Terrain . . Auto Calculate??

Okay, I think I just figured out where this bases off of. 11 7/8 floor, plus 1.5 sill plus 6 inch drop from sill. . . I am sure this is documented somewhere, but it just dawned on me today.

The house shown auto calculated my terrain perimeter at 20 1/8". Beautiful. Welcome home hon, the house sank. Why wouldn't chief base an auto terrain off of . . . say .. . garage floor height?? That "usually" is the lowest floor isn't it? Just wondering. Maybe I should add this to suggestions. Maybe nobody cares cause no matter where they chose to put it we'd have to adjust it. Oh bother. . . I am going back to work.....

Charlie:

chief auto-calculates on the basis of:

1. the average of the terrain beneath the house footprint

2. the height of the floor1 platform

3. + 6"

it is in the manual

Lew

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lbuttery

1. the average of the terrain beneath the house footprint


Lew

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?? What does that mean ??

I haven't put the terrain in yet?? How can there be an average???

The other two fit right into my theory . . I knew it must be written somewhere.

The average is the average height of the terrain. A terrain may not be flat so in general this gets the terrain in the ball park. I would recommend setting the height manually for precise control.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doug Park

The average is the average height of the terrain. A terrain may not be flat so in general this gets the terrain in the ball park. I would recommend setting the height manually for precise control.

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Doug, please forgive me. That doesn't make sense. When I click "create terrain perimeter" I have no terrain data. There can't be an average. Maybe I am not using the tool properly. Should I keep auto terrain selected and then start adjusting heights and Chief will adjust the height accordingly??

This is house I achieve terrain now. Bi-level with walk-out basement. Entry is 48"ish inches below main floor. Terrain slopes up 4" from garage to entry and then starts to slope down to basement slab at rear of house. I click create perimeter remove auto and adjust my terrain to garage slab height. Elevation line at bottom of driveway -12". Terrain Region across front of house +4". Elevation line at rear +/- -48. One more for kicks at property line 12" below walkout.

Is there a way to do that with auto terrain on? What steps would I skip or add. What does it mean when it is looking for an average? What elevation would be the mean elevation to try and adjust from? ??? oh so many questions now. . . :) time for a coffee. ..

I have no terrain data. There can't be an average.

Charlie:

sure there is an average - its an average of 0 :)

with a terrain perimeter the elevation height is set to 0"

to change the terrain elevation beyond that you need to place elevation data such as region or line or spline or points

if you unset "auto-calculate" you can then set the "pad elevation" but that changes the house height only - it has NO effect on the terrain elevation

once you start playing with "pad elevation" then you MUST have elevation data applied to the plan to adjust in relation to the house

meanwhile - ALL elevations within the house work from "house 0"

think of the house as a boat and the terrain as the water

with "auto -calculate" on when you adjust the elevation data the house will FLOAT" with it up or down as you make the adjustments

with "auto-calculate" off you break the connection between "boat" and "water" and must set them separately so that they are coordinated

Lew

Lew,

I like that analogy. :)

With auto calculate on then, what do I adjust terrain info to then. . . absolute zero?

With auto calculate on then, what do I adjust terrain info to then. . . absolute zero?

Charlie:

with auto-calculate on you place elevation data as needed
and the house will follow the 3 rules in my first post and "ride" the terrain BELOW it

so if your floor1 platform is 12" then the ENTIRE house will sit 18" (12" + 6") ABOVE
the average of the terrain below the house footprint

if using an average doesn't work due to walkouts or some of the house being covered
by the terrain etc then unset auto-calc:

then place elevation data as needed
then set the "pad elevation" to the height you need the majority of the house to be in relation to the terrain

then tweak the elevation data until terrain and house are melded and situated as needed

Meanwhile, none of this affects any of the elevation heights within the house

Lew

This is old news. I did a video detailing the shortcomings of the terrains. Apparently CA does not understand the issue and neither do some of the users.... I do not blame the users, I blame CA for the shortcomings for this process. CA, please fix this, thank you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lbuttery

With auto calculate on then, what do I adjust terrain info to then. . . absolute zero?

Charlie:

with auto-calculate on you place elevation data as needed
and the house will follow the 3 rules in my first post and "ride" the terrain BELOW it

so if your floor1 platform is 12" then the ENTIRE house will sit 18" (12" + 6") ABOVE
the average of the terrain below the house footprint

if using an average doesn't work due to walkouts or some of the house being covered
by the terrain etc then unset auto-calc:

then place elevation data as needed
then set the "pad elevation" to the height you need the majority of the house to be in relation to the terrain

then tweak the elevation data until terrain and house are melded and situated as needed

Meanwhile, none of this affects any of the elevation heights within the house

Lew

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hmmm. ..

maybe in this situation it's not worth learning something new. I have always unchecked it and done it manually with great success, and minimal headaches. I was just curious. I guess it would be worth playing with on a slow day. . . . .

One of the nice features of the terrain is that you can either use relative or absolute elevation data. So if for example you live somewhere around 2000' in elevation you can use the absolute elevation.

If on the other hand you want to do it relative to the zero of your house coordinate system you can do that to.

BTW I don't watch videos they progress at such a mind numbing pace for me that I would gouge my eyes out if I had to sit through many of them. When I review videos for content, which thankfully I don't do much anymore, I run them at double speed and wish I could run them faster.

If you want to let me know something then put it in writing. Otherwise I'm not going to see it.

One of the nice features of the terrain is that you can either use relative or absolute elevation data


Doug:

it would be nice to be able to use the absolute elevation data when creating the elevation data yet be able to display it in relative, if we so choose to

I would like my layouts to show both the absolute contour values and the relative contour values

Lew

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doug Park

One of the nice features of the terrain is that you can either use relative or absolute elevation data. So if for example you live somewhere around 2000' in elevation you can use the absolute elevation.

If on the other hand you want to do it relative to the zero of your house coordinate system you can do that to.

BTW I don't watch videos they progress at such a mind numbing pace for me that I would gouge my eyes out if I had to sit through many of them. When I review videos for content, which thankfully I don't do much anymore, I run them at double speed and wish I could run them faster.

If you want to let me know something then put it in writing. Otherwise I'm not going to see it.

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Okay, I admit it, I am slow dense and dumb, I do not know what all this means and I have yet to see a sample of what you are talking about and I have yet to see you or your staff address my terrain challenge test. instead you have moved on to another thread and we, or should I say I, am still confused. Why can't anybody address my request on the terrain challenge, please prove I am wrong, I have eaten crow before and I will eat it again.

If you have an issue, which so far I'm not understanding, please contact our support team and get it sorted out.