January 02, 2012, 03:09:17 pm
After reading my smarty pants rant about sketch-up, lol.
I use sketch-up (just not exclusively). The "ONE" thing I use it for is Terrain Modeling.
And yeah its a pain always. Max has a terrain modeler. LandCAD has one too I think.
Not sure who else has one.
Sounds like you are using a CAD package on the front end. AutoCAD perhaps.
Assuming you have all your topo lines drawn out on a site plan and have the correct elevations assigned to these topo lines.
Make sure you draw outlines of the building footprints and assign that contour "building envelope" a correct elevation so the building can sit on site at the proper elevation.
Then just take all the topo info and import only it into sketchup. Then you can run the sandbox tool to get your topo. If it is a big site you will need to break it apart (your topo) into smaller pieces (best to subdivide this along the swales) and sandbox them individually (export each piece) and reassemble them in your CAD package. (this reassembly process is better done in a dedicated modeling software - max, maya, rhino, etc.)
It is always time consuming this way, but is the only way I know how to get real world contour data accurately built in the computer.
I've had great results- accurate computer modeling = accurate site construction.
Hope this helps. If someone has a better way I look forward to hearing.