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Swale design


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Hi

 

Any suggestions on how to add swales into a 3D model ... ? I have added a typical section of the swale. The difficulty lies inthe fact that the swales are connected. I tried the Swale/Berm tool but the result is not really satisfactory as it creates very edgy contours. Plus the swale (ditch and berm) need to be parallel and have a specific profile which is hard to achieve manually. Using terrain modifiers is equally tricky as the ditch/berms system interconnects...

So anyone any other ideas?

 

Thank you!!!

Screenshot 2025-01-07 at 13.31.40.png

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7 hours ago, Carol Reznor said:

Hi

 

Any suggestions on how to add swales into a 3D model ... ? I have added a typical section of the swale. The difficulty lies inthe fact that the swales are connected. I tried the Swale/Berm tool but the result is not really satisfactory as it creates very edgy contours. Plus the swale (ditch and berm) need to be parallel and have a specific profile which is hard to achieve manually. Using terrain modifiers is equally tricky as the ditch/berms system interconnects...

So anyone any other ideas?

 

Thank you!!!

Screenshot 2025-01-07 at 13.31.40.png


if you are unable to use the grading tools to get the job done, you can always lay the contours out manually.  You’ll always get the desired result using the latter technique.   It’s pretty hard to see what you are trying to do with screenshots.  Post a file and you’ll probably get more help.

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Grade tool works great for specific slopes between 2 points with even distribution of contours.  So if your swale has specific constants that fit that narrative for longitudinal slope and side slopes, you can likely achieve your goal pretty quickly with the grade tool.  But if you are hoping for beautiful serpentine contours with varying slopes from bottom to top of berm, manually laying them out will likely be less frustrating.  You can have both methods in the same model.

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Paul, we got hit with a ransomware attack over the holidays, so our in-office tutorial took a back seat for the moment.  Lots of image restores and reinstalls later we are back up and running.  Thank you for asking 🙂.  We will hopefully get back on it soon.

 

My mix of both comment was specific to site model tools.  A combination of grade tool and open end site modifier lines (aka contours) assigned with a z-elevation.  A grade tool could be used for longitudinal axis of swale and perhaps the shape of the bottom of the swale if that is a constant shape.  If the side slopes vary to create more of a custom land form of berms sweeping through the site, then manually drawing those lines and converting to a site modifier open end line could be the best method.  The site model will listen to all the site modifiers and interpret the contours based on the user's chosen types of site modifiers.  Sometimes the model will interpret something unexpectedly and require a little trial and error.

 

Did that help explain?

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11 minutes ago, Phillip Tripp said:

Did that help explain?

Sorry to hear about the attack, brutal.  

Thank you for the explanation, but I am not knowledgable enough of the tools to understand, but clearly you do.

 

I have a different method where I "bake" in the complex geometry to a site model.  

 

See below

 

Screenshot2025-01-07at5_30_31PM.thumb.png.6e6fbe5e280d957da5d0151ff3868c45.png

 

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Hi 

 @Jeff Prince @VIRTUALENVIRONS @Phillip Tripp

 

Thank you for your thoughts! As usual client at this moment would like a 3D visual of what the swales would look like, their visual impact. But then someone as some point will want to know the cut/fill quantities at some point. For the swales the cut/fill should be a zero net operation so for them it is not so much a must to keep the DTM calculations. But for other groundworks I will need these calculations.

Had not thought of combining the two tools. Will definitely try that! 

Small detail, performance wise, the swales cover the surface of an island which is approximately 5 square kilometers...

Thanks again! Carol

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I looked up Swales this morning.  I thought they were ponds, but now I know.  I had a similar project in 2017.  I had to recreate 5 square miles of WW1 Battlefield with 140 miles of Allied and German Trenching.  The  topology was created in VW's, then transferred the model to CINEMA 4D and sculpted out the trenches.

 

At the time the limitation was computing power so sculpting worked best.   Today, if I only needed the computer model I would probably do it in VW's.

 

VIMY.thumb.jpg.ac3ca4d62e0ef04999bd17b51486b5f7.jpg

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