Smart Elevate Command - Home - Click Here
Common Selection Requirements
In the Absolute, Delta, Plane and Surface Modes, the following setup options are common to each mode.
Portion
In Absolute, Delta, Plane and Surface modes you can select the line portion that you wish to elevate. This can be any of the following options
- All - For single or multiple line selections, you can adjust the entire line or all lines selected
- Start to Location - for single line selections, you can adjust the line from its start point to a defined location along the line.
- Location 1 to Location 2 - for single line selections, you can adjust the line between two defined locations along the line.
- Location to End - for single line selections, you can adjust the line from a defined location along the line to the end of the line.
When you select anything other than All, you will be asked to select the Location or Location 1 and 2 to define the range of the adjustment.
Primary Adjustment
In these modes you can make a primary adjustment and an optional secondary adjustment. The options for primary adjustment include the following
- Constant
- Range
- Undefined (Only in absolute mode)
Constant Adjustment
In this mode you can set a single elevation that will be applied to the entire station range of the line selected. for example set the value to 100 if you want the line to be raised / lowered to that elevation over the range selected.
Range Adjustment
In this mode you can specify an absolute elevation to be applied at the start of the range and a second elevation value to be applied at the end of the range. The line will transition between those two elevations over the distance between those two points.
Undefined
In this mode you can eliminate all elevations that are defined on the line between the start and end point of the range selected. The elevation is computed at the start of the range and at the end of the range and locked in with new elevation controls, and all elevations between are removed. This mode only applies to the Absolute mode.
Secondary Adjustment
If you wish to further vary the elevations over the range, you can apply a secondary adjustment that is compounded with the primary adjustment to adjust the line elevations. For example you may wish to set the line elevation to 100 between the range points but then subgrade adjust that by a further 1’ to create the base of subgrade. The secondary adjustment can be
- Constant
- Range
- None
An example of a secondary adjustment that is constant is a simple subgrade adjustment of 1’
An example of a secondary adjustment that is a Range Adjustment would be e.g. that at the start of the range the subgrade is 1’ thick but at the end of the range it is 1.5’ thick.
When you select the secondary adjustment mode, you will be asked to enter the value or values required when the mode is anything other than None.
Delta Mode (O)
This mode is similar to the Absolute mode in that it adjusts the elevation of a line or lines over the entire length of the lines (All) or over a specified range of the line (Portion) using the Start, End and or user defined Locations along the line, using a delta or range of delta elevation values. You can use the command to adjust lines to match grade at either the line end points or at points along the line e.g. where the lines have o match the elevation of an inlet, manhole, culvert etc.
Video Demonstration
The Delta Mode dialog looks as follows
Linestrings
Select the line or lines that you want to adjust. Note when you have the Portion All selected then you can select multiple lines, when you select one of the other portion options (a range) you can select only one line at a time.
Portion
The Portion allows you to select how you want to apply the Delta adjustments. The options available include
- All - one or more entire lines
- Start to Location - A single line from its start to a defined point on the line
- Location 1 to Location 2 - A single line between two points on the line.
- Location to End - A single line from a defined point on the line to its end point
Adjustment mode
The following options for delta adjustments are available
- Constant - applies a single delta elevation adjustment to the line or portion of line selected
- Range - Applies a variable delta elevation to the line using a value at the start of the portion, and a value at the end of the portion. For example if you want to match grade at the end of the line and want to taper the line elevations from a 0 adjustment 200’ from the end of the line to a -0.2’ adjustment at the end of the line.
Depending on the option selected you will be asked to enter either a Constant delta or the Delta at start and Delta at end values.
Model (Surface) (M) Mode
The Model Mode (Surface Mode) has been created to elevate lines to a surface model, however in this process rather than draping the line over the surface model and elevating all of the straight and curved sections where the lines cross the Triangle sides of the surface model, we create a uniform number of points in the curved sections of the lines only to elevate the line to the surface but only the curved sections and only at the interval or arc to chord etc. locations.
This process has been created to improve modeling of curb and gutter lines in parking lots, where the engineers intended surface shape is defined by a “Grading Framework” that represents the planar surfaces and slopes intended by the engineer.
Video Demonstration
In the following video we show how to create the Grading Framework lines and surface for a Parking Lot, how to build a surface model from those lines and then how to elevate the Curb and Gutter lines to that grading framework surface. We also show how to use the Multi-Offset Line command to create the other lines of the curb and how to make a surface from the overall results.
First step in this process is to visualize the engineers intent and to use the elevation call outs to draw the grading framework lines in 3D, and then to create a surface from those grading framework lines.
The second step is to elevate the Curb and Gutter lines to the grading framework surface which will ensure that the vertical shape of the curb lines is following the grading framework
Final step of the process is to use the multi offset line command to create the Flow Lines (FL) and Top Back of Curb Lines (TBC) from the Edge of Pavement Lines (EOP).
The command dialog looks as follows for the Surface Mode of operation
Interpolation points on arcs:
This will divide the arcs of the selected lines into a number of segments with VPIs at each of the segment end points based on the mode selected. The more segments you use, the closer the curb line will be to the designers intended planar grade.
You can choose one of the following modes to determine the intervals for each arc segment
- None - this will not subdivide the arcs of the selected lines
- Angle - this will subdivide the arcs into segments of equal angle e.g. 5 degrees
- Arc distance - this will subdivide the arcs into segments of equal length e.g. 1.0’
- Arc to chord - this will subdivide the arcs into segments where the chord is always less than a specified tolerance from the arc segment at its mid point. This increases the number of segments when the radius gets smaller or the arc gets longer.
- Number of segments - this divides the arc into a defined number of segments of equal length e.g. 4 segments.
Note that with Angle and Arc distance mode, there will always be the potential for one segment that is shorter than the others, this is the “remainder” segment i.e. if the Arc angle of the source line is 92 degrees and you choose a 10 degree angle then one segment will be 2 degrees. Similarly if the Arc length is 103.5’ and you choose 10’ then one arc segment will be 3.5’ long.
Once you have selected the method to use, enter the values required to define that method e.g. For Number of segments method enter the number of segments that you require etc.
Surface:
Select the surface model from which the elevations will be determined. This will be the grading framework surface in most situations.
Linestring:
If you have the Portion setting below set to All then you will be able to select multiple lines here. If the Portion setting is set to Start to Location, Location 1 to Location 2, or Location to End you will only be able to select a single line here.
Portion:
The portion refers to the range of a line or lines that you want to adjust. The options are
- All - the entire length of a line or a number of lines that you select
- Start to Location - the start of the line to a point along the line
- Location to Location - a range between two points along the line e.g. from station 300 to 600
- Location to End - from a point along the line to the end of the line
The mode that you select here determines whether you can select a single line or multiple lines for adjustment at the same time. When All is selected you will be able to select multiple lines for adjustment. When All, or any of the other options is selected you can select a single line only for adjustment.
Once you have selected your Portion mode, select the locations necessary to support that selection e.g. Location 1 and Location 2.
Secondary adjustment (Delta values):
If you wish to apply a secondary elevation adjustment to the lines once they have been elevated to the surface you chose, you can apply that here. You can choose from the following options
- None - No additional elevation adjustment
- Constant - A constant elevation adjustment over the adjustment range of the selected line or over the entire length of all selected lines
- Range - Applies an elevation adjustment at the start of the line and a different adjustment at the end of the adjustment range to apply a transitional adjustment over the range on a single line. The range mode makes little sense in most situations where you are adjusting multiple lines at the same time.