Topo and site modeling

[ktm07]

Hi group!

 

I have a project that I am working on that requires a lot of site modeling (not something I do too often) and I am little stumped as to the best way to do this one. Typically, I do all my modeling in CAD and import the file for rendering into MAX. I question if that is the best way to do this and I am unsure how I would do this in MAX. I need to be reasonably precise and I have a good CAD file (PDF attached) to work from with all of the topo lines as polylines set at the proper elevation. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

Tom

[mtutaj]

I am currently in process of doing the same thing, so far I like the terrain function in Max, but my only problem is that when I import the .dwg and then I file link the 3d model of the building on the site. nothing lines up. but in acad they all are in the right spots x,y & z.

 

Any ideas?

 

Mike

[Brian Smith]

Tom,

I am currently doing a Site modeling tutorial for VisMasters and expect to be finished by end of this week. I can, however, suggest a couple things.

 

There are a few basic elements in any site:

• Ground
  
• Streets
  
• Curbs
  
• Parking & Road lines
  
• Vegetation
  
• Sidewalks / Pavers
  
• Retention / Lakes
  
• Misc (Light Poles, Parking Signs, Cars, People, etc)
  

 

Ground. I suggest spending a good deal of time in your CAD program getting the topology lines cleaned up. By that I mean make sure every single topology line is a closed line with no overlapping segments. Once you are satisfied that this is the case, import these lines only into Max. Then raise each individual spline upwards in the Z direction as far as the CAD drawings specify. You could of course move these lines up in CAD before importing - it doesn't matter either way. Once the splines are in their correct Z elevation in Max, select all the splines, go to Create>Geometry>Compound Objects>Terrain. This turns the splines into a mesh. Open the Simplification rollout and select 'Interpolate Points * 4'. This makes the mesh much smoother and less chiseled.

 

Streets. Cut the streets out of the Terrain. To do this, start back in CAD and clean up the lines that represent the street just as you did with the topology, making sure that each spline is closed and non-overlapping. Pick the line that represents where the street meets the curbs. Import these street splines into Max. Create a copy of these lines and hide them for later use (very important in the creation of curbs). Select each spline in Max, add the Extrude modifier, and use an overly large amount about double that of the greatest height variation in your terrain. Deselect all the extruded meshes and reselect just one. Then click the Attach List button in the Edit Mesh modifier, and select all the other extruded meshes to attach all of them to the one. Hit Esc to exit the command. Then move the one mesh that represents the roads down through the terrain so that it cuts through it. Select the terrain object and select Compound Objects>Boolean>Cut>Split. Click Pick Operand B and click on the street mesh in a viewport. Next, add the Edit Mesh modifier to the terrain object, go to Face subobject level, and click Detach to detach the selected faces to their own individual object, your street object. Due to a glitch in Max, you may not be able to detach the faces by clicking the Detach button. If this is the case, with the faces selected, click the Delete button next to Detach, click the Undo icon to undo this command, and then the Detach button will work. You now have your street.

 

You can then use the same line you used for the street to create your curbs using the Loft command. Create a perfect profile of the curbs you want, and with the profile selected in Max, go to the Hierarchy Panel, click Adjust Pivot Point Only and move the pivot point to the same place the street object meets the curb. Then simply loft the shape along the path (the copy of the street splines you hid in the previous step). You can only loft a spline if it a single spline so you will have to do these one at a time.

 

Parking Lines/Road Lines. Same process at the streets, except you will cut the parking lines out of the streets.

 

That all I have time for right now. It's quick and simplified but it will be easy to follow in the tutorial. Hopefully, that will be a start.

 

You can also look at this thread...I posted a reply to it

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/16868-how-masterplan.html

[mtutaj]

Brian,

 

Thanks for the info. would you have any clue why the scale would be so far off between acad and max? using acad 2006 and max 7.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[ktm07]

Brian,

 

Thanks!! I will give it a try and let you know how it works.

 

Tom

[ktm07]

would you have any clue why the scale would be so far off between acad and max? using acad 2006 and max 7.

 

Mike,

 

My guess is that you selected the wrong units when you brought it in. If it is off by a factor of 12 the you selected feet rather than inchs or vice versa.

 

Tom

[cullen]

Brian,

I just found this and it's a huge help. The part I am stuck at is how to get the curbs to follow the roads as well. (elevation change) I looked for your tutuorial on Vismasters but couldn't find it.

 

If anyone can point me to this tutorial or can help me in the next step to get my curbs to follow that road i would appreciate it.

 

Thanks,

crw

[RodT]

try the "sweep" modifier added to your spline representing your center line of your road in 3d space. you can then select your curb shape and add offsets to place the curbs on either side of your road surface. you can specify curb cuts for driveways etc this way as well.

[cullen]

Thanks for the tip. I can use that for the roads but it doesn't seem to work for parking islands or parking lot borders. Do you have any suggestions for that?

 

Thanks,

crw

[RodT]

it should work for those as well, you could just use those splines which represent those items for separate curb objects.

[cullen]

I can get them to follow the spline without a problem. Where I'm stuck is getting them to match the changes in terrain.

[RodT]

http://3das.com/2007/04/creating-3d-site-plans-part-i.asp

here is a really good tutorial, it should help you out a bunch....

[cullen]

That is actually the tutorial I was looking for. Thank you soooo much.

[Kreation]

Hey KT,

Your problem is in the import options,when your linking the file, set....just checking my other machine for the options..heeehe....... time lapse of 5 mins waiting for it to start....options at

1.Rescale...Max is set to inches...if your working in mm or cms in cad this throws things off on import

2.then go to file in file link manager....and reload

3.Set surface deviation to something low like1mm, yes it rips RAM but you file comes in relatively clean and curvy..ie contours are clean.

4.When in MAx select your outer contours...the plan of the terrain, not the contours themselvles and clean them up, make sure they are not overlapping...

5.Use terrain modifier and convert to poly as much as it takes to make a clean model...

 

I'll be doing this again soon and when I am I'll send you a tut, apoligies but I'm a sky guy and hate wasting time on terrain works when the building is so much more intresting..

 

K