either side to force a change to the correct elevation. I put a hole for the stairway, and put elevation regions on sides of the steps/landings to force the grade down.

 

I already sent it off, but I will post it tommorow as I'd like some feedback on how to get the sidewalk flat. and the region on this side of the retaining wall to follow the elevation of the sidewalk, but also slope towards the sidewalk so water is running to the sidewalk

 

Currently I have elevation lines perpendicular to the PL, which extend into the neighbor but end at the PL as I cannot change the elevations at the PL.

 

I do not do a whole lot of terrain work beyond some simple stuff, but when I do, I need to remind myself what cannot be changed, which in this case is elevations at PL, and number of steps for each section(to avoid a railing). everything else needs to work around that

Edited 6 hours ago by SHCanada2

[Renerabbitt]

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