Terrain - Steep Uphill Site

[TomBiggs]

Can anyone tell me what the trick to dealing with terrain in the case of a steep site.  The building steps up into the hillside, and at the top, fourth level, I want to have a flat area at the rear with a retaining wall at the back. Do I have to be in the lowest floor to model the site elements?  I'm guessing that is the case since all the site tools are greyed out when I go to upper floors.  One thing I just thought about is to have the upper floor as a reference floor when on the lowest floor where the site is linked.   Seems kind of counter intuitive, but if that's how Chief wants it then so be it.

[dshall]

Can anyone tell me what the trick to dealing with terrain in the case of a steep site.  The building steps up into the hillside, and at the top, fourth level, I want to have a flat area at the rear with a retaining wall at the back. Do I have to be in the lowest floor to model the site elements?  I'm guessing that is the case since all the site tools are greyed out when I go to upper floors.  One thing I just thought about is to have the upper floor as a reference floor when on the lowest floor where the site is linked.   Seems kind of counter intuitive, but if that's how Chief wants it then so be it.

A great question.  To sum up what I think the question is.......

 

If I have a four level house.....  where do I put the terrain?  I have a garage at level 1,  and I have patios at levels 2,3,&4 as I climb up the hill.......  so again,  how do I show patios and driveways at all four levels.

 

As a general rule,  I always put the terrain on level 1.  Even if I have walk out basement and garage and driveway at level above basement level.  (Note,  my basements are always on level one).  

 

So for the driveway on level 2 to show in  plan,  I need to use ref sets to show the driveway on level 2 even though it is drawn on level one because THE TERRAIN IS ON LEVEL ONE.

 

 

So here is the problem and the limitations....(I know if I use CAD blah blah blah everything is possible,  but I want things to be auto,  I HATE CAD......  IT IS NOT LIVE).....So here is the problem and the limitations....  in situations such as the scenario described above, to show patios in a plan even though the patio might be actually drawn on another level........  there is not a super good solution,  the super good solution will be available when CA gives us the ability to use more than one REF SET with a LAYOUT VIEW sent to layout.

 

CA NEEDS TO LET US USE MORE THAN ONE REF SET AND MORE THAT ONE LEVEL WITH SAID REF SET TO ANY VIEW SENT TO LAYOUT.............

[dshall]

......  One thing I just thought about is to have the upper floor as a reference floor when on the lowest floor where the site is linked.   Seems kind of counter intuitive, but if that's how Chief wants it then so be it.

I think you understand how this works and you probably understand a solution that will work best for you...... CONSIDERING THE LIMITATIONS YOU ARE FACED WITH.

[TomBiggs]

So I guess I'm working through this.   Here's what seems to work.   Chief only lets you mess with the site on the LOWEST floor only.   I drew foundation walls, and then made them invisible , telling the program not to put terrain in this area.  For retaining walls, I can't seem to add them on the upper floors, so I'll have to draw them while on the lowest floor only.   Guys, if there is a better workaround on this I would appreciate some input.  It seems the program wasn't intended for this steep site, because if it were, you would be able to modify the site from the level where the site interfaces with it.   In this case I want to walk out onto the site on the top most level.  

[dshall]

..... Chief only lets you mess with the site on the LOWEST floor only.  ......

 

Not true,  you mess with the site on the level the terrain is drawn.  You can put the terrain on any level therefore you choose the best level to manipulate the terrain.......  

 

I will beg off and let someone with more knowledge of terrains explain a possible workaround.

[TomBiggs]

Hey, Thanks for the advice,  Dshall. Frustrated a bit, I'm starting to miss Revit's simple site modelling, but I know once I figure CA out, I'll be stoked.

[TomBiggs]

Here is what I have concluded from my experience, and from talking with Tech Support, and searching the Web sources:  The program is really not the best tool for houses on extreme slopes:

• Walls on the other levels if set to Terrain retaining, do not retain terrain (?!).  I assume this is because they are not on the Site level. 
• The exterior walls on other levels do not blank out the terrain as they do on the Site level.

One last resort is probably to model the house without the terrain.   

[TomBiggs]

Note: I did try to put the terrain on the topmost level and terrain stays out of the interior floor areas for lower floors, but not out of a lower deck area that is above the garage on the lower level.   I'll go ahead and admit defeat on this.  I'll  probably just do the drawings in Revit, and then just use CA maybe for just doing the kitchens and bathrooms. 

[dshall]

Note: I did try to put the terrain on the topmost level and terrain stays out of the interior floor areas for lower floors, but not out of a lower deck area that is above the garage on the lower level.   I'll go ahead and admit defeat on this.  I'll  probably just do the drawings in Revit, and then just use CA maybe for just doing the kitchens and bathrooms. 

 

My son uses REVIT,  I can blow him out of the water using CA.  You must learn to use the terrain tools.  I can do just about any terrain in CA.  The only issues I was referring to was what happens when it comes to PLAN VIEWS,  i.e. what the plan view looks like without a lot of CAD work,  hence the request for better ref layer control.

 

I am sure there are some videos detailing how to work with terrain,  if interested,  I would recommend you watch them.

[dshall]

Note: I did try to put the terrain on the topmost level and terrain stays out of the interior floor areas for lower floors,.......

 

BTW,  for a two story house,  I bet I could put the terrain on LEVEL 26  and make it work.  

[DRAWZILLA]

yes you can

[Joe_Carrick]

You can copy/paste (hold position) the terrain objects to the other floors.  That makes them show in the Plan View but it also means that there are multiples and it could get messy if you are doing material takeoffs, area analysis, etc.  In that case you would need to suppress those extras from being counted.

[TomBiggs]

OK, guys.  Dshall, that is correct, you could put it on level 26, and yes, Drawzilla, you can.  si se puede.  I'm in a pretty good mood, since I discovered the "nuance" that now enables me to make my terrain work.  Real simple:  don't rotate it once you create it.  That's all I can figure.  The only thing I noticed was that when you have the box checked that keeps terrain out of the rooms, is that for the layers where the terrain is not placed, terrain still spills into the interior.  Any ideas as to why?  Assuming it's a minor bug, I can use the region or flatten tool and retain with walls like in the real world.

 

 

OK, so I guess I'll keep going in CA.  I honestly  didn't want to have to go to Revit for all the reasons Revit folks try to ignore.

[lbuttery]

you can also put the "main floor" and the terrain as floor 1

 

then all the lower floors as -1 -2 etc

 

chief can have 30 floors - with any combination of positive and negative floors

 

personally I would probably put the house in a separate plan

then make a 3D symbol of it - store it in the library

then add that symbol to the site plan

 

Lew