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Site Modifiers not showing new contours


Doug L

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What prevents site modifiers from creating and showing new proposed contours in 2D plan view and 3D orthogonal view? I built a site model with spot elevations and the existing contours show up in 2D and 3D views. I've tried all of the following:

Pads, slabs, texture beds, and 3d hardscape objects

Site modifier tool

2d tools and converting the objects to site modifiers

Drew a site modifier boundary around them

Clicked the site model's Update button

Deleted the site model and recreated it

Tried various classes and layers for the site modifiers, although a prior forum help topic said these don't matter

Site modifier's Object Info is set to Proposed

Site model's Object Info is set to show Proposed and Contours for both 2D and 3D

Is there a setting somewhere else that needs to be checked? The documentation doesn't seem to mention anything else. Thanks.

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If you are using 2010, you need to make sure your site modifiers are NOT created in Layer Plane. Draw them in Screen Plane and they should update fine.

This problem was fixed in 2011.

Thanks Tamsin, that resolved the issue for pads. It didn't work for hardscape slabs, but did work for hardscape pads and thats fine. Might be time to upgrade to 2012 if there are other time-saving improvements related to site modeling.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have created a 3D site model from a traced contour site plan (using stakes), of existing and proposed contours. the contour lines view in 2D top/plan, and 3D isometric views, but the surface is transparent.

3D poly lines representing property boundaries have been applied to the surface, and lines extend from plan set-up to the surface. When viewing in 3D the lines are still visible and I cant get the surface to render at all.

Is there a way to correct this?

Is there a way to drape the aerial photo over, or 'stick' it to the surface?

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I have now upgraded to Landmark 2012. But now the new contours are no longer showing up both in 2d and in 3d. I havn't changed anything else. The hardscapes are still pad modifiers. The site model is set to use modifiers on all layers. I've clicked update site model. What needs to be set up in 2012?

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I have now upgraded to Landmark 2012. But now the new contours are no longer showing up both in 2d and in 3d. I havn't changed anything else. The hardscapes are still pad modifiers. The site model is set to use modifiers on all layers. I've clicked update site model. What needs to be set up in 2012?

And brand new site modifiers (objects from polygons, hardscapes) are also having no effect on the site model.

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Have you checked in the OIP that the 3d pulldown is set to "Proposed Only" and the 2d set to "Proposed & Existing"? If you change one or both make sure to Update again.

Yes, I have checked those and Update, several times and its not working.

Its strange that in 2d, the existing contours are dashed, but when I pulldown Proposed, the contours change to solid in the same locations and don't grade around the site modifiers.

In 3d, the contours are all solid and also don't grade around the site modifiers when I pull down Proposed Only.

I've also checked that the site boundary modifier is still there and in the OIP it is Apply to Proposed...

Edited by Doug L
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What happens when you switch to Front View, Select All, then Zoom to Objects? I'm thinking maybe your Site Model is either way above or way below the Modifiers...

In front view, I see a plan view of the modifiers plus the site model in front view at around elevation 100' which is the assumed benchmark. The modifiers objects appear to be at the correct elevations within the model.

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OK, interesting. First, you need to make sure that Unified View is ON (so that all layers are viewed in correct 3d relation to each other; in other words, you won't see a plan view of one layer while in front view in another layer). Then check the Z heights again.

[The only other thing I can think of is that there is something weird going on with Layer Plane vs Screen Plane. But I doubt that's relevant.]

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Apparently Unified View was ON. When I turned it off, the site plan 2d graphics dropped down to the zero elevation in orthagonal view.

The site modifiers that were stuck in plan view while in 3d view, were actually the original shapes drawn in v2010 in screen plane (as suggested by Tamsin per above). I didn't delete the original shapes in case I needed to revise the site modifiers (which seemed editable!).

However, I'm still unable to get any new site modifiers to create new contours in v2012. Thanks for your help so far, I appreciate it. This is sure puzzling....

Edited by Doug L
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  • 4 months later...
Was a solution found, I am having the same problem?!

Yes, the issue was that I had accidentally moved some pads so that they touched or slightly overlapped each other and that is not allowed in VW. When those pads were moved slightly apart, and then clicked Update Site Model, the contours appeared correctly. Thanks to Peter for helping to figure this out!

Looking back, it also might have been better to have separate boundary objects around different parts of the site that are regraded, instead of around the whole site. That could make troubleshooting easier by isolating any area that you just editted. Of course, that would only apply to renovation type projects, not brand new sites that are entirely regraded.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

The issue with touching pads is:

If the points at which they touch are at different elevations, one set of points will be ignored (those drawn last). So, the site will potentially update, but will not give you the results you are expecting.

If pads touch at the same elevation (for example, roadway segments that are climbing a slope) the touching pads message will still be displayed, but it won't cause problems for the model. Although one set of data is ignored, the other set is exactly the same, so the end result is what you would expect.

Yes, it's a really good idea to use separate boundaries. With 2011 onwards, you can also place modifiers on different layers and set the site model to use modifiers on visible layers only. This also assist with problem determination as you can view the effects of smaller groups of modifiers and understand what's going on better.

Another thing that can catch you out, if you have Vectorworks 2010, is that any pads drawn in Layer Plane instead of Screen Plane will also fail to update. It's fixed from 2011 onwards.

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